Balmoral Beefeater in Test Valley

Had breakfast here on the way to paultons park. Booked online on the way (so 45mins before we came) with no signs of any problems with card payments. Free parking, walked in to find a sign saying card payments down! Talked to staff who said it’s been down all morning so had to drive down the road to a cash point. Food was good, was overly busy but just normal amount, don’t know if they they was down a chef but few times it seems they was out of things like bacon and sausages so long que of waiting people. The coffee and drink machines was in same small area of the food so even getting a coffee was bit of a hassle and only one coffee machine?! Overall it was good and if we go to paultons again we come here for breakfast.

Really friendly happy staff, service fab, thanks Sam, food was delicious as ever, had the ribs this time, the meat fell of the bone

Really bad service, Intimidating waitress. Always in a rush, no smiles. May have been short staffed. Food was okay… better food at other Beefeater’s.

Staff here are excellent. The Sunday roast was very good, plenty of it

Had a great long lunch with friends, delicious meals, great service as always 😀

A nice evening out with good food

Our waitress, Jane, was brilliant

Went for breakfast was really nice, the lady who seated us diddnt look like she wanted to be there

Outstanding food & amazing service from Donna and Sophie and the whole team today Many thanks looking forward to seeing you soon!

Lovely food Woukd definitely recommend

A fantastic brunch spot with fresh ingredients.

Food was lovely and staff was very friendly. Manager even stopped by the table to check on us and we saw him give a nice surprise to a fussy child at a nearby table. Seating was comfortable and we'll definitely be back for that Diane sauce.

We used to be very regular and frequent visitors to this location with the kids. Now that the kids are old enough to leave behind we have been a few times. The venue was clean and efficiently run. It was running at a steady rate rather than very busy. My wife has a weakness for macaroni cheese. It is a testing standard for any restaurant we go to. She had it tonight as a side dish. She came away very happy. She also had the double beef burger. Over the years the burger has been a variable feature on the menu. Sometimes cooked perfectly. At other times it has been cooked like the chef was on day 1 of culinary school. My wife's burger, complete with the variations she asked for was delivered to perfection! I had the double crunch chicken burger. I asked none of the '74' sauces. I got it with the sauces. I was too hungry to complain and, in all fairness, I believe they have amended the sauces as they were not the nasty taste I experienced the last time I had the '74 sauce. Waitress Robyn did a very good job. We will return.

Terrible food. Could not fork overcooked fried mushrooms (+poor flavour) and vegan burger rubbery texture and poor quality (sparse flavour). Will not use this restaurant again. Skipped dessert due to being deterred by prior quality. Service good for a busy evening and we were not rushed.

Our go to local, went this evening and was served by our regular server Andrea who was attentive, polite and friendly as always. Can’t fault the food, was all delicious and perfect temperature as always. Left there happy and full.

Lovely meal good service with great beer always good evening

The food was excellent and the waiter was very attentive. Even though she was rushing around. She told us, that she enjoyed her work and was no spring chicken. The Beefeater was quiet, but had an enjoyable atmosphere.

Great service. All the team very friendly

Had wonderful friendly service from Sophie H at the bar tonight. She was helpful! And the food was lovely too!

Great breakfast. Polite friendly staff. Thanks

I went for a birthday meal there yesterday with 3 of my friends the food was lovely we had a lovely time wasn't rushed and then the staff brought out a little cake with candles singing happy birthday 😊 it was lovely and no one asked them to do that I thought that was so lovely 😊 made my birthday

Nice place, friendly staff, I had a curry and a glass of wine.

Popped in for lunch, lovely menu, great service from Donna & Nikki. Good was cooked to perfection. Highly recommend

Premier Inn Meal Deal is excellent...better than many others! Service was also excellent, especially waitress Robyn who was friendly, professional and even anticipated what I might need before I'd asked! She clearly cared about her job and seemed to enjoy interacting with customers. Only minor negative was that it was very crowded and noisy and there was a charge for the car park!

I had steak pie ( pukka size ) mushy peas and 15 chunky chips all for £13.99 absolutely disgraceful, won’t ever go there again

Our favourite "COW" restaurant as my young son calls it 😂

It is as you expect for buffet breakfast, nice staff and good food

Went today for lunch - was quickly seated, drinks served straight away, very friendly staff. Food was served, all really good, tasted great, and was with us quickly. The manager made a mistake on the bill, and was quick to fix this and apologised. Overall, great food and lovely service. Jane in particular was lovely and happy to help.

Went for a roast and was the worst I've had in a long time. Turkey was not fresh, but reconstituted and unpleasant and all the veg was clearly frozen. Would definitely give it a miss.

