Fat Olives in Havant

I have always wanted to visit....put this way I won't be going back! First impressions.....quiet, minimal cover, no atmosphere, you could hear a pin drop, boring!. Waiting staff had no personality, tried to hold a conversation but nothing was given back. Menu was minimal, to a point I love a pudding but there was only 3 items on the menu and all 3 had diary, which is no good to me. Portion's were small, no side vegetables, my husband's venison was chewy and tuff and I thought it was over price for what you got. When we left we were still hungry.

The staff were lovely and friendly and the food was delicious - the venison in particular was so good as was the Cotes Du Rhone we had. We will definitely be returning!

We had a voucher as a Christmas present and we went for dinner last night. What a delicious meal. My wife had home-smoked chalk stream trout with fennel salads orange and treacle and I had sea bream. For mains my wife had venison loin (wonderfully bloody) and I had partridge leg stuffed with mushrooms. For dessert my wife had ginger Parkin with ginger ice cream and I had Fig and sherry pie with ice cream. We both enjoyed our delicious meal. The service was good. It is a small restaurant.

I think I've dined here half a dozen times over the last 10 years & every visit, including this one on January 25th, has been top class 👍.. there isn't much more to say ⭐⭐.. Thankyou & see you again..😊

The food in this intimate restaurant in the heart of beautiful Emsworth is really not to be missed. Lovely presentation, wonderful service and such tasty food. Try it, you will be delighted.

Fat Olives never disappoints, the most delicious food, beautifully served and wonderful discreet service, your wine glass is never empty! Four friends for our Christmas lunch, we all chose the same starter, goats cheese with pear and a walnut drizzle, divine! 2 beef, 1 duck and one hake, everyone was so happy with their choice, and the clementine sorbet with a chocolate marquis was superb. Thank you Julia, Lawrence and team for a fabulous lunch.

Another excellent Christmas get together with friends at Fat Olives in Emsworth. The food is always mouthwateringly delicious. Being gluten free is challenging in many restaurants when I go out to eat but as all of their food is freshly and beautifully prepared many of the choices on the menu are already naturally gluten free. Julia the owner is always on hand to give friendly expert advice on any of the dishes. An enjoyable dining experience in a friendly welcoming converted Fishermans cottage.

Excellent food and service. Tables are staggered forservibg times for maximum service. Food tasted amazing. Dining room is compact but cosy, you don't feel too squashed.

Such a lovely meal and whole experience we’ve had here. This was our second visit and is now our favourite restaurant. Service is so attentive, professional and friendly. Food is elegant and delicious. Great wines too. Ambience is also lovely- great restaurant for special occasion or a date night.

Saturday evening meal with a friend. Started with a warm welcome from Julia to her lovely little restaurant which is a stones throw away from the Quay in Emsworth. Seating times seem to be staggered so all tables were given the time and attention we needed. The food was beautifully presented and very tasty. We "started" with a little home made loaf of bread and butter made from milk supplied by a local dairy. Other dishes from local suppliers were also on the menu. I had the Haddock with curry oil followed by Ginger Parking and custard. Both dishes were a lovely surprise and I would gladly have them both again. Portion sizes are good, but if you are a hungry person you might want a starter too. Looking forward to our next trip there :)

Always a reliable treat to eat here. Consistent service, super menu locally sourced and friendly personal service. A definite 10/10 to the whole team here.

It has been sometime since we visited Fat Olives in Emsworth but the food and service have remained constant, from the homemade bread and butter!! to the small but excellent wine list. We both started with brown shrimps with chive butter on a homemade crumpet which was full of flavour and very moreish. We followed with beef medallions which were cooked medium rare with an excellent caramelised exterior complemented by a flavour packed jus, buttered carrots and layered potatoes. My wife had the sea bass fillet which was clearly very fresh, snow white and separating into chunks with a lovely crisp skin. We both managed the chocolate mousse banana cake dessert with homemade malt ice cream. The whole meal was washed down with an excellent Gruner Veltliner. Service was attentive without being fussy and was perfect for the two up two down 16th century fisherman's cottage which houses the restaurant. Ask a question about the menu dishes and ingredients and there is no "I will have to ask the chef" but an immediate knowledge of how the dish has been prepared. Overall a faultless example of fine dining without pretension.

