Portsmouth Arms

This was my first visit to the Portsmouth Arms. I found it a true delight, service was excellent, a special me to Saskia. A great Turkey Roast in from of the fire. It was so enjoyable I have booked again for the 27th December.

A lovely pub. Really nice atmosphere. Great food and drink.

Held a gathering for a 30th surprise birthday. It was an excellent private area, staff couldn’t do more for us, especially Saskia and Chloe. The food was great and everything was boxed up afterwards to take home. Would definitely use their services again! Thanks.

Just wanted to leave a review to compliment the really good customer service. We arrived for some sunday lunch and our order wasn't put through, so that sadly meant a bit of a long wait. We checked to see what had happened and the staff couldn't have done more to make things right, including offering quite a bit of money off the bill. It was unexpected and a really nice gesture to make. I would definitely visit again as apart from the mix up the food, service and the atmosphere were really good. Also the Beeramisu was amazing!

Had a fantastic time at this pub! The atmosphere was warm and inviting, and the food and drinks were excellent. A special shoutout to Emily B, who was absolutely outstanding — friendly, attentive, and made us feel so welcome from the moment we arrived. She really went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect. Great service like that makes all the difference! We’ll definitely be coming back soon.

Great food, great atmosphere, and great service. Staff were well informed and attentive throughout. Our server, Emily B was particularly friendly and welcoming, with an impressive memory of our order requirements. We would definitely recommend this restaurant and would certainly consider coming again. Well done and thank you.

+1

An amazing meal with a large group of people. We all pre ordered and our food came on time and with no issues. Joseph, Emily F, and Zoe J were amazing. Thank you.

Popped in for lunchtime pool game. Nice beer and atmosphere and excellent chicken dippers and soup of the day... Pea!! Didn't get on the pool table as Ray Reardon and Jimmy White (think it was them) hogged it... Hopefully next time.

Popped in for a lunch bite, pub was quite as it was 3 in the afternoon but was very clean staff were lovely and very helpful. Ordered a steak sandwich which was very well presented and couldn't fault anything about my visit. Would recommend for food if you was passing buy.

We are (semi) regulars at The Portsmouth Arms, and our daughter decided she wanted to go for a pre-5th birthday meal. We all had a lovely time. The food was excellent and the service (by EmilyF) was fantastic 👌 She was really friendly and properly looked after us...especially our daughter 😊 All in all, a great experience. Thank you guys 👍

We had the best Christmas meal yesterday! The food, the service and the vibe was brilliant. Thank you. The chef you’re amazing and the bar staff are so friendly xx

The food was amazing. Between us we had all 3 courses and everything was lovely. The food is also good sizes. Our servers were Zoë and Connor, they were very good. They regularly checked in with us if we wanted anything else.

Great size, very tasty.

Lovely pub layout. Relaxed atmosphere and the steak and tanglefoot pie was lovely. The staff accommodated changes I requested (beans and chips instead of mash) would definitively recommend.

It was my first time visiting the Portsmouth Arms, it was a visit with the family, and well worth the experience the food was amazing it was lovely pub food with a little something extra and worth every penny, the staff were very polite and helpful and the pub had a lovely atmosphere which a lot of places have been missing in recent months and a big thankyou to Sarah C for her great service. Would highly recommend the Portsmouth Arms to any one thinking about going there either for a drink or food.

Love this pub - such a vibe, Zoe J gave great service throughout our visit & the chef Ollie knows how to make some mean nachos

Went for Sunday lunch today the food was amazing and credits to Alicia who served us with such a warm and welcoming attitude.

Great food, a good selection of ales on tap, and excellent service from Sophie and Zoe.

Lovely Sunday lunch at The Pompie, portion size was good and service from Connor and Emily B was excellent. Thanks guys 👍

Excellent place to eat! Quick service, tasty meals, and very reasonable prices. A perfect spot for a casual lunch or dinner. I will return for sure!

Really enjoyed our meal here! Lovely food! Even better value on a Monday with 1/3 off.

Lovely place, good food and amazing people. We went with a group of 6 adults and a 3 month old baby. The pub quiz was on which was good fun to listen into, but what made it so special was both staff and customers made such a fuss to ensure the baby was ok with the noise. It was lovely. I also accidentally left my handbag and Emily (lovely member of staff) kindly called me using my reservation number and held it in the office for me until I could collect. Super honest and sweet! We had preordered on the phone 10 mins ahead as we arrived near to kitchen closing, which the pub were happy to do. As soon as we sat down, it was on the table within 5 minutes. Food is always fab and gives you a home comfort feel. The Portsmouth arms has been one of my favourite pubs since moving to Basingstoke. Great for families. My friends also enjoyed over other places we have previously been.

Lovely pub with great food. Service was high standard and our lovely waitress was great when catering to allergies l.

Had a lovely Sunday roast with the family. Food was lovely and service was great. Connor really looked after us.

All the food was amazing and the service was speedy and fast. Zoe J was also great and attentive. The food cooked by Ollie was fantastic

Lovely relaxed atmosphere at Portsmouth Arms for a catch-up with friends and great service from Emily B. who sorted out our pudding requests beautifully!

An amazing pub to go to. Very quiet on most days of the week. People are lovely, would definitely recommend.

Had a lovely meal. Enjoyed the new menu and raspberry and gin cheesecake was a winner. Staff were lovely- thank you Abi and team for looking after us so well.

The bar staff are lovely and very helpful, I had chicken parm and it was like an old boot with cheese chucked on and the chips were not triple cook lushness they were what looked like frozen chips and were served cold. No one else in the restaurant except us two

For a new pub, it looks like it has been three a few hundred years. Very popular, which tells its own story. Only had drinks, so can't comment on food

Service was really good. Connor welcomed us and it was lovely to meet someone with such charisma. He made us feel so welcome, and recommended items from the menu. He was super good humoured and it made our time at the pub so much fun. He’s an absolute star!!!! Food was ok, I had high hopes as it sounded great. I had the chicken parmigiana, and was a little disappointed. It was a bit dry, as were the chips.