Buffet breakfast was amazing. Cereal, continental, cooked breakfast juices and coffee all avaliable. Is resonable price, but theres alot of variety breakfast finishes at 10:30.

Really good breakfast especially if Mike is in the kitchen!. It's often busy on the weekend so booking is a good idea. The staff are excellent welcoming and friendly. The coffee is delicious.If they did fried bread it would be even better!!

Brilliant service, friendly bubby staff nothing to much trouble

Always a friendly welcome when we come here. A good menu with lots of variety, including a good variety of specials for lunch, at £7.99. Their triple fried chips are amazing....

Donna was fantastic, really going above and beyond in service and engaging with our little girl. Dave was also really good with her. Thanks it made a great start to our holiday!

Went to Balmoral for breakfast and we had the full English breakfast. The bacon was like leather the sausages were tasteless and everything on my plate was cold and we were very disappointed

The place was dead, staff took ages to take food and drink orders as they were no where to be seen. For the price of the food I expected better quality. The 2 chicken breasts looked they were found on a pigeon. Will not be going back again. Definitely not value for money

Great food, friendly and welcoming staff, definitely recommend

Ordered food of the Christmas menu. 3 corse. The Salmon dish was advertised on the menu to come with a crab and white wine sauce and it was not said sauce . No taste of wine or crab and when i raised it after tasting ,the staff informed me it was a hollandaise sauce. Very disappointing as 2 of us ordered it and they must of thought they could get away with giving us a different sauce from what we payed for . Staff should inform customers they don't have something rather then charging and trying to sell it as something completely different. Also chip portions are absolutely shocking main came with about 7 chips

1st class breakfast and all for about £10

Food was great and no long waiting times. Unfortunately had a few items off the menu due to supply issues but were very accommodating and made sure to give some very good alternatives Staff were very pleasant and couldn’t do enough to help. Overall very enjoyable evening

We live locally and have been to this Beefeater many times but the last two visits (Nov & Dec)have left us feeling that we won't be returning. The service was incredibly slow, to the point we felt almost ignored & a nuisance to the staff for asking for the menu/bill. November visit food was very good, December visit ordering off the Christmas menu where certain items were not available that night (these things happen) but after finishing our Festive Burgers we noticed we had been missing items on our plate that others had received on theirs. Clearing plates was slow, long wait for pudding menu, took 25 mins to catch attention to ask for the bill. The bill was wrong again as it had been in November; the savings on offers had not been applied so cocktails or food & all items charged at full price. We did wonder if this was a way for the pub to earn extra money on each party if they did not challenge the bill as this error happened on both visits with different staff serving. The staff did correct these errors & re-issue the bill but it did leave us feeling a nuisance. Sadly Beefeater Balmoral you have lost local customers.

A friend and I visited this restaurant for the first time on Boxing Day 2024. I had a mixed grill and he had fish 'n chips. Our meals were excellent and the service was very good. Sam gave us a good welcome and accommodated us even though we had missed our booking. Lovely ambience and I look forward to going again!

Lovely service by Jane on Christmas Eve day!

Our waitress Jane was lovely. Steak was good- some of the cuts were a bit chewy however but overall good.

We had our Christmas Eve lunch at Beefeater and the service was excellent. Jane our server was so lovely and made our experience even better.

We went for work Christmas do around 2.20pm, but didnt get asked or served till 3ish, and had to keep calling for someone even for drinks. Not good customer service and we felt we got ignored. However, the food was excellent and worth the money. Really good quality fish n chips, warm chocolate brownie with vanilla icecream.

Warm insipid breakfast. One person in kitchen obviously not able to keep up with demand. It was an unlimited breakfast but Limited in that half the items were not there. More staff needed please. Coffee was ok

We had to find someone to show us to our table. I wanted the vegetable Wellington with roast potatoes etc, not available so I had vegetable lasagne. Sloppy and came with salad. We again searched for someone to pay. Given the wrong bill, which I queried and then paid £95 for 4 meals. Never again. A disaster for my grandaughter's birthday and Christmas treat.

it was very nice food but not much choices

Steak was nice but they were missing alot of the menu so couldn't have what I wanted to get. Service was good but could have been better and they don't sell the nicest of beer but did taste clean at least.

Visited last night for birthday celebration at 6 pm immediately taken to our table and immediately informed that certain meals were unavailable due to being delivered as we arrived not a real problem, asked for our drink order. Drinks arrived and then the order was taken for starters and main. By the time the starter arrived the restaurant had filled up with 2 other groups celebrating birthdays, one quite large. The staff of 3 waitresses were working the tables very efficiently. Main meals arrived which was enjoyable. We were not rushed to leave our table as we had order more drinks. Very good evening. Would advise booking in advance to save disappointment.