Always fabulous food and friendly staff. Saturday lunchtime, 3 courses, we braved the outdoor seating (as we requested) and were rewarded with a lovely sunny afternoon with 2 delicious vegetarian starter and main followed by a stunningly delicious strawberry parfait! Companions ordered bream, duck and lamb, all of which were also excellent. I’d thoroughly recommend a bottle of the Raimes, especially for a late 30th Anniversary celebration… but to be honest I’d choose for any occasion. Julia bravely dodged the occasional few raindrops to offer the usual magnificent service.

Excellent fixed price lunch with sufficient variation of choices. Staff polite and helpful, wine nicely chilled and reasonably priced. Definitely worth a visit. If you visit on a weekend in the summer, parking is a little tricky and the wardens are on the ball.

This restaurant was recommended by friends and we weren’t disappointed. The place was intimate with lots of character and some of the ingredients were locally sourced .The food was delicious and service great. Will definitely be returning.

We had a fantastic anniversary celebration at Fat Olives. We can’t fault the service, the intimate environment or the menu. We are three courses and every one of them were delicious! Unusual recipes and beautifully presented - in fact, we decided that this should become an annual treat!

Every dish we had was beautifully presented, high quality, cooked to perfection and extremely delicious! Lovely restaurant, nice ambience, staff were all friendly and attentive. Pace of meal was perfect too, we hate being rushed and we felt that everything was timed brilliantly. Thank you for a wonderful great value fine dining lunch.

Visited today for my 60th birthday and what a treat it was! The food and service were lovely - as was the ambience and all 5 of us really enjoyed our lunches. The three-course set lunch is exceptional value for money at £29.95 for such high quality food - and you you get home-made bread and local butter too. The wine is reasonably priced too so a great place for a long lunch with friends or family. I’d definitely return again!

I feel a little bit guilty writing this review as so much of the dining experience at Fat Olives was perfect. The restaurant itself is very well presented - clean, stylishly designed, and light and airy. The staff were great - very friendly, welcoming and efficient. The thing that let it down slightly for me was the food, or more specifically the taste (or lack of) of the food. Visually it was perfect and it was cooked very well. My disappointment was that it was just.....bland. A touch of salt here, and a squeeze of lemon there would have made a world of difference. I had the mackerel starter. The fish was perfectly cooked, but served on a circle of pink sauce that 'looked' like it should have packed a punch, but didn't really taste of much at all. It needed something that could counterbalance the oiliness of the fish and it just didn't get that from the sauce. Likewise, the Moroccan lamb looked very visually appealing and was melt in the mouth, but the Moroccan spicing was mild to the point that you had to go searching with your taste buds to find it. The whole dish felt just a little disappointing. What is frustrating is that the food was so close to being perfect, but the seasoning was just too 'timid'. Perhaps the locals prefer their food like this, and who am I to argue, but for me, everything just needed more punch. Having said that the selection of cheeses were tangy and flavourful, so I don't think it was my sense of taste that was at fault.

Another wonderful visit to “Fat Olives”…always such a warm kind welcome, with culinary delights of the highest quality, and so very well presented with delicious flavours to really enjoy. Many many Restaurants could learn so much from “Fat Olives” in every aspect of their business, with their attention to detail including their “small room” facilities. A Restaurant and Team to be very proud of…we are really looking forward to our next visit. Thanks lots!!

I have been coming to Fat Olives for a number of years now and cannot fault the food, service and setting. Always a warm welcome, interesting menu and delicious food. I can honestly say I haven’t ever had a bad experience. I enjoy introducing friends as they are always equally impressed. See you soon Julia!

