Carluccio's - Portsmouth in Portsmouth

We found the venue and staff to be excellent and would recommend a visit. The food was superb and the location by the water just made the day fabulous

Good food and good service and lovely location. We were planning on leaving a tip, however, 12.5 % service charge automatically added to bill. We feel it is up to the customer to decide if the service deserves a tip, not the restaurant. We had the charge removed and didn't leave a tip - their loss. Perhaps they should pay better wages to their staff.

Use to get a full breakfast, fruit juice & hot drink for around £11, now you pay separately for drinks and breakfast just under £15 then add 12.5% service charge. They have lost a star and not value for money any more

I've given the place a 5 because of the nice welcome we got and because of Sian our waitress. She was friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. I'm Gluten free and she knew her stuff. The food was nice, very filling but there wasn't a huge variety for GF options. I'm fussy as well so that doesn't help. Unfortunately I won't be going back in a hurry just because of the gluten free. It is a nice place there, great for a couple for date night, catch up with friends and family or celebrate something.

Having been here for our annual work meeting I was prepared for the usual bland dry hiccup making food but this year was even worse than usual. In total 30 odd people totally underwhelmed/astonished at how terrible the food was. What was nice is that It gave us all something to talk about later on that evening. I doubt this place will be about for much longer unless there is a market for tasteless food and at best mediocre service.

The worst meal as a group we have ever had in this chain of restaurants. 5 small pieces of bread and a tiny dish of oil and balsamic 5.95, seafood linguine plenty of pasta hardly any seafood, chicken saltimbocca had two of the smallest pieces of Parma ham which I suppose they thought was ok because the piece of chicken wasn’t very big either. No house wine cheapest bottle we found on the list was £28. Needless to say we won’t recommend them or be returning

Lovely service in a beautiful setting and food was excellent. Sat outside on a hot sunny day watching the boats in the marina and looking out at The Spinnaker Tower.

Great midweek visit. Service was excellent steak was fantastic. Really enjoyed the visit and would highly recommend.

Four of us visited on a Friday night. The first night of our 3 night stay in the city. We were seated promptly. The restaurant wasn't particularly busy. The food and drink we had were good. The starlino rose cosmopolitan cocktail was delicious.

Lovely spot to watch the boats go by, sitting outside. Unfortunately the food did not live up to expectations. Focaccia was greasy, and soggy. Chicken saltimbocca was a flat beaten piece of chicken breast with a bit of Parma ham stuck to the top. It was OK. The roast pots were squidgy cubes, lack of pesto on one serving, food appeared heated up. The sauce was very tasty. The waitress was lovely. Don’t think it was worth the money. We were late, and while the food was disappointing it was just ok, and the kitchen was shutting.

Haven't found a decent restaurant in Gunwharf Quays yet so, on this occasion, gave Carluccio's a go; our first dining interaction with this particular chain. Positioned at the harbour end of the complex, it's rather stranded from the other eateries serving the masses. It was as relaxed as we would have expected at the back end of a weekday lunchtime, although the tables yet to be cleared when we arrived suggested that it had been rather livelier beforehand and that maybe the staff on duty had been somewhat hard pressed. However, we were seated quickly with menus soon to follow. No problem with the obvious italian bias, and the pappardelle braised beef ragu sounded rather appealing. It came in a small heap in the middle of a large bowl with a lot of firm pappardelle and not a lot of braised beef. Adding olives seemed like probably the wrong thing to do. Mrs EPR's pizza margherita was deemed perfectly ok. The dessert menu couldn't really fail if you were that way inclined. A pre-prepared circular nutella cheesecake was attractively presented and very pleasing. Mrs EPR's slab of chocolate bread and butter pudding was, how shall we put it, not light and airy. Apparently made from croissants, it was certainly a robust and challenging slab of dough-like matter. A forgiving large glass of red wine and ample still water was a useful lubricator. Only three front-of-house staff on duty, and we were served by a very cheerful young guy. The manageress was leading from the front and we observed her patiently dealing with two less than pleased customers sending their meals back . I wonder what the problem was. In essence, quite an okay lunch in pleasant surroundings where the corporate identity is fairly restrained.

