Oh dear, The White Star, lost its shine?

http://www.whitestartavern.co.uk/home.php

Oh no i think it really has lost it's shine, have been here a few time now, and last night was just disappointing, our starters were ok on the 3 for £10, but as they had come from Uptons could not really say the white star did well with these, the oysters we had were not that good, as there were unprepared for us, and after asking for the shallot vinaigrette and not getting it and had to wait to get the waiter's eye, when it was not even busy, i don't think is very good, i ordered the ham egg and chips, while my partner ordered the burger and chips, both our chips were over cooked, and more like crisps, will still drink here but i think after last meal here that will be it.
I had heard it was going to be used on Ramsay's Best Restaurant, i don't know if this is true or if it even got on to the show, but after our last meal here it really shouldn't got on to the show.

Milan restaurant

http://www.themilanrestaurant.com/

Well we have been here 3 times now, and what a good place it is, the first time we went here with a few friends, altogether there was 5 of us,i started with a pint of Peroni, and some olives at the bar, then sat at the table and ordered the Seared scallops which were cook to perfection, three of us had the Sauteed King Prawns which again were cooked brilliantly and the last guy ordered the Misto pesce to which the waiter asked if it was for just him which it was, and when it came out we realized why he asked as it really is to share, which i have to say we did all share in the end, for main i had the Italian burger, which was on the special board, which came with Gorgonzola cheese which as someone not a fan of cheese i asked for it with out, which was not a problem for them, and i was able to have the burger cooked to order which was very rare, two others went for the Risotto of the day which came with lots of cheese mushrooms and truffles, which was so very creamy, and cooked so well not at all over cooked at all which happens in a lot of places, one of the guys went for the Spaghetti King prawns, again prawns were just right, i think the only bad comment here was the it could have come with a bit more chilli, the last guy had spaghetti meat balls which to be honest if they couldn't do this Italian staple then again there really is something wrong, after all our food we had a really good, espresso, and one of my favorites a nice shot of limoncello which was given to us for free.

The second time we went there was just the two of us for lunch, we started with the Misto pesce, after trying it the first time we couldn't resist, and again it was really good, for my main i went for the Calzone, which was huge, and so good, but i have to be honest, we were slightly hungover, so i couldn't manage the whole thing but the waitress was really good and offered to box it up for me to take home which i did, it really helped with the hangover later in the day, Richard had the spaghetti and sausage which was really nice and i have to say as always happens i had food envy, again we had the coffee, and limoncello, in fact we had 2 and again we were given them free,

The 3rd time we went here for for an evening meal last night, and both the waiters and waitresses remembered us, which was nice as we were given a very warm welcome, while we were there they had a 30th birthday party in, when i saw them all come in i did think it was going to be very annoying but i have to say, the restaurant is large enough that they were not really an issue, again we shared the Misto pesce this time there was no scallops so in there place we were offer mussels, whitebait and clams, how could we say no to that, all was fantastic, but i do think the squid should have a bit more flavor in the batter. After that we both went on to have the steak Diane, which was on the special board, we had our sauce on the side, as we both ordered our steak blue, and oh my god, was it good, i think it is now my favorite place to have a steak, again we went for our coffees, but this time i had a decaf espresso, which the waitress brought over i must say it looked a bit watery and with in minuets the waiter came over with a replacement without me asking which was good, again we ordered a limoncello which we paid for this time which we thought was a shame, but then the waiter came over with another one on him, we then ordered a bottle of wine, and sat at the bar, now i have to say we went on a Wednesday, and i have to say that there is a very busy bar next door, with which the restaurant shears the toilets, which i have to say is not something i enjoyed as by 10 pm i went to the loo, and the floor was covered with pee, from the guys in the bar, so a really, really good place to eat both for lunch and dinner, but i think for dinner i would get there early, so when the bar gets busy you don;t have to share the loo's .

Dock o' The Bay

http://www.dockothebay.co.uk/home

Now this is one of our many local places to visit, and we use it a lot, we are always made to feel very welcome, and have come to know the staff well, it has a good selection of larger and small but good wine selection.

Nearly every time we eat her, Richard love the red snapper, which isn't on a lot of menus in southampton, and i have to say i have yet to see him leave any, my main is a mix between, the steak which as you may have guessed i had blue, and again peppercorn sauce on the side, just fo pip my chips in to, and the mussels, and my god they are good the only thing is i always want more.

when you go here i just hope you are lucky enough to have Matt behind the bar, he really knows his stuff when it comes to making cocktails, not only the classics but can also make up a good one while your at the bar.

in the summer last,(2009) they offered to do bbqs on sundays weather permitting, and i really enjoyed this, as i was able to sit out on the deck in the sun someone doing my bbq with a cool pint or G+T many a Sunday could be spent on here, and for those of you that feel you need to work up your appetite be for you eat Southampton common is just up the road so on good days it really is a good way to spend the day.