First time at Fat Olives , I cannot believe that this was the first time dining at this restaurant. My friends have been recommending it for a few years . This restaurant is perfect . Calm ,relaxed and serene atmosphere . The service is impeccable . Like dining in a Michelin starred restaurant , with more warmth friendliness. I won’t take you through what we ate , course by course . Suffice to say that everything we ate , was prepared with high quality ingredients and every morsel on the plate was divine . My new favourite restaurant

Went for lunch as a couple. We were really impressed by the food and venue. Great service too! We thought it was great value given the quality of the ingredients and the chef. Would definitely recommend and will be back to try the evening menu.

A small neighborhood eatery in the heart of this atmospheric town. Accomplished sourcing of fresh fish and meat and excellent skills behind the stoves. Friendly and warm service from the chefs wife created a relaxing and warm atmosphere. A small but interesting wine list complemented...

This 20 seater restaurant run by a man and wife team continues to serve up amazing tasting dishes. A fixed price lunch menu offers great value and the wine list is excellent. I can’t recommend this place highly enough

Wow excellent food and service. Managed to get a last minute table due to a cancellation and so pleased we did. It was fabulous! I had mackerel and venison which was superb whilst hubby had the pigeon and lamb, also superb. Great friendly service and...

Fat olives is a fabulous restaurant, quaint and charming. The food was delicious. We had the three course lunch menu which is incredible value given the quality of the food. Service is slick and professional. We were the last table in but were not rushed...

This was our first visit, and... crikey, it was good! For so much to be achieved, by so few, and in so small a venue, is incredible! Top-notch food, with world-class service!

Beautiful and delicious food in a relaxed and intimate restaurant. The service was professional and unobtrusive. Everything was quality. Thank you we will be back.

Very cosy restaurant, with lovely, professional and welcoming staff. Our dinner was good, and beautifully presented, but it wasn't seasoned and there are loads of reviews all saying the same. We were brought a beautiful looking home made brown baguette with butter at the start...

We were very lucky to get a last minute booking, as we were in the area, and didn’t know local eateries. All the dishes were delicious. We only had 2 courses, but should have had 3, as they are not over large, and the third...

Ate here on November 9th😊👍.. We were the 1st diners of the evening, infact we were so keen we arrived about 3 minutes before Julia opened up..😊.. Warmly greeted as always, with a choice of at least 3 tables laid for 2.. After 5 minutes...

Hard to think it is 4 years since my last meal here. The three course lunch at £28.95 is in today's inflation ridden world good value. Service is attentive. My only slight moan is the small dining room lacks ambience. My starter of pork rillet...

This is somewhere to go that is a bit out of the ordinary. There are only a few covers so you will need to book well in advance. The food and service could not be bettered and with a dearth of Michelin restaurants in the...

Went for my birthday lunch, we had the set menu, food, wine and service were excellent. Will go again.

Due to a cancellation, we were able to book a table at this restaurant. It's not a big place, so we were lucky. Everything from local sparkling wines to the payment of the bill was what one will expect from a place like this. Starter...

We visited Fat Olives for lunch today and both chose the mackerel pate and gunard; absolutely delicious. Truly one of the best meals we have had in a very long time. Service was fabulous wine sublime and the desserts finished our meal of beautifully. Such...

The food was cooked with a high degree of skill, well presented and the friendly service was much appreciated.

Absolutely beautiful meal with calm, friendly service. Food was so tasty - we both had pork belly and the crackling was perfect.

Excellent quality food, small friendly restaurant. The presentation of the food is only surpassed by the taste combinations. Well worth a visit if you can get a booking.

Another wonderful meal in Fat Olives. The food is excellent, great value wine list and such lovely people. The beef last night was perfect. Can’t wait to visit again next month 😋

Excellent food. Excellent wine. Excellent service and Excellent value. A perfect place for a birthday dinner. Thankyou

This was one of the most memorable meals we have ever had. The restaurant is small and perfectly formed, with a great atmosphere. The service was very attentive and warm, but not over-intrusive. The menu was really interesting, making it hard to choose, and the...

Food was absolutely delicious, very flavoursome and nice portion sizes. Timings between courses was spot on. Staff very attentive but not in your face. Will definitely be returning for another special occasion in the future.