I visited this restaurant thinking I would get a nice Italian dinner. I was wrong, I ordered a PENNE aribiatta (excuse my spelling) and I have never seen penne so large. I couldn’t chew it t as so hard. I asked if it could be cooked more and they replaced my meal. When it came out it was just the same. When the waitress collected my plate she asked me if I didn’t like the meal and I replied no. She walked off and said nothing Manager never came to apologise. I was so hungry when I left! Would not recommend.

The meatball starter was OK at first (a little bland) but there was a background chilli heat that became too much for my palette and there was no mention of chilli on the menu. It was the duck where the problems really started, the potatoes were overcooked on the verge of burnt, the green beans were raw, the duck was very very dry and the sauce was watery. Shame.

The food was great. The service was wonderful. We were there on a Monday evening. It was not busy. The food was not expensive compared to many other Italian restaurants. The pasta or main dishes are al a carte. My partner ordered a tomato salad along with the seafood pasta. He was impressed with the amount of seafood along with the noodles.

Absolutely OUTSTANDING! Today we ordered two pizzas, a Coca Cola and a glass of red wine. Everything was high quality and had a very lovely taste to it. Our waiter was Chuck and couldn’t thank him more for looking after us so well!

This is the first restaurant review I've ever written on here, but I felt I had to after today, and this is coming from someone who works in hospitality so I understand how stressful it can be and how things can go wrong but this was something else. We were seated at 12pm, our starters came out 50 minutes later, this is when it was quiet and only a few tables in. It got busier but was still half empty so no excuse there. Not once did anyone check on our starters even after walking past several times. Then it got to 2pm 2 hours after we were seated and after chasing up about our mains (after we'd watched 2 tables come in way after us, order mains, eat and leave), we finally got our mains and most of them were cold to the touch, some were acceptable so they kept them and the rest were sent back. Someone from my table had complained about the wait when the manager came over and she didn't really seem interested or sorry about the delays. She said our food would be a few minutes for new dishes. 25 minutes later someone goes up to ask about our food again, so it's now been 2 hours and 25 minutes in a half empty restaurant waiting for our mains, she talks to the manager and the manager wouldn't even look at her or put any care into what she was saying, and then she just turned her back on her and walked away, at no point did she communicate that there would be delays, or apologise for the experience we'd had, she just didn't care and then walked off at the end. As were we leaving one of the waitresses was extremely apologetic about everything and was so embarrassed about our service, but she was the only person who cared.

Visited to celebrate a family birthday on a Sunday. Hadn’t been here before but knew of it, so had a certain feeling of what to expect. The visit was a bit of a mixed bag. The staff were very friendly, service was prompt, so no complaints there. However, as you can probably expect from a busy Gunwharf Quays restaurant on a Sunday afternoon, it was very busy and very noisy as a result - not the best for family conversations without having to shout. I ordered the prawn marinara to start - a great dish, certainly very tasty, well prepared and presented. For the main, I had the lasagne. Overall this was quite a disappointing dish. I made the mistake of not realising that it didn’t come with any sides, so only got the lasagne itself. It was hot when it came out, but I wouldn’t say that it was not particularly anything special to write home about, both in flavour and portion size. Quite the disappointment for a £15 dish. While it was a reasonably pleasant visit, I don’t think it’s going to feature very highly on my list in the future.

A Very enjoyable lunch at your Gunwhalf restaurant. A lovely spot with fabulous views of the Harbour.

My friend and I had a really lovely meal at Carluccios in Gunwharf this Thursday. There was a warm, friendly welcome and we were shown to a nice table by the windows. There's plenty of choice on the menu and we both chose some mixed olives and then the seafood risotto. Really tasty, hot food - oh, and a nice bottle of Primitivo between us! Really good service from the staff throughout our meal.

