Mbuntu Cocktail Bar & Bistro in Southampton

A little quite when I went in but the food and service was excellent

Not the sort of person to normally leave review but genuinely really disappointed with our visit which was with a pre-booked group. - Staff struggled to work out what could be gluten free for my wife. - kids meals came with no chips, just a stack of fish fingers on there own 😬 - gluten free meal we had to pay more for as was made up of a few dishes 😩 - despite this it was very bland, disappointing and some of the chicken seemed uncooked 😭 - burger was tiny and overpriced, and again on its own 🍔 - Apart from one lady who seemed to be holding the place together, the staff generally looked grumpy and bored 😠 - after we did complain we were offered a £5 discount, which we did take but spent over £60 and still hungry! 😩 Next time I'll just do the BBQ at home!

We had a great time at our hen party here. DJ was friendly and great. All the staff been amazing and we enjoyed the visit, dancing until closing time

If you are in Southampton and need to have Nigerian/African dishes, visit Mbuntu for a treat 😋. They have a rich menu ranging from Isiewu, nkwobi, Bitterleaf soup, Afang, and so on. It is quite spacious and has different chambers for those who like privacy. A good environment to have your birthday party and any other celebration you want to have.

Friendly staff and good atmosphere

It's a big improvement, but still has a long way to go.... Just not quite right. Something is missing. Possibly more customers. Not sure,

I run a local Meetup group and there have been problems every time we have come here. One time, I ordered a cocktail which took them over an hour to bring out. Food then arrived 2.5 hours after this. Another time, they put the wrong sauce in my burrito and said they couldn’t return it. 12 of us booked to go for dinner in December 2023. As usual, service was slow, and my friend had been given the wrong soup. It was only 7pm when I asked bar staff if I could order food. They told me they have temporarily stopped taking orders due to how busy it is and will be taking orders again at 9pm. We asked again at 9pm and were told they’ve decided to stop for the night. We were disappointed because we’d stayed at the restaurant thinking we were eventually going to get food! 8 of my Meetup group dined at Mbuntu again last night. I had booked a table in advance and double checked ONLY A FEW DAYS BEFORE that they were still doing the buffet. Mbuntu got back to me almost straightaway and reassured me that they are indeed still doing the buffet and yes it would be available for us to order from on the day. Unfortunately, when my friends got there, the buffet area was cordoned off and when they enquired they were told the buffet isn’t happening today. The buffet is meant to happen every Saturday, as per advertisements! They were told to order from the main menu instead, which they did. There was almost an hour between the first meal and the last meal arriving, and most of the meals were incorrect and needed sending back to the kitchen. One of my friends got sent the wrong rice TWICE! 8 isn’t a massive group and it wasn’t busy inside the restaurant, so I don’t know whether they had lots of takeaways to deliver instead? On my birthday, over 30 of us went to a local curry house and all ordered different drinks, starters and mains and NO ONE got given the wrong order. It is such a shame because the food and cocktails are nice, and the jazz nights they used to have at the weekend were superb!

We had a quick drink last night. Very friendly staff serving us. Will return again soon.

Didn't have stock of much beer on the tap or tyd fridge and bar attendant didn't seem to know much.

Served cow hoof, absolutely disgusting.

Mbuntu restaurant covered the food services for my wedding reception in October 2022. I wanted to surprise my husband on his birthday today and the owner of the restaurant gave me some ideas that were affordable for me. Everything was perfect. It was everything I wanted. My husband was pleasantly surprised and so happy. He has been all over me since after the party. The food was delicious and we were overfed. Staff were so patient and professional. Thank you Mbuntu for celebrating my sweet hubby. I will definitely be using your services whenever.

