Argento Steakhouse — Restaurant in Southampton

Really wonderful food

We chose Argento Steakhouse because we were in Southampton for a night before our cruise, and our hotel was close by.

The interior of the establishment lacks charm, as it is a spacious room furnished with tables and chairs, which were somewhat sticky. Argento has an open kitchen, which means that the steaks are cooked on a real fire. This means that, most likely, a little grease-soaked smoke enters the restaurant, which makes the tables sticky. In this particular instance, it may be necessary to utilize a grease remover spray daily to effectively manage the situation.

Our waitress appeared to be new and was still a bit shy, but she was very friendly and accommodating. The two guys who were waiting for us as well were nimble and really top-notch.

Let's get to the main reason why Argento receives five stars from me. The food! It took a while for our food to come, but we had a big table with many different dishes. However, the wait turned out to be exceedingly worthwhile, as we have rarely encountered such delectable meat. The ribs were so tender and flavorful, and the entire dish was just perfect. The beef tenderloin was seared as per the request and was succulent and tender. Also, the avocado burger was top-notch, and the meat tasted really delicious, like good beef with a nice flavor from grilling over an open fire. What about the side dishes? Well, what can I say? We had garlic potato chips, regular fries, asparagus with garlic sauce, onion rings, mashed potatoes, and fresh spinach leaves. They're all excellent, and they're hot and delicious. Only the spinach was slightly sandy, but that's probably also a sign that it was really fresh and not frozen.

Overall, it was a great evening, and the food and service were top-notch. I'm happy to give 5 stars without hesitation, even though the tables were sticky. Next time we're in Southampton,...

For a place that offers Tuesday all u can eat ribs at a lower than regular price, one would think the management has perfected this item. Yes they did, in a lazy and lousy manner. I would cook my rib in this fashion: slightly trim, season or marinate the rib; slow cook to 95% in oven un-covered; for each order, charbroiled the room temperature precooked rib while brushing the choice of sauce on it. I would expect an open fire grill in a steak house. The one I ate borderlined without salt on the meat, and (overly cooked) dry. I can understand baby back rib is more expensive. As a diner paying 20 quids, I rather have ONE quality rack than 1 & half quantity. If it is not a huge bother to your line cook, would you serve the baked potato not on the side please. It is a nuisance to deliver a morsel of potato from a side plate. I was also surprised at a rare-done steak served to one of my accompanions. There was no clear crossed grill mark. Likely, the steak was turned over so many times. Or you did not set your grill with different heat zone. I will also suggest to prepare your 'seafood platter', as called by your waiter, differently. Zarzuela (in the last picture) is a stew into which the chef can add raw ingredients at different/appropriate time. The one you served is definitely not a stew. Different seafood items required to be treated/cooked properly before mixing into a sauce. I hate eating raw squid and chewy shrimp from the same dish, while the salmon fillet has the right texture. Please advertise if u shall adjust your food preparation. I would like to come again for the family atmosphere and lovely authentic attire of your serving staff, (disappointed with the house manager who dressed so...

The only reason I am giving 2 stars is because the food was really nice. Otherwise it would have been lower. We went for my husband’s birthday so 12 of us and even though he booked the table 3 weeks prior, they still didn’t have a record of our booking so they had to find us a large table in a very busy restaurant. Sadly it went downhill from there…it took 15 minutes for someone to take our drink order, another 10 mins for someone to take our food order and one of the “waiters” was so gormless and couldn’t be bothered to be there it was beyond irritating as everything was an effort. It took an hour for our food to come out, bearing in mind we had 2 children with us so they were starving and constantly asking for their dinner getting upset. It didn’t help that because of the delay finding us a table that he had booked delayed everything by about 30 mins. We didn’t start eating until 9:50pm!! Which is absolutely ridiculous and if we had known it would take that long we would have left. No offers of more drinks we had to ask and No apologies for the delay and then we had to ask 3 times for the bill. We almost walked out because we shouldn’t have to ask so many times for a bill when we’ve been treated so badly. Service charge removed immediately as there was no service it was appalling. My daughter didn’t touch her dinner because she went passed hungry where it took so long and the staff didn’t want to be there. I understand they were busy but they clearly couldn’t cope with the volume of customers yet they still let people in and it didn’t matter that we booked they still packed the restaurant out and couldn’t cope with it. Would never return with a large party on a busy night again!! So...