Mettricks Portswood — Restaurant in Southampton

I had a previous review on here which was positive, but following the recent refurbishment in 2024, I have decided to submit another. I visited on 29th March with a friend and we were both disappointed with the service we received. First of all, the restaurant looked really short staffed on a Saturday morning with one staff member taking orders on the till and delivering orders to tables. He was struggling with this, whilst another staff member was focusing on drinks.

This caused severe delays in food being served, along with orders being taken. I saw customers waiting 15 mins or more to have their order taken at the till with a queue. I ordered a bubble tea and a sticky toffee slice. Unfortunately, it took 25 minutes for me to receive the slice from the baked goods cabinet by the till and I only got it once I had asked three times. I understand that Mettricks may have new staff, but management should really schedule more people on a shift to cover busy periods.

A couple with a child sat next to me, even commented that they were considering asking for a refund because service was significantly slow.

The recent refurbishment seemed to focus on the brewery part of the business, but this has meant that this branch has lost a lot of seating downstairs and it feels cramped. The vault and balcony area upstairs is now open, but the loss of...

Went here for breakfast to catch up with my sister, we both ordered the vegan breakfast but swapped the avocado and kale for eggs and hash-browns. Firstly one of us was charged over £2 more for the same order, but was grateful that they reimbursed the difference when we went back and pointed this out to them. Then we waited nearly an hour and only one breakfast came out, there were a few things wrong with the breakfast as they hadn’t removed the avocado and kale, but accepted to eat what they had brought out anyway. Then around 10 minutes later my sister’s breakfast arrived and it was not what she had ordered, it was a breakfast wrap so we sent it away. Another member of staff then brought over the same plate and we had to send it away again and say this is not our order. They did not apologise or come back to say the chef was cooking the correct order. In the end we were both tired of waiting and didn’t want to eat on our own as we had come out to eat breakfast together, so we asked for a refund on the missing breakfast. The lady at the till did not acknowledge our complaint, made no apology, rolled her eyes and called over her supervisor. Thankfully he then reimbursed us and apologised. Next time we will just go to Trago Lounge as we know it’s good food and service everytime. More training is needed here in...

Had I written a review prior to their refit in 2024, this would have received 5 stars across the board. Mettrick's Portswood was genuinely one of the few gems of Portswood, a laid back atmosphere, open space, lovely interior and good food with friendly staff.

Fast forward to 2024 and sadly what a difference a refit makes. Now losing more than half its downstairs seating to brewing equipment, most of the natural light and nature outside is no longer visible to see or in one case, a window is completely blacked out.

The downstairs seating resembles more of a cramped classroom now losing the relaxed vibe it once had and where once, classic middle of the road tunes piped through the speakers, slightly more avant gard jazz fusion comes through.

It's not without its positives, the coffee as always is excellent, the staff friendly and the ingredients of their food good. But by literally being across from The Mitre which again is spacious and good for cheap beers being a Greene King or Trago Lounge which haved upped their game in the food department recently, reasons to visit Mettricks Portswood have dwindled considerably.

Don't write Mettricks off completely, better to go to the Guildhall branch which thankfully still has all the...