Puccinis in Southampton

We have been here a number of times, as my family likes going there for some unknown reason to me - likely the free meal you are supposed to get on your birthday. The food was average, which is why I have given 2 stars but the rest of it was a shambles. The restaurant was dead, which is kind of telling! When we arrived our table had been booked for 2 people, while we had booked for 10. The service was really poor, the lady who served us was not around half the time to serve us but rather outside smoking and I felt just not professional. Then when we came to pay, we asked for the free meal as advertised on their website (photo attached) and she refused, saying that they had stopped the deal. Really poor, you advertise to get customers in an then refuse when the come to pay! Will try hard to not return in the future.

Lovely place, nice surprise, authentic food, great service, will definitely be visiting again.

Lovely place, nice surprise, authentic food, great service, will definitely be visiting again.

Booked table 7.30pm, arrived and they were shut! No email or notice, left wondering what to do! Crap service, never go again! Absolutely rubbish!

That sounds like the best Italian restaurant I've been to in the UK. The food was delicious, and the quality was impressive. It looked amazing, and it tasted just as good. For me, the number one dish was the creamy chicken soup, and the grilled chicken salad was so juicy that my husband even stole a piece from me. The main course was also delicious and tender, with juicy chicken. We were very satisfied and full. We highly recommend it and give it a 10/10. Come to this charming restaurant.

That sounds like the best Italian restaurant I've been to in the UK. The food was delicious, and the quality was impressive. It looked amazing, and it tasted just as good. For me, the number one dish was the creamy chicken soup, and the grilled chicken salad was so juicy that my husband even stole a piece from me. The main course was also delicious and tender, with juicy chicken. We were very satisfied and full. We highly recommend it and give it a 10/10. Come to this charming restaurant.

Food and service were good and they made me a special salad. Not busy at all this lunchtime. Will go again.

Terrible service and rude person on the phone. Did our order wrong twice and blamed it on Deliveroo. It’s their menus yet that can’t even cook the items as ordered. Manager hung up on me twice. Used to be a great restaurant but clearly new management don’t care

Wow ! amazing food, amazing service! thank you so much! support a local business!

Everything was quite cold when it arrived, this was quite disappointing

Great - thank-you. Very polite courier! :)

Really good evening with large family group (17) of adults and children - three courses for most of us - almost all different choices and impressively served simultaneously! Food excellent as always - thank you Gino - with excellent service. This is a great venue for relaxed and fun group meal.

Came here with a friend to celebrate and so glad we chose Puccinis. We both opted for Canneloni from the specials selection - by far the best I've ever had and my friend agreed. We followed with equally lovely desserts and neither of us could understand why the place wasnt absolutely heaving with diners, with Christmas being so close. Couldnt leave without telling chef Gino how impressed we were. (Service very good too!)

We had a really good meal as a family. Highlight was the traditional pizza and pasta we had was really great. Thank you!

Very nice food, very happy I can get delivered in my area!

Generally not great but not inedible. Bruschetta was tasteless and lacking seasoning. However salt wasn't initially provided at the table. Waiter got my order wrong regarding lasagne Vs parmigiana lasagne and brought out a side salad instead of chips. Got to keep the salad but with no dressing or seasoning to speak of it was a chore to eat. My partner had the seafood mixed grill, which wasn't served with anything bar the seafood which was surprising but the prawns and salmon were heavily overcooked and tasted like they were cooked directly from frozen. Overall a poor experience at a price point that would suggest something better.

The food was absolutely disgusting. The lasagna was microwaved, the mince was dry and in chunks. The sea food pasta was even worse, the prawns were grey, the sauce had no taste except a weird after taste. Would not recommend to anyone and definitely not worth the nearly £30 we spent

We went as a family group at lunch time and had six different meals, all of them excellent. Very good value for money.

I've been for drinks before but this time we decided to pop in for food to escape the weather. Lovely restaurant. Staff are very welcoming, super clean and very nicely decorated. We had the Carbonara and Napoletana. The food is very hot, fresh and lots of flavour! Generous portions. Would definitely come back for food.

We came here for my daughters 19th birthday. 17 of us! The food was amazing and the service superb! Andrea was an amazing host and couldn’t do enough for our party. She even let my 6 year old go in to the kitchen with her to light the cake. This was a lovely touch. Gino the chef prepared all the food to such a high standard and was very friendly asking us if we enjoyed the food, which we all did! We will definitely be returning to celebrate more birthdays.