Enjoyed a wonderful meal out with my husband. From booking to leaving everything was made perfect. Staff were super attentive and friendly. I mentioned when booking that it was my husband’s birthday and that I am a coeliac. We were greeted with a “happy birthday”...

Visited Fat Olives on numerous occasions over the years and it is always fantastic. Service from Joules and her team is faultless and the food from Lawrence and the kitchen is always amazing, fresh and seasonal. A must visit place if in Emsworth but be...

I was happy to introduce another of my friends to the pleasure of dining at Fat Olives, and she was duly impressed. The restaurant is an oasis of calm, with everything under control and lovely menu choices. We both had the pork belly for our...

This is our second visit to Fat Olives. The first, a very enjoyable lunchtime meal. We believe the minute you enter a restaurant your journey should start. We were politely seated and offered the wine and food menu. We choose a very lovely bottle of...

A great lunch with gorgeous food and very attentive service. Although the lunchtime menus is relatively small there is something there for everyone and I will return to try something else. The meal I had was high quality and I enjoyed it greatly. A delightful...

Another beautiful meal and evening at Fat Olives. Gorgeous setting and with the most attentive and loveliest hosts. Thank you again, everything was stunning and incredibly delicious.

Another visit to a favourite restaurant. The three course meal was excellent value for money, beautifully presented and perfectly cooked. Every dish was delicious.

Quality fare well served in comfortable and safe setting . Unusual menu good choices supplemented by excellent wine

Back after lockdown to the busy sky great service and food. Menu is excellent and presented so well. Great service as always.

The venison with a stunning sauce was the absolute higlight to a most pleasant evening. Homemade bread (please let her say the butter is also 'a la maison') YES!!! And fortunately we were warned how sharp the butter knife was and avoided any serious injury.

This is the kind of restaurant that should be at the heart of every community - a special place to celebrate a special occasion with friends or family. Not cheap but not daft expensive…food that you can’t, or can’t be bothered to cook at home…excellent...

Wedding anniversary meal - first of all, when you are seated, there’s no next dining slot. If you want to be there till closing, you can be. Starters of cod for me, rabbit for my partner was really goods. Mains of lamb was beautiful, with...

Staff are friendly and attentive. The food is outstandingly good! Great for couples and adult family or friends.

I don't usually post negative reviews - and I am mindful that the behaviour we found off-putting may be exactly what other people are looking for - but we did find some of the covid protocols really took the edge off our dining experience. This...

Very lovely 3 course meal. The highlights were the sweet potato Lakta and the chocolate dessert. Very attentive staff. Lacked a bit of atmosphere though.

First visit for me on my wife's recommendation. Not disappointed. Excellent service and incredible food. I thought it might have been an expensive Lunch but for the quality very reasonable!

What an amazing experience . We were early birds that turned up at 12pm. Beautiful setting with a wonderful window table. Friendly warm staff that made us feel welcome. First class food with attention to every detail. The mussels included with my mains were the...

Fantastic little restaurant in heart of Emsworth. Given size, booking is essential, but we were very lucky as weather was good and so they managed to fit us in their pretty courtyard. Lunch is a set menu, with a relatively small choice but all options...

Fantastic restaurant. We visited here on a recent stay in Emsworth, booked couple of months ago. It was a Weds night but restaurant was still full. Very covid careful and menu very unusual and service just the right speed. Had veal and it was fabulous....

I booked up at Fat Olives as a belated present for my mum as she has always wanted to go here. We were greeted by great service and a lovely restaurant. We went for the Lamb, which was amazing and the wine was great to...

Still our favourite restaurant locally, we were there for my 2020 birthday just before they were forced to close by Covid restrictions and we so happy to be back for my wife’s birthday this week for the reopening. Lovely people and great food. Much appreciated.

Food was delivered in the morning ready to cook for the evening. Instructions were very clear and easy to follow. Food was delicious and very filling. We opted for the goody bag option in addition to our meal and we do recommend it. Hopefully they...

