Eight Bells in Isle of Wight

Very friendly and accommodating staff. They managed to get us fed and watered with not much time before the kitchen closed on a Sunday evening.

Food was average but a staff attitude spoiled our visit not sure if we really want to go there again,we also had quite a long wait for our food to be brought out

Family-friendly with an indoor play area for kids, which is ideal during the winter season. The food is always good and the service is brilliant. Highly recommended!

Had a breakfast. All of the items were over cooked

Fantastic food, the roast beef dinner was the best I'd had in a long time, tender beef, veg was just right and not overcooked and there was plenty of gravy which was a bonus.

Ideal place for play and eating highly recommend will definitely come again.

Just had a wonderful meal at the Eight Bells. The food (all homemade) was beautiful, reasonably priced and so tasty. Had the caramel meringue for desert and was blown away. Hubbie had the homemade liver, onions and mash followed by homemade apple and raspberry crumble with custard which was delicious. Would highly recommend.

Great place for a family get together ( large family) . Kids play room outdoors seating great food .

Great place to eat for the family, my son loves the outdoor play area and they have an indoor play area for the younger children. Food was delicious one of our faciroute places to go.

Impressed. Good food and very friendly staff. Parking was the only problem.

Really nice place 👌 food nicely done ✔️

Lovely atmosphere, lovely little family friendly pub! Staff were great, very accommodating and friendly, nothing was too much trouble. Food was nice, your average "pub grub".

Meals pretty average quality. It closes early after the food. We had your money now clear off syndrome.

Small Portion No potatoes on a roast dinner!! Too. Much money for the portion that you get

The portions was small when ordered large roast dinners and it came with no roast potatoes

Great location after visiting Carisbrooke Castle. Nice play area for kids and on the river bank. Friendly staff. Food was just too basic in terms of quality. The chicken burger was ok but not a lot of the Chipotle mayo. Chips had no taste. Onion rings were not that great in flavour either. Good kids portion. Double burgers were OK but it just wasn't anything to rave about.

The Eight Bells, just down the hill from Carisbrooke Castle, is our go-to spot whenever we visit for the joust at the castle. The food is consistently good, with hearty portions and a menu that never disappoints. It has a cosy, welcoming atmosphere that makes it the perfect place to unwind after a day of medieval fun. We look forward to coming here every year; it’s become a cherished part of our tradition. If you’re in the area, it’s well worth stopping by for a great meal.

Went here with a group of 10. Good food, friendly staff and lots for kids to do including soft play and external play areas, which made for an easy meal. Good atmosphere and very relaxed. Highly recommend!

Portion size of chips was absolutely appalling! Literally the size of the queens tea cup! Disgusting 🫣

An group of 21 retired people descended on The Eight Bells yesterday lunchtime. Fantastic service, great prices, friendly staff what more could you ask for.

Nice, friendly pub which is beautifully accessible - everything is on one level and the staff couldn't be more helpful. Dogs and kids are welcome, and all seemed pretty happy to be there! I had a ham sandwich and it was decent value, made with good bread and proper gammon, served with chips, for about £7.

Such a shame about this place it used to have amazing food, we went on the 13th of July for a family meal and 4 out of 10 of us have become quiet ill the next day after eating here and all had the chilli con carne that are now poorly, had to send a prawn baguette back as it had a very fishy and pungent smell to it! Not the what we expected after coming here for many years and chose this place due to the play areas for the children, definitely won't be eating here again...

Firstly let's start with the good. We came here for Sunday lunch myself and my family firstly I would like to say that we could not fault the food some of us had the roast dinner and some of us ate off the menu,a wide selection for both adults and children,good portion sizes and value for money. Now for the bad,there were two staff behind the bar,one young girl and an old lady,the older lady couldn't have been more helpful polite and friendly took our order no problem there,what we had the issue with was the young girl behind the bar,she was miserable obviously hungover and spent more time on her phone and talking to a man about selling her ticket for the festival whilst we were waiting to be served. I get it it was festival weekend but maybe should have not been behind the bar.

Woman behind the bar was grumpy and the food was not good. My chicken was really dry, tough and tasteless. Worst meal I've had in a long time. Not value for money.

Super place great food and my scampi and chips was a small portion xxxxx

Ordered the burger it was child size portions

Wow this has def changed! The last time I went the welcome was alot more uncomfortable. Staff were brilliant, food was lovely and the prices were really good 👍

Met family and sat in the beer garden on a lovely sunny afternoon.

Beer is probably better bottled. Food was average. Staff are nice 👍.

