The Lightship at Haslar Marina — Restaurant in Gosport

I went last week. And after all the hype, I was very excited to visit the lightship.

Firstly, we were greeted by a lovely waitress, who I want to say was incredible. Blonde, with glasses. Can’t not fault her…But unfortunately, we were disappointed going forward.

Before our meal, we went to the top deck to have a cocktail. We ordered a bramble and expresso martini. The guy on the bar, initially said our drinks would take a long time as they were very involved…. They are cocktails.. so we expected them to take a long time. We were not phased, but both our drinks came, and the bramble was fantastic! But the espresso martini…. Was just black. No crème cascading down the sides of the glass... The bar man, brought it over and said… ‘there was no ice….. sorry’. We awkwardly stated, that there was ice, as our other cocktail had some! The bar man was very rude, and stated… ‘yeah… not ideal but it’s the same ingredients… so it will be fine’ honestly, it was comical. We just awkwardly requested another cocktail.

Anyway.. we move on and go for dinner.

The wine was great! The starters… but were not like previous posts photos. I was very excited to try the duck Bonbons and the crab ravioli and lobster bisque. The bonbons were like paste. They had obviously been made to thin and contained lots of cornflour, To attempt to thicken them. The flavour was ok, but not ideal.

The ravioli, looked simply like a chunky parcel. Not delicate, and light as you wish , it resembled a Greg’s steak bake in size! There was about 1 tbsp of bisque.

Mains.. the pig cheeks were great. The seasoning was ok, quite a lot of mustard in the jus. But actually nice.

I was very excited to taste the cod loin, with the interesting samphire tempura. The cod was nicely cooked… but the samphire was added to the plate and it was raw. Completely raw. I asked why this was like this, and I fed back that it’s not ok to serve raw samphire. Apparently, they recently have made the tempura batter gluten free, and the batter doesn’t attach to the samphire as well so simply did not cook it. Kindly the waitress told the kitchen. Yes they had an apology, but the kitchen feedback, that they had worked in lots of kitchens where they served it raw.

The menu reflected a seasonal menu made for April. It had wild garlic on it , blood orange an rhubarb. But in august…. This was not appropriate. Simply it looked like the kitchen had never attempted to update it.

I never make reviews, but I work in the industry. And I was very disappointed. I actually though the whole thing was comical, which at 70 p/p I simply...

Another hole in one from the group behind Trinity's! We got to find out about this restaurant from a visit to Trinity's @ Haslar (formerly Hardy's) although I've been aware of the lightship for years. My wife Jenni phoned for a reservation and we were accompanied by my Mother-in-law and Jenni's best friend. You need to gain entry to the marina to visit but it's well worth the extra step to eat on a lightship! Inside the stern cabin is spacious with bench seating and well lit. There is a bar through to the fore ends and also upper deck seating outside. The menu is predominantly seafood with choices for tapas and steaks from the grill too. I had the seafood chowder to start which can also be ordered as a a main. It was really flavourful and very filling, if you weren't greedy like me that would be enough food for most people! They weren't shy on the fish and mussels either with both in plentiful supply. For my main course I had the daily special which was half a dressed crab and frites. I am a huge fan of crab so it was an easy choice. We were lucky to get a time of year where the catch was so well portioned, Jenni had mussels in white wine and cream and they were enormous! I would say the menu is not exceptionally large but if you eat here it's the experience of sitting in the cabin and having a good chat, watching the harbour than just merely eating and leaving. The staff were really friendly and accommodating, it is essential you make a reservation if you are from out of town! Trinity's Lightship would be a nice to place to visit at anytime but I recommend the evening when the light gets low, that's the best time to be eating by...

Not great for Sunday lunch.

Firstly the positives:

Great location overlooking the harbour mouth towards spinnaker Tower.

Restaurant - nicely 'decked out' 😅

Staff, very friendly and willing

Now the negatives:

Only 1 dog eared menu to share between us

Wife's peach mocktail had more than half ice ... and cost £8. The peach slice looked really old 🙃

They had run out of the 2 main pescatarian options due to being 'rammed' the night before. Just across the harbour there is a superb fishmonger which opens at 6 am, there is no real excuse for this.

I only ever order Halibut, my favourite of all fish, at special restaurants. This was not special, over cooked and the pea sauce did not go well.

If you do go - maybe choose a summers evening and try the top deck taster meal, looks fun.

I hope the a la carte ups it's lunchtime game - it could be so much better. Maybe by doing a more salady, more tapas style lunch menu. Go for it guys -...