Dinner was delivered on time with comprehensive instructions to prepare. Chicken & Pistachio terrine was exquisitely delicate and the Red Wine Braised Beef was full bodied flavour.

Excellent retirement lunch celebration for a member of our staff. The Pork Pie was magnificent! 10/10

We had been trying to book in to this restaurant for some time on our visits to Emsworth. It we well worth the wait and we had a great meal with a couple of foodie friends, who were equally impressed. An interesting menu, perfectly cooked and presented dishes a good wine list and attentive/friendly staff. We will return

A delicious, beautifully presented, three-course meal with perfect portion sizes.As someone eating a low-carbohydrate diet it is rare to find such a gem of a restaurant where I have such a choice of options for every course, but at Fat Olives I was spoiled for choice and it was just so delicious.Vegetables & potatoes on the side was fantastic. I imagine if I had asked for more they would have obliged, although I did not ask...The staff are charming, the restaurant is beautifully stylish and the prices are very reasonable considering the quality and immaculate presentation.Wonderful, and highly recommended.

Fat Olives is definitely a jewel in Emsworth. The most delicious and beautifully presented food. Portions may look small to some folk but boy it packs a punch, the most wonderful flavours. After 3 courses you are very satisfied but dont feel uncomfortably full. The lunchtime menu is very reasonable at £25 for 3 courses and coffee. If you havent been, put it on your list, you won't regret it.

We called in here after a morning walk from Havant to Emsworth. As ever the service was very good. We chose our usual bottle of Carmenere red wine which is an excellent wine. The lunch time menu is good value. My partner chose the place and I had the duck. All cooked to perfection. But the pudding was to die for. Cream cheese with granola and blueberries was certainly worth the calories. A funny story!! When I visited with friends one evening the first of us visited the loo which is just across the courtyard to be and reported that apart from a single candle burning in there it is exyremely dark and you need to take care. My visit to the loo confirmed this. So dark it was impossible to even see to comb your hair. The third person in our party came back from her visit laughing and thought it very funny that had we reached out we would actually have found a light switch. We left the lights on for the next person. A very nice restaurant and a very pleasant experience

On the table were fat olives! They were delicious, as was the rest of the meal. Some unusual dishes. My venison was superb, as was my wife's lamb. The restaurant was a fisherman's cottage years ago. This lent to the ambience. Cheerful and unobstrusive service. An enjoyable, if expensive, evening.

Been here a couple of times now. Excelkent food and service Nice converted fisherman's cottage.parking easy Just go.m

A beautifully cooked and served 3 course lunch with coffee, in a small restaurant that was formerly a fisherman’s cottage.

Disappointing.My wife and I had lunch with two friend to celebrate our wedding anniversary.At first the staff were more interested in dealing with their paperwork than taking our order. While we were waiting for the lunch to arrive, a very small portion of bread and olives was served. When I asked for more bread it was like asking for the crown jewels.We chose the fish course which unfortunately was bland and lukewarm.Service was generally poor and unfriendly

My husband and I had an excellent lunch here to celebrate a special event. Wonderful food and wine served in a lovely atmosphere.

Had a lovely meal, served by lovely staff. Nothing to fault, everything was spot on.

Been here for both lunch and dinner. Very well executed, friendly atmosphere, very good food. The fish dishes have been excellent.

We came here while staying in Petersfield as it seemed to be the nearest 'fine dining' restaurant. The family-run restaurant claim to be more of a brasserie than fine dining, but the food and service are exemplary. Every course was spot on.

We had a short break in the area and ate here on the last night - if it had been our first night we would have eaten here every night!

Cannot fault anything in this restaurant the food was beautifully presented fresh and well cooked. The place also had a warm feel about it and service excellent. Will definitely be going back

Great location in the center of Emsworth, lovely dining room and friendly service. Food was wonderful too.

Had lunch here with four friends recently. A delicious and unusual well thought out menu, served expertly by Julia, the owner. As always a superb meal - cannot fault it and I recommend highly.FIVE STAR Can't wait til I go again.

