Slug & Lettuce - Portsmouth — Restaurant in Portsmouth

Updated review due to improved recent visit. Credit to the management team here who genuinely care about the customer experience and addressing issues that may arise.

Came for Mother’s Day. Was busy but received a great service from Jen who was working very hard across a number of tables.

Firstly thank you for allowing us to reserve a table for our daughter’s 17th birthday. It was her choice to come here because she likes some of the menu items and has previously enjoyed some mocktails on other occasions/ birthdays; however the experience was somewhat jaded by poor customer service or at least poor communication.

When we sat down on our reserved table the first words that was barked at us by the member of staff was: ‘I assume you are the people who reserved the table? Ok - I need IDs’. Obviously we have no issue whatsoever seeing age identification policies enforced but the manner and the way it was done? When you are clearly a family celebrating a disclosed 17th birthday and just sat down and haven’t even ordered anything yet let alone talked about ordering alcohol, why the unnecessary stand off? Of our party of 5 only one person ended up showing ID because two of us were clearly 40 something parents and two children. Your venue chooses to serve food and welcome families up to 8pm.

There were no name badges or anything so we don’t know if it was Jen or Abbie who served us but for some reason she was so rude. All we tried to do was ask about the mocktails and was abruptly cut off and told no you can’t have them because they still have alcohol in them. We were only confused and was trying to explain we were talking about the mocktails NOT the non-alcoholic drinks which still may have a trace; the mocktails that simply are just blended fruit juices in them and it’s your own company that states they are the ideal alternative for under 18 year olds. The lady just walked off mid conversation then could be seen clearly slagging us off to the other female member of staff. Honestly we nearly walked out but why let them ruin your birthday.

I double checked the menu both in print and online to be sure before ordering which clearly states: ‘For mocktail alternatives (for under 18s) please speak to a member of our team’. I tried to show this to Jen/ Abbie and was told ‘IT’S WRONG - SHE CAN’T HAVE THEM’. Wow. I get it was frustrating having customers ask questions but I wanted to be sure they understood what we were referring to since she walked away mid conversation and talked back at us about the non-alcoholic cocktails which ARE different from the mocktails we were referring to.

If it’s the case that Slug and lettuce have spent 100s of thousands on printing wrong information on their menu, online app and website just to make customers feel stupid and belittled by their staff then the manager needs to address this information with corporate because it’s not fair on staff or customers. Or if it’s the case you do offer the mocktails (which we have had at this venue before) then the issues needs to be addressed with Abbie/ Jen on training. Either way it sadly will be the last time we choose to celebrate anything at this specific venue.

No complaints about the food. But no - we didn’t...

Booked this venue last night for my 25th birthday with a group of my friends, started off good and we ended up sitting outside however around 9:30pm/10pm, I went to go to the toilet and the security guard stopped me and told me I wasn't allowed in because "you're too drunk because your pupils are too big" I had literally had 3.5 drinks (two lots of 2-1 cocktails) and a couple shots, yes I was tipsy but i certainly wasn't drunk or even close to causing a disturbance, I told him I'm really not that drunk and asked him to find another reason besides "my pupils being too big" as to why I can't go in, eventually he let me go in just for the toilet but said I have to leave straight after or I’m not allowed to drink, I went to the toilet where he then followed me back to my table and said I'm not allowed to finish my drink and if I do finish it I'll be kicked out with all my friends (most the group hadn't had more than 4 drinks so literally we were at most just a nice level of tipsy if not sober as a few weren’t even drinking) obviously I've paid for my drink so l had another sip and then we all got kicked out, I'm sorry but pupils being "too big" is not a valid excuse to assume someone's too drunk, id not fallen over or even knocked into anything there was nothing other than "big pupils" to suggest I was in a bad way, it was just dark outside, obviously pupils will dilate because that's how eyes react to different lightings. Won't be returning to this branch again so disappointed by the fact I wasn't even given a chance to prove I simply wasn't inebriated to the point I could be in there, you're an establishment that does 2-1 cocktails, are people only allowed 2 and then get kicked out? Either train your guards on how eyes function in different lights or find a...

Myself and 5 other girlfriends came here for a few cocktails. It was a friends birthday and we were having a great evening till we came here. We use slug and lettuce in other locations, so it’s a shame to be writing this review. The manager of this bar is nothing but unprofessional, aggressive and rude. He completely over reacted to a small situation which could have been resolved quite easily. But instead he decided to tell the bar staff to stop serving us drinks (even though a friend had just placed an order, and then took their time giving her a refund.) We had been here less than 10 minutes. It was a totally unprovoked reaction from this ‘manager’ who clearly had his own issues that night and used his position of power to try and undermine and intimidate a group of girls. To the point the security came over and asked us to finish drinks and leave. Some of us hadn’t even had a drink yet due to an ordering on the app issue. A table of 4 next to us asked what on earth was going on as they had no reason to be treating us like this. Would have liked to have seen this manager and security treat a group of men this way… Totally unacceptable and will be taking this matter further. The ‘manager’ wouldn’t give us his name… I think he needs a few lessons in customer service and anger management. I feel sorry...