The Talisman — Restaurant in Fareham

I've not been in The Talisman since I was a teenager (a really long time ago) and had heard over the years it's rep wasn't "too good" so avoided visiting until yesterday when my brother-in-law booked a table for us all.

I was surprised how evenly spaced out the seating was - nothing worse than being crammed in like sardines. We were shown to our table by a lovely young man, who stuck with us throughout the whole meal, and for whom, nothing seemed to be too-much-trouble - customer service as it should be.

All of us chose the Roast Beef and it was just delicious. The beef was cooked just right and melted in the mouth. The roast potatoes were the best I've ever had when eating out, and the huge selection of vegetables were cooked well, and tasted great. The yorkshire pudding was lovely (although I'm not 100% convinced it was 'home-made') and the gravy (of which there was extra available) added to the whole meal.

Then came pudding and I'll admit had I seen on someone else's table what I ordered, I would never have chosen it, and what a taste sensation I would have missed out on. I ordered the Toffee Waffle, assuming it would be a normal griddled waffle with a squirt of toffee sauce and a dollop of icecream. I was wrong, for it was almost a sticky toffee pudding (there was waffle on the top apparently - I had mine covered in sauce so didn't notice) with a hot toffee sauce in the centre. On the side of the plate was a oat crumble, with a large dollop of icecream (2 of us chose this pudding and they were most obliging when we asked if we could swap the Rum and raisen it came with, for vanilla and chocolate). I am not usually a dessert eater, choosing to have a starter and avoid pudding, but I am so glad I never for it was an absolute taste sensation - had I not been so stuffed from the fabulous sized portions, I think I could have quite happily ordered another.

In fact, the food was so good I was even able to stop myself from forking (not in a good way) the woman sitting behind us who had the most atrocious table manners of anyone I've encountered; a rabid ferral dog would have made less noise than her chomping, and due to the portions being so good, I'm not entirely sure why she seemed so intent on trying to gouge out sections of plate to eat - she really cannot have been that hungry.

The only reason I cannot award 5 stars is because of our first round of drinks. 4 of us had asked for "large" and whilst the glasses themselves were indeed large, they were filled to only just above the halfway line and would therefore have been better in a normal...

Tried out for the first time since the reopening to find much for comment. The large car park had plenty of space remaining at 4.30 on a Sunday afternoon. The garden seating area was popular in the warm sunshine. Inside the spacious building, devided into smaller cosy areas, around the bar area, there were a number of customers dining. The bar itself had no drinkers proving it up. The ground floor appears bigger due to the clever interior design work of hanging dividers of rolling pins and watering cans. The walls are festooned with pictures that defy questing the common theme. The stairwells on the adventure trail to the 'loos' are also decked with a random collage of interesting photographs through the ages. The is a snug/library with leather high back chairs and shelves stacked with books and curios. Plenty to entertain the eye whist waiting for a meal or opting out of a boring story. Each of the devided seating areas has a large feature fireplace and a collection of ornaments. All doors have painted text to amuse the curious. The one leading off the toilet landing declares "not this one". A great sense of humour. Be aware, there is a vary limited menu outside of traditional roast fare on a Sunday. Taking time to pick the best on offer, drinks were ordered. Confusion over exactly what brand of Gin was available and delivering a full pint of Bitter in place of a 1/2 of shandy sadly set the scene for what was to follow. After an extended wait, when a further drink refreshment was ordered and taken by a different server, the Gin arrived with ice and regular tonic (not as with the original order) and the selected bottle of Argentinian Malbec, came as an uncorked Spanish Rjoca. Both were replaced without question. The Chicken Supreme is a dish in the classic French style, skin on breast with no sign of the English cream sauce addition. The Eton mess was distinguished with the addition of ice cream and the Orange with Chocolate Torte was delicious. A varied meal that hit some targets but missed many more. Servers should be able to replicate orders at a table without fault and a wine should never arrive at the customer opened. Will visit again when the menu (especially the wine list has the correct pricing - legal) and not on a Sunday, when hopefully the full kitchen skills will be on offer. Dropping the cost of the wine as a birthday gift was appreciated but I notice this has been offered before at anniversary meals. Try not to make this a standard, when known it...

It was supposed to be a very nice relaxing day with a good meal good atmosphere to celebrate Christmas. First of all I walk in with followed by a white family behind me. We both stand and wait to be seated when the head waiter/manager comes along he goes straight to talking to the white family behind me and ignores me. Strike 1: Thankfully the white family were decent and corrected this white head waiter/manager’s errors, but he does not apologise for over looking me, strike 2: He tells me that I was 10min early I should wait and so I do, the white family who were behind me were then seated ahead of me this could be that their table became free first who knows, anyway I then wait a further 30mins to get seated, and a further hour for my food to suddenly show up and this was only when I started getting upset for having bothered to arrive on time for the timed booking and as you can see from the pictures when the food came it wasn’t fit to eat, I wouldn’t serve it to my CAT. While I appreciate that it was Christmas busy time etc, there is just no excuse for scheduling timed booking slots but then fail to uphold the level of service expected by the customers keeping me waiting for 30mins past the scheduled booked time slot is unacceptable and furthermore preparing my food and leaving it under some hot plate, before I am even seated at a table so that when I did eventually get it an hour later it was not fit for human consumption. Then to be informed that I should not be upset because they were busy… that is not my concern and I refuse to be treated in this disgusting manner and paying for food that was not fit for human consumption absolutely disgusting behaviour and appalling service would not recommend this pub to the public...