100% top end meals. Amazing starter and the the platter for two. Both amazing for there price. We would recommend highly. Staff highly helpful and manager always polite and with smiles

Food wasn’t very nice burger was more boiled than grilled so won’t be eating again here!

Nice pub, plenty of space outside and good play equipment for the children. The downside is the food. My daughter said that it smelt like cheap all inclusive dinner. I had a macaroni cheese. It was singularly the worst I have ever been served being bland and greasy. The halloumi sticks did not resemble any halloumi we've ever had, and the lasagne was mush.

Live local and visited for a family meal, we didn’t have a booking and we all managed to eat . The customer service was shocking. The woman was unnecessarily rude to more than one of our party. At one point she was watching a video on someone’s phone whilst I was waiting to be served, another snapping about what time the bar closed . This place used to be good but it’s gone down hill in recent years. Toilets dirty too. Shame cause it’s got a great play area for kids but there’s SO many family friendly pubs on the island for kids with much nicer food and better service. Don’t waste your money here.

The food was perfectly affordable and delicious. The staff were friendly and very accommodating. The garden has enough space for kids to play while waiting. The sticky toffee pudding could have a little more sauce but overall, a lovely experience.

A Great pub the food was Brought out hot and very delicious. The Eight Bells is a Dog friendly pub with well behaved Dogs allowed to sit in dinning area.

Our first work do of the year and it was great, we started off indoors and a few people ate and then we moved outside.

This place has a lovely cosy and extremely friendly atmosphere which is children and dog friendly. Myself and my 3 children all enjoyed our meals that were of great portions and extremely tasty. I certainly recommend the 10oz steak with a beautiful peppercorn sauce. All was cooked to perfection and all staff were very friendly and professional. Couldn't recommend this place enough.

The barmaid Sim is super grumpy and spoiled our visit. Food was great but service shocking. Being told they were fully booked and to sit outside but most of the tables were free and could easily of seated us for an hour to eat a meal.

Great value food, decent portion sizes and the kids meals are perfect. Felt quite rushed at the bar considering it was quiet, however didn't wait long for food to arrive and the staff were friendly

It was Sunday evening and we wanted a roast dinner. We ordered roast beef dinner and my wife a prawn with laguini. The roast beef were enormous and well cooked. The prawn and laguini was delicious. We had desserts and they were delicious too. Thank you.

I didn't like my food, fries and green peas were dry. I got dirty knife. There was unpleasant smell.

The soft play area was away from the main part of the pub, and it only had one table in there so was difficult to keep an eye on my granddaughter who is nearly 3, there were a lot of older children barging past her, she didn't seem fazed by it but it was not really a good environment.

Avoid! Owner is rude so is staff foods disgusting and they dont take it if you tell them it's not the best they get very threatening! Pub is dirty and food was undercooked and greasy will never go back here they will probably comment something back that its somehow my fault as they do not take criticism well please dont waste your money here the owner is horrible and food is undercooked and the premises needs a clean up think there is certainly signs of rodents avoid!!

We had a family reunion at this pub on Easter Monday. There were 23 of us, and the pub made a great job of serving us. We were able to order at the bar and pay separately which was so much easier than trying to sort out a huge bill at the end of the meal. The kitchen held our orders back until the last people had ordered and so the food arrived together. We all enjoyed our meals and had a great reunion. Thank you Eight Bells.

We really enjoyed our meals on our last night on the IOW before travelling back to Cornwall.

Food was very good. Had a burger which was delicious, would recommend. Especially with the double patty. Atmosphere was good, only thing that could do with improvement was the children's play area, fantastic it is there, just the room looks a bit tatty and the heaters and lights weren't working.

Popped into the pub for a pint last weekend. Been there plenty times before including Christmas dinner. Nice place. Great for families as it's got a nice beer garden with slide, swings etc for kids to play on.

Seems like a nice pub with good parking. The kids had a sundae which came quickly and they enjoyed.

Won’t be going back after finding 2 hairs in my grandson’s dinner 🤢they did refund the cost of that meal but was very wary of every mouthful afterwards

Not impressed with the food .. cheap and not the hottest.. maybe I caught them on a bad day

The food is the worst I have ever eaten in an Island pub. I want to start by saying the front of house staff were faultless. They were so lovely, so helpful and very attentive. The food was diabolical. No garnish with the meals, everything was microwaved, chips were more oil than potato and the burger was like eating sand. Such a shame as they charge just as much as any island pub for food that wouldn’t even be nice after a night out!! Awful food and would never go again.

