Brewhouse & Kitchen - Portsmouth — Restaurant in Portsmouth

Disappointed. Very slow table service; I had to keep going up to the bar and asking for someone to come over and at one time asked the chef as I hadn't seen anyone for ages. I had indicated when I booked the table that we were going to the theatre and also showed clearly to staff that we were in a rush, but they didn't seem to see or care. No reason or excuse was given. Yes, perhaps they were understaffed but it might have been good to be told that. First of all: welcome. We had a booking but on entering there don't seem to be anyone welcoming or seating diners so looked like you just have to queue up at the bar - there were several in front of us so that took a while. I then went to find a server tho eventually seated us. After we were sat at the table it took a good 5 minutes before we were even asked our drinks order and by that time we wanted to order food, too. (We were by now 15 minutes after entering). We ordered a garlic bread starter which, when it was brought after a good while waiting, was the wrong one. They said they got the wrong table and ours was coming but clearly our starter was then made from scratch and took another ten minutes to make and then clearly wasn't picked up by staff from the kitchen (we could see in), for minutes after that (getting cold). It was disappointing, as didn't have much garlic on it; just oil. When it was brought over we then asked for our mains to be brought straight away. Mains: burger and breaded chicken, both were nice enough. I had asked for chunky chips instead of fries with my burger. They came with both fried and chunky chips (?) but took the fries away but still charged me for the chunky chips! I had that taken off the bill. Because of the time this all took, we didn't have time for dessert, which was disappointing. The added service charge was hardly warranted, but we're too polite to argue. Won't...

Went in tonight before going to see Mark Steel at the theatre next door. We were taken care of by Caine, who was absolutely great, a real winning personality who was laughing and joking with us throughout. We explained that we were going to the theatre and that my wife was allergic to peppers - she was having the bhudda bowl and asked for it without peppers, which also meant that she couldn't have the pico de gallo which was part of it, but the chef went out of his way and made a special little portion of it without peppers and despite the fact we didn't request that (Chefs have a hard enough job as it is, so we just expected it to be left out which would have been perfectly fine) so that was a fantastic gesture and well above what we'd have expected. Caine then came back and asked how my wife was with paprika, which is impressive as a lot of people don't realise it's just dried red peppers, it was very thoughtful of him to check. So many times we have been in restaurants and they've been told about the red peppers, then humous comes with a dash of paprika over it. So top marks there. As for mine, I had the 1/2 beer can chicken and it was delicious, the fries were fantastic as was everything else on the plate. Best of all, it was piping hot, a feature that a lot of restaurants seem to have forgotten about lately. It was all served to us in plenty of time to go to the theatre. I genuinely wish I could give our experience more than 5 stars. Everyone went above and beyond, it was a fun time and delicious - Perfection. I don't often find myself in that area of Portsmouth, I'm usually at the commercial road or Gunwharf area when I go over there, so this was my first visit. It won't be my last as a matter of fact it'll probably be my "go to" from now on. Thanks for such...

We were going to an event @ the Guildhall so chose the Brewhouse & Kitchen as it was close by. We were a little late owing to trying to find parking but got in just after our Booking time. There was only one bar person behind the bar so we waited a long time before we could order a drink and confirm we had arrived to take a our table for dinner. When we finally got served, we were told to go round to the seating area where we were greeted by who we presume was the Manager who just barked at us that all the tables were booked - it might have been more courteous to ask if we had booked a table? We were shown to our table and about 20 minutes later - the Manager came to take our order. There were four of us and we were ‘encouraged’ to choose a roast as this would be quicker - any other food would be about 45 mins. One of us had a roast, 2 had burgers and I asked for a Korean Chicken burger - only to be told there was NO CHICKEN for burgers. I then chose the salad - with chicken - NO CHICKEN for that either! I then chose Ham Hock only to be told NO HAM!! I then resorted to ‘Small Plates’ - surprise surprise - NO SMALL PLATES as they apparently had no-one to prep these?! I ended up having Fried Halloumi & Chips which was fine but not what I wanted at all! The restaurant was VERY busy and there seemed to be the Manager, one waitress and one Barman? Seriously understaffed for a busy Sunday?! It was all in all a really disappointing visit and I certainly won’t...