XOXO Southampton — Restaurant in Southampton

I really want to leave a glowing review for this restaurant as it has so much potential to be utterly awesome but I feel frustrated with what is holding you back and how easily fixable it is! Firstly our experience was a lovely one compared to some reviews, we saw it from outside and was impressed with the menu, the decor looked impressive and it was a lovely sunny morning 10am so we sat outside. The lady server was lovely very friendly and efficient, the attention to details with branding and aesthetic we were impressed with, and I loved the coffee glasses! (The caramel iced coffee was lovely too) I had the potato stack and my sister had the eggs Benedict, presentation was great and it tasted delicious, we were sat saying how we would definitely go back again another time to try the bottomless brunch.... Now before leaving I used the ladies, and I have to say I was disgusted. It was filthy, there was dust and muck around the tiles on the floor, it smelled...so bad...we thought it must be the sanitary bin... The countertop was stained and grimy...really absolutely no excuse for uncleanliness even if the decor is terrible, especially so soon after opening. This should be done before any members of public enter the premises, if I'd used the loos before ordering I would have walked out. I always think the toilets represent the overall cleanliness of an establishment as if the areas the public enter aren't clean then what are the areas we don't use like?

1/ Management - please read through your reviews across platforms, take considerations to being constantly pulled up on being slow and rude, your customers will be happy to pay a good price for your lovely food if you can sort the customer service. And this is where customer reviews become important, as I mentioned earlier how we said we would like to come back for the bottomless brunch? After reading reviews of slow service, rude staff and small drinks sizes, I'm afraid I won't be returning. I wonder how many other potential repeat customers are doing the same?

2/ The toilets.....the bad reviews for these go back to at least 3 years ago, why is nothing being done about this, it's not expensive to replace a counter top and get someone to clean....

Overall you have a lovely business location, wonderful decor (exc. loos) and the most delicious food/presentation....please don't squander what was your business dream by letting yourselves down in the same areas repeatedly....

I have given 3 stars as the food was delicious and the staff member serving us was really lovely, however I have left my full honest review for people to decide...

Really nice place, lovely staff.

This was my first visit to XOXO Southampton. I was meeting some colleague for goodbye drinks on a Friday night in January. We arrived around 8pm.

As we approached the venue, it looked enticing and cosy from the outside with little lights shining through the glass frontage.

As we stepped in, we were greeted with big smiles by the friendly staff, who seemed happy to be there.

I asked for a virgin cocktail and the team were more than happy to make me anything I wanted. I chose a Pina colada, expecting just some pineapple juice and coconut water, but I was made a wonderful drink in a cocktail maker with ice, foliage, and special ingredients. The bar tender almost put milk in without checking which would have been a disaster (I'm intolerant to lactose) but I overheard them ask for milk and double checked. They immediately apologised so no harm, no foul.

My friends both wanted a dry white and the team member suggested they save money by purchasing a bottle - I was happily surprised to hear this level of conscientiousness. The drinks were reasonably priced. My virgin cocktail was £5, not sure about the wine.

Inside the venue is warm and welcoming with comfortable seating. Tables aren't situated too close to each other so you can easily hear the conversation at your own table.

The vibe was adult and calm and not like a boozer, though it may just be because it was early.

I went back for another drink a little later and asked for water for the table. The team offered to bring it over for me, which was really helpful.

We stayed for a few hours and the time flew. Really nice place,...

This morning my sister and mother-in-law attended an 18th birthday breakfast. We were dissatisfied with our experience at xoxo and the service we received was shocking. The venue was very unclean with sticky tables and floors with food left on the window seals which had been their from the night before. All of our food was preordered to make it easier for the staff but all of our food arrived at different times and the food we received was cold, when we made our waitress aware we were told “it could be worse, I worked at a wedding a few weeks ago without food heaters and it was abysmal” with no apology or sympathy. The service was appalling, we had to go downstairs to order our own tea and coffee because the upstairs bar was “too busy to make hot drinks”. We were not offered any drinks throughout our meal nor asked how the food was so we were unable to correct the issue of the cold food. When we went to pay for our food we were charged a service fee for a table of 3 (which as I mentioned we were not provided with any service.) my mother-in-law then complained and the manager offered us “a round of drinks” but at this point we had already paid and were leaving. We paid in total £38 for food that we didn’t eat and poor service in a...