Don't buy their Too Good To Go bag. It's pretty much a scam [Rant Incoming]... There's a very good reason why this place has a very poor rating on TGTG, and it's mainly due to the sheer amount of profiteering they're trying to do with leftover food. I, along with a few other people, were one of the first to purchase their TGTG bag. On a platform which aims to tackle food waste, £5 is a large sum of money (even if it may not sound like it). Only the likes of Starbucks get to charge that kind of price for leftover food. And here comes along this humble establishment, trying to convince me that a small plastic box of leftover rice and two small pieces of leftover chicken is worth £5. Please, don't make me laugh... I can get better food FRESHLY MADE for the same price! Hell, I can make better food myself! I was extremely polite when I told them that they need to sort out their expectations (it's never right to treat fellow humans harshly). Sure, they can charge whatever they want for their measly meal on their main menu (£6 for the rice according to them), and it's their right to sell overpriced food to their unsuspecting customers... But when you're on a platform that specifically aims to REDUCE FOOD WASTE, profit shouldn't even be the first thought on your mind. I don't care what superficial 'value' you put on your food, when it comes to TGTG, you're dealing with a completely different target demographic and you need to adapt accordingly. And fine, even if you want to gain profit from leftover food that would've otherwise gone in the bin, at least be gracious about it! Like, no one in their right mind is gonna be spending their money on leftover food being sold on a 500% mark up! Seriously, that small box of rice and two chicken is not even worth £1 of ingredient and production cost combined. Like, it's fricking rice man!!! You should be grateful that customers on this platform are gracious enough to buy your leftover food, and you should at least try NOT to rip them off, especially when they're buying the food that would've otherwise gone in the bin. I trust you will listen to reason... I won't be buying from this place again, but someone who is genuinely in need of food to survive might... At least think of them in the future...

Great place to have a meal and a also a better place to go and listen to some music 🎶

I'm staying in River side rooms for some days again, from where you can smell an attractive smell of this pub. Therefore I thought I'd give it a go: Don't recommend to order "gourmet" burger unless you like to be disappointed.. gourmet as a bold guy has hair. I don't know about other food, but not going to risk it. Lovely atmosphere, but found empty. Now still hungry after "gourmet" burger, I'm heading across the street to order a Chinese takeaway which is absolutely amazing and will have in my room with better results.

DISAPPOINTING SERVICE My partner placed an order for delivery ahead of the restaurant opening, food arrived over an hour late, when opened we discovered that it was someone else's food. After contacting the restaurant my partner was told he needed to return the wrong order. Unfortunately their was a language barrier and the lady spoke in broken English, my partner was initially told that the driver was going to return to collect the food. We had to call several times, and were then told the driver could only come back if we placed and paid for more food. Otherwise we had to return the wrong order to them directly. Eventually my partner was forced to return the incorrect order to them, when he arrived the order he was given was again incorrect and missing items, he was informed that the manager had left for the night and so had the chef so he would not be receiving the missing items, the lady did not know how to resolve the issue and for 20 minutes my partner was told to just sit down. Eventually the missing items were refunded and the front of house staff made a new curry to replace it after 45 minutes waiting however by the time that had happened the rest of the food was cold. We will not be ordering from here again. The customer service was well below standard and the situation was handled very badly by the restaurant.

We had a great evening at Mbuntu! They were very family friendly, got out a highchair immediately for my daughter. They’ve turned the place around and the food was delicious and our mojitos were good too. I enjoyed my plantain curry and my husband had fish soup. My one year olds verdict on the fish soup was “nice!”. The plantain was really great and so were the dumplings. Some of the food did take a while to come and came after I’d finished my meal. We’ll definitely be visiting again soon

Great food cheap beer nice people this place improved from the last visit

Ordered a beef burger from the kids menu and it was one of the best burgers I've ever eaten! It was only £6 and it was served within 15 minutes. Really thick burger, with salad leaves and red onion. It was just perfection. 👌🏼

Half portions . Half a box of rice that looks like they’ve had there hands in it. As black bits and bits of curry on rice . Maybe this was destined for the bin , but made its way to me who knows . Goat curry was stone cold . I have no words . Dropped standards since I last used them that’s for sure . Very disappointed

Fantastic place, fantastic staff and dantastic food, what more can you ask for. I had the goat katsu curry, it was delicious and the staff were just so amazing. If you're in Southampton, it's a must.

I can’t believe I’m writing lol because I normally wouldn’t do reviews but maybe this time around I’m more than disgusted.I recently visited Mbuntu which was yesterday and as normal I was taking a pic or video of the decor to post on my social media and the manager started yelling at me asking me why I’m I taking a video and I asked her if it was a problem or a policy that stated I shouldn’t?she was just rude and shove my food.wouldn’t recommend but I’ll give it another try..

