8 Kings Road, Portsmouth

great food time and time again, each time we go there it just gets better and better. shirley bassy night was great value for money and we have bookedfor the ton jones night. the best restaurant in portsmouth.

8 Kings Road presents itself as a high class eatery. The atmosphere is well lit and stylishly dressed but beware ladies, the high ceilings mean long sleeves are essential.

Dont go on a music night unless you want any dinner conversation to be completely drowned out by music volume.

Food wise, the menu looks good. Upon delivery most plates are well presented but lacks on flavour. It is over priced given the quality of ingredients and if you're tempted for a steak be sure to demand how you want it cooked. Do not be swayed if it comes out 'as the chef intends it'. You will need to be strong to spur the under trained staff into action.

Overall this venue is great for people who have more money than palate. If you care about what you eat, 8 Kings Road is not the first place to call.

We took our entire family to 8 King's Road for Christmas Day this year, it was fantastic!! 1 . food- delicious, I might even go so far as saying the potatoes were better than my own. The pork option was better than the Turkey but really don't think I can complain at all 2. Staff - very attentive and really getting in to the Christmas spirit. 3. atmosphere - lovely, although very busy was never too loud and the music and decorations really made us feel at home! The only issue for me was parking, would advise a taxi. All in all was great value for money and we all had a lovely time. Definitely going to book for next year!!

I was unfortunate enough to be one of a party 8 eating at 8 Kings Road for our annual Christmas party. As an ex-chef with over 10 years experience, I feel fairly well qualified to criticise this restaurant, and believe me, after what I witnessed last night, I think they deserve it.The interior is well decorated, and first impressions looked great, until the starters were served. One of my colleagues had the 'Smoked Salmon Millefeuille ~ red pepper salsa, caviar, creme fraiche' which looked fantastic, but instead of 'proper' caviar appeared to have cheap red lumpfish roe.I had the 'Duck Liver Parfait ~ grape chutney, chardonnay jelly, brioche' - Again, this looked great, but in terms of a coherent culinary experience, was a let down, the brioche was too sweet, the grape chutney looked and tasted like mince pie filling and marmalade, and apart from a couple of raisins showed no sign of any grapes. Another of my colleagues who had the same starter summed up with 'this would have been ok as a dessert', as it was so sweet, and as for the Chardonnay Jelly, served in a shot glass on the side - This seemed pointless, just totally pretentious pointlessness.The real problems started however, when we received our main courses. 6 of us had the 'Fillet of Beef ~ truffle mash potato, wild mushroom, Madeira jus', and 6 of us all thought the beef was far too undercooked, and on inspection, all 6 of us had blue or rare fillet steaks. Now, as a 'foodie' I'm not adverse to a rare steak, when the mood takes me, but it is nice to have a chance to choose how my steak is cooked. When we complained, the waitress simply told us the chef told her they were 'medium-rare', and that the menu stated 'medium-rare'. This was not so. There is no mention on any of the menus we saw that stated how the beef was cooked. The truffle mash didn't taste of anything, just plain mash, and the wild mushrooms, looked suspiciously like normal closed cap button mushrooms.One of my colleagues requested his steak be returned the kitchen to be cooked, what we presume was the same steak returned some time later, slightly darker in colour, but, still almost blue.Another colleague had the 'Free Range Turkey ~ cranberry and chestnut stuffing, honey and sesame glazed carrots, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes', and when his meal had been served he asked for the gravy to go with his traditional Christmas dinner. The gravy arrived after he had finished his meal, and when he pointed this out to our waitress, she apparently shrugged her shoulders and walked away!The only really good part of the meal was the desserts, which looked and tasted fantastic, so no complaints there. French and British Cheeses, for a £6.95 supplement was over priced in my opinion, two small oat crackers, a small piece of brioche and three small pieces of cheese.After such an abysmal meal, we asked to see a manager, who seemed less than co-operative, but in the end, they knocked £6 off the cost of each meal, and an extra £10. Frankly, £355 for the eight of us was still more than I would pay, after so many mistakes, we felt this had spoilt our evening. It's a shame to have to write such a poor review, especially as Portsmouth needs good restaurants, but sadly, 8 Kings Road is just not worth the money in my opinion.

We had a great time last week, lovely dinner and lovely staff. A pianist kept us entertained throughout the evening, we now try to visit at least once every two weeks and every week we have a great time!

Six of us booked a table for the ABBA night at 9pm at 8 Kings Road. However, we were not informed at the time of booking that the music would finish at 10pm. So as the singers took a break between 9 and 10, we actually heard very little of them. On top of this we were told as we were browsing the choices from the set menu that there was no more beef (disappointing as we were all going to opt for that dish. The fish starter included only one scallop, which we later realised there had been a surcharge added for this of £2.50 each....because of the one scallop. How strange?!

The best bit was the waiter brought a selection of cheeses over to compensate for the cold scallops...accompanied by two crackers to share between the six of us.

We have been here before when the food was very nice....but won't bother again! Soup was too salty and risotto tasteless.

I decided to book for 8 people to celebrate my 60th birthday, what a wonderful evening, everything was perfect, the food, the staff, the company. But it was the extras that made the evening.....the pianist playing "Happy Birthday" went I entered, the Happy Birthday iced on to my dessert plate, small things but they were thoughtful. It was an excellent evening, not rushed and I would highly recommend this restaurant for a celebration.

Has put Southsea on the world culinary map.

If you have not yet been...GO