Good location food ok ,steak well done instead of medium.

Lovely pub. Couple of issues with the food, but staff were very good, Connor & Joseph. Had a great night.

It's a nice pub and the food was pretty good. The staff were friendly enough.

Emily B gave us 1st rate service and even went the extra mile for our grandsons birthday. Food was good, only the beef was over done slightly(not pink as advertised) Overall an excellent experience.

The food was outstanding and the staff were helpful and friendly. The only negatives were that we had to ask several times and wait ages for some table water and we were given serving spoons with our pudding because the dessert spoons needed polishing apparently. We will definitely be going back!

Have popped in many times for a quick drink without any issues. However we decided to have a meal here today. I ordered a simple macaroni cheese topped with chicken, partner ordered half a chicken in a meal. Partners meal was more than dissapointing, the half a chicken wasn't even close to 1/4. Partner left feeling hungry, questioning what they do with the rest of the chicken🤣 photo of partners meal added before he ate any🙄 I ordered a macaroni topped with diced chicken. My docked chicken was incredibly dry. Macaroni I had n complaints for and was served with a side of salad. However an hour after eating I felt incredibly nauseouscand ended up being sick. :( quite disappoined as weve never had problems when popping in for just a drink. Will be avoiding for food in future

Food was rather average, luke warm, hard and odd taste potatoes and tasteless gravy, oil in Yorkshire Puddings. waiting time of half an hour for a Sunday roast when place is rather quiet (about 25 customers) is also not a good sign. Food was also served at different times so some people sitting at one table will finish before others receive their plates. Even collection of payment took more than 20 minutes and we ended up going to the till and paying there. There are plenty of similar places in Basingstoke that offer better service.

Good pub, however. I will say they do pick and choose the “rules” regarding blue light discount. I have never known an establishment to keep changing their requirements of blue light so often. I understand this is a luxury really however Pick what the discount is or don’t have it. Don’t keep changing the rule for this every other day, we sometimes plan our visit with blue light in mind for it then not to be possible. It is massively inconsistent. I have had so far; - has to be over £10 - only week days - not on Sundays - only on food - can be on drinks but has to be with food I would call up before my visit however trying to get through to this pub via the phone has been quite a task several times.

This was pretty disappointing overall. The food itself was pretty tasty, and the staff were pleasant. However, they ran out of beef Sunday roast and didn’t have this available as of 2.30pm on a Sunday. I feel they could’ve told us this before we came in, as they only had the nut roast available as a replacement. They also didn’t then have the chicken burger or the torte for dessert. The service was also pretty slow and it took ages to get the food we were eventually able to get. They also have strange quotes on the walls, which seemed, to put it politely a little outdated. The prices were fairly reasonable though and I liked that they had unlimited Yorkshire puddings with the Sunday roast.

+6

8/11/22 Ordered chicken burger at lunchtime but was served 3 reformed chicken nuggets in a bun. Not sure if this is a permanent change, but would rather have not been served it. I mentioned my disappointment to the manager who seemed embarrassed. Reliable and consistently good pub food. Hall and Woodhouse pub so Badger beer only. The sunny beer garden is back now. Great team of people running the pub.

Third time lucky we thought - first time and second times were terrible for too many reasons to go into BUT we thought we’d try again as this venue is beautiful and surely we couldnt always be so unlucky to have yet another bad experience especially as recent reviews look like it’s much improved. Sadly third time wasn’t a charm. Fish overcooked and dried out ( more batter than fish to be fair) although chips were good ( I mean, even I can’t get chips wrong so) Chicken Parm not good - no seasoning / coating - just chicken breast with cheese. Seasonal veg cooked beyond edible. Hot chocolate anything but hot ( should be renamed cold chocolate) Service very slow. Two hours for dinner ( no starters) Had to order dessert at the bar and charged for it but they didn’t have enough portions left of what we wanted, even though they took the payment for it. Asked for a refund for items they could not provide, but “ computer says No” can’t do that. You have to have something else cos we can’t refund ( even though they don’t have it, so shouldn’t be selling it). That’s it for us, we tried, but each occasion ends up worse than the last, so we’ll have to find a better option for family meet ups.

Popped in for a quick Christmas day drink with our family, we were told that if we wanted a drink, we had to drink outside due to food bookings. We asked to stand near the pool table area as it was 2 degrees outside and my partner didn't have a coat, of which the team member told us it was a holding area for the change over of Christmas tables, this was at 12:20pm and 90% of the tables had not even sat let alone be ready for a change over, we said we would leave it and go somewhere else, to which the delightful team member sarcastically, wish us a merry Christmas, you can now see why this pub is dying and their sister pub its thriving !!

We had a table for 10 and were really looking forward to our meal, especially as it was for a birthday celebration. Unfortunately, the experience was incredibly disappointing from start to finish. We had to ask four times for some tap water for the table, which set the tone for the rest of the evening. The Yorkshire puddings were overcooked, the fish and chips arrived cold, and the beef was completely overdone – despite being told it would be served pink, it came out practically brown. To make matters worse, we were given a fossilised lemon and the cauliflower cheese was burnt beyond recognition. Overall, it was an awful experience, made even more frustrating by the high prices considering the poor quality of food and service. Truly disappointing for what should have been a special occasion.

If you are thinking of booking a large party - Don’t !! Service was poor , mistakes made and food average - we were even served the same starter portion as a main , and when challenged the waiter insisted it was the right size. Had I not been in a large family Christmas group I would have complained there and then as it was even on the same plate