We've not been to this restaurant or any in this chain before. We were very impressed. From the welcome at the door through to the presentation and quality of the food all was excellent.

Friendly welcome on arrival, attentive service and delicious food. Thanks to Chuck, who waited on us with smiles and professional service. Clearly loves his job! Well done Carluccio's!

We always like to have breakfast at Carluccio’s early as a nice treat before doing the shop's rounds in Gunwarft Quay

Lovely dinner on trip with son. Calimari, lasagne, chicken Milanese, fries & reggiano. All perfect. Really lovely decor, views and staff. Will return.

The restaurant staff were very good and professional. The food was uninspiring and disappointing. We placed an order of bruschetta , bread that was very over cooked and very hard to cut. The bread was just covered with tomatoes not thing else it was tasteless. The salad was very good but the two pasta meals were lukewarm. We won’t be going back.

For a chain, Carluccio's provides great Italian food with good service. I am supposed to provide at least 100 characters. I don't have anything to add to my comments.

Service was spot on. However we were so disappointed with the food. Most uninspiring. I had the same meal i last time I visited (it was delicious). This time it lacked flavour and the pasta wasn't warm. Don't think we will visit again

This is one of our favourite local restaurants and, despite a busy day, we were well served and looked after, and made good use of the gluten-free options on the specific menu - much better than some requiring a look-up website challenge.,

Had to send main pasta dish Bach as pasta tepid, neighbouring table had to do the same, lazy cooking that. Restaurant is starting to look tired, you notice when waiting for something to be redone. Service fine but it's the food that counts and being able to serve hot pasta is a bit of a must do for an Italian restaurant

I went in last week with my family to celebrate some good news and the service from Craig was above and beyond at every stage possible, offering alternatives and joining in with table conversations when serving. Food was also amazing, will definitely be returning!

Likely last visit to a Carluccios. At least 8 items off the menu. Childs menu absolutely rubbish, spaghetti bolognaise watery, little meat - tasteless slop only the addition of the parmesan gave it flavour. Childrens menu should always be a portion of the adults choice....

The service was exceptional. Craig the waiter was friendly and informative and the food superb. Thank Carluccio just the best!🙂👍🤜🤛🙏🇮🇪

My wife is temporarily in a wheelchair with a broken ankle. This has made us sympathise with those in wheelchairs given the poor access in many areas. Access to Carluccio's Portsmouth is via a ramp to the side of the restaurant. The side access door...

Food flavours were amazing, we had Arancni, pasta crisps, garlic bread all good. Mains we had duck, seafood linguine, chicken dish all yummy! Waitress slightly forgetful & it was a busy night in restaurant so she’s forgiven!

We stopped for lunch on Thursday mid way in our Xmas shopping trip. The restaurant was quite busy but we walked in & were given nice by window with view of Spinnaker Tower. Staff friendly& efficient service despite there being only two waiting on tables...

A group of 8 of us booked a lunch table on Sunday 5 Nov. The welcome was friendly. Service was excellent & all the meals we had were delicious!

We had a starter and a main each. The main - their signature pasta- was particularly nice. We used a 50% off mains voucher which kept the cost down otherwise it would have been fairly expensive although not unreasonable. Would definitely visit again.

An unplanned lunchtime visit in half term with three grandchildren caught in the rain. One very fussy grandson and one dairy free granddaughter were a challenge. All Staff were amazingly helpful in finding suitable dishes and the kids pack was a tremendous success. We stayed...

A large group of us were made extremely welcome for lunch. The friendly waitress looked after us very efficiently. Our drinks came promptly. Our food did take longer but everyone enjoyed their choices.

Popped in for dinner early Saturday evening and were seated by a very friendly waiter. He asked if we had any allergies and my husband explained he was allergic to mushrooms. The waiter (didn't get his name) said to choose what he wanted then he...

