The Merchant House — Restaurant in Portsmouth

A great selection of beers, with regular 'tap takeovers' from your favourite breweries.

A selection of tasty street food. My favourite is probably the Popeye burger. A chicken burger made with thigh meat rather than breast, which is must tastier. Also much more including loaded fries, Gyros, and a delicious vegetarian burger (possibly vegan - not sure).

They are dog friendly and there are often quite a few dogs in there, including mine. My dog reacts to the word Merchie in the same way she reacts to the word Walkies!!

Seating upstairs and downstairs, and even some outside seats to catch sun most of the day.

Friendly staff who are happy to talk you through the beer selection.

All this seems to attract a good bunch of customers. Often seen families with kids in there enjoying...

Used to come here often when it opened, a real breath of fresh air among the tired "traditional" pubs of Albert Road, the beer was excellent and the clientele trendy.

But having returned a few times I feel it's become a victim of its own success. The beers are still excellent, but that's not enough. The trendy crowd have found somewhere even trendier, that's understandable, but what's unacceptable is that standards have slipped, each of the 6 beers we had over 2 days was served in a dirty glass - and when I complained I got a confused look - hopefully my pic demonstrates this, the part of the glass the beer goes in was equally dirty.

It's very simple, it doesn't matter how good your beer is, don't disrespect your customers by serving them in...

Absolutely love coming to the Merchant House, always get excited about it whenever I do. The food is so dirty but in the best way. Loaded fries, fully packed burgers, gyros and lots of veggie and vegan options too. My kind of size portions too. But don't worry, what they bring in quantity they deliver in quality too. Well thought out dishes with inspiration gathered from street food around the world. Don't even get me started on the selection of craft beers, spirits and wine. Oh and they work with a charity so every purchase you make helps someone else. An all round stunner...