Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Southsea
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Southsea restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 21 restaurants in Southsea and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Southsea restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Southsea Restaurants
1. Geranium Restaurant at The Royal
British, Traditional restaurant in Ventnor
Belgrave Rd - PO38
“Sit in chandeliered grandeur in the dining room, or enjoy your food whilst looking out of the conservatory over the garden” when you dine at this grande old dame of a hotel. Too limited feedback for a rating in our annual diners’ poll on the à la carte fare, which is more posh brasserie (fresh fish, rump steak, risotto) than it is particularly ‘haute’.
2. Restaurant 27
French restaurant in Southsea
27a Southsea Parade - PO5
2023 Review: Chef-patron Kevin Bingham has presented his “excellent” ‘global French’ cuisine at this consistent performer near the Southsea seafront for more than a decade – and at restaurant Montparnasse (RIP) before that. The tasting menu goes down well, “with a well-chosen wine flight to complement it”.
3. abarbistro
British, Modern restaurant in Portsmouth
58 White Hart Rd - PO1
This “pleasant” and “airy” bistro on the seafront has shaken up its offering thanks to new head chef Adam Maker, who has introduced small plates and ambitious locally sourced cuisine alongside ongoing fixtures such as the “excellent fish ’n’ chips” and pizzas. Oenophiles are also well served as “in partnership with Camber Wines, there’s plenty of choice for all tastes and budgets” when it comes to the tipples.
4. The Crab and Lobster Inn
Fish & seafood restaurant in Bembridge
32 Forelands Field Rd - PO35
“Situated on the seafront at Bembridge”, on the eastern side of the isle, this early nineteenth century gastropub-with-rooms provides “a nice range of delicious seafood dishes”, including the trademark crab and lobster.
5. 36 on the Quay
British, Modern restaurant in Emsworth
47 South St - PO10
In 2019, locally born chef Gary Pearce and his wife Martyna took over this well-established restaurant-with-rooms right on Emsworth harbour from Ramon & Karen Farthing, who had developed it into one of the South Coast’s better-known dining options over two decades. Gary’s “complex and innovative cooking” – honed in top kitchens including Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham and Belgium’s De Wulf – scored consistently well this year, if on somewhat limited feedback.
6. Fat Olives
British, Modern restaurant in Emsworth
30 South St - PO10
“Satisfyingly simple and unpretentious” – the verdict on Lawrence & Julia Murphy’s long-running (est. 2000) and “rustic” venture in a cute, seventeenth-century fisherman’s cottage, on the road down to the quay; the “varied menu” features “plenty of fresh fish, beautifully prepared and served” and coming “at a reasonable price” to boot.
7. The Deck
British, Modern restaurant in Emsworth
Emsworth Marina, Thorney Road - PO10
2022 Review: Sailor-turned-entrepreneur Ed Collison set up his popular venue at Emsworth yacht basin at the age of 21 in 2016, serving everything from £4.50 bacon breakfast rolls to a splash-out seafood platter for two at £120 a pop. During lockdown he launched a fleet of silver catering vans, and in November 2021 announced a new branch of the Deck, replacing the Boat House Café, at Gosport marina.
8. Shoe Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Exton
Shoe Ln - SO32
2022 Review: “Have a lovely walk to work up an appetite” before visiting this laidback brick-walled boozer on the River Meon, handy for the South Downs Way, and with a “very nice little garden down by the brook”. To make sure of enjoying its “great” pubby staples “you need to book – even midweek – as it’s very popular”.
9. The Earl of March
British, Traditional restaurant in Lavant
Lavant Rd - P018
2023 Review: The view (towards Goodwood) from the window is said to have inspired William Blake’s anthem, Jerusalem, in 1803, but the current future is uncertain at this eighteenth-century coaching inn, which shut its doors in early October 2022. We await news of the new incarnation of this vantagepoint over ‘England’s green and pleasant land’.
