Places to eat in Southampton

[ladysail2]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:08 PM, Lady Arwen said:

We’re booked at Moxy Southampton hotel which is two minutes from West Quay Mall.  There are many, many restaurants in the mall,  from fast food options to fine dining.  We’re staying at Moxy for three days prior, so intend to eat at the mall or other restaurants within walking distance.

If you’re in Southampton on a Sunday..I would recommend having the Sunday Roast lunch at the Duke of Wellington pub. I did this past November and really enjoyed it. You must make a reservation though..it fills up quickly.  The pub is in easy walking distance from the mall….in fact, I walked from Ennio’s to the Mall without a problem.  The pub was on the way! 

[TheOldBear]

9 minutes ago, ladysail2 said:

If you’re in Southampton on a Sunday..I would recommend having the Sunday Roast lunch at the Duke of Wellington pub. I did this past November and really enjoyed it. You must make a reservation though..it fills up quickly.  The pub is in easy walking distance from the mall….in fact, I walked from Ennio’s to the Mall without a problem.  The pub was on the way! 

We also did the Sunday Roast lunch at the Duke of Wellington this past November (Remembrance Sunday), meeting one of Mrs Bear's UK friends who lives on a narrowboat [she drove to Southampton - canal/narrowboat navigation is a non starter]. It's a bit early to make reservations 😉 , but we likely will be back on 13 October 2024 .

[Lady Arwen]

19 hours ago, ladysail2 said:

If you’re in Southampton on a Sunday..I would recommend having the Sunday Roast lunch at the Duke of Wellington pub. I did this past November and really enjoyed it. You must make a reservation though..it fills up quickly.  The pub is in easy walking distance from the mall….in fact, I walked from Ennio’s to the Mall without a problem.  The pub was on the way! 

Unfortunately, our flight arrives on Sunday, mid afternoon, so unable to do the brunch.  We’ll go for dinner, for sure!  Thanks for the recommendation!

[gfkcruiser]

We were there 2 nights precruise this past October.  Had lunch at the Duke of Wellington.  Enjoyed the cozy atmosphere.  Had dinner at the L’osteria.  Split a pizza and pasta.  Also dinner the the Greek place - was okay.  Surprised that on a weeknight many of these places required reservations. 
 

We stayed at the Premier Inn across from West Quay.  Took the train to Bath for a day as an excursion if looking for something to do.  

[John Bull]

4 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Unfortunately, our flight arrives on Sunday, mid afternoon, so unable to do the brunch.  We’ll go for dinner, for sure!  Thanks for the recommendation!

 

 

Like many pubs, the Duke of Wellington offers sunday lunch til 3pm & may run out a little earlier, and the evening is a different menu.

But elsewhere do be wary of choosing a Sunday roast in pubs where it's offered late in the day or into the evening. When we did so on a couple of occasions (one a Wetherspoons, but neither in Southampton) it was clearly food cooked hours earlier so dry and rubbery - and fresh gravy won't cure that 😝

 

JB 🙂

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, gfkcruiser said:

We were there 2 nights precruise this past October.  Had lunch at the Duke of Wellington.  Enjoyed the cozy atmosphere.  Had dinner at the L’osteria.  Split a pizza and pasta.  Also dinner the the Greek place - was okay.  Surprised that on a weeknight many of these places required reservations. 
 

We stayed at the Premier Inn across from West Quay.  Took the train to Bath for a day as an excursion if looking for something to do.  

Did the Premier Inn arrange any tours for you? 

[gfkcruiser]

1 minute ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did the Premier Inn arrange any tours for you? 

No.  Didn’t ask.  Just looked to see where we could go by train easily.  Train station is 15 min walk from Premier.  Only 2 platforms there so not too confusing.  Purchased anytime off prime return ticket on line a month or so prior.  

[ladysail2]

Hopefully you can see the Sunday Roast lunch at Duke of Wellington. I had Sticky Toffee for dessert. The veggies with the meal are in behind the ‘bun’ (I know it’s not a bun, but the name escapes me right now.  It was a delicious meal. 

[ladysail2]

Yorkshire Pudding!!!

[tcigirl]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:08 PM, Lady Arwen said:

We’re booked at Moxy Southampton hotel which is two minutes from West Quay Mall.  There are many, many restaurants in the mall,  from fast food options to fine dining.  We’re staying at Moxy for three days prior, so intend to eat at the mall or other restaurants within walking distance.

How did you find the Moxy?

[TenneSea]

LadySail, 

 

Did you eat any meals at Ennio's?  If so, how was the food? 