Amazing food highly recommended gino your an amazing chef seafood risotto fab

I loved the food good service i will definitely come back 😊

Nice Italian restaurant. Good food, and nice atmosphere but slightly empty when I visited. The prices are very competitive and the service is great. No complaints!

We arrived very hungry and the Chef Gino made some wonderful suggests on the menu, the specials looked divine and he recommended the linguiniallo scoglio with fresh mussels, we opted for that in a red sauce and linguine asperigo. Wonderful!

Absolutely gorgeous food, great service. Very friendly staff. Generous portions. The best Italian food we have eaten in a restaurant!

The food is always amazing and the portions are very good to. Great customer service, very polite helpful and tidy. Highly recommend anyone who loves good food at good prices.

Thank you to all the staff and Gino the chef! The food was lovely. Lasagna was delicious! My little 2 year old loved his spaghetti Bolognese! Very clean and friendly. We will definitely come back!

We ordered three of the Italian tapas dishes: calimari (not real calimari, made from ground filling and shaped into rings), goat cheese and veggies (two small slices goat cheese on charred to a crisp veggies that were barely identifiable), and the fried prawns (seemed like the kind you can get frozen at the grocers). It made us ask why we might order Italian in England? Not a good decision.

Used to better. New owners now, and not for the better. Portion sizes are lower than before. Bolognese had hardly any meat and sauce, mainly spaghetti

Wonderful plate of “asparagati” penne, with extra beef added at my request, divine sauce, larger than I had expected for the price (hence a doggy bag afterwards), well prepared, served by friendly new owner Gino, and, as the restaurant was empty at the time, and I was alone and interested in a conversation, we had an interesting discussion about Italian food whilst I was eating, I even got taught a few Italian words. Definitely the place that I’m taking my next date to.

Good food. Reasonable prices. Good size portions. Quiet at lunchtime. What more can I say. Having to write 100 characters is a pain

Very good service and great food. Had a good chat to the Italian chef Gino. The pizza was what I would expect from a Pizzeria in Italy. His homemade tiramisu was delicious. This is tasty, affordable real Italian food. Grazie Gino, era veramente buono.

Our 15th anniversary and we have been eating at Puccinis regularly since our first date. Booked a table for 730pm, 2 other diners. The alarm bells should have rung then. Being shown to our table by a casual wave of the hand from an oversized hoodie wearing teenager. Again the alarm bells were ignored. Ordered our starters, some tapas and a chicken soup. The tapas arrived, we waited for a while and when the soup didn’t appear, we tucked in. Tapas finished, 10 mins later the soup arrived, fair play it was tasty, but not the usual standard, more of a broth with some left over vegetables floating about. Then the mains! Oh the mains, We ordered a seafood risotto tempted by the mussels, prawns and fishy delights offered on the menu. It arrived, a watery rice pudding with two prawns floating on top! Their beady eyes still staring. Their eyes were soon obscured by the mountain of ‘powdered Parmesan’ as it hit the plate like a snow drift! I’d been swayed by the ‘mixed grill’ from the specials board, steak, chicken mushrooms tomatoes and chips! The waitress asked which meat I wanted , chicken OR steak! Those pesky alarm bells rang again! It was brought out on a giant plate, ever hopeful I looked down expectantly to be greeted by half a plate of salad, half a plate of fries and some meat! Butterflied chicken which appeared to have been drowned in oil, grease and other substances unknown to me! The fillet steak looked ok, that’s as far as I got! We left. A fifteen year relationship now well and truly over. Talk about going downhill, this place used to be amazing. We’ll always have our memories of the good times though! My advice, get a pizza from across the road!

Our 15th anniversary and we have been eating at Puccinis regularly since our first date. Booked a table for 730pm, 2 other diners. The alarm bells should have rung then. Being shown to our table by a casual wave of the hand from an oversized hoodie wearing teenager. Again the alarm bells were ignored. Ordered our starters, some tapas and a chicken soup. The tapas arrived, we waited for a while and when the soup didn’t appear, we tucked in. Tapas finished, 10 mins later the soup arrived, fair play it was tasty, but not the usual standard, more of a broth with some left over vegetables floating about. Then the mains! Oh the mains, We ordered a seafood risotto tempted by the mussels, prawns and fishy delights offered on the menu. It arrived, a watery rice pudding with two prawns floating on top! Their beady eyes still staring. Their eyes were soon obscured by the mountain of ‘powdered Parmesan’ as it hit the plate like a snow drift! I’d been swayed by the ‘mixed grill’ from the specials board, steak, chicken mushrooms tomatoes and chips! The waitress asked which meat I wanted , chicken OR steak! Those pesky alarm bells rang again! It was brought out on a giant plate, ever hopeful I looked down expectantly to be greeted by half a plate of salad, half a plate of fries and some meat! Butterflied chicken which appeared to have been drowned in oil, grease and other substances unknown to me! The fillet steak looked ok, that’s as far as I got! We left. A fifteen year relationship now well and truly over. Talk about going downhill, this place used to be amazing. We’ll always have our memories of the good times though! My advice, get a pizza from across the road!