Gave up on Chichester branch but as we were in Gunwharf tried this one. The staff were excellent and couldn’t have been more pleasant or efficient Different story however with regard to the food. Three different main courses were dire no merit at all. Very...

We were made to feel welcome during our visit nothing was impossible my husband who is gluten free was given a menu which mirrored the same as mine which made choosing are food so much easier he usually ends up eating grilled steak in restaurants...

We were very fortunate to secure a table here as sadly they were turning people away due to staff shortages. We would love to have been outside but we’re unable to for the same reasons.Our lovely waitress made up for it with her lovely smile...

Lunch for 2 today, nice restaurant but food really disappointed. The pasta was bland, very little sauce or flavour, tiny amount of slow cooked beef. My husband had seafood pasta, but again just very little flavour. Best thing we had was a tomato salad! No...

Had a lovely lunch with my sister for her birthday. Excellent friendly service, delicious freshly cooked food and great wine. Lovely atmosphere even though it was quiet, Monday lunchtime, to be expected. Nicely tucked away in a quieter spot on the waterfront. Really topped off...

I love this restaurant. It's my absolute favourite! Staff have always been helpful, polite and the service is fast. The carbonara is out of this world. If I had to say one thing that could be better it's the lasagne. Why on earth have you...

Visited here for my birthday and had not been back for a couple of years. Place had only a handful of customers. Informed them my son had a shellfish allergy. Waiter informed us that that basically wrote of the entire starter menu in case they...

Such a huge disappointment. We used to love Carluccios. The service was beyond slow - the staff, although friendly, didn’t appear to know what they were doing - the food was absolutely appalling! Soggy salads, overcooked luke warm tuna steak, chicken fillet was so over...

popped in for an early dinner, on a busy afternoon. the staff were friendly, helpful, seated us promptly.. the food was good, we didn't have to wait long for drinks. overall a great experience.

My second meal at a Carluccio's restaurant in 2 days was delicious in the Portsmouth restaurant. I used a voucher from the day before. Great friendly staff and good spaghetti carbonara

My firend and I really enjoyed our lunch at Carluccio's last Monday. Service was friendly and efficient and the food was absolutely marvellous. We both had the seafood risotto and it was packed with a variety of seafood and tasted delicious. We dont normally have...

We frequently meet up with family at Gunwharf and if we have time then Carluccio’s is the place we choose to have a meal. As it’s located on the fringe of the Gunwharf retail area it has a more intimate and welcoming ambience without feeling...

Visited twice over a weekend stay before heading for the Isle of Wight. On both occasions the staff were friendly, polite and knowledgeable. Food was tasty, portion size good and price amazing. Will be definitely visiting on our return to the mainland before heading back...

The restaurant wasn’t very busy when we arrived however the service was poor at best. A long wait for the drinks menu, followed by a longer wait for the water and wine. Eventually recovered by another member of the team who checked our order! Food...

Beautiful lunch. Starter amazing and sea bass absolutely tasty. Staff very friendly and professional. I highly recommended this restaurant. See you again.

We visited one morning during the week and had an excellent breakfast. Would highly recommend if you are in this area.

We had a bread assortment, as a starter and half of it was quite dry, poor quality for the price. My main meal of ravioli was undercooked and the pasta quite thick. My husband’s main of risotto he enjoyed. Overall disappointing, I would have complained,...

I chose Carluccio’s for a birthday dinner this year as any other time I have been here I have absolutely loved the food. Unfortunately, it was a bit lacking on this occasion and the service was bit slow. We ended up asking for the bill...

Wonderful staff, nothing too much trouble. food was amazing and presented well. Would Highly recommend.

My wife and I have eaten here a few times now and the food has always been very tasty. Also, the staff have always been polite and friendly. Would definitely eat here again and would recommend the scrambled eggs on ciabatta toast with mushrooms.

Since the Boporan Group bought Carluccios from the adminstrators it has steadily gone downhill. The lower standards of Boporan have become more and more obvious. The standard of service was slow, the food is nowheare near as good as it was before the takeover and...