Very upset with the level of disrespect of the staff , not only was they rude and disrespectful the manner of how they handled this situation was extremely poor. I have worked in hospitality for over 15years and been a manager for over 10. There are certain ways to handle issues and the staff need some training in this area. My friend was Given a call as the group was running late from a memorial birthday the call was taken from the car park as entering the establishment, an explanation was given as one one of the group of 13+children approached the bar to order she was greeted with hostility and sly looks and digs to other staff and locals this is not acceptable this continued with rudeness and other staff becoming abusive and aggressive towards her verbally admittedly she was extremely upset as she was welling up he continued not defusing this explaining calm and quietly to her. There was plenty of room at the establishment as it was quiet for us to stay and continued to celebrate our late friend’s birthday with grieving family and friends. Such a shame that the staff are not accommodating , compassionate or friendly ! Not somewhere I would recommend if you want somewhere friendly and local

tough day, our friends heavenly 30th .. we where letting balloons of at brading downs where signal isn’t great anyway let alone the signal masts being down … arrived in the car park at 12:55 and was met with a call from the extremely RUDE bar lady 😒 we where all made to feel like we where to blame we did nothing wrong they need to learn some manners maybe some customer service training wouldn't go a miss as for the man at the bar who spoke to my friend like rubbish and it's really upset us all

We had called to book a table after celebrating a tough day, our friends heavenly 30th .. we where letting balloons of at brading downs where signal isn’t great anyway let alone the signal masts being down … arrived in the car park at 12:55 and was met with a call from the extremely RUDE bar lady (to whome in the preivious week we was also met with poor customer service and extremely grumpy and rude lady! ) she was stating had I got the time wrong because I’m late and it’s not on etc etc.. I explained circumstances to which she did not car and in such words just told me to hurry up…. We went in wasn’t shown to our table … I went to the bar to order drinks to which I was met with stand off attitude and her making faces to other customers who were clearly regulars … she turned her back to me and asked if I wanted ice ad huffed when I was hesitant … taken back by this situation I said “ the way you come across is extremely rude and not very welcoming” to which her response was “well I don’t mean to be this is just me and that’s that!” Then turned to the awful manager and said “ she thinks I’m rude” to which I was met with a very intimidating, rude, obnoxious man who stated he was the manger .. he was extremely rude and didn’t care for our circumstances… he ended up telling us to just leave … and smiling laughing with the other member of staff and even the customer !!!!!!! I went back as this rattled me and asked for the owners number ( a nice polite lady ) to which he refused and told me he was calling her himself then I said I’ll wait to which he stated actually it’s her day of … so I emailed the pubs complaint bit and said a few colourful words on my way out!!!!!! DISGUSTING staff! Really let’s the pub down! Especially as there considerate with blue light card discount and a great play area but them to staff member are just repulsive! Really really makes that pub a misery.

Really not good the food or the pub really need to update it certainly wasn’t like the food we had seen online. The staff however were friendly but never asked why we’d left nearly everything including coffee

We don't go out to eat very often, our second visit here and great service and good food. We will certainly be back.

I recently visited The Ei8ht Bells on the Isle of Wight and had an absolutely delightful experience. The child's soft indoor play area was a standout feature, providing a safe and entertaining space for kids. What impressed me even more was the staff's proactive approach in checking the area for defects and ensuring a warm atmosphere by promptly turning on the heater. Now, onto the food – the chips were cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The hot sandwiches were a highlight, especially the vegetarian sausage one, which was surprisingly delicious. The menu caters to various tastes, and the quality of the ingredients truly shines through. I must commend the friendly and helpful demeanor of the barman. His recommendations and attentiveness added to the overall positive experience. The Ei8ht Bells is a fantastic pub with a welcoming atmosphere, great food, and thoughtful amenities for families. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Isle of Wight! I'm sorry for no pictures of the food as it was too tasty to stop and look at! ((Also the toilet facilities were astonishingly clean))

I have been in this pub a few times and it is very lovely, large and has an excellent beer garden. I haven't tried the food yet but I can tell you that it looks very nice and the aroma of food in the place is absolutely lovely. If you're not hungry when you walk in the place, you soon will be. The staff are very friendly and welcoming.

Food is good value and tasty. The pub it self could do with a referb, quite a strong smell of damp. Staff are excellent. Upgrade to the garlic baguette, you won't regret it!!

Pretty rubbish! Bar woman rude and grumpy. Food cheap. Had to send some back as poor. Never again! Better places.

Good value for your money, lovely staff and a great atmosphere.