Absolutely disgusting used to be so nice. Do not go there. I think it’s been taking over and no effort goes into the food the toilets were dirty 🤢🤢🤢🤢 went to toilet at the end and wish I didn’t see it.

We have been to Puccinis several times but never again. The service was at best confused, our orders were all wrong. Our starter of fried brie was inedible, so crispy it was hollow, when we sent it back we didn't get a replacement. Garlic mushrooms turned up as mushrooms in a watery, flavourless soup, both our mains were wrong (we are vegetarians and both dishes came with prawns); we explained what we had ordered but after half an hour when our fellow diners had finished their (lacklustre) meal we told them not to bother. I don't know what has gone wrong with this restaurant but if we had got in the kitchen we could have made a meal ten times nicer and got the order right. We most definitely will not return

Worst Italian food ever, DO NOT ORDER! My salad was old, the garlic bread was cold and dry, and my carbonara was made with bacon and the eggs were scrambled. they told me they would give refund but refused when I came in

First Italian I've had, salad wasn't fresh, garlic bread was cold and hard and the Carbonara had bacon and the egg was scrambled. I was told to come back for a refund and when I got there they refused to give me a refund and were extremely rude. DONT NOT EAT HERE!!!

Ordered dinner to be delivered. The restaurant failed to complete all three of my cichetti dishes. The creamy garlic mushrooms had no cream, the pesto-dressed goats cheese and veg had no pesto, and my tempura vegetables were totally missing from the box - just a dressing. So I called the restaurant: the staff member hung up on me. I called again, she told me (twice) to visit in person and re-order. I declined. She offered to fetch the manager and left me hanging, unanswered for 5 minutes. I called again, and she informed me that the manager was too busy to talk to me, and suggested I call back in an hour. I can only imagine that the chef has walked out, leaving unfinished orders to be sent out of the door, while the manager is trying to deal with unhappy customers on the premises. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Such a shame, the customer service here used to be excellent.

A really nice authentic spag bol! Arrived piping hot and with the requested cheese too! Thankyou I wish there was more as I finished it in one go

Heard good things about this restaurant but it always seems fairly empty. They had great portion sizes and tasty pasta. It was a lovely evening, they just need more people to fill the space.

Food was delicious and hot. Delivery time great 👍🏻

Asked for mains to be held until we'd finished our starter. Not possible, apparently the chef decides when we should eat our main course??? Food wasn't overly brilliant. Ok, but not awe inspiring. For the price I probably wouldn't go again. Unfortunately having been to Italy many times, Italian food in England always disappoints. It wasn't my choice to go, the venue was already arranged. Servive was really good. Sorry I can't be more enthusiastic.

Been there many times with friends, excellent service friendly atmosphere, delicious food and plenty to choose from. We love it.

No taste no flavours old mushrooms bland plus get pizza served on old dirty full of off old grease wooden plate Won’t recommend old management was much better. New management or good at all

New management and the restaurant has completely changed. Food was awful and atmosphere was unwelcoming.

I've been coming to Puccini for years and unfortunately they have come under new ownership and the food and service is now awful. Ordered a tempura prawn starter which was straight from Iceland. The olives served were small and low quality. My mum's seafood risotto featured American style melted cheese and tinned rubbery seafood and my pasta dish was not al dente and was incredibly oily. They also no longer do the birthday deal, although it is still advertised on their site. Service was ok but the general atmosphere of the restaurant was very different. The previous owner and staff were very friendly and welcoming but this is no longer the case. The music was also different and it does seem it's no longer an authentic Italian which is a real shame.

Quick delivery, food was piping hot when it arrived! Only downside would be that there wasn’t much salmon in the pasta.