Cool ambience with warm staff. You'd love the place

Second time I have a problem with Egusi soup. I won’t say much

Bought Sharwama there and it was beyond Horrible . The only reason I didn’t return it is because I came all the way from Portsmouth to buy take out . Very horrible sharwama , I put it in the bin

Great food, wonderful Nigerian trumpet playing, lovely African atmosphere. Friday night is live music!

My isi eu and pounded yam joint. Lovely place to sit and chart up with friends

Very friendly place and tasty food :)

Willing to give this place a 2nd look. The menu looks amazing. The food on this occasion did not live up to expectations so I will revisit another day to be fair. But I love how spacious it is and has potential

Nice little place. Service is a bit slow. No issues with the food or beverages. Kids were welcome.

Be careful when ordering drinks. They give you the most expensive options. Avoid the goat curry - it isn't cooked long enough.

Had a burrito, unfortunately not very flavourful, tasted like bland chicken in sweet and sour sauce from the shop with rice and yellow pepper…. Bit of a shame

Chilled atmosphere great food and great selection of drinks will definitely return 👍

The best African restaurant in Southampton and Hampshire. Lovely food and nice atmosphere. We ate nkwobi, goat meat pepper soup, edikaikong with pounded yam and the sea food platter in the picture.. This place is worth a visit, You won’t regret it.

Food was cold and salad on my plate was wilted and not fresh overall a bad experience made worse by the waiter spilling sauce over me and the missus as he cleared up after the meal my shirt and trousers was covered in it and it ruined our night. The place has a good vibe but food was below bar.

Quality food and nice atmosphere.

Their okro soup with pounded yam was top notch. God bless the cook 🙌

Lovely place. Would be better right now if it had a smoking area outside that has a cover to prevent the rain

Nice bar which never seems to have anyone in it. It has large TVs to watch sport. Its not as cosy as some other places in the area but is nice for a beer or 2.

This is the place to visit. I love the ambience and hospitality displayed at Mbuntu. Excellent services and amazing taste. I will come back again.

Had an order delivered from them. BBQ grilled shrimp platter I found very disappointing and bland in taste. The Egusi wasn’t too bad but the pounded yam was not nice at all. I wouldn’t order again.

The food was nice but the service was poor. No one offered us drinks on arrival. We had booked this place in advance for my sister's birthday and her food order wasnt served. We asked for this to be prepared and it took another hour. When we asked for drinks we we were told that thsy had to go and ask their manager forst if they could serve us the drinks. Otherwise we would have to go and order by ourselves from the counter. We were not offered any desert. We had to ask them to clear our tables so we couldbring the cake. On the menu it wasnt clear that some of these dishes were very hot. So when they were served, some couldnt eat their food. Suggestions: 1. On your busiest days, make sure you have enough staff to look after your customers. 2. Please add variations of any hot food you might have on the menu, eg, medium, lemon and herb or super hot. That way people will choose what they know they can tolerate. 3. Please ask your guests on arrival ifthey want a drink. It polite and curteous. 4. Off desert and provide a selection. Many thanks,

Not had anything yet but definitely will be tomorrow the people here are happy and enjoying their drinks it's nice to see.

Great place, lovely people serving, very good cocktails and the price was excellent for the very flavoursome food. Highly recommend. Will be back!

Amazing food and cocktails, would recommend

The customer service is outrated, nice food more especially the goat curry

Food was amazing. Cocktails were proper cocktails. Staff were friendly. Prices were reasonable. Will definitely go back.

Great food & drinks, and reasonably priced. Staff were friendly and attentive.

Very nice authentic tasting multi cultural food. The curry goat was the star of the show. Nice service too in a relaxed laid back multicultural joint serving British, Mexican, African, Caribbean foods. The plsce is like a restaurant pub with a West indies and West African twist. Highly recommended unique joint.

Great dogs excepted as well outside in the beer garden

Amazing experience Nice place nice people and amazing neighbours

Lovely food, great cocktails, fantastic evening!