 

We may go to Ennio's and/or LaRegata - any experience/opinion on either of those.  Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[TenneSea]

Seriously, I'm so grateful to all of you "locals" for your input on these forums.  So helpful.  I appreciate all of the time you take to respond to all of our "inquiring minds" !

[John Bull]

https://www.visit-hampshire.co.uk/explore/cities/southampton

Two of the four rolling photos at the top of this page show the dining complex at West Quay (in winter) and the dining level in the Dancing Man pub

 

JB 🙂

[TouchstoneFeste]

On 1/8/2023 at 9:19 PM, John Bull said:

 

All the following are in old-town Southampton, the furthest are no more than a 10-minute walk from the West Quays complex 

[snip]

The Red Lion https://whatpub.com/pubs/HAS/00548/red-lion-southampton Narrow pub, dates back to King Henry V. The wood-panelled interior and narrow gallery are amazing. Inexpensive pub food. Small pub, no website.  

 

JB 🙂

The Red Lion seemed like an excellent idea, so I emailed them for a dinner reservation because there will be 9,000 or so extra people in Southampton that night (and they don't have online reservations that I could find). I got a reply from the Red Lion email address, but from a restaurant called Bayleaf Kitchen. I appears to be adjacent to the Red Lion itself. 

 

It gets good reviews and we like Indian Food, but we were looking for pub food. Any thoughts on this?

[John Bull]

2 minutes ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

The Red Lion seemed like an excellent idea, so I emailed them for a dinner reservation because there will be 9,000 or so extra people in Southampton that night (and they don't have online reservations that I could find). I got a reply from the Red Lion email address, but from a restaurant called Bayleaf Kitchen. I appears to be adjacent to the Red Lion itself. 

 

It gets good reviews and we like Indian Food, but we were looking for pub food. Any thoughts on this?

 

9,000 extra people in Southampton? What date is that? The only time I'm aware of when rooms & dining are over-subscribed is for the Southampton International Boat Show, mid to late September.

 

Yes, Bayleaf is next-door - I don't know anything about it 'cos 'er-indoors doesn't like Indian food.

 

The Standing Order is a couple of hundred yards up the road from the Red Lion. It's a Wetherspoons pub, excellent value but not high standards. Don't know if it's pre-bookable

The Duke of Wellington is a good bet, decent food, sensible prices - but like the Red Lion it's not large so best to book ahead.

The Dancing Man is just down the road from the Duke, different but equally historic & interesting building, popular, bookable.

A couple to avoid - up the road from the Duke the Juniper Berry is poor, and the Titanic rather drab.

The Platform Tavern had a fire last week, it'll be out of action for a while.

Lots of chain restaurants but not pubs in the West Quay entertainments complex

Or there are the White Star Tavern ( a Fuller's pub 👍) and The Grapes  in Oxford Street plus other pubs, bars & restaurants in the area. Or in and around Bedford Place a wide selection of pubs & bars & restaurants, but that's at the other end of the city centre.

 

JB 🙂

[TouchstoneFeste]

16 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

9,000 extra people in Southampton? What date is that? The only time I'm aware of when rooms & dining are over-subscribed is for the Southampton International Boat Show, mid to late September.

 

 

JB 🙂

Well, two ships departing the next morning with a combined capacity of around 9,000. I realize that doesn't equate to 9,000 actual people spending the night ...

[John Bull]

1 minute ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

Well, two ships departing the next morning with a combined capacity of around 9,000. I realize that doesn't equate to 9,000 actual people spending the night ...

 

Plenty of folk fly in or travel-to-port same-day, so it won't make a huge difference the previous evening.

If it's a saturday or sunday sailing that'll add a little to the usual busy friday & saturday evening trade, any other evening it'll just take up some of the slack.

No worries 

 

JB 🙂

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

Well, two ships departing the next morning with a combined capacity of around 9,000.

 

So more like a "normal day" than "extra people"!

[Mary loves to travel]

On @John Bull's recommendation, we had dinner at the Dancing Man this spring.   The food was outstanding & a fun venue.

We did make a reservation.

 

It was a short walk from our hotel, the Holiday Inn Southampton; on the walk back, we strolled along/through the remains of the roman walls, very interesting.

 

Mary

[Senga]

We were unable to get reservations at Dancing Man in May and ended up at Duke of Wellington.  My husband enjoyed his fish and chips, I was very disappointed in my beef stew and dumplings with MASHED potatoes.  The dumplings were hard and dry, the MASHED potatoes were closer to boiled.  I think we suffered hearing loss from the noise and the number of people hacking up lungs without covering their mouths was distressing especially with the tables crammed together.  We're returning next May and will try at least a month in advance to get reservations at Dancing Man.