We had friends to stay who are real foodies so we choose Fat Olives to showcase Emsworth. Fantastic food, wine and service and our friends were very impressed. Lovely flavours and tastes and the wines all served at the right temperature . Thank you Fat Olives for a fab evening .

Emsworth is small harbour town and still feels like a fishing village. It has quality and genuineness at every turn and is fully authentic.

This 20 covers restaurant is a real gem. The husband and wife team are amazing consistently delivering amazing food with top quality service. We visit regularly and highly recommend the restaurant. Fixed price lunch is great value.They always have fabulous wines to accompany your meal. Don’t hesitate just book it you won’t be disappointed.

This is restaurant provides particularly high standards of food and service. It was my first visit and my wife and I were taken there by a couple of our close friends. Although not very large, it’s a very cosy restaurant with attractive modern décor. I understand it is owned and managed by a couple who have had the business for about 20 years and have an extremely impressive background in the catering industry. I don’t know if it is the norm for lunchtimes mid-week, but the menu was table d’hôte, with prices for two or three courses. There was a good variety of interesting dishes. Wonderful olives, and bread with oil and balsamic vinegar were neatly presented initially and we chose a variety of all three courses. Both the manageress who took our orders and the waitress that served us, were very friendly and efficient. All the dishes were just superb. They were beautifully presented and tasted wonderful. I have been in the catering and hospitality business all my life and I must say I was extremely impressed. I will tell all my friends about it and try and get back there again soon.

Excellent service and delicious food and great wine. A great experience. Cannot wait to find another excuse to dine there

Little gem of a place. Highly recommend if you want a quality meal. Well worth a little xtra money as all the dishes were cooked perfectly and all of our party went away happy.

Family birthday dinner with my daughter who has a dairy allergy and is gluten intolerant. She was so happy to find that she could pretty much choose from everything on the menu, with only a couple of dishes unsuitable. Such a pleasure for her to have a genuine choice. Suffice to say all the dishes were delicious, the service was well paced and we enjoyed a wonderful evening. Thank you.

Wanted to visit Fat Olives for a long time & succeeded to get a reservation whilst visiting this week. Didn't live up to my expectations or wonderful reviews.

What’s not to enjoy about lunch at Fat Olives? Food excellent, (silver mullet is to die for), wine perfect and great service. Coupled with the enjoyment of eating outside on a perfect July day what else could one ask for. I would recommend the 3 course lunch....everything that we chose was tasty and well presented. Get there as soon as you can!

Good food, we expected it to be good and we were not disappointed. We will definitely go again and look forward to it! Highly recommended.

This is a great little restaurant, with wonderful food, we has not been here for a few years but are so pleased we went. Nice sized restaurant not to big, with great service and great food.well worth a visit, we will be back.

Tried the fat olives tonight. What a delight great food and service. Obviously passionate people in the kitchen that know their business. Wittily menu perfectly delivered. If you want an excellent dinner in emsworth get down there. It’s a treat.

We only live 1 mile away but have only managed to get in to this delightfully tiny place twice before in 7 years . . . partly because it is so popular and we are very much last minute bookers. What a lost opportunity!! Let's keep this simple. The dinner was fantastic in every detail, beautifully cooked and presented, but not pretentious. A hard thing to deliver and worthy of five stars. We will now make an effort to book early and go more often.

Have eaten here a couple of times over the last few years - food has always been excellent - would recommend!

Have been to this resturant quite a few times and it is alway perfect, great husband a wife team, food is great and service is also spot on. If you want to go here though you will need to book well in advance as it is alway busy

Went to Fat Olives with some friends for lunch. What a truly delightful restaurant this is. Because of its size, it’s able to provide a very amiable atmosphere without the noise and frenzy one would get in a larger establishment. The food is excellent. I started with the Anchovy, Celeriac Watercress & Apple salad followed by Calves Liver with Bubble & Squeak and Sage & Onion Sauce and finished with Ginger Parkin with Black Treacle Ice-cream. Although the lunch menu isn’t extensive, there is sufficient choice to suit the majority of palettes.