The Bridge Tavern, Portsmouth

As we live quite near to the Bridge Tavern, my partner and I had often spoken of going there for a meal, as it looks so friendly and homely. It isn't. The venue's perhaps ok for a drink - either outside overlooking the docks or inside in the traditional pub decor.

Beyond that, though, it was just a series of bitter disappointments.

We decided to try it for a Sunday lunch, and popped in at around 13h30 on Sunday 8th August 2010. We hadn't booked, so we did expect a bit of a delay. However, the restaurant was hardly at capacity ... there were empty tables all round downstairs, upstairs (where we sat) was completely vacant aside from us and a family of four, and outside was mostly people having pints in the sun. So, from that perspective, they should not have struggled too much to push out what were two standard plates of Sunday beef roast.

When I reached the counter, we were informed that there would be at least an hour's wait for our food. We decided to hang around, as we could have a chat until lunch arrived, and we assumed that if it took that long, it would probably be fresh and good quality.

However, lunch took an hour and twenty minutes to arrive at our table, without any offer of a breadroll or olives to keep us going. When the meal arrived, the plates and cutlery were plonked down at the end of the table for us to slide across, so I guess either they're not interested in service or the person wasn't used to serving restaurant guests.

The vegetables were luke-warm and the meat was tough, dry and rubbery. It tasted like it had been waiting in the oven since that morning, so why it would take over an hour to reach our table is beyond understanding. My partner could not eat his meat.

The portion of vegetables was at least a decent size, and tasted ok, but was cool to luke warm.

We thought of complaining, but considering the lack of interest displayed at the till and with the delivery of the food, we didn't hold much confidence that the staff would be aware of how to deal with such a complaint. Bearing in mind that we had arrived at around 1pm, ordered around 1.30pm and it was around 3pm when the food arrived at our tables, we were also so hungry by that stage that we ate what we could and left the rest and then just left.

I did, however, feel I should bring it to the manager's attention, and emailed the manager through the contact details given on the Fuller's brewery website, on the same day. The manager has - to date - not offered any apology or explanation.

My advice is, if you're thinking of dining out in Old Portsmouth, find somewhere else. If you're looking for a pint overlooking the docks, then the Bridge Tavern may still be worth a go.

29 Oct 2010 13:09