Great breakfast, loads of food to choose from.

Food was lovely as were the staff very accommodating and happy to help

Our server, Rodi, was first class. She was polite, friendly, & attentive. We took the ‘2 courses & a drink deal’ & were pleased with the price & quality of the food. A good start to our holiday. Thank you.

Buzzing atmosphere, warm welcome, good service, and the food was ok. I paid for the upgrade ribye steak it was overcooked and tasteless. I tried to get someone's attention, but being a busy Friday night, it took an age. I left it!

Great food and service, everyone in there is so kind and breakfast is really good 👍

The staff are just the best . All of them. All go above and beyond to look after their customers. Shout out to Sophie.

I had the rib-eye and my missus had fillet both cooked to perfection and the staff and so friendly and welcoming

Great service and a lovely breakfast just a shame we arrived and had to rush to get food

The waitress was lovely and deserves a rise. Food was nice and it was to early for a good atmosphere

Great meal last night, fantastic table service from Donna, understood that im picky with my food and was very understanding of this and really knew her stuff. Much appreciated

Great visit here with really friendly waiters, even when the unhappy customers knock them down the waiters still keep a smile on their faces. 5 star visit

Good food as always, shame the portion sizes have shrunk

Amazing staff and food, great place can't fault anything, really good.

First visit for our wedding anniversary. Seated in upstairs section which was quieter. Pub very busy with a couple of birthday parties in full swing. Our waiter was a hoot, friendly and cracking jokes. Menu is varied and value for money. Steaks were excellent, cooked as requested. Will definitely be back soon.

5 star service from Donna today! Check 9946 Guest 3. Thank you very much!

Great service/waitress (Donna) no long wait for drinks or food

Went for breakfast, the best I have had in years .

We booked a table for our wedding anniversary, the staff were amazing we had a anniversary card and box of chocolates waiting on table for us when we got there 😀 love this pub and all the staff and food is amazing and good prices

Food self-service but hot and tasty

Absolutely delicious 😋, well presented. The waiter we had was very friendly as well, which gave to a very good experience. Thankyou

Popped in for early tea, chose fish and chips from the lunch menu available till 5pm, for £8, meal was served quick and was perfectly cooked, added extra onion rings for 2.99 which only came with 4 rings, which was a little disappointing otherwise everything was spot on.

Service a little slow but food is excellent value for money. Plenty of parking and nice decor. Staff very friendly

Food. Great good. Service plenty. Choose. From

We had a lovely meal here for my husbands birthday and our waitress Donna was just amazing! She interacted with our daughter which made it more special for her too and was very friendly throughout the meal despite the restaurant being very busy. Everything from drink to the food was perfect, we will definitely be back!

Spot on place good food and good service. Free carpark for restaurant users £8 for premier inn customers. It's a scam as premier inn still own the car park under different name and have hired a company to patrol it. If PI aren't careful they'll just their business with this cat park business.

Have been a regular visitor to the Balmoral for years but finally had enough of the poor service and won’t be going back. It tends to always be the black haired lady, who today spent most of her shift chatting to a mate who wondered in, before taking a personal call for 10mins while everyone was waiting for plates to be cleared. She’s been rude in the past too but the others working there are perfectly pleasant. Management should probably do something about it before more customers are lost.

Nice beefeater adjacent to the Premier Inn. We booked a table on the Friday night which is recommended as it was very busy Food was hot and well presented. Price no to bad.

Lovely attentive and friendly staff...specially..donna..nicola and sophie..also great food..😊

Brilliant food. Excellent service by Andrea, friendly and efficient. Great value for money at a time we are all having to watch the pennies.

Dismal food. Baconeater burger bland and looks nothing like the photo in the menu, was missing the onions and had to ask for them. Lovely staff great personality shame it's such a dry house, had one pint as they didn't come to our table to request further drinks. All in all, would be okay food to soak up any drinks if you was to come and watch a footie game but I guess you would have to go to the bar yourself.

Place is too busy for a romantic meal. Stake over cooked.

