This is my third visit in the last few years, and this is the first time my expectations were far from reached (the previous two times were great!!). We came in on Sunday, and the service was decidedly average, the food was even worse.

We ordered two cocktails to start, I ordered a sunset margarita and was given a tequila sunrise type of drink, not a marg. Looking at the bar, there seems to be heavy use of syrups/pre-batches, so far from special on the cocktail front.

As for starters, we ordered the truffle mac n cheese and the garlic flatbread, with added mozzarella. Both were flawless!

The two tables we were sat between, were left with dirty plates and glasses for almost 30 minutes after guests had left. The restaurant was barely 20% filled, but tables were being turned very slowly. One of our servers, as pleasant as they were, took a cigarette break in their car, parked 10 feet from the restaurant in full view of customers, whilst we sat surrounded by dirty tables.

As for mains, pretty horrendous! My partner ordered the vegetarian roast (£17), which was mostly dry and bland. I ordered the TBC Beast burger for a cool £20.50, and with the extensive listed ingredients, was expecting something brilliant! It was far from it. After initially being served the wrong burger (the base burger on the menu), I received the correct one, which wasn't much bigger. The patty was dry and overcooked, the fennel rubbed pork belly was bland and modestly portioned for something that would cost £5 to add to a standard burger, the fried beef steak on top was miniscule, impossible to bite through, grisly and dry. The bacon however, was gorgeous, as was the bun.

Midway through my meal, I went to the bar to order a glass of Rioja Blanco, the manager(?) at the bar, pulled out a visibly streaky, wet, warm glass, fresh from the glasswasher, and served the wine in that. I know that's a minor detail but??? Come on??

Overall, our impression of the restaurant, with plenty of staff, but plenty of dirty tables to match, poor food and average service, implied that whoever is running this place, has stopped caring - probably stopped training their team, too. I visited a restaurant entirely unrecognisable from the one I've frequented over the past few years - one I've been raving about, to whoever is looking for good food with a view in Southsea. I sincerely hope it picks up, and some kind of overhaul is made soon, Southsea's food scene has been picking up post-COVID, it'd be a damn shame if a gem like The Beach Club was left in the dust, due to complacency and negligence from those responsible for it.