Really lovely food, very filling, very good staff who were so busy but honestly couldn't do enough for you, would definitely recommend

For the price you pay for the meals the least I’d expect is for it not to show up squished into tiny cheap Tupperware boxes. Ruins the experience of getting restaurant food delivered. Also spag Bol all mixed together so that it could be squished into the box. Shame as this has always been on of my favourite restaurants.

Dreadful I have an assistance dog and he said no dogs I said she's an assistance dog he also said I would have to eat outside if I want to be with my assistance dog I said you can't do that then I showed him the LAW about assistance dog didn't even look at it I'm sat here with out my assistance dog my dad has her whiles I eat that's not on never again coming back

Lovely lunch in a very quiet restaurant, probably livelier in the evenings and weekends.

Excellent meal , delightful staff. Thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Will certainly go back

Booked a table for a Valentine's to spend with my wife and daughter, when booking a table, I did inquire if the Birthday FREE meal deal aplies, which I was told, it did, but the offer apparently won't be available anymore from March onwards. When we arrived, and were placing an order, I mentioned again, that it's my birthday and was about to present my ID, as advised whilst booking the table over the phone, at which point was told that FREE BIRTHDAY meal does not apply to Valatines day and that it's on the website, as per T&C's.......I just believed the waiter....but then checked on the website, and it states nothing about the Valentine's day, it was Tuesday, and as per their terms it stated that the deal is honoured Sun-Fri, I challenged the waiter (not sure of his name, but he was Egyptian/Arabic looking guy, supposably manager), and he stated that yeah, those are the rules and they never apply the offer. He did admit that he mislead me about the deal not being available as per T&C's on the website, as I pointed out to him, that deal should stand, but I was refused it. Well, next time I spend £80-£90 for a meal, I won't be choosing Puccini's, that's for sure.....can't even honour their own deals, pathetic

Booked a table for a Valentine's to spend with my wife and daughter, when booking a table, I did inquire if the Birthday FREE meal deal aplies, which I was told, it did, but the offer apparently won't be available anymore from March onwards. When we arrived, and we're placing an order, I mentioned again, that it'sy birthday and was about to present my ID, as advised whilst booking the table over the phone, at which point was told that FREE BIRTHDAY meal does not apply to Valatines day and that it's on the website, as per T&C's.......I just believed the waiter....but then checked on the website, and it states nothing about the Valentine's day, it was Tuesday, and as per their terms it stated that the deal is honoured Sun-Fri, I challenged the waiter (not sure of his name, but he was Egyptian/Arabic looking guy, supposably manager), and he stated that yeah, those are the rules and they never apply the offer. He did admit that mislead me about the deal not being available as per T&C's on the website, as I pointed out to him, that deal should stand, bit I was refused it. Well, next time I spend £80-£90 for a meal, I won't be choosing Puccini's, that's for sure.....can't even honour their own deals, pathetic

Food was excellent, but the service was let down slightly as there were a lot of us, and they mixed-up some orders. All in all though I would definitely recommend the restaurant.

Great food, amazing staff, would recommend!

After a lovely meal i asked for a cup of tea they didn't have any tea bags that were to my liking so they went to the shop and bought me some. Perfect customer service.

Had a lovely meal with my wife the food was excellent and the staff were lovely

Food absolutely appalling and staff so unfriendly

Cold enough inside that everybody wore coats the whole time. Lazy staff watching one man do the run-arounds on his own, enough that the chef had to serve the food to tables. As one would watch from the bar...even he put his coat on.

This company have contacted me over the past few days regarding composite decking we sell, after abit of back and too and discussions on price etc we then asked for them to pay. As you do when you order off line. They then proceeded to slander us as “scammers “ and that are customer service is shocking as we wouldn’t change a process that has worked for many many other happy customers. If you’re thinking about doing business with this establishment please be ready to go at it with them as they don’t like not getting their own way. In other news if anyone needs any composite decking ask them for details and we’ll help you. Happy new year everyone! CW

Take away service is a scam… You search looking for a nice Italian restaurant to order, find it and are looking forward to your food but when it arrives leaves you crosschecking your order … I ordered a mains not a starter. Is such a shame, I paid the full price for two main pasta dishes and a side dish. The side dish was as big as the main dish (I am not joking) and not it wasn’t a big side dish, the pasta portion was the size of a starter. I was truly shocked. I decided to put pictures of their container next to a regular container from other restaurants (note that both containers are classed as meal size but Puccinis took it to the next level. I paid 2x £11.95 for two pasta main dishes? (Received a bit of discount because I collected) However