Always a good meal here..Donna and Robyn served me with a smile as they always do... Will be back again soon

The restaurant advertised it opened until 11pm. We booked a table for 8.30 for 7 of us, admittedly last minute but the booking was accepted. We ordered our starters and mains with no issues. The bottle of white wine that arrived was unfortunately warm. Luckily we noticed before we opened it and a replacement was arranged which was a little cooler, not great but they did their best to accommodate with a pitcher filled with ice which did make it better. Sadly from there things went downhill. In all honesty, I have never felt so unwelcome in a restaurant with the staff so eager for us to leave so they could go home. My daughter didn’t realise she wouldn’t get chips wither her lasagne so we asked if we could order them, I was told ‘we will see if we can’ with a sigh. This was at 9pm. We ordered desserts, which took an age to come, they had obviously been standing as the custard came with a skin over it. I ordered a baileys coffee and was told the coffee machine had been cleaned so no coffee was available. I overheard one waitress tell another member of staff “not to get anything from the cellar as the boss had already counted down there” The table were all put away and the chairs taken away by 9pm. Basically they were looking for a 9.30pm close. If it wasn’t advertised as being open until 11pm that would be different but to be closing down that early when you are open u till 11 is just not on. Icing on the cake was all the music being shut down and staff hovering and chatting round the bar at 10pm - it was just not a good experience and not somewhere I would want to spend money again

Lovely food friendly staff reasonably priced.

Not been for several years. Service was slow and poor. Food was OK but took a while (45 mins) and had clearly been sat under a heater for a while

Great place to go for food. The unlimited breakfast is great and it includes tea, coffee and juice. The staff were very welcoming and helpful. Would definitely recommend. Make sure you put your numberplate into the machine on entry to get 3 hours parking and avoid a fine.

Lovely polite staff , food cooked to perfection as asked, quality food Would definitely recommend and we are going to visit again

The breakfast buffet at Balmoral Beefeater in Southampton is well-regarded for its variety and value. I appreciate the friendly and accommodating staff, along with the clean facilities. The buffet features classic English breakfast items, with highlights including well-cooked bacon, eggs, and a selection of pastries. Some diners have noted that certain items, like sausages, could be of better quality, but overall, the breakfast experience is positive and good for the price

Bit sticky, bit grubby but staff were lovely and food as expected

Lovely meal, very hot and well presented. Only criticism is mashed potatoes were obviously powdered, would prefer freshly made or frozen. Apart from that wonderful meal, and cocktails were scrummy

Rodi & Charlotte served us well. Our Sunday lunches were fabulous. Oh- the puds were delicious too! Won’t be too long before we’re back again ! Thank you……

Upon arrival it took a good minute for someone to acknowledge and seat us. No stress there. We parked opposite the premiere inn assuming that the parking is for the restaurant too. Ample parking and vacant spots if you were coming for dinner. To our surprise they had our table reserved, or didn’t but already had a table big enough ti seat the family. Ample spacious tables and walkways. Drinks ordered and one of the drinks was not what we ordered. We ordered from the roast menu, which they gave us, and what we were there for. Sunday roast. I was impressed with the different Sunday roast items on the menu. We placed our order, specifying that we prefer our meat well done. Notified that the food was made the day before and they have no power or say with. Some may be cooked medium or some well done; they’re not sure. In other words, just be happy with what you get. We accepted our fate. Moments later, another waitress, possibly an owner or manager, notifies us that the roast menu is off the table, and that we should order an alternative meal from their main menu. Burgers and chips. We settled for the double stack burgers, but dearly wanted to sample their brand of Sunday roast at whatever the cost. We arrived at 16:31 pulling in to the parking lot and had only been served our meals 17:37 …. The people next to us,a family just as big as ours arrived after us and got their food before us. It is safe to say, regardless of how nice the burgers are, just based on service alone. We will not be going back . I think the only thing I was impressed with was the fact they brought the kids crayons and pictures to draw on. And the chips the fries were perfect succulent and crispy and the burger for the price though is in my opinion not worth its weight in gold. The kids didn’t finish their burgers and the toddler spat his out. We also wanted to take our left overs and our pancakes the kids couldn’t eat. And the waiter said they don’t do “doggy bags”. I am not at all impressed with this business. And don’t recommend in a high regard.

We were welcomed and shown to our table. The first course was brought swiftly, as was the mains so we had a pudding too. All nicely presented and tasty. Our server was superb, nothing was any trouble for her and she was friendly and smiley. We really enjoyed our visit.

Large Beefeater with a free car park directly outside. Your usual Beefeater Breakfast experience. Great range of food, well-stocked (and re-stocked) and at a good price. The cooked food was buffet style though as opposed to cook to order like some other Beefeaters.

Lovely food, well priced. Great service. The toilets could have been a bit cleaner/are in need of an update.

Are favourite restaurant to eat The hole team is brilliant!!! Can’t fault nothing Sunday dinner was lovely today !! And top marks to Wayne the chef ⭐️

Had a breakfast up balmoral this morning very clean and tidy food was brilliant and the staff very helpfull

The food was just simply amazing.

Had a beautiful meal, served by very friendly staff. Highly recommended