Gin and Olive Southsea Reviews Summary

Interior and Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Really nice interior and good cocktails."
• "The music was lovely and you could still enjoy a good chat without the need to shout."
• "Fantastic restaurant with brilliant atmosphere, serving top-quality food!"
• "Nice gin cocktails, fantastic atmosphere and deco."
• "The décor is very good."
• "Particularly liked the interior and the canapés provided were amazing!"
• "The building and decor alike are unique and chic."

Cons:

• "Quirky interior however felt it was a little cramped but I'm not the smallest person."
• "One of the staff glared at my friend, really discouraged us from eating here."
• "No atmosphere, didn’t make any effort considering it was an 18th celebration."
• "The upstairs area captured the heat even with their big windows wide open!"
• "Would be good to lighten up the upstairs more as well as it was quite tricky to see my food!"
• "Great place but beware toilets are upstairs up a steep narrow staircase...don't get too drunk otherwise you might lose your footing on the steep stairs."

Service

Pros:

• "Consistently attentive and friendly service, the waiters here are always brilliant."
• "Staff that served were helpful."
• "The service was excellent all evening. Just the right amount of attention from the lovely staff."
• "Absolutely fantastic food, the new manager Sean is very welcoming and attentive."
• "The staff were kind and friendly, seeing to as very quickly."
• "Both the waitress and manager were lovely and super friendly."
• "The waiting staff were all very polite, attentive and had smiles on their faces."

Cons:

• "The service was terrible, even though they had enough staff working."
• "Staff were unfriendly, rude and abrupt."
• "We were left waiting a while for someone to come past so we could order more drinks."
• "It took a while to order drinks and even longer to ask a server to order our food (at least 20 minutes)."
• "One member of staff ignored me when I said one dish wasn’t fresh."
• "Staff and owner were especially rude when my friends steak was clearly not made to order."
• "Was bullied by the large man I’m assuming chef to pay the bill in full and who wouldn’t even listen to our concerns."

Food and Drinks

Pros:

• "Cocktails were lovely, 2-4-1 happy hour, can't complain."
• "Delicious and fair priced food."
• "The food is incredible!! Like some of the best I've ever eaten, generous portions and reasonable."
• "The Grill sharing platter for food which was excellent! A perfect size for two people. Cooked very well and tasted great."
• "The food was devoured and the drinks were tasty; vast selection of cocktails, and gin funnily enough."
• "The food was absolutely incredible - although the portions are HUGE!"
• "Food is delicious, particularly anything halloumi."

Cons:

• "Meal 3) A butternut squash salad.... This turned up totally missing any butternut squash."
• "Very pricey! For few olives and 4 slices of white bread!! We paid 10£ just for those as kitchen was closed."
• "Just my partner order steak burger took a bite well it was raw."
• "Food average. Enormous amount if crushed potatoes with a dry salmon cutlet."
• "Most of the food was nice, however steak was quite chewy."
• "We ordered 2 pasta dishes that we tried to send back as they were cold, watery and had no flavour."
• "The kitchen was too busy to give us butter for the bread? I had one bite of the steak and it was very low quality and overcooked."

Pricing and Value

Pros:

• "Expensive during peak times but surprisingly good deals during certain times like 2 for 1 meals happy hour."
• "The 2pm-4pm starter and main for 16 quid is a great deal considering the steak is £19 on its own!"
• "We dont mind paying a little more for great food and good service, but their prices are very reasonable in my opinion for what they deliver."
• "Great value for money! We couldn't finish it!"

Cons:

• "Overall a nice experience, however, a little overpriced for what it was."
• "It’s also quite expensive. The photo posted was of the meat platter for £32."
• "Quite expensive but expected given the variety and rarity of the gins."
• "And expensive for what was recieved will be a long time before I try again food wasn't horrible just not upto what I was expecting from past experiences and normal overpriced cocktails."
• "But be warned it's very expensive, 2 nice tipples can quite easily cost you anywhere between £15-£25."

Management and Booking

Pros:

• "G&O were always prompt in responding, very informative, and accommodating to our requests."
• "The staff could not do enough, thank you for a fantastic day."
• "Having previously been in for drinks and dinners we had our baby shower here over the weekend, we will definitely be back for future gatherings."

Cons:

• "Sean came to the table threatening to ask us to leave after singing happy birthday."
• "They have a terrible customer care team. They can't take bookings over the phone for more than 8 people and neither would not give any reason for it."
• "One of the staff glared at my friend, really discouraged us from eating here."
• "Changed to one star now as the management have utterly lied on my Google review."
• "However I wish I had of paid more attention to the 'rude manager' reviews before visiting."
• "E mailed to book table. No response. Phoned to confirm. Told fully booked."
• "Was bullied by the large man I’m assuming chef to pay the bill in full and who wouldn’t even listen to our concerns."