Friendly staff great atmosphere lively music and you can hire the front room for functions. Worth it.

The old BPH has gone up in the world...

Food was amazing. Drinks where on happy hour. Unfortunately not all cocktails are made to order, they come from a tap.... staff polite and welcoming.

Kind and welcoming team ,good service,good music.It was a lovely might

The food was lovely and reasonably priced with trying out

Love it in here. Great atmosphere and very friendly.

Excellent food, and brilliant service:)

Lovely and courteous staff, delicious food, we had a wonderful party

Nigerian style food with some regular English pub grub on the menu as well.

Food was really nice and the staff were very attentive. Can't complain, worth a visit.

Food was great.....when it arrived.....a very long wait for service and then delivery to the table. A party of 8...over 3 hours from drinks to delivery of the last plates so meal took almost 4 hours to complete.

The food is tasty, the staff is nice! We enjoyed our lunch!

Great red stripe beer on tap, myself and partner went for the platterr2 on the menu and shared it, consisted of jerk salmon, jerk prawn, chips, coleslaw, salad and plantain. Although food took a while to come out it was worth the wait, both my partner and me agreed this was the best meal we had eaten in a long while. Our first visit won't be our last. Keep up the good work guys.

Nice music and friendly environment

Had a lovely evening there last night, fantastic freshly cooked food, very friendly and attentive staff and it's dog friendly too. Couldn't ask for more, absolutely excellent.

Cocktails are good they also do 2 for 1

First visit to a lovely pub, but no Ales/ciders available on the pumps, except Heineken. None of the cocktails available on the pumps, or the table menu, (then why have the cocktail list on the tables). Card machine not working and when paid in cash, could not give any change, as no float in the till !! Kept waiting at the bar for drinks, barman was terrible, no idea what he is doing when he did eventually serve you. Will not be going back !!

Absolutely delicious food! Highly recommended. The Chef does great job🍤🤤 Don't forget to grab a bottlw of their signature sauce. The staff is very friendly too. First but defo not the last time here.

Good tasty food. Worth trying out the menu with a difference.

First time there last night for a 30th Birthday party. Absolutely fabulous from the very pleasant sociable doorman, to the bar staff. Amazing atmosphere, with equally amazing, lovely people enjoying the ambience. Great night, great place and great music 🎶 MB

It had been nicely renovated and I was very keen to try this place out as a local. Unfortunately I was bit disappointed. I booked lunch for 2pm but we had to wait till 3:30 as the chef was stuck in traffic. Nobody called to explain or offer any alternative. Cocktails were nice but service was very slow (it was Sunday and there were only two or three other people in) we did complain to the manager who did apologise but we werent offered any drinks etc as a good will gesture (when spending nearly £400 that would have been good service as a way of apologising for the mix up with the food and all the time we were waiting around). The atmosphere was dull- but it was quiet that day. As it is new I would try it again as the place has definite potential.

First visit today - ignore the outside, inside very pleasant, very good and friendly service, excellent food at a good price.

Great food and great people. The katsu curry is to die for 😋 service is not perfect but they are trying hard and will improve in time. It's a fabulous venue to have just down the road. Looking forward to when the menu can be extended especially for veggies. Will keep coming back.

Delicious food, amazing vibe and very friendly staff. Absolutely recommended ! :)

Cocktails were OK but overpriced. Payed £7.50 for a salad! 1/4 of a chicken £6 **NO SIDES** SIDES ARE EXTRA** (an oversized chicken wing) the chicken came out pink in the middle I didn't eat it, manager came to take it away said the chicken was cooked it was a vein I had bit into. Chips £3 **small side** ramekin bowl So a meal out for 1 cost £31.40 that was minus the 20% off for the unedable £6 chicken wing. Good evening with friends for a 40th birthday but will never cone back again. Don't waste your money.

Really chilled out place , staff lovely, great drinks

Loved it, fabulous little bar. Great cocktails

Lovely place and really friendly staff!