[BoundForSea]

@John Bullwhat are your thoughts and recommendations on a pre cruise stay in Portsmouth in lieu of SH? We enjoy laid back pub fare and small cafes, and good beer! Not so much into ‘touristy’ attractions just like to soak in the local culture while we visit places. Thanks good sir! Deciding whether to stay out there or not so your input is valued!

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, BoundForSea said:

@John Bullwhat are your thoughts and recommendations on a pre cruise stay in Portsmouth in lieu of SH? We enjoy laid back pub fare and small cafes, and good beer! Not so much into ‘touristy’ attractions just like to soak in the local culture while we visit places. Thanks good sir! Deciding whether to stay out there or not so your input is valued!

This question really should be in a separate thread. This one is about eating in Southampton, so even by CC standards staying in Portsmouth is considerable thread creep! 

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, BoundForSea said:

@John Bullwhat are your thoughts and recommendations on a pre cruise stay in Portsmouth in lieu of SH? We enjoy laid back pub fare and small cafes, and good beer! Not so much into ‘touristy’ attractions just like to soak in the local culture while we visit places. Thanks good sir! Deciding whether to stay out there or not so your input is valued!

 

 

For a few days pre-cruise...........

 

Southampton has limited places of interest in town, but is best-placed for day-trips by direct trains to places like Winchester, Salisbury (and onward by ho-ho to Stonehenge), Bath, & the county of Dorset.

 

Portsmouth is best for places of interest in the town - the Historic Dockyard & Ships, the Spinnaker Tower and Old Portsmouth, and the conjoined city of Southsea (only locals know where the join is) is a holiday destination with places like little Southsea Castle, the D-Day museum, and the seafront promenade which looks across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.

Direct trains to Salisbury & Bath but the train ride is about an hour longer & goes via Southampton. Direct trains also eastwards to places like Chichester or even Brighton. 

 

Both Southampton and Portsmouth have direct ferries to the  Isle of Wight.

From Southampton fast-ferries to Cowes, & traditional ferries to East Cowes for Osborne House.

From Portsmouth fast-ferries to Ryde, but the IoW terminal for traditional ferries is inconvenient for foot-passengers.

Portsmouth also has a hovercraft service to Ryde - the sole remaining regular hovercraft service in the world. 

 

Plenty of detail on this and other threads about hotels, pubs & restaurants in Southampton.

 

Best area to stay in Portsmouth is around "the Hard" - right by the Historic Dockyard & Ships, Gunwharf Quays, fast-ferries to Ryde IoW, cross-harbour ferries to Gosport, buses & taxis, direct trains and Nat Express coaches (buses) to Southampton.

Consider Holiday Inn Express in Gunwharf Quays   https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/portsmouth , or for something a little different just around the corner the Royal Maritime Club https://www.royalmaritimehotel.co.uk/  - originally a home-from-home for naval officers between-ships, now a regular hotel but with a naval theme and usually a smattering of Royal Navy guests.

Also hotels like The Ship Leopard https://www.shipleopardboutiquehotel.co.uk/

(holiday-makers tend to stay in hotels in Southsea)

 

We don't visit Portsmouth very often - for eats or drinks certainly the Spice Island Inn or the Still & West. Both are the traditional pubs and superbly-located in Old Portsmouth at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, with outside seating to watch ships come & go.

Or opposite the Hard the Ship Anson pub, and in the adjacent Gunwharf Quays a wide selection of modern restaurants and the Old Customs House (a Fuller's pub 👍, and I think the only surviving building from the days when the area was a Royal Navy quay for loading cannons onto ships)

A few up-market restaurants too in Old Portsmouth

 

 For a few days I'd definitely recommend Portsmouth over Southampton.

And that's not local bias - for my sins I'm a Southampton football supporter 😏

 

JB 🙂

 

 

[Crown Vic]

On 10/12/2023 at 8:48 AM, John Bull said:

And that's not local bias - for my sins I'm a Southampton football supporter 😏

 

JB 🙂

 

 

JB, if I had known you were a Saints’ supporter, would not have broken bread with you.

Just kidding. Regards to J.

Cheers…Vic (C)…

[phabric]

On 10/12/2023 at 6:20 AM, BoundForSea said:

@John Bullwhat are your thoughts and recommendations on a pre cruise stay in Portsmouth in lieu of SH? We enjoy laid back pub fare and small cafes, and good beer! Not so much into ‘touristy’ attractions just like to soak in the local culture while we visit places. Thanks good sir! Deciding whether to stay out there or not so your input is valued!

I stayed at Holiday Inn Express Portsmouth-Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth.

I took a car service West Quay Cars to Southampton.

 

www.westquaycars.com