Platform Tavern — Restaurant in Southampton

There's quite literally no other pub like this in Southampton city centre. I hadn't been here for years but it was a pleasant surprise to find the same easy going laid-back atmosphere, and ultra friendly service when i went for a Sunday roast. There's still live music most days and a fire going on cold days. In fact, the more i think about it, the leather sofa by the hearth looked suspiciously familiar..... probably the same old friend I used to relax into twenty years ago. In an age where everything is wide open spaces, soulless and impersonal, it's refreshing to find a cosy pub where the barman positively encourages conversation and intimate ambience allows unrelated groups to chat. But what mainly caused me to post this review was the fantastic roast dinner i had. When all other pubs within the centre of town resolutely refuse to serve roasts after a 5 o'clock deadline, and Witherspoons just won't do, it looked bleak until a quick search produced the platform tavern which serves a range of sunday roast options until 11 (* check *) or the food has run out. Maybe I was starving hungry, maybe the double gin and tonic i ordered as soon as i entered affected me more than I care to admit, or maybe it was simply because the dishes are carefully thought out and the food well cooked, but I was absolutely blown away. Wow. Mmmmmm..... Quite simply, this was THE BEST Sunday roast I've had in some time (and I regularly eat at the red lion the well-known roast benchmark, at least before 5pm) and the serving was a decent size and they don't skimp on gravy - two of my 5 personal requirements of a good roast. Every plate gets a Yorkshire pud and alongside the crispy well-roasted potatoes the different veg served included cauliflower cheese. Yes, you heard me, the veg served includes cauliflower cheese. Could just be me actually, but doesn't everyone like (no! NEED!) a good Yorkshire pudding? And after well cooked, moist, tender meat, doesnt everyone want variety in the vegetables? Ok, just me then.... That roast dinner was exactly how I like it. I've had other dishes there which were excellent but that was years ago, this is the first food I've had recently and the standard is still superb. You do pay for it though, and it's at the higher end of pub roast prices (in my limited experience) but certainly far cheaper than at a restaurant. But at 12/13 pound it was worth every penny and possibly the best value for money right now...

i was there!!! sunday mothers day twenty twenty four!!! in a small space but still got all eleven of us at a table and a small child and a live band right beside us!!! ha ha!!! it was very sweet and humble effort!!! the food wasn't too shabby too!!! the band even kicked off their set with that 'down under' diggy sunday drive tune!!! all in all!!! stress level wise!!! i think it was the best sunday mothers day dinner i've ever had with the people i live with!!! thankyou to the management so much for helping to make it go okay!!! (i had two coca-colas and a roast dinner of which i did choose lamb but i don't know there was a bit of a mix up of beef or lamb dinners i still ate it i was too hungry to keep complaining by the time it was mentioned i was half way through it!!! and a cheese board for dessert which even came with grapes!!! top service for styling the plate up nicely!!!) (from looking at the platform tavern website it appears they have had and still have many different bands playing!!! so!!! if that is too nerve wracking while eating and drinking it's not the ideal place for you!!! anyways!!! in particular the band that time were a male and female with guitar skills and vocal skills all quite good!!! the only thing that struck as a negative was the female looked like she had left the painting in the back room for a bit and started mucking around on the mic while it dries!!! i mean!!! really really really going there with me!!! i prefer to see the whole thoughtful visual going there too with the performers for their...

Disclaimer, I've been here many times and really loved the place, but it only takes one bad experience to spoil all the good times...

Had a disappointing pre-Xmas meal here with a couple of friends. 2 of us ordered the seafood platter, at £19 one of the most expensive items on the menu. They were out of scallops so cod was offered, not ideal but fine, though I would have liked the price to have been a little lower as I would have thought that scallops are more expensive than cod.

The food came out, but both seafood platters were cold, so sent back. They came out and the calamari rings were still cold. Nobody came back to check on how the food was, and by this time we were all very hungry so ate it anyway.

At the end we queried the bill and reqeusted that we paid for just one of the seafood platters, which I think was reasonable. But the manager told us that she could only offer us a 30% discount, which I said I was not happy with, but "she was unable to offer a bigger discount" and that it was our fault for not reporting that the second serving was also cold.

To me, if food is sent back once, and still comes out cold again the failure is with the restaurant. If we had sent it back a second time, the third meal would also have had to go back. We had given them an opportunity to rectify the mistake by sending it back once, and this opportunity had been missed. I've been coming to the Platform Tavern for 20 years and it's a great place, but this was an incredibly...