Josie's — Restaurant in East Hampshire

My wife had raved about this place and so expectations were high for our first visit as a family. It didn't quite live up to those expectations but overall it's above average in my opinion.

Firstly, as I'd been warned might happen, there was a wait for a table. They estimated 45 minutes and took our details so we could walk around the shops. I didn't check but it felt like the wait was shorter than estimated. My wife also seemed to know where we were in the queue. This system seemed to work well although when we arrived they initially said the table wasn't yet ready on their system, though it was ready in reality.

When we entered the restaurant the first thing I noticed was that there was no food on any of the tables around us. I don't know whether to describe the experience as 'relaxed atmosphere' or 'slow service'! There was definitely a benefit to not being hurried, but I couldn't help thinking how many people were waiting for food or for their orders to be taken or to pay, as we were burning minutes walking around the town.

As a Coeliac (gluten free) I was glad to be asked about allergies but disappointed and surprised not to be given a GF menu or a menu with GF markings on it. When the waitress came to take our order she said "I'm told there is someone here who is gluten intolerant" which was reassuring but it felt like too late in the process to be discussing what I couldn't and couldn't have.

The staff seemed good. Friendly and representing their restaurant professionally. And like I said before, if you don't want to be rushed, there's a chill vibe.

The food was fine but didn't live up to my wife's description of the food she'd had before. As breakfasts go it was presented nicely on large clean plates. There's loads of photos online to see for yourself. Our children thought it was 'ok'.

I found the prices to be eye-watering but I've done a comparison with other restaurants since and actually the prices at Josie's compare favourably. It's obviously a challenge in the current climate for all restaurants. Given the quality of the food the prices at Josie's are comparatively good.

I didn't like the atmosphere. Where we were seated was noisy, it felt enclosed with no window. Elsewhere in the restaurant seemed nicer so it depends where you sit.

I would recommend the restaurant for breakfasts with the main caveats that you'll probably need to wait and it might not be the fastest service. On the positive side the staff are good, the food is nicely presented and you...

Really disappointed with our experience here today.

After being recommended to try the pancakes, my Husband and I arrived to be told that there is a 45 minute wait for a table, absolutely fine- the uninterested server took our name and number and we went for a walk whilst we waited. When we were buzzed that our table was ready, we went back and waited a further 10 minutes for a chair as the table we were assigned was missing one so could only seat one person! After waiting a while, we asked one of the waitresses if there was another table free/spare chair as by this point it had been almost an hour we had waited. She simply walked off and told someone else, I heard her say ‘they’re still waiting to be seated’- I assume a manager as he was dressed differently and he gestured towards another table which was around the corner, but he didn’t walk us to the table or speak to us, which we found so rude! By this point, we were close to going elsewhere as it was so noisy in there too but we felt that we had waited an hour for the table so should try the food Atleast. I will say that the waitress we had was lovely and the coffee was good but the pancakes were average. The portion size was great though but they weren’t anything special and we were just disappointed with the experience at the beginning of our visit so it had really put a downer on the morning. Sadly we wouldn’t return or recommend, much better places...

Atrocious cafe, the one in Winchester is WAY better.

The staff are beyond rude and the food was mediocre.

Normally go to the Winchester branch as it’s more local however I was passing through Petersfield and decided to pop into this one as I have been craving one of their milkshakes for ages.

The lady that took our order looked like she didn’t want to be there, so miserable. Told me the milkshake machine was broken - fair enough, tried to make a joke about it and have a laugh and she just stayed straight faced so I already knew it was going to be a hostile experience.

For some unknown reason, she then proceeded back behind the bar to her “friend”, pointed at our table and then mimicked the fact that I was craving a milkshake to which her friend also pulled a face and repeated what I said, both laughing.

If they think that this is appropriate professional behaviour then they really are childish and quite frankly in the wrong job. Nothing I did had warranted that treatment, if I was rude, then I would understand but I was polite and even tried to make a joke.

Staff either need a refresher training or to be in a non public facing job if they can’t handle being nice to the public which may I add, is the bare minimum for that role.

Awful behaviour

If you want a better, friendly experience with better cooked food, the Winchester one is...