Brewhouse & Kitchen - Southbourne — Restaurant in England

Update: we visited this location a year later as we find ourselves coming back annually for the IoW Festival and TANKFEST.

First day, good experience with friendly bar staff. Good food, good service on the bar side.

Second day, we were falsely accused of not paying our bill. As our food was being served, the server asked if we had been here before. He seemed to be fishing and if it was months or weeks since our last visit. As we were here almost a year ago we said maybe? he then said that "he hated to bring it up" but we didn't pay our bill. We asked if he was sure and-to be fair-my memory isn't the best. He was still unclear if it was a question or weeks or months. I remembered we were here the same time the year previously, as the Euros were on and we were here for TANKFEST again.

He apologized and clarified that he had only been working at this location a couple of months, so it wasn't us. He just said it had been a family that looked like us.

This really soured our experience because it happened as our food was being served (for which we paid about 60 pounds, in advance, at the bar) and it felt like he was fishing, especially when he said it was "about 50 pounds". He also wasn't sure of when this happened.

I would recommend that if you are going to accuse patrons of skipping on a bill weeks, months, or even years ago, that you are near 100% sure of what you are talking about. I know mistakes happen, but an accusation of theft is a serious matter.

Also, in this case, a breezy apology doesn't cut it as we couldn't get it out of our mind during, and after, lunch. Both my wife and our 11 year old son were also disturbed by the implications.

Previous review: Second visit to a Brewhouse & Kitchen, two different locations in the UK (first was in Plymouth). We love the idea and the selection of beers and food, a child menu is available as well. Unfortunately, we did not get off to a good start at this location.

UK was playing in the Euros this night, so it was reasonably busy but not full. There was plenty of seating in the restaurant area so we elected to sit there. The hostess seemed overwhelmed and it took several minutes for her to circle round to us and seat us. She started by asking if we had a reservation - apparently all the tables with views of the TV were reserved. We said no, and were seated in a corner. Although we were there for several hours, all the other tables remained empty for the evening.

The biggest issue was the food service. One of the items we asked for was halloumi fries. Not available. So we asked for cauliflower wings. Not available. Finally, we settled on regular chicken wings and those were available. This all took over an hour to settle! In that time, our other dishes came out, and just as we asked for the bill and were getting ready to leave, our chicken...

This is my review of my first ever visit to a Brewhouse & Kitchen in this case the Southbourne site. Around 13:00 we entered the establishment which was pretty much empty or at least at less than 10% of customer capacity which perhaps should've been the first warning sign, being as it was lunchtime on a Saturday in the busy run up to Xmas. My friend & I attempted to place our orders via the online app which was heavily publicised on all of the tabletop items etc. Of the seven people seated around me I was the only one to successfully get the app to load after multiple refreshes etc. What was available to order on the app differed to what was advertised on the tabletop printed menu meaning I couldn't order what I had chosen from the tabletop printed menu. I selected some alternative options & my order was eventually placed / accepted at 13:13 being order No.002, so I quite reasonably expected only a brief wait to receive my order considering the number of customers present in the establishment & low order number.

My friend I was dining with shortly received her order, as did the other people sat around us who had also ordered after me at the bar. By 13:45 when a server was delivering an order to an adjacent table we asked when we might expect my order which was met by a blank look. A few minutes later a part of my order arrived, but not all of what I ordered. After a further wait I approached the bar to chase up my order with another member of staff, again being met by another blank look. It was now approximately 13:53 or later so a minimum of 40 minutes after placing my order & almost ten minutes after chasing up my order. As my friend had now finished her meal, I requested a partial refund (of the items I had not yet received) to which the staff member behind the bar said she could not do?. & hence yet another wait whilst she found a member of staff who could issue the partial refund. I was eventually refunded with a rather lacklustre 'sorry about that'.

At this point we chose to leave & go to another local bar to continue our lunch. As we're getting up to leave a server approaches with the items that were missing from my initial food order, so we're now past 14:00 & I have zero interest in staying to eat some 30-40 minutes after my friend has finished.

So in summary one in seven people present managed to order using the heavily promoted online app, which really cannot be acceptable & the one person who did manage to persevere & order online was the last to receive their order & not even all of it. All in all a really poor first experience of your brand &...

Have a look at my reviews on Google/Trip Advisor, I hardly ever give a bad one but on this occasion I felt compelled as it’s the second visit and there won’t be a 3rd. I don’t want others to waist their Saturday evening there either. 1st the bar. I like a drink and on a good night with a fine ales I can down a good few pints and still walk in a straight line to the taxi rank. The ales there are not bad but you just cant get served to drink them & I am not exaggerating. When we first arrived my Mrs went to the table to meet her family and I went to the bar to get our drinks, ½ hour later she came back to the bar with the look of thunder on her face thinking I had got chatting to someone and forgotten her. Nope I was still trying to get our first beer and G&T. May I add at 6ft 6 and 18 stone so I am not easy to ignore but there were only 2 people serving at a snail’s pace and everyone was moaning and getting very irritable. This BTW was at 1830 so it was not that busy and I remember saying to one couple I was chatting to whilst waiting I’m sure at 1900 the night shift will arrive and all will be well. O how wrong I was it got worse as it got busier. On to part 2. The restaurant – I would love to talk about the food however read on. We had a table of 20 booked as a celebration of a family engagement. The waitress was lovely (they all were that night and very stressed) she took our orders for Drinks, guess what? Yes those orders disappeared into the bar and again took over ½ hour to arrive and yes I did chase up where they were and the poor girl just explained they were in a queue. In short no-one could get a drink, no one was happy and listening to other tables they had to wait for the food forever as well. As a result all 20 of us gave up on the food idea apart from of the older guests that had driven for a hour to get to the “party” so they had food on their own and said they would head home after. The rest of us found a better bar. I was there for 2.5 hours of hell and only had 3 pints and a glass of bubbly. Not a good Saturday night at all. Luckily the happy couple do not drink and were too busy kissing and opening presents to notice the steam coming out of the ears of the rest of us. We did have a table booked for tomorrow for breakfast and to watch the Final but we have cancelled now and will go to a pub in Ashley Cross. When I say never...