Josie's — Restaurant in Eastleigh

The staff were nice enough, except for a guy that kept darting through the cramped tables and hitting me with his hanging tablet...

We've been to a couple Josies, including the bishops Waltham one, so have seem it's evolution and growth in popularity.

This is a general review of my experience, and not all places are 5 stars, so I hope none of the staff are offended as they were great.

The tables are super cramped, the quality of food has gone downhill, the service is slower and the atmosphere has lost its spark or magic.

The food: I'm happy to wait for food, good food takes time. But due to so many people being packed in like sardines the order time has increased. The result of fried chicken with a LOT of burnt batter flaked and chucked on the plate and dry pancakes that don't taste of much. (though they are still fluffy)

The milkshakes have lost about 40% volume. They still bring over the metal mixing cup along with your milkshake in a glass, but the metal mixing cup has far less milkshake left over. Back in the day it used to be like you had double the volume which made value for money feel great.

The shakes still tasted great! So definely opt for one if you go. The coffee was OK, but I had to flag someone for sugar, it used to be in the tables, but I guess they are too small to have extra stuff hanging about now.

Parking: Lots of free parking is available round back it's shared with other shops but is super convenient and never hard to find a space!

The tables: The tables are super small, with only enough room for a couple go plates. It would be nice to have more room for drinks or even elbows!

The wait: The wait time sucks, but the staff dealt with it well, they gave me a rough eta and have a system that texts you when a table is ready for you, this was great and I'm glad josies has this! We were able to walk about some other shops and the 30-40 mins flew by.

The staff: The staff were darting about admirably, and seemed to have the floor under control, but I felt sorry for them, I can tell they all work HARD.

Due to the table situation, on 2 seperate occasions,a staff member bumped past me and their swinging tablet ensured the double-tap. (I don't blame them at all, it was due to the 15cm gap between tables that he had to navigate)

I don't think we'll be returning to a Josies and will look for a better environment. But in a pinch, who knows.

If management are interested, what it would take for us to return:

Space out the tables more, give customers and staff room to breathe, I could hear multiple conversations and it made it hard to relax and concentrate on my conversation. It really feels like a cafeteria, not a josies!

Have less tables, let your staff take a breath, people built up in the doorway because they couldn't be seen in time. Due no doubt to the extra tables crammed in for more profit. Give the staff a chance to be proactive not reactive. Also, having hangry faces staring at you is a bit of a vibe killer.

Make it more obvious that you get up to pay, I thought I had to flag someone and went up when bored, which appeared to be the thing to do.

For review readers: This could be a one off, or a busy day given it's Saturday December 28th! So do make up your own mind, this was just my experience today and it feels like quality has been going...

My expectations were extremely high when arriving at Josie’s. The tables were full and I’d been told there was a 20 minute wait, which seemed worth it for such a popular location!

But when I arrived at my allotted time and waited by the door multiple staff members approached, avoided eye contact, then left me standing in the door. I understand that it was busy but an acknowledgment would have been nice.

We waited for our order to be taken and after 15 minutes the waiter arrived. He was in such a hurry to move on that the order had barely left my friend’s mouth by the time he’d shot off.

The food was okay. I had the “Brunch Burrito” which was good overall but there was a strong tasting sauce inside which over powered it. Which was shame because it was nice and it filled me up perfectly. Maybe just a bit less sauce going forward, in my opinion.

There wasn’t a whole lot of room at your table, everyone’s white packed in and you can hear everyone else’s conversation all by side your own, again I appreciate it was busy and it might not be fair to press too hard, but it wasn’t the chilled lunch meal we’d had planned.

Overall Josie’s is worth visiting but prepared to wait for a table, wait to be shown to your table, wait for your order to be taken and be quick when you give it. The food is good, but make sure you like everything in your meal as some aspects can be...

Early weekday breakfast Pancake today for three of us. Very enjoyable I chose the double, perfect. As usual excellent staff and service.

Sunday morning visit for breakfast. Very busy, hardly any time before a table became available. Excellent service, enjoyed our breakfasts. Staff excellent as we have become to expect.

Another visit for breakfast. Very busy on our visit, first time on a Saturday. Food arrived very quickly, hardly any wait. New addition for us tater tots, enough to share. Breakfast very good.

Second visit on Sunday. Arrived just on 0900 hrs. Quite busy on arrival and then got steadily busy. Service was very good. The only disappointment was cold plates, not even warmed. First visit Can't really give this Josie's a proper rating. Appreciate it was Mother's Day. Not able to book a table, this seems to be the procedure. Arrived before 0900hrs, to book a place in the queue, at an hour and a quarter wait. Unfortunately we were not alone in leaving as we considered the wait...