I don't recommend this cafe. The food is very greasy, the staff ignores visitors.

Very bad cafe, very terrible food, which we only tolerated because of the children's room. Today is my birthday, which the staff of this cafe ruined. Without warning us, they changed our table, then said that we had to sit with our children in the children's room. In general, they were rude to us, they really upset me on my birthday. Then they told us that they were no longer serving us and then I opened the wine that they gave me! The waitress started screaming very loudly and saying that this cannot be done, which really scared my children and they are feeling very bad now. I do not recommend this cafe to anyone! Just awful! I feel bad on my birthday! I’m writing this so that you don’t ruin your birthday in this terrible cafe! Thank you.

It was terrible time… We ordered our favorite table two weeks before our birthday. When we arrived, our table was given to other people and it was very unpleasant. When I asked why we were not informed about this, they told me that I was not polite .Then we ordered (as always food) but they brought us the wrong amount (we were four children and they brought one burger, although I even pointed with my fingers). I understand that my English is not very good,but a male- waiter works here and he is always polite and undastood everything. But this woman always (we came to this cafe very often) always treated us not kind. They told us to sit next to the children in the playroom. But I don't understand why need playroom? Isn't it so that the parents can rest and the children play? And when I sat in the game, none of parents was looking after the different kids.When i asked.they say-I am rude. I am very upset. But the food here is good, that's why I put 4 stars 😉 By the way, they don't have a book of complaints, they don't know their names By the way, we sat for1hour 30min hours and the table was not occupied. Sorry,but i did not drink my own alcohol 😔

We found Eight Bells on a rainy day whilst on holiday on the island and it saved the day! We had a lovely filling pub meal and our daughter made good use of the soft play facilities. The prices were reasonable and we will definitely be back next year to have a meal in better weather in the outside seating area. There is even a large pond in the grounds of the pub which was a nice surprise and the kids outdoor play area looked good. Overall a great family pub in the Isle of Wight

Great pub with a brilliant soft play area for kids. We stopped in on a raining day and found the place a lifesaver for a nice meal and entertainment for the kids-the outside seating area and kids play equipment looked lovely too-will be back on a sunnier day to try them out!

Lovely place, ran by a great team, always nice and responsive. Good local food, variety beers on tap. Pleasant homelike atmosphere

Please buy a mop for your employees who had to skate on dishcloths on the tiled floor to dry the surface after wetted travellers dripped rainwater on the counterpane.

The 8 Bells has good beer and good food at reasonable prices and the friendly staff give good service. 👍 Has now had a refurbishment and is fresher and lighter.

We’ll we’ve supported the Eight bells over the past 30 years and I can truly say tonight’s meal was the worst I’ve ever had chicken was so tough I couldn’t cut it and no chorizo so we had bacon instead. I don’t think I’ll be going back there any time soon

Great food choices in this family run pub , near Carisbrooke castle- Isle of Wight . Service was good and pretty friendly, food was reasonably priced & well cooked. Prices were reasonable & small portions options available on most . Specials board offered even more tempting choices, something for everyone- even vegans!! Good size garden to the rear , with kids play area , and another indoors - so all families all catered for . Generally busy all week, so says a lot for the pub .

Had liver and bacon with peas and mash potato and gravy...liver and bacon ok but gravy thin with hard peas and mash that tasted like cadburys smash..left all peas and mash and told waiter to let the chef know..

Had a great time with the family, food was amazing

Great food at reasonable price. Plenty of kids play area.

Bisto made gravy and the burgers were the cheapest rubbish and not worth 12 quid ,the place has gone right down hill ,stay away and save the money

A little gem pub, we had a lovely lunch there, service was fantastic and staff were really nice. Food was gorgeous so we are going back today before our holiday ends.

absolutely love this place .we come here every year when on holiday ,great service and the food is amazing and so is the price as we have noticed that most places food had gone through the roof ,which is understandable with the rise in cost of living ,but The Eight Bells have kept their prices very affordable hence why we came back 5 times while on our holiday .Will always return to this fab pub .

Tired looking pub...the lady on the bar was rude no customer service skills at all...felt like an episode of Fawlty Towers. Asked for a menu said "you get them yourself" as she pointed to them next to her. When ordering food no manners never once said thank you/enjoy just no communication skills. After reading the reviews of the poor quality of meat we didn't dare order anything that could potentially give us food poisoning and spoil our holiday. I ordered a jacket potato as I thought you can't get that wrong...I was wrong...still hard in the middle 🙈...The soft play however was perfect for our children and passed the time before our holiday home was ready for us to check in. If you go don't have high expectations then you won't be disappointed.

