8 Kings Road

Yesterday my generous and I must say, rather gorgeous husband, surprised me by taking me to a restaurant I had expressed an interest in a few months ago- brownie points to him for listening and taking note. So we spent a morning in our nest (IE our bed with hundreds of pillows and an extra blanket) reading the Sunday papers (him The Times, me the News of the World, just for the outrageous reporting and puns) eating toast and drinking the essential tea and coffee (him, white, one sugar, me mint tea). We then lazily got ready and drove down to Southsea to eat over-priced roast beef and drink flat champagne. I am definitely getting old because this morning, still feeling disgruntled, I wrote them a letter. Wanna read it?



Dear Mr Simon


I am writing to inform you of my dissatisfaction of the food and drink at your restaurant on Sunday 5th October, 1pm.

My Husband surprised me by booking a table at your restaurant after reading such good reviews on your website; he is working abroad for 6 months so we are making the most of our precious time together. We decided to make lunch special by ordering two glasses of champagne as an aperitif. Unfortunately the wine we ordered was not cold enough and was lacking in fizz, we thought that maybe it was opened during the previous nights service. This did not bode well for the meal ahead, and we were very disappointed.

We were also thinking that the Sunday lunch menu was good value for money so we were a little surprised to see there supplements on some of the dishes; I ordered the scallops and would like to ask, why there was such a large supplement? The scallops were tiny; the large portions of black pudding overwhelmed the delicate flavour of the seafood, and as they were not hand-dived (or certainly not advertised as such) I felt rather ripped off. We both followed with the roast beef (again, with a supplement) and I regret to say that the plates were not warm and the food cooled very quickly, not helped by having to wait too long for the side of vegetables. Needless to say, we skipped dessert.

I would also like to draw your attention to another problem. We loved the idea of the jazz piano, however, the heavy-footed waiters running up and down the stairs beside us drowned out the music for us. I would appreciate if you look into this matter so other people, hoping to enjoy a relaxed, romantic lunch, do not have to experience the same noise we did.

When the bill came, we both had to admit that we felt over-charged for a dining experience that just did not excite us. A lunch that was meant to be special for us fell short at the final hurdle. We will tell our friends that the surroundings are beautiful (just ask not to be seated next to the stairs), the staff are excellent but the food is unworthy of the hefty bill: no value for money, a factor more important now than ever.

Thank you for reading my letter, I will look forward to a response.

Yours Sincerely,


Adele Jackson

I know, I sound about 50 right? Well, as you all know by now I am passionate about food and I am passionate about eating out. I am not crazy about restaurants parading as fine dining, charging you the price for fine dining, and then receiving something on par with a chain restaurant. The mark up in restaurants is astonishing, I'd tell you all about it but you may not want to eat out again, I don't mind handing over the money as long as what you are getting is decent and justified. Paying £60+ for a meal that would cost less elsewhere and be just as good, if not better, leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth. People in all over the world wouldn't put up with this so why do we Brits? Maybe it's my ancestral Mediterranean blood that is boiling or maybe I'm just sick and tired of second rate food. Either way it is time to say no to crap food. Will I get a response from 8 Kings Road? I will keep you posted.