Oxfords

http://www.oxfordsrestaurant.com/

This is one of a few restaurants that i went to and the first time and hated it, on this occasion, i ordered, the "Best 8oz aged fillet stake" and as always i went for blue, and well i have never seen a blue stake cooked so much, and at £22 i felt totally ripped off, and swore that i would never so back, well.

i felt that i owed Richard to go back as he had had a similar experience at the Oxford Brasserie and as i liked it there so much he agreed to go back with me, which we now both love, so i had to offer to do the same.

Now on the next visit i thought i would not order something to hard for them to do and go from there, to start with i went for the mussels and they were delicious something i have always enjoyed, the for my main i had the Oxfords prime hamburger, at which point i had Richard taking the piss out of me for ordering something so normal, out of all that they had to offer at which point the waitress joined in, in a very friendly way, i asked if i could have my burger cooked as rare as possible, and unlike The white star they were happy to do so, and yes i have to say it was good.

So, after that experience i was happy to go back, to start with i went for the seared scallops, and they were cooked perfictaiy the cauliflower puree was not to over powering, as it wouldn't be something i would not normally eat, and then the mussels again, the order was good, as always a smooth sauce and plenty of mussels.

On both occasions we had a bottle of the Prosecco, which i have to say is a really a good wine to drink, at just over £20 it really is a bargain, we have been in here just to have a bottle of it many times since, on our way to other places and after eating in other places. We also had a bottle of the Gavi di Gavi, again at both times, and again , a very good smooth wine almost water like.

The only think i dislike about this restaurant is that it can feel cold in here, when not busy it is a large, high room, and can sometimes be full of 'locals' which can be off putting when walking in, but the service and food here really is one to try.

Dock Gate 4

http://www.dockgate4.com/southampton/restaurant/home/

We have used this place a few times now mostly for a drink or two, and mostly as they used to do 1/2 price on all drinks, from the top of the line Champagne to their soft drinks, which is very unusual, we often order the Gavi di Gavi, here, after all 1/2 price. But this has been stopped, i think it is now 1/4 off the price not as good but still a fantastic, selection of drinks, and the building is wonderful, almost has the feeling of being on a cruse ship the lines and shapes are very good, last time we were there i ordered the chicken fillet burger, which was still moist and very much your basic burger and bun, Richard went for the fish and chips with peas, good batter, crispy on the out side, and very good fish inside, the peas i would say were slightly over done in the microwave, but both were fine from the bar menu.

I have to say that the bar in here is very much a drinking bar, and although a little bit away from the eating area, it seems that the drinkers are slightly older, and i must say that once it starts to fill up, can become loud not the place to go for a romantic dinner or somewhere you would want to relax, i have once been in to the club that is under this restaurant, and well i have to say it really did reminde me of a meat market for the middle aged, the thing is it seemed was the guys were looking for younger woman, while the woman were looking for any guy that would get them a drink, but like i said i have only been in here once so it may have just been that night.

The Oxford Brasserie

http://www.theoxfordbrasserie.co.uk/

Ok this is one good place to eat, we were here early in the evening, and lucky enough to get here for the happy hour deal, which meant we could get two main courses for the price of one, which is always nice, and nearly always makes the food taste better when one is free,there is a few things on this menu that we both like, which is unusual, so we opted to share, we had the Bruschetta, and the Antipasto, the Bruschetta was good not like some that we have had, here the bread was still fresh feeling, as the tomato wasn't chopped to small or left laying around in a tub, so when it was made, none of the juice from the tomatoes were left to sock in to the bread, and the gentile hit of garlic was so good, whit the warm clean taste of the basil cutting through, it really was a good share, the Antipasto, was as you would think, sliced meats and pickles, very nice, the pickles had a home made flavor to them which really worked, and i have to say it this starter worked really well with the Bruschetta.

for our main, we both went for the fillet of beef, both blue, and both cooked just right, we had an order of Poivre, (pepper sauce) on the side, ideal for dipping the chips in to, i have to say this was the only place the meal fell flat the sauce was a bit to watery and tasted as if the pepper hadn't been cooked enough, we ordered a fantastic bottle of wine here, and i have to say there were plenty to choose from, this is one place we will eat in again and again, it has a small cosy feel about it which i have always felt welcome,

the white star

http://www.whitestartavern.co.uk/

We have eaten here on a few occasions, one of the best we went in for their breakfast/brunch menu, starting with the mini pastry selection, very nice, could have done with a few more as we were sharing, but tasted nice, not the freshest, but still very good, then i had the boiled eegs with soldiers well thick slices of bread which were wonderful, the only think i have to say about it was that the eggs were slightly over cooked, but only slightly, and the toast if you could believe it was a tad to thick, so not so easy to dip in to the egg, i followed that with, the stacked pancakes with maple syrup, and bacon, not a combo i eat in one go i have to say the had the bacon with my toast, the the pancakes, al wonderful, but very filling even when sharing, richard ordered 'the english' your typical fry up, but not greasy and i think he would have liked a bit more, but still very good.

