I visited Bratislava several times. It is a small gem of a city with a beautiful typically Eastern European old center with an opera house as well as Soviet style grim surrounding concrete block villages. There is an ugly new bridge spanning the river that took its toll on part of the older part of the city which was destroyed because of it. The food is typical heavy duty but quite good. Friendly people and worth a day looking around as a day trip from either Budapest or some other place nearby.