Boathouse Chichester — Restaurant in Chichester

Great place to sit down for a drink and/or meal.

Dine in food isn’t served until 12 but you can get sandwiches etc from the take away part if needed and there’s a lovely view that’ll distract you until it’s time to order (and plenty of wildlife too- saw a damselfly, lots of pretty birds, water fowl and a swan with their cygnets).

Food was nice. A bit pricey but the place seems to be going for a more upscale style (Around £17 for standard portion of fish and chips with blended/mushy peas). Keep in mind that if you sit in the lower garden part there’s a slightly different menu (Ie I think the more expensive dishes are only served indoors).

My mum loved the Tom Kha she had and my chips were the perfect amount of crunchy on the outside with soft on the inside.

Only downer with the food was the underside of my fish wasn’t fully battered so the meat got fried instead and ended up tasting a bit greasy/oily- though my dad’s fish was great and fully battered so I think it was just a one off (I just don’t like wasting food and had eaten half my fish already so finished it as is). Not sure if the tartar sauce is made from scratch but it tasted lovely and definitely helped me enjoy my meal.

Dog friendly and lots of shade both inside and out- though the garden part needs a little tidy up. I wouldn’t say it was dirty but there were enough little bits of trash that I couldn’t relax and had to keep an eye on the dogs to make sure they didn’t pick up anything that was on the floor and potentially choke (I’d moved what I could see out of reach but I kept finding/seeing other things I would want my dogs to try to eat). That and a fair amount of dust/cobwebs on the side, which of course happens but it’s built up enough that it needs a sweep and dust.

If you come for the view, make sure to sit in the ‘main’ part (ie the inside/upper deck area) as the bushes/privacy shrubs in the garden part do unfortunately block a clear view of the Marina (there are a few seats where you’d get a good view but most are blocked by the shrubs).

I think next time I’ll grab a sandwich to take with me for a walk around the area or save up to have a treat with some family/friends.

Overall a lovely place, just needs a few fixes/a quick clean/better pricing and it would have...

I feel terribly bad about leaving a poor review seeing as the manager did address our concerns with my husband before leaving but I do believe people should be fully informed before making a decision on where to eat. I am hoping the experience was a one off maybe with some new staff in training - I speculate. On arrival with a

I attended the boat house for a birthday celebration with family visiting coming 5 hours away, also dog friendly which was convenient. The service from get go was slow and staff came across very judgemental and lacked customer service. When being approached by a waitress I was rudely asked to leave the table due to my dog being disruptive as someone had made a complaint about my dog and left for this reason .. I would have completely sympathised if this was truly the case and if I was spoken to in a better manor however my dog was settled and only barked every now and then due to either a dog coming through the door or walking past our table and was told no sit and settled - baring in mind this wasn’t just my dog others also responded in the same way. When calling waitress back later before leaving and paying I wanted to settle things and expected an apology for the way I was spoken to however the waitress did not apologise and became stubborn and escalated the situation by making tensions run high ruining what was supposed to of been a long over due birthday celebration. I must say the other lady waitress who attended to us in between the comments was helpful and understood my concerns and disagreement. As an assistant manager I was disappointed with the communication skills. I can’t fault the chef and their delicious afternoon tea as the food was exceptional but it’s a shame staff wasn’t up to expectations, left customers waiting when wanting to pay and order and to be seated also hearing one member of staff say “I can’t be bothered and another member replying it’s nearly home time” Moral of the story is If you don’t appreciate that dogs do bark from time to time and don’t sit quiet persistently then you should not be a dog friendly restaurant .. You wouldn’t go into a smokers room and then make a complaint that there is to much smoke .. and then expect the smokers to leave. I will not be returning, & I’m sure 100% the attitude from the staff reading this will reply as good riddons as this is the kind of staff working here .. Shame really great views but...