We went in for sunday dinner, early in the evening, here it was a bit more disappointing, we asked if they were still serving roast, and were told they were, after we ordered our wine, and were ready to order we were then told the only roast was the beef, (might love a stake not a fan of roast beef) and veg option not really the roast options i was after, so then had to look at the main menu, i first went for the home made beef burger, i asked to have this as near to blue as pos. and was told this was not possible, now if this was a home made burger, made with premium meat it should have been fine, but was still told i couldn't have it, in the end I went for the terrine, very good, and as it was on the specials was very cheep, then went for the rib eye, as always i asked for blue, and yes they did manage it here, but only just. but was very good, a nice cut of meat, and really good chips. Richard ordered the same terrine, but he went for the pan fried bream fillet, with mussels and a chorizo mash, and although good wonderfully we were not told until i got my dish that there were no mussels, in fact the waitress said i did tell you there were no mussels which she hadn't, if she had she would not need to ask if we had been told, even the manager was called over and we were told that it was her word over ours, not a good feeling, it was delt with in the end, but made to feel not very welcome.

the staff here have on the whole made us fell very welcome here, weather we went just for a drink or a meal, and have had some good cocktails, but it was only from one of the staff here and it was something she made up for us, all the other staff, and cocktails that were have tried off the menu have not worked out so well, the long island was passable, but only just. over all we enjoy going here, and will do again.

Yuzo

http://www.yuzulounge.co.uk/southampton-restaurant-bar/home

Well this used to be the Wine Bar, and when it was the wine bar, it was fine, I mean, it could have done with a bit of a clean may be a bit of tarting up, the menu used to be ok, it was basic and could be a bit hit and miss, but all in all it was ok.

That was then, now it is Yuzo, and well not good, the face lift on the place brilliant, and yes needed, it is so much more spacious and light, the seating i have to say is not good, hard and not somewhere you would want to sit for too long, the food well, i tried the sweet and sour chicken with the sticky rice, well to start the rice was just basic long grain at best, and the sauce, was at best a cheep uncle Ben's, rip off, we also had the mixed and sharing platters, slightly over cooked and as it was all deep fried, also the bar is trying to offer Asian fusion, not sure where the onion bhaji on the board fell in to that, i found it hard to understand how this could have happened, i also had some of the appetizers, dry cooked tandoori chicken skewers, baby back pork ribs and the tiger prawn and monkfish skewers, well the chicken was dry cooked alright, very dry, the fish and prawn skewers were also over cooked, the ribs were ok but just ok. Richard ordered the thai style chicken, with sweet chilli sauce, broccoli with egg noodles, and as always he loved his, tender chicken, fresh veg still crunchy i was told as he was shoving it in to his gob as fast as he could, i guess the best way to know how good this ONE dish was is that he has had it twice now.

We would like to think that we would go back to any of the places we have been to be for even the ones where it was not so good just to see if it were a one off, well so far all of them apart from the bloody mexican, we have both shown one another somewhere that we didn't like the last time but seems to have improved, and hopefully this will always be the case. TTFN

La Baronia

La Baronia

http://www.labaroniarestaurant.co.uk/joomla/index.php/index.php/index.php/index.php/index.php/home


Ok where to start???????


this place is as good as the web site, after going on opening night i don't think i would ever want to go there again, after waiting for an age to get a drink for one of our party, and being told to order like it were a tapas bar, which we did to find that non of the food we ordered could be used as tapas, and out of a group of 4 we all ended up with 2 starters each, and seemed to still spend over £100, which was fine as over the road was Mango, so we just went there to have dinner.

So apart from that what to tell you, well it seemed all the staff there are students, nothing wrong with that, or them i guess, but they really don't care, and it shows, the owner who was sat at the bar didn't seem to care much, until i was telling a friend who was also at the bar how bad it really was, then wanted me to list it all for him, sorry no i'm out with friends you got my money just let me out to get some good food.

As a hairdresser, i have been told by a few of my clients that, they have had the same sort of experience as us if not worse, in one case, they were followed down the road with the owner telling them they where taking money from his children as they refused to pay, to which she replied, " no mate your taking money from them with the crap you serve". If only i could be a bit more like that.


if you want a realistic mexican do not by any means go here, you would be better of and going to tesco and getting a kit and doing it your self.