10. The Royal Oak
British, Modern restaurant in East Lavant
Pook Ln - PO18
This 200-year-old local pub at the foot of the South Downs is “well run and popular”, with a “well-executed and great-value menu” of superior gastropub fare.
11. The White Horse
British, Modern restaurant in Chilgrove
1 High St - PO18
2022 Review: Current owners The Epicurean Collection – behind a string of boutique pubs and inns – have a hit on their hands with this award-winning venture: a “worthy addition to an area generously supplied with high-quality country pubs”. The rolling South Downs beyond the windows inform much of the “imaginative menu”, with a particular accent on introducing non-shooting folk to game (the latter courtesy of the local Goodwood Estate).
12. The Duck
restaurant in Ryde
Appley Rise - PO33
2023 Review: Chef-owner Charlie Bartlett’s “little gem serving lovely food cooked with imagination” is “well worth a trip” – and by some accounts offers “close to the best cooking on the Island”, although not everyone is convinced by “a mishmash of clashing influences in the dishes”.
13. Smoking Lobster
Fish & seafood restaurant in Cowes
127 High Street - PO31
2023 Review: In July 2021, GC Giancovich – with the help of family and friends – opened this sibling to his Ventor original, with a similar pan-Asian, fish-heavy menu, plus sushi and cocktails. Fans say it’s “not perfect yet but well on the way to being a must-go place”.
14. Corrie's Cabin
Fish & chips restaurant in Cowes
17 Shooters Hill - PO31
2022 Review: “Worth crossing the Solent for!”, say fans of this local staple, which turns out “amazing fish ’n’ chips” featuring “crisp batter and pearlescent fish”. Cart it away to the nearby seafront or tuck in on-site (“the little dining room is attached to the back of the shop”).
15. Crown & Anchor
restaurant in Dell Quay
Dell Quay Rd - PO20
For “enjoyable gastro-fare in a funky gastro-atmosphere”, there’s plenty to recommend this very attractive and popular pub, whose “interesting” menu focuses on fish and shellfish; the “lovely creek-side setting” is best enjoyed on the terrace, but you can also enjoy the views of Dell Quay Marina from inside.
16. The Horse & Groom
British, Modern restaurant in Chichester
Four miles from Chichester, and bordering the South Downs National Park, this 200-year-old pub-with-rooms is part proper boozer (upfront) and part tastefully arty restaurant offering ambitious gastrofare. Reporters this year praised the “warm ambience” and a “treat” of a menu that features some “standout courses” such as scallops and venison.
17. Purchases Restaurant
restaurant in Chichester
31 North Street - PO19
“In the heart of Chichester”, Nick Sutherland’s “consistently good” and “reasonably priced” restaurant “with conservatory and garden rooms” is “perfect for pre-theatre dining”. It has a “slightly old-fashioned ambience”, as the bow-fronted Georgian premises it occupies previously housed a well-known wine merchant of the same name.
18. Thyme & Chillies Indian Kitchen
restaurant in Chichester
149 Saint Pancras - PO19
Mayank Gupta (orthopaedic surgeon) and wife Nita (dentist) set up this red-brick venture as a bastion against the dodgy provenance of some UK curry houses – and the “very good” curries (marked by “delicious spicing” and reasonable pricing) have made it a hit. Mayank also runs importer Wines In India, so why not skip the Kingfisher for something more adventurous to wash the food down?
19. Le Tour du Monde
International restaurant in Ventnor
11 High Street - PO38
2022 Review: This “intimate restaurant” occupies a site on the high street that in days gone by housed Phileas Fogg and a Mexican pop-up. Its rotating menu (affordable, and fairly conventional in style) is strong on local sourcing and – as per the name – cherrypicks from global cuisine. A couple of London-based diners reported their best meal of the year here.
20. Drunken Lobster
restaurant in Ventnor
2 Pier Street - PO38
2023 Review: This “pleasurable small town-centre bar/bistro” serves a “short but exceptional Asian-inspired menu” that “would put many well-known central London restaurants to shame”. “The staff were welcoming and extremely knowledgeable about the food.”
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