8 Kings Road

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 dont 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 neevr too loud and the mnusic and decorations really made us feel at home!

the only issue for me was parking, would advise a taxi. al in all was great value for money and we all had a lovely time.

definately going to book for next year!!

A. Lovell

I was unfortunate enough to be on 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, 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, crème fraiche” which looked fantastic, but instead of “proper” caviar had 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 – 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”. 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, 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 just 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 a total rip-off, two small oat crackers, a small piece of brioche and three small pieces of cheese.

After such an abysmal meal, we asked to see the manager, who was less than co-operative, but in the end, they knocked £6 off the cost of each meal, and an extra £10. Frankly, £220 for the eight of us was still more than I would pay, after so many mistakes and completely spoiling 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. Avoid it if you can