The White Swan, Southampton — Restaurant in Southampton

My family and I came here for the first time on Sunday on the back of recommendations and were delighted with what we got.

Our server was excellent - she was friendly, accommodating and basically damn good at her job. She gave my niece colouring crayons at the end which I think made her day (my niece's day that is, though who knows perhaps the server loves them too!), more of these kind of people please.

Main thing though was the food. We all had a carvery and oh my days do they not mess about with the quality. Perfect beef, superb roasties, massive Yorkies, dangerously good veg and gravy. Dauphinoise spuds and mac & cheese were unexpected but we found them a home too. God it was delicious. None of us could move for ages afterwards. Niece had a make-your-own sundae which she seemed to adore.

The atmosphere was great too, it was heaving but it was early afternoon on a Sunday so a busy time for grub anyway. I'd highly recommend booking a good week in advance as I imagine slots get gobbled up fast. Despite there being so many people there it wasn't raucous at all, much more of a friendly vibrant setting than some chavvy pub like one or two places around here. Ideal for families and the Itchen right outside the window gives it that extra something. I bet it's beautiful on a nice Summer's day and you're sitting outside.

Apologies for the essay but some places deserve the praise and this is definitely one of them. £20ish per person + drinks for what is potentially an enormous and top quality feast? That is excellent. All in all a fantastic place to cure your hunger and thoroughly enjoy doing so. Thanks to The White Swan, we will absolutely be back and we'll be telling anyone who'll listen to visit too....

Staff were very welcoming and helpful. A very homely bar area; dining area likened to other carverys, lots of seating. I asked if I could have the more well done piece of beef from one end of the joint but was informed it was all the same and he surprisingly, despite my asking, said he wouldn't cut the end I had requested... the pork was very good but sadly no crackling (always a favourite part of a roast pork dinner)... Turkey also good. Dinner of the vegetable trays were nearly empty and not refilled for some time.... all sources had run out in the serving dishes..on asking a very lovely waitress kindly brought some to our table, however (despite it only being 6.45pm on a Friday evening) they had totally run out of apple sauce which was a shame. Roast potatoes and other veg were good. We certainly had more than enough to eat. The toilets are in need of some tlc, needed cleaning as a starter from top to bottom and a new coat of paint and one sink tap was broken, the wooden sides looked like they've seen better days. Overall, I would still say if you want a filling bite to eat or somewhere to meet and have a drink before/after a flight it would probably hit the spot for you, but if you're after a fancy night out this would not be my first choice. Depends what you're looking for. Thank you to our very tentative waitresses... they were all very...

Lovely place to visit with great views and food. Carvery is the best around! Highly recommend! However, the following has ruined our experience today of a pub/restaurant that we love but the food was still as great as it always is so we have still given 5 stars for this!

FYI: Service dogs and assistance dogs are not the same. Assistance dogs are not required by law to be registered or carry an i.d like a service dog would. However they are still covered under the Equality Act 2010 and it is against the law to ask for the reason why someone requires an assistance dog!

Making customers feel uncomfortable by trying to call them out on them having an assistance dog is classed as discrimination. Making comments which were clearly heard by the customers and made them feel even more uncomfortable is also classed as discrimination!

Please just educate yourself and your staff on the laws around disabilities as not all of them are visible. Thankyou.

EDIT: Have visited again since the above happened and was greeted by the same negativity and hostility from a certain member of staff. It's a real shame that hidden disabilities are being discriminated against and people are made to feel unwelcome by people like this! Due to this, i am removing a star from my review! Food still remains at a 5* but unfortunately this particular member of staff is bringing the...