Gin and Olive Southsea — Restaurant in Portsmouth

We went here around 6 weeks ago and the food was absolutely lovely, we had the sharing platter and they cooked it well done just as we asked so we decided to come back for our Christmas work meal. To start off the service was absolutely diabolical, we asked for the sharing platter to be well done or even medium to well would have been enough. However we were told it only comes out medium rare and when we asked why it couldn’t be cooked well done we were just told “because they are the rules and I’m not changing them just for you”. The waitress then spent the next 10 minutes or so speaking to our table with such disgusting manner when we were just simply asking why that can’t be done. We then asked to speak to a manager as we thought there was no way a MANAGER would even dare to speak to a customer in the way she spoke to us. To then be told she was the manager!! With may I add, a sarcastic and lairy smile on her face. The “manager” then asked if someone on our table wanted something else instead, but due to how disgusting she spoke to this person they didn’t want to. When that person said “no thank you I won’t be eating then” the manager simply responded “ok” and was happy for 5 people to all be eating meals whilst someone was not eating. Everyone’s food came out and everyone else had the grill sharing platter and the ultimate sharing platter as they didn’t mind it being medium rare. however when it came out, It was not medium rare whatsoever. It was cooked blue. The steak was completely stone cold. You’re probably thinking “the less it’s cooked the more tender it should be” not according to gin and olive. Our guests couldn’t even chew through some of the steak, even having to spit a few bits out into a napkin! As well as this no steak knives were given to the table at all. And you’d think after this surely we would complain again? Well of course we would have however not one waitress came over to our table for the entirety of our meal, so we couldn’t. Even ignoring when we tried to get their attention multiple times. After ordering our food not one person came back to the table to see if we wanted more drinks or anything. Two people on our table had the ultimate sharing platter, left almost the whole platter because the food was so bad, when the waitress cleared the table she clearly saw the sheer amount of food that was left and did not ask if something was wrong, just simply took it away. When the boards were removed from the table, there were puddles of blood left on our table due to just how rare the steak was. All of our guests for the meal were made to feel incredibly uncomfortable as All staff were rude and were clearly talking about our table as they weren’t very discrete. We heard them and they were pointing at our table and laughing. Which is absolutely disgusting behaviour if you ask me. Especially considering the “manager” was leading this behaviour. Will absolutely not be returning here again and will be making sure anyone we know will not go here also. all this because you refuse to put they steak on the grill for another 10 minutes. What happened to customer is always right? And if we are paying for our meal why can’t we have the steak cooked how we would like? Or at the very least how it is stated it will be cooked. For the owner, we came on Saturday the 7th of December at 6:30pm (table of 6). You should now be able to narrow down the manager that should absolutely not be working for you. She had brunette hair if that helps alongside a...

Massive disappointment and will never go back. Went for my daughters 18th and so wish we hadn’t bothered. Staff were unfriendly, rude and abrupt. No atmosphere, didn’t make any effort considering it was an 18th celebration. Food was dry and overcooked/burnt. Spent £460 and they couldn’t even give us a bowl of dry tagliatelle (no cheese or even butter) for free for a child, instead charged us the price of the fish tagliatelle dish. They didn’t even thank us for our custom and say goodbye when we left. My daughter only gets one 18th celebration and feeling very upset.

Update in response to the owners reply.

I think your response says it all and I think you need some training in customer relations, not even an apology. I acknowledge that the second waitress who came in at the end and brought the cake seemed more professional, accommodating and friendly. However, the waitress who served us the entire meal was very rude, abrupt, miserable and intolerant of any of requests, e.g we asked for no olive bread and all plain bread instead, this was ignored and olive bread was brought out, then when asked for it to be changed there was lots of tutting and she clearly found this an inconvenience and she didn’t like it.

My daughter did not order the fish tagliatelle, she ordered the side dish of meatballs and I then asked for some plain tagliatelle to go with it.

You then charged me for the fish tagliatelle dish despite us not having this dish and only when I challenged this did you offer a very small discount on the charge for the plain tagliatelle. I found you to be very rude and dismissive during this conversation.

Finally, I was not prepared to make a fuss at the time, as already mentioned it was my daughters birthday which I did not want anymore ruined. The chicken burger was burnt to the point it was black, the chicken strips were burnt and black, the salmon was very over cooked and dried out.

If you want to be guaranteed good food, a nice atmosphere and friendly staff for a special occasion then do not take the risk and go here. I’ve heard from a few people it’s very hit and miss but it’s where my daughter wanted to go. We obviously caught them on a bad day which...

We visited on Friday 8th July. Cocktails were lovely, 2-4-1 happy hour, can't complain.....however the food, not so much! Out of a party of 4 people eating: Meal 1) Ordering the bacon wrapped chicken, I asked if I could exchange my chips for creamed spinach which I was refused. I then asked if I could exchange them for a salad as I would not be eating the chips, only to be told that no exchanges at all were possible (I would have to pay extra for a salad) I find this a very odd way for a company to run a business, not to offer a healthier option if requested. I ended up having a full portion of uneaten chips sent back to the kitchen having had the pleasure to pay for them. Meal 2) A gluten free halloumi burger, only to be told that they had no GF rolls available and only bread. My friend essentially ended up with GF sandwich with two plain slices of bread masking a bun - the filling did not reach the full extent of the bread so some mouthfuls were literally dry bread! Meal 3) A butternut squash salad.... This turned up totally missing any butternut squash. It wasn't until we queried this that we were advised the they were out of butternut squash! At no point was this advised prior to the meal arriving. My friend ate this regardless rather than waiting for a new meal to be cooked (as we were rather hungry by this point) however the entire reason this meal was ordered was solely for the butternut squash. We did receive 10% off the bill as compensation, however I would rather have paid full price for a reasonable meal than receive a discount for...