I'll try it again, maybe on a busier night to see what the atmosphere is like. Food and drink are drawn from all over the globe so you get a good range, but if you want a Nigerian cuisine focus it might not be the best place. Food was tasty (we had the burger and the chicken burrito) but portion sizes felt small for the price, especially the burger. Will update this one day

Wednesday lunch with family. Food was very nice . Pleasant staff and nice atmosphere

Great service, delicious food and cocktails. Lovely atmosphere and music

Food comes out when it's ready plate by plate, regardless whether it's a kid meal and they have to wait till last. Not sure that kinda service suites the menu, that is kinda simple and sparse. 4 y.o not really interested in a balsamic dressed endive garnish and sweet chilly sauce with fish fingers. Nice settings though, few tweaks and a little creativity and I'm sure they'll do well.

Staff are lovely. Good selection on the drinks menu but the garden is a bit run down.

Popped into this place to see what it was like on a quiet Sunday afternoon. There weren't many people inside and as it was nice we decided to sit outside. We got out into their "cocktail garden" past the smelly bins and I was incredibly disappointed. The tables had ashtrays that were full presumably from the night before. It was messy and to top it off there was dog's mess on the garden, not great when you have a little one with you. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Very quiet when we went but had a great meal and drink here. Lovely to have something local to walk to.

A nice little place in a great location. Great potential. Cheap food and good quality.

Beautiful service food cocktail

Nice food and cocktails. Service was good, although a little slow at times.

Amazing food. Great service. Cocktail arrivals a little slow but they have only just opened. 100% would recommend.

Can't praise Mbuntu enough. We have been twice now and the service has been amazing each time. The staff are really friendly and attentive the cocktails of a very good quality and they sell Cruzcampo beer too. A breath of fresh air from the usual dreary drinking establishments in the city. 11 out of 10!!

Food was of average quality. One of our party ordered advocado sandwich and what came out can only be described as two bits of toast with a micro thin scraped layer of advocado on it - for £9 it's not good value. They did rectify it and what they delivered next was good and they included some free chips and knocked 20% off that one plate. The rest of the table had nice food katsu curry, macaroni pasta and fisherman's sandwich all nice. It's just a bit steep and you would expect pub food to include chips as standard. Won't be rushing back unfortunately.

Great, food. Staff training could be improved. But I'm sure that will come. Staff were extremely friendly.

Booked a table for my birthday. When we arrived we waited ages whilst they tried to figure out where to sit us even though the place was empty. There was only 4 items on the menu. They didn’t have any of the drinks we wanted. They were repeatedly telling other people that they didn’t have stuff. And we waited over half an hour to order food having finally managed to flag someone down. They advertise breakfast out the front but are never open for breakfast. They also advertise that they want to be apart of the community in a family area, yet don’t have a children’s menu. I really hope that in a few weeks time they figure out what it is they want to be, and hopefully with our next visit it will be so much better.

Great atmosphere and nice decor. Great cocktails and reasonably priced. Staff really friendly, but service could be better, however, they opened recently and are getting it together.

Had a lovely meal here in their back garden cocktail area. The food was delicious, the service brilliant. Our cocktails were fantastic. I’d highly recommend!

Great cocktails. Good price. Good food. Poor service. Went out for drinks and a light dinner and were happy with the food and very happy with the drinks. The mojito was the star. Mbuntu has just opened and I'm looking forward to giving them a little more time and trying again. Hopefully they will have ironed out their service issues soon.

Very friendly staff and the food was amazing. I would definitely come here again. Went above and beyond with the food.

I was really hopeful for a great new place to eat and drink in Bitterne Park. Sadly, this was not it. Having sat and perused the large selection of food and cocktails and carefully chosen my order i was rather rudely presented with a sheet of paper with half a dozen coctails and food choices. The place has been open a good 6 weeks surely the chef has enough ingredients now for a full menu. The ice crunching machine and the music were deafening and the waiters couldnt hear the order properly neither could i hear his reply. The ambience was completely spoiled by a drunk barfly pestering a group of young women out for a nice evening. Clearly he was a leftover from the previous ownership of the venue. When my drink arrived it was served in a small glass around half the size of my friend's same drink. Come on Mbuntu we really want to support you. Sort this out please. On the plus side the food was tasty and well presented - we had the prawns and the ribs

Amazing food. We shall be back!