Staff friendly, food was lovely especially the Ploughman's which we had on both visits. Would definitely recommend.

We stayed on the Isle of Wight for a week, visiting a different pub/restaurant every day, and Eight Bells was our favourite. It's in a great location (right on the river) and has some good outside play equipment to keep young kids entertained in easy view whilst waiting for the food. The menu was good and the food was both great quality and generous portion sizes. Highly recommended!

We chose to eat here because it has soft play for the children. The soft play was a good size and kept my eight and six year old occupied. However, the table we ate at didn’t feel too clean and some of the food wasn’t great. The children enjoyed their pizza, the hunter’s chicken was fine, but the sausage and mash wasn’t nice. Worth a visit on a rainy day if you’re not too bothered about the food.

Nice little pub for a quick visit for food and drink. Really nice outdoor space for the children to play around while there.

We chose The Eight Bells for a late lunch after visiting the castle. Our initial welcome was positive and welcoming. We chose bangers, mash, peas & gravy, and quiche with new potatoes & salad. The menu describes a trio of local butcher's pork sausages in a rich onion gravy. We were expecting something akin to the sausages shown in the glossy photos on the website, shiny, crisp skinned, meaty sausages, in a rich, glossy gravy. The meal that arrived could only be described as dull. The sausages were bland, heavily processed dense meat, not of the course texture associated with butcher's own produce. The gravy was gelatinous, dull and bland. The other meal arrived with 4 whole boiled potatoes which looked rather incongruous - they could at least have been cut up. The quiche was okay at best. The salad was gritty and inedible. A young man from the staff asked if our meal was okay. We raised the aforementioned issues and he became rather flustered and unable to deal with our response. He mumbled something about mentioning it to someone else, then left. About 10 minutes later a different member of staff came to clear our table and we advised her we were waiting for someone to get back to us about the issues we had raised about our food. She said only Lee could deal with that. A few minutes later Lee came to our table and rather belligerenly informed us that the sausages were indeed supplied by the local butcher. To be fair, we had berry crumble which was okay. Looking at some of the other less than glowing reviews we seem to have experienced similar poor food and poor service. Suggest pub looks at what they're getting from their suppliers and maybe invest in better than just the basic range. A customer service training course for staff wouldn't go amiss either. Just another point to raise, as noted on another review, the women's toilet (1 toilet in a pub that size?!) was appalling. Filthy, smelly, dilapidated decor - no positives.

Pub was nice, good play facilities for children. Food was ok, we had a big group, some dishes were nice and seemed home cooked (steak pie) whereas some dishes like the kids chicken goujons were clearly cheap and frozen with no flavour. Chips also weren't the best.

Quite tired pub. The food was pretty average. Basic pub grub not good. Reminded me of the British ‘70’s sitcom “Butterflies” as I cut through the gravy. Tired pub, tired chef?

Lovely food but charged £1.80 for chips not required and not received ask 3 times for reimbursement none given this spoils a nice evening out staff need training in customer service

A fantastic pie but it seems to close early

Lovely food and atmosphere, really good priced menu with a lot of choice!

Very good value for money food, large portions and a good price, it was quiet, but the proper summer holiday season hasn't started yet

Service was terrible food didn’t come for half hour (just some chips!) wouldn’t recommend!!

Staff were so friendly and helpful, and the service was great. Sat in the garden which was a nice place to be in the sunshine.

Great place to eat we had a party of 12 nothing was to much trouble,the food was Brill came out piping hot and the staff was always smiling.

Always great food. Good value for money. Their grilled chicken is my current fave... 😋

Came for some food, not massively hungry, ordered some starters and after 45 minutes later they bring out 6 potato wedges and when asked if there was only supposed to be 6 wedges the answer was oh sorry and that was it, wedges were also not fully cooked not worth the money or time

Nothing wrong with the food but it’s a restaurant not a pub. The staff seem to enjoy their work but aren’t particularly professional

Had a lovely family meal here at the eight bells yesterday. The food was amazing and excellent service. We love the fact that we can take our son along and he can play in either the indoor play area or on the park in the garden too. We enjoyed our evening as always.

Really lovely place to eat, my 6 and 2 year old loved the soft play area before and after their dinner and the food was gorgeous!

Really great pub food is awesome staff are very pleasant totally recommend.

Our food was great value for money and we all enjoyed it. We wanted somewhere child friendly and this fitted the bill perfectly. Huge play area to keep them entertained. Staff all super friendly.

Very clean, reasonably priced with large car park