Lovely staff, the young lady & Craig were very hospitable. The food was lovely, fresh & tasty. Really nice environment with great views. Would recommend.

Live this place! Staff efficient and friendly! Food is amazing as always! Highly recommend! Every time being there always received perfect service, with great meal and lovely atmosphere!

After a day of walking in Southsea we decided to have an evening meal here on the terrace, the sunshine didn’t disappoint and neither did the friendly service. We loved the selection of entrée nibbles we chose and especially loved the Calamari and the Sicilian...

Absolutely beautiful food and excellent service. The restaurant was very busy, bank holiday Saturday evening. We had booked ahead and our table was ready. Our waitress was welcoming, knowledgeable about the menu and friendly. Food was cooked to order and very tasty. There were large...

Went for lunch with some family not seen for a while. One was half hour late but no probs for Craig our waiter. He was attentive and friendly throughout. The meal was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed our get together.

Speciality dish had sloppy wet spinach not fried and crispy. They cooked another which was only marginally better. In the meanwhile my husband had already eaten his meal so effectively on my birthday we ate separately. No offer of discount or a free drink made....

We met as a large family group of 14 for a Saturday lunch on this lovely restaurant. Every meal was spot on and the food was very very good. Our waitress ( Amelia), was attentive, professional and friendly. She dealt with all our requests quickly...

Delicious breakfast, great views and attentive staff. A great variety of choice on the breakfast/brunch menu with lovely drinks. I had a fresh smoothie (a bit pricey for the size though). Lovely vegetarian breakfast.

Food was good - would love some vegetarian options that aren’t goat cheese - and raisins have no business being in either a salad or pasta dish. Great waitress service which is the point of going to a restaurant rather than eating at home,

Whenever I’m in Gunwharf and need a gluten free meal - this is my go to restaurant. I’m coeliac and always feel safe eating here. We don’t always book in advance ( this time we didn’t) and we usually manage to get squeezed in -...

I have been looking for a Carluccio's for a while and glad we came across the one at Gunwharf. After a really good meal, there is option of buying items in the shop, which we did.

Quiet Monday before catching the night ferry to Santander - early supper for two and a delightful welcome. We’ve been before but didn’t recognise anyone - they’re “building a new team”. Both those waiting on table we’re excellent friendly and had time to engage. We...

My wife and I had a rare day out together and decided to go up the road to Gunwharf Quays and had lunch in Carluccios. The interior was nice but when we picked up the menu our eyes nearly popped out our head. My wife...

Three of us called in for an unscheduled brunch on Weds 4th Jan. We ordered drinks and all ordered different breakfasts. Everything without exception was so well prepared, cooked and presented. I went to the Ladies toilets before we left and it was absolutely spotless....

I visited the restaurant for the first time and it was better than I expected. The food was delicious and the service good and fast. I recommend the mushroom risotto which was absolutely delicious.

Service was soooo...slow, and i thought expensive for very average food. Nice setting but possibly not for family events or parties due to cost.

Great service, food unremarkable; mushroom broth tasty but mushrooms chewy. To my surprise salad nicoise was made with tinned tuna. Think I'll stick to Brasserie Blanc.

We chose this place to celebrate my wife's birthday. It came highly recommended by my friends. The starter was served on an impressive wooden board on stilts. The mains and puddings were equally well presented and extremely tasty. It all went down nicely with a unique selection of tasty beer.

The coffee was quite flavoursome and so was the cookie but the chocolate brownie and other cakes were vastly overpriced.

Lovely lunch when visiting Gunwharf Quays, great seafood spaghetti and tasty pumpkin risotto, we will be back!

The food was good and Carluccio's food is always quite good. The food arrived promptly and was just what we needed.The place was quite busy and the noise level was quite loud, added to which, the bill took forever to arrive. That said, it was still by far the best dining experience I have ever had in Gunwharf. I shall always eat here while shopping now.