King Rufus — Restaurant in Eastleigh

Very disappointed with our first visit. Like the other reviewer said, our service was very slow too. Again, pub wasn’t full. We visited as a table of 10 on the Friday between Christmas and new year. There was about 8-10 items on the menu which wasn’t available (someone didn’t get the shopping order in), we waited 30 mins to get any drinks order taken on arrival, meals were overpriced for the small portions received (it costs nothing to pile a load of chips and salad on a plate), and our lattes were cold (were told by staff they’d perhaps been waiting on the bar a while). Our bill came to £235 for a table for 10 and food wasn’t great. It was warm not hot, plates were cold, and portions small. Disappointing as eating out these days is an expensive luxury. A real shame as we met there for a family reunion, and have been put off using this place again. Staff were lovely and friendly but the place wasn’t that busy for such a slow service. I also called them about 11.30 to say we’d be late as stuck in very heavy traffic, but no one answered the phone. On 3rd time ringing I left a message but didn’t know if they got it or not.

Update: 2nd Visit - Fri 18th April 2025 (4 months later)………

……Disappointed by Repeated Menu Shortages and Poor Planning by the management/chef AGAIN!

Everyone deserves a 2nd chance right!! So went on out second visit to The King Rufus in four months (again as a table of 10), and unfortunately, the same issues persisted since doing my last review in Dec 2024! Once again, a significant number of menu items were unavailable. The staff were citing that their delivery was to blame (that day it wasn’t arriving until 2:30pm - we arrived 12pm), but also mentioned they had 3 deliveries a week. Given that this occurred during a busy Easter bank holiday weekend, (and on our last visit between Christmas and New Year), it’s reasonable to expect better foresight and planning from management in ordering more supplies in at hugely busy times of the year! It’s not rocket science!!

The unavailable items included menu staples like the Ultimate Burger, Hunter’s Chicken, Mac & Cheese, Grilled Salmon, Koftas, Burnt Beef Ends, creamy garlic mushrooms and didn’t even have a basic ingredient like cheese!! This left us and our children with limited choices, and some of the dishes we did order were underwhelming. For instance, the side salad accompanying the rump steaks consisted of just half a small tomato and a single sprig of watercress. The steak however, was very nice.

While the few staff members present were courteous, attentive and friendly and did their best under the circumstances, they were clearly overwhelmed. It’s concerning to see such great dedicated employees stretched so thin, and one wonders how long they can sustain this level of effort without adequate support.

We had hoped our previous experience was an anomaly and decided to give The King Rufus another chance. Regrettably, the same shortcomings were evident, pointing to systemic issues in management and organisation. We won’t be returning again. There are plenty of better...

Well where do I start? from the road the building looks aesthetically pleasing, as does the interior, this is where it stops. My husband and I have worked the public house trade as managers/relief managers I therefore believe that we have the experience to provide this review. We had two friends from Australia staying with us and arranged to go out locally for an evening meal. The men had Chicken Masala, I had Hunters Chicken and my friend had shrimp noodles. What an utter disgrace! Whilst the curry was acceptable the Hunters Chicken portion was the size of a sparrow, the Shrimp noodle portion was less than the portions from a pot noodle. When the waiter asked us how the meal was, my Australian friend asked if this was children's portions? I am sure that the waiter thought this was a joke, until we queried further, He went back to the kitchen to speak with the chef, now I use the term chef loosely, he returned and told us that this was the way the food came packed. My husband was angry at this remark, stating that he was horrified to have been served and expected to pay top price for FROZEN FOOD! This is an absolute disgrace and Green King should be ashamed, The waiter returned apologised and deducted £5 from the bill. It was not a discount we looked for, it was an answer to Frozen Food bought in, I could have stayed at home and open ready cooked meals from Iceland, looking at the impressive building this is NOT what we expected. 10 days later we were busy so decided to pop along the road to the Halfway Inn, another Greene King, yet because this would be classed as a community public house the meals were less expensive, yes there were some frozen meals, I had the home cooked Roast and my husband had the steak, ample food well presented, this management could show the King Rufus how to manage a restaurant. An establishment of this calibre should be competition for other nearby Pubs/Restaurants, Greene King needs to mystery shop this house and improve the food. Would I recommend The King Rufus in Chandlersford Eastleigh...

Terrible service from an argumentative chef/manager and dreadful food I ordered a lasagne which the menu said came with a dressed salad. When it arrived with a small pile of undressed green leaves I asked the bar staff for the dressed salad that the menu stated. The manager butted in very rudely saying that it was a dressed salad as they serve what Greene King tell them to serve so its safe to say I will not be eating/'drinking at the King Rufus again nor indeed any other Greene King pub if that's what they consider to be an acceptable meal. Used to be a nice pub to go to when I lived locally but won't be going back.

I response to your reply I can assure you that at no point did I swear at anyone at any time so your bar staff or head chef are feeding you utter lies. I simply asked the bar staff for the dressed salad which I had paid for. The head chef intervened and told me that was what Greene King deemed to be a dressed salad so I returned to my table admittedly not happy as the rest of the dish I had ordered was also extremely poor. The head chef followed me to the table and shouted that I wasn't going to get a dressed salad now unless I paid for it. This poor attitude and blatant rudeness was witnessed my customers at a table 10-12 feet away who were also appalled at his response to me request for food that I had paid for. A while later he returned with a salad and literally dumped it on the table in front of us... clearly I was not going to eat something prepared by someone that unprofessional in their job and I won't be returning there or to any other Greene King pub to receive that level of abuse from staff. Whether you believe me or your staff your main concern should be that customers are leaving your premises never to return for what...