Cargo

Cargo,

http://www.cargosouthampton.com/

Now we first ate here just after it first opened, and i have to be honest, i felt totally ripped of, we had a sharing board, of bread, and one of fish, this was not so bad, but, i ordered the burger, which at the time all they had was a chicken burger, which came with just a green salad, when i ordered my burger i asked to have my salad to be replaced with chips, as you may get to notice, i'm not a fan of veg, i was told this would be fine, when my 'food' arrived, i had a burger, with what could only laughingly be called a green salad, there was a lettuce leaf, a peace of cucumber and a slice of tomato, not really a green salad, i was also told that my order had slightly been mixed up and they forgot i wanted chips instead of this crapy effect of a salad, but had managed to do me some chips in a bowl, ( felt like saying ok i'm not that thick, you want me to pay for the bloody chips)the burger alone was almost £9, while Richard had the homemade fish cake, with leeks and coarse grain mustard sauce. please take note when it says fishCAKE, there was 1 yes thats right ONE fishcake, cut in half, with a spoon of what looked like stewed leeks and a very week sauce, again for just under £9. i know bloody rip off, but i have to say the bar staff, ( of which i have only been served by pretty young girls so far) are really good we drink in this place a lot, i have to say it is the only place, that i have been to where they put a £1 coin in to the cork of a btl of fizz.


think i have already done the bad things here, but well worth a drink, once you get past the trying to hard decor,

Mango Thai Tapas Bar

http://www.mangothai.co.uk/

Now this has to be on of my favorite places to eat, we have made our way through this menu, we always stay with the tapas idea, and find that for the two of us we need a table for 4 by the time all our food come's out. back when it first opened, we were given the privilege of having Nam's( i think that would be how you spell her name)Crispy Squid, and i have to say although i am not a fan of squid, this i would almost walk over hot coal's for. The mussels in crispy bacon, all thought i would not think this a thai dish is well worth a try, the dipping source alone is worth it,the soups are very good, i have ordered the Chicken spicy soup a few times now, and every time it has been worth it, although every now and then i do find that the chicken can be over cooked, this said i still order it as this not always the case, the the heat and flavor in the soup will make up for it, i think the only things on this menu we have not tried were the non meat options, but if what i have had here is any thing to go by then i would guess they would be worth a try.

We have had cocktails here once in a while to, and again very good although i find it is dependent on who makes it.

i don't think it is that expensive for what you get here and you could almost forget that you are sat in Portswood.

Now the not so good, some of the staff are young, and i feel act it, there is a wonderful building here, with a very chilled atmosphere, but i do feel that some times the stall care very little that you are paying to eat here and are happy to stand and chat/flirt with one an other, or maybe i'm just getting old.

Ennios

Ennios

http://www.ennios.co.uk/southampton/restaurant/home/

Ok so i haven't eaten here for a bit but this is one of the best places to eat, well i think anyway, here is one of the few places that can cook a steak i have always ordered my steak blue, and yes it is one of the few places it would seem out of the whole of Southampton that knows how to do a blue steak, i ordered my steak to come with chips,(once again) and yes the chips are good, and always with the pepper sauce on the side, the chips need some thing to dip in to. Richard had

'Ennio's Famous Fish Plate', which he has ordered a few times now, and as always it went down a treat. i have to say although not cheep this one is worth it, we are members of the Delicious Dining and there for we do get some good deals here. We found the staff to be very welcoming, and after our meal although late we did not fell rushed, and sat at the bar, with a drink and a coffee, waiting on our taxi.

the not so good news, my birthday is in February, not many days be for valentines day as it was my birthday i wanted to go here for lunch, i would say that the lunches here are not as good as the evening meals, almost as if there were a different chef altogether, but i would still eat here in the evening,

Chambers

The Chambers74 London Road, City Centre, Southampton SO15 2AJ

023 8063 9621

Ok, first the post and i have gone for a bar that we use a bit, the food I ordered was the Chambers club sandwich which I have to say, comes with fries and a side salad, the fries were as you would think, fried chips,the salad was so so, there was no dressing, and a few of the leaves were a bit limp and brown, this being said, my club sandwich was good, and i mean good for what i paid, i was happy to have this to eat, the chicken was succulent and the bacon very well cooked, while some like their bacon to be cremated i don't, the bread which it was served with was thick, and although not home made, it is a very good bread.

The home made fish finger sandwich is also one to try, the homemade fish fingers were really good, crispy on the out side and well fishy in the center, again with the same salad and chips,we only ordered one of the pizza, this was the American, which is basically cheese and pepperoni, i ordered the larger of the two sizes as i have always had eyes bigger than my tummy, and well after two may be three slices i was full, if i was to try and eat one of the pizza's on my own i think next time i would go for the smaller of the two sizes.

now the not so good, I have been told by a friend, that they will over price if they can, he ordered a pint of orange and cranberry with out ice, and was asked to pay £4 for this one drink as there was no ice, and there for more drink which i have never had happen to me, but then i wouldn't order a soft drink.