Chilli Padi South East Asian Kitchen in Portsmouth

The food was bland. We could not get a jug of water, despite it being 6:30 and not busy. We had all ordered alcohol but wanted a jug of water too. After asking 3 times I went to the the bar. The miserable older waitress shooed me away back to the table and eventually brought water. The younger girl seemed friendly and smiley. The older lady seemed to think we were an inconvenience. No smiles, abrupt answers, very surly. The food was all bland and pretty tasteless. We had 5 different dishes and nothing tasted of much. The Laksa was a bowl of coconut milk with noodles in it. No fresh herbs, crunchy ginger etc. The other dishes all lacked excitement. Edible but not exciting. None of the dishes had coriander, basil, or anything to lift the dish. Disappointing. We won’t be back.

Booked a table to celebrate my wedding anniversary with my wife.on arrival we were taken to one of the private booths, candle and flowers on the table. Food was amazing... Thank you..

Great sushi in Southsea and never fails to impress. The menu is diverse and caters for all. Brilliant service by Sammy and Maria & in a great location.

The restaurant is immaculate, the decoration is really tasteful, the staff is very accommodating and friendly! They surprised my daughter with a little dessert with candles, without letting anyone know! It was just brilliant!!! I will definitely return

absolutely best Japanese lovely people , lovely food , lovely service. they cant do enough for you Maisie and her team are wonderful

We've eaten here 4 or 5 times now. Every single time the food has been OUTSTANDING!! The quality of the sashimi is incredible, its a very high grade. Totally melts in the mouth. . It beats every other local Japanese restaurant with ease. They do not mess around here when it comes to the quality. Excellent service, a clean and hygienic setting. Food is beautifully presented and very well prepared. The menu is so so fairly priced! We can't keep away from here. Absolutely delicious!

First visit as a family of 9 for a birthday celebration and we all had a lovely time. The staff were welcoming and kindly acknowledged the birthday with a surprise dessert. Plenty of choice on the menu and great service. We will definitely be visiting again.

Excellent 2 course weekend lunch. Each dish was sublime. Fantastic menu choice, gives Wagamama’s a proper run for their money on both food quality and pricing & doggy box given upon request when we couldn’t finish it all! The staff were very professional. Approx £30 for 2 x 2 course & non alcoholic drinks. Tipped extra. The w.c. was really clean & tidy. Defo recommend and will defo return !

Amazing food. Great value and super delicious. I opted for the Teishoku Set Meal of Tempura and chicken teriyaki which also comes with rice, miso soup, salad, pickles & 3 pieces of California maki. As well as the delicious food I was impressed with the level of Covid safety. Thank you! From one very happy and full customer : )

We have been eating here for a year or so. Have tried other sushi places and this place is amazing! The food has always been great, cooked to exactly how we want, fresh and delish!! I must mention the staff. They are the loveliest and so accommodating. Since lockdown we have been ordering delivery. They know our names, bring treats for the kids etc. In our delivery today, one of the sauces split in the bag. We said it wasn't an issue.. the delivery lady came back to give us a free dish, 2 cans of coke and sweets. You don't get service like this very much these days. Looking forward to them opening fully!

This is, without any doubt, the best Japanese restaurant in Portsmouth. We often order food for home delivery here. The makis and chef specials are particularly delicious. In short, highly advisable.

I ordered the Ramen with miso soup and the soup was too salty!!!!!! Also missed the spring onions, won’t order again

The good. Lovely tasty & fresh food. Great Ambience and very clean Really Lovely attentive staff Will cater for veg/vegans, just ask for any subtle ingredient change Not so good Wine choice is average

Having visited Rakuzen a few times and always having a great time I have to write a review. The staff are friendly and attentive, and the food is always fresh and delicious. Especially the Aburi chicken katsu sushi which was incredible! I have also had takeaway, and the food is always still beautifully presented. One of our favourite places in Southsea to eat.

¡Qué joya! Vine para el almuerzo del viernes y no nos decepcionó. El menú es impresionante y nos costó elegir, ¡así que hicimos un montón! Todo estaba delicioso y aunque habíamos pedido demasiado logramos terminarlo todo.El servicio fue 5 *, amable y atento, Covid seguro también!No puedo recomendar lo suficiente, ¡volveremos!

What a fabulous meal, dinner was outstanding, friendly staff and lovely atmosphere. Second time here and didn’t disappoint, Donburi was amazing and spider maki out of this world!

Comí aquí tres veces durante el "comer fuera para ayudar" y sin duda volveré. ¡La comida es tan deliciosa! ! No había probado el sushi por completo y, a la edad de 32 años, puedo decir honestamente gracias a Razuken que el sushi es mi cocina favorita. ! Una visita obligada cuando en SouthseaEstaba muy ocupado cuando fui a hacer la reserva con anticipación.

Simplemente no puedo tener suficiente de Rakuzen. Es de lejos el mejor sushi que he probado. Si te encanta el sushi y la comida japonesa, entonces debes probar este lugar. El servicio es excelente y el personal muy acogedor. Te veo de nuevo pronto ! !

Muy ocupado aquí, reservamos con anticipación pero aún tuvimos 10 minutos de espera, pero no nos importó, ya que el personal es muy encantador. Las personas sin reserva tuvieron que ser rechazadas (almuerzo de un martes, pero luego se estaba ejecutando la oferta de comida fuera de agosto del canciller). La comida sabía deliciosa y se veía realmente bonita. Me tranquilizó la limpieza a fondo de las mesas entre los comensales y el personal llevaba máscaras.No hay mucho estacionamiento en Elm Grove, pero encontramos espacio en una calle lateral.Éramos tres, pedimos 9 platos y eso fue suficiente, el Aburi Red Dragon es una comida por sí sola.

After a few visits to the restaurant I may say this is the best restaurant and it’s my favourite now!! Good food for reasonable price, good atmosphere excellent service. Food comes out very quick! Overall very happy and satisfied!!!!

Visité a mi hijo de 3 años anoche. ¡El servicio y la comida fueron fantásticos! Fácilmente el mejor japonés que he tenido en Portsmouth. El personal fue muy servicial y fue genial con mi hijo. La comida era muy buena y porciones grandes. Sakura es una de mis favoritas, ¡pero creo que Rakuzen ha tomado su lugar! Tanto yo como mi hijo estamos ansiosos por regresar.

Como mi esposa es japonesa, con frecuencia regresamos a Japón y nos deleitamos con los muchos tipos de cocina. Lamentablemente, hasta el día de hoy, nunca habíamos podido reproducir los placeres de la verdadera cocina japonesa. Sin embargo, Rakuzen finalmente nos ha permitido saciar nuestra sed de cocina japonesa junto con un buen servicio y un ambiente agradable. Toda la comida que probamos hoy fue perfecta. La fuente de sashimi era fresca y deliciosa. El sushi y el arroz perfectos, el takoyaki suave y de buen gusto, el verdadero estilo auténtico del karaage, el gyoza crujiente y sabroso, la masa tempura era suave y las verduras crujientes. Encantador. Definitivamente regresaremos y recomendaremos a nuestros amigos ansiosos por probar la verdadera comida japonesa.

This is easily the best sushi I have eaten. The menu has a wide variety of choices. I highly recommend the Aburi Red Dragon Maki and the Takoyaki. The staff are friendly and accommodating. We will definitely be returning very soon!

Personal realmente encantador, muy, muy buena comida! ¡Totalmente recomendado! Sabían que era el cumpleaños de mi esposa y compraron postre de cortesía con una vela. Este lugar merece ser exitoso. Tómate las medidas de Covid muy en serio. Un verdadero placer y también una buena relación calidad-precio.

We tried this restaurant for the first time last night and were surprised at just how good it was. It was completely full and we can see why. Everything we ate was delicious and beautifully presented. We had Teriyaki Chicken, Duck Gyoza and the amazing Beef Rendang Maki to start. For mains, we both opted for the Chicken Katsu Hell Spicy Ramen, which was so good and brought back memories of the Ramen restaurants in Japan. To finish we tried the Salted Caramel mochi ice cream which brought some tasty, cooling relief after hot ramen in the middle of a heatwave! The service was good despite how busy they were, and the food was great value. I'd definitely recommend a visit!

I went yesterday to have dinner with my fiancé for the first time to this restaurant, and we only can say good things about the place. The food was very tasty, all very well presented and the staff were caring and were cleaning all the time tables and maintaining social distancing. Definitely is in our top 5 restaurants in Portsmouth now. Definitely we will be back.

I wasn't even aware that this place existed until someone recommended it to me. I booked a table online and our whole party (4) was really impressed. The people were amazing - warm, welcoming and friendly. The food was absolutely incredible and brilliant value for money. I will definitely be going back. I would highly recommend a visit.

We entered the restaurant on a whim one day during a getaway in Portsmouth. We were not disappointed. The staff is very friendly and attentive. The service was very quick. However, the main highlight was the food. Since we love Asian cuisines, we had an idea of the kind of quality we should expect from a good Asian restaurant. This particular one really topped all of the marks. The food was not only delicious, but some of it was surprising, in that it combined unexpected flavours very successfully. Everything gave the impression that the owners took great care to provide the best quality experience to the customer. If we are ever in Portsmouth again, we will definitely come back to that restaurant.

Amazing food and really friendly staff. Would definitely visit again. Great value for money. Had an Indonesian prawn dish with satay chicken off of the specials list which was beautiful.

Fantastic food with real authentic asian style cooking. Great choice, sushi is as fantastic as their South East Asian dishes. Friendly and attentive staff. Would recommend a visit for anyone in need of some real asian food!!! Can't wait to return.

It was our first meal out after lockdown and it was even better than we remembered. The food was unreal, from the sashimi to the ramen we had. Would highly recommend

One of the best asian/fusion restaurants in Portsmouth. highly recommend!!!! Kind staff too. We had salmon sashimi, tempura prawns, and the spicy prawn soup which was a special on the back of the menu. We will definitely come again.

Pedimos una variedad de sushi y algunas albóndigas y no nos decepcionó en absoluto. La calidad de la comida era realmente buena y el servicio fue increíblemente rápido (pero el restaurante no estaba lleno). El personal fue muy amable y accesible. Lo recomendaría totalmente.

Cuatro de nosotros llegamos a la 1. 30 pm para un almuerzo del domingo. Encantadora decoración y ambiente. Personal atento y acogedor. Un montón de opciones en los menús, no todos sashimi y sushi, algunos platos de Malasia también están disponibles. Disfrutamos probar una mezcla de sopa de miso, sushi, sashimi, pollo al curry katsu, tempura y gyoza. Muy sabroso con porciones decentes. El descuento en el almuerzo del domingo hizo que la factura fuera muy razonable. Lo recomendaría y volvería.

ok, so 2nd visit made today, and the great news is that this place has a fantastic future. the menu, the quality food, the attentive and helpful staff are a sure fire mix to make this lovely restaurant become well established in the city.tonight's offering of seafood spicy ramen, massamam curry, soft shell crab and tempura veg to start demonstrate the skills of a chef that delivers all the flavours of the far East. if you like Asian food this is an absolute gem of a restaurant. thanks for the lovely evening.

Highly recommended by a taxi driver for a fusion food restaurant after weeks of western food in uk.  It really gave great suprises and thumbs up of their cooking and services provided by Rakunzen. As a vegetarian, it was so thoughtful that the chef specially prepared a Japanese recipes in a bowl which was not in their menu. The serving was big and it was to my surprise that a simple looking rice bowl could taste so good. We came  back  to the restaurant again a week later for their vegetarian dumpling Ramen, it did not disappoint me at all with their consistent high standard for food. A happy eating out with my family members and friends ,  we were well  stuffed and very satisfied. We like the  restaurant ambience,  Japanese foods like Maki dragon sushi , cucumber sushi, ramen , beer, fruit drinks, etc. and also  their signature Singapore taste like Curry Laksa, Fried rice and Char Kuey Teow(fried noodles) . The restaurant ambience, the appearance, lavish and taste of the food,  the serving portion and the considerate and thoughtfulness of their chef/waitress, and a reasonable price would make us no reason to reject.    Oo yah !  Just donn't miss out their unique homemade Sesame icecream and Green Tea Macha iceream you will regret for not tasting it !!A full 'YES' for return !!   I would also recommend it to friends if they travel here for holiday or work.

The best food, amazing speciality sushi, fabulous service, relaxed and stylish ambience - we'll be back really soon. So delighted to have this new resturant on our doorstep.

Absolutely the best food ever I loved ittttt! Service was AMAZING! Perfect for everyone!DELICIOUS!EVERYONE SHOULD GO HERE!

The two of us visited for Valentines dinner. We booked a table last minute at this busy venue but this didn't reflect on the level on service that we received. Staff were extremely friendly and very attentive. The food tasted very fresh and was absolutely delicious. I recommened to leave some room for dessert because the mochi icecream is definitely worth a try. With the bill we were given a red rose which was a perfect touch to a perfect night.

Best decision for a valentine's day dinner. Last minute booked table, amazing service and delicious food! Will definitely return soon and recommend to others.

The best sushi in town hands down. They recently open and the quality is very high. Very good balance between quality and price, super recommended!

A large menu to choose from. I enjoyed their curry laksa and my husband enjoyed their beef with ginger and onion. My friends also seemed to enjoy what they had ordered as well. So it was a nice dining experience, the prices are a bit unfriendly but what can you do? LOL!

The restaurant is welcoming and cozy.The staff are friendly, helpful and well presented. The food is generously sized and good quality.The dishes are authentic and beautifully presented. We will definitely go back again.

Worst meal out in years. Roti was soaked in grease and inedible. Chicken curry was mostly carcass with skin and bones. Fried rice had a very oily greasy taste. Unpleasant. On the plus side the service was pleasant, if a little slow.

Friendly and welcoming, good choices on the menu and reasonably priced. The food was excellent, me and my friends all of us agreed we would definitely eat there again

Came round with the family had a wonderful time. Great customer service and even greater food. Wonderful experience to have in Portsmouth genuinely surprised to find something so good

The food was amazing! And every single dish we ordered was absolutely delicious, recommend the mee goreng :)

had a delivery 2/52 ago, husband had vegetable ton yum soup and it was fantastic, also sateys were really good.

The dishes I had was full of flavour and very authentic it's nice to see a place like this that not a chain and that staff was great to When I get my facebook channel I love grub i be back

Excellent food with chices for vegans, which is always a bonus! Service was also great and treated the childen to an ice-cream after their meal. Would definitely recommend.

We visited Chili Padi for a family gathering dinner. They had a wide selection of authentic south-east asian dishes, fresh and home-made style.... Wonderful experience as if we were physically there in Malaysia!

The food and service here were good but as its Halal no alcohol is allowed. This was a surprise and slightly embarrassing for us as we had been under the impression it was a BYO. Food was good, probably worth a 4 but I think they need to make clearer their no alcohol policy.

The food was delicious and the service excellent. I would certainly recommend this restaurant and we will definitely be returning.

Just ordered a takeaway from here and it is terrible. My favourite dish is rendang and I get it can be cooked and presented slightly differently but it is vile. It doesn't taste of coconut. It's got cheap chicken legs in it and its oily and watery. The rice smelt like it was off and the prawn crackers were stale. My husband had noodles. They were so greasy the kept sliding of his fork. The one prawn he found was hard and chewy. This meal was expensive and the worse takeaway we've ever eaten. The whole lot went in the bin

The 5-course tasting menu for £15.90 was an incredible value and amazingly tasty :) We thought it would be lots of small portions but they were really big and so good. The red curry and pad thai were particularly good.

Really enjoyed the food at Chilli Padi. It was really nice to have a variety of dishes on offer. We tried the brazed tofu and vermicelli noodles. Both dishes were extremely delicious and the service was great

Has a great and professional service from the staff and the food is very authentic. Would definitely go again. They also do take away

Food was average, curry very small and not tasty, service was very slow even if the restaurant wasn’t busy, will not be back.

First visit today and the food was gorgeous! Had 10 dishes to try and they were all lovely. The spicy potato pasties were my favourite along with Rendang with beef & King prawn Pad thai. Very hospitable staff. Will definitely be going again soon.

Fantastic food, big portions and great presentation along with impeccable customer service. No negatives whatsoever. 10/10 Restaurant

Loads of interesting items on the menu, everything we tried was excellent. Will definitely be coming back.

We visited Chilli Padi earlier this evening and were warmly welcomed by Hannah and Marwan. There was a lovely, cosy feel to the restaurant and the menu was packed full of delicious sounding meals. We opted for the 5 course tasting menu which allows you to have a couple of starters, soup, two mains, rice or noodles. Superb value for money at just over £15 a head.

Husband and I ate here back in September 2018 and they were very accommodating for his dietary needs. The food was really tasty and fresh. Chilli Padi is a dry restaurant which doesn't serve alcohol. This does not bother me but might bother some.

Having booked a large table for my birthday 6 weeks ago, I was very sad to walk in to find that the table was not even set up. It all went wrong from there.

Went there for the first time - some good, some bad aspects!

We had a lovely meal tonight. Super service and the food is fantastic. Highly recommend the salt and pepper chilli prawns and the veggie spring rolls. Really good choice if you are trying Dry January as it’s a booze free restaurant.

I am so pleased and amazed that this little gem is here in Portsmouth! We use to have to go to Central London to experience something as authentic and delicious as this!

We went last night to celebrate my partners bday and we had the worse experience ever. The food was very bland and cold. The menu is just confusing with this exclusions and two prawn dish policy. The staffs are not friendly. They refused to bring the main course until we have eaten all the starters and in the end charge us extra for this! I wont recommend this place to anyone. Its a total waste of money. ;(

Our first visit & the menu has lots of variety it’s had Thai / Malaysian / chinese. The food was excellent me and my partner really enjoyed it. They don’t sell alcohol but who needs alcohol if they make food like that !

Tried the Nasi Lemak, Curry Laksa noodles, Prawn noodles and Indonesian Nasi Goreng. Thumbs up for all! Sauces were home made and very yummy!

Lovely place, great food and good value for money. I fully recommend this place for a night out. Service was very good and i fully recommend the Thai Green Curry

the restaurant is very expensive the food is terrible I had a curry tasted awful they cant cook full stop

Pad thai is gorgeous definitely need to try in here . Nasi lemak taste like a my home town. Wonderful guy..stronger recommended.

So we finally visited on a Sat evening this new restaurant opened since Easter. The Elm Grove location just lies outside the busy Albert Rd and Osbourne Rd restaurant zones so it has to rely on recommendations to attract customers rather than footfall. And I can vouch that previous glowing reviews are accurate. As I am well acquainted with this food, it is a tall order to replicate a wide ranging menu from Asia and get it right. The owner Ming was keen to impress on us how hard they try with chefs from Ipoh and KL Malaysia, and a range of street food like char kuey teow(stir fry rice noodles), roti canai, and chicken rice that are pretty authentic with wok flavour and necessary chilli heat. They also have comfort snacks like curry puff and otak-otak, a mackerel paste like delicacy wrapped in banana leaf. Worth a visit for a real taste of South East Asian cuisine.

Fantastic food, clean and flavoursome.. a refreshing change from southsea’s oily Indian, Thai and Chinese alternatives.

The restaurant has the feeling of an upmarket hotel restaurant in the heart of south-east Asia. The service was impeccable and the food varied and very tasty. The food was cooked to order with perfect timing between courses. The only drawback I could find was that this restaurant is alcohol-free. But considering all the plus points I would gladly eat here again and keep my alcohol consumption to before and after my meal

I have eaten there twice now. First with two friends that lived in South East Asia for a while and they have particularly picky taste buds. We all thought the food was delicious. I went back the following week with another friend. I tried something different and was equally satisfied. The owner takes pride in his restaurant and the food that is produced. Highly recommended.

Superb food, beautifully cooked and presented. Manager is a gem, happy to advise on dishes and clearly very passionate and rightly proud of his restaurant.

first drinks ice lemon etc next just the bottle would of been nice to of been offered clean glass or even ice food good price good not been opened long so will give it another try soon

I was on holiday in Portsmouth and did a search for Malaysian/Singaporean food and found this newly opened restaurant which looked promising. The food and service did not disappoint as the menu is extensive and the owner and servers are very friendly. I had the nasi lemak and my husband had roti canai and chicken curry. We also ordered a beef rendang to share. The nasi lemak was very good with the coconut flavour of the rice coming through. The chicken rendang was delicious and the beef rendang meltingly tender. All three curry dishes had depth of flavour from the spices in the rempah and the portion sizes are generous. My only quibble is that the chicken satay was deep-fried as I would prefer it to be grilled but many restaurants do not have the facility to handle the smoke from barbecueing.

Loved this place. Really cool decor and lovely ambience. Friendly helpfull staff. I had thai prawan crackers to start. I also ordered up the satay sauce for a dip. The satay sauce was the best ive ever had. For main i had nasi lemak,. Never had this before. It was delicious. Lovely coconut rice with sambal,chicken satay and lovely chicken in a sauce. Also came with fried anchovies .A different dish but very tastey. They do not serve alcohol in here. However,they do juices and teas etc.Cant wait to go back and try another dish. They also do your standered stir fries and noodle dishes but go for the speciality menu and have some malay food instead !! Best new resteraunt in southsea !!! .

This place is amazing!! There is so much on the menu that you struggle to choose.. but then the manager is there to help and give you some advice based on what you might like... we chose the platter to share to start. Filippino spring rolls are the best spring rolls we have ever tasted. The platter is so filling that we had to leave some otherwise we wouldn't have space for the main course. Followed by malaysian curry and noodles (C7 on the menu!). Soo tasty! Best sticky rice ever to go with the curry. Place is lovely and prices are reasonable. I loved Koh Thai but this restaurant is by far superior! Nothing like any other restaurant around and it brings a mixture of authentic asian cuisine! We will definitely be back. Many thanks!!

If you are looking for something different, not Thai, and not Indian, but with the beautiful blend of these cuisines and the originality of South East Asia, the Chilli Padi is your choice! A fantastic welcome from the friendly staff, advice on the food choices if needed, and they will cook to your own particular pallet for spice. Very original dishes and something uniquely different, we will be coming back

Dishes are full of flavour and well explained, dishes can be adjusted if you want them hotter or cooler if you arent great with spice! Their menu is authentic so you may try something you've never even heard of before!

We were definately not disappointed when we came here for dinner. Spot on. Loved the atmosphere and staff were chatty and helpful. Thank you!

We visit here just in passing and so glad we did. Lovely atmosphere and decor. Food looked and tasted great! Staff were helpful and knowledgeable. Will definitely come here again 😀

Glad to know it's halal too, so I can visit with my Muslim friends together. Great Deco and atmosphere ,friendly staffs, we all enjoyed our food here. Definitely will come back again!

Visited on a Saturday night. Food was delicious, staff were attentive and price was very reasonable.

A friend recommended this place to me and I visited with 3 friends one evening midweek during April. The staff were super friendly and very helpful in making recommendations on the extensive menu. Really nice easy going vibe in the restaurant. Everyone enjoyed their dishes and the portion sizes were very generous. We shared a desert which was delightful and better than the same dish that one friend had eaten in Thailand the previous month. Great combination of nice staff, good service and great food. Definitely recommend and look forward to exploring the menu further!

We had seen this place a number of times and been wanting to try it. After seeing an offer over bank holiday we took the plunge and did not regret it at all. The menu is fantastic with a huge range. The food was served quickly and was amazing.

Nice place with delicious food. Portions are good size and decent price. Very friendly and attentive staff, perhaps a bit too attentive but understandable since it's a new place looking for feedback. Will definitely be coming back!

First visit, South East Asian food. Very interesting menu to try. Malaysian and Indonesian Influences. Very very tasty Excellent service. Quiet which we liked We will be back soon Much better than some of the local Thai restaurants.

I would like to thank the Management and staff at Chilli Padi for a selection of wonderful fusion meals that my family and I shared and thoroughly enjoyed. The service, the attention to the needs of the customer etc, fantastic.

Went there tonight with my family and the food was superb: authentic, tasty, and also a little bit different from you would generally find in SE Asian restaurant. The portions were generous, we ended up carrying one home cause we were full, and I am definitely looking forward to having it tomorrow! Staff were also extremely friendly: they made us feel very welcome, even when our children were misbehaving a little So, definitely a keeper for families, but for anyone who is after high quality meals in a great atmosphere. Will be going back!

Came here for the first time as recommended by my husband's friend this place is awesome the staff was nice and helpful we were a party of 7 which fit in one of there booths comfortably with room for more the portions was very plentiful will be coming again.

This place has an extensive menu of asian food. We opted for several starters which were all beautifully presented and tasted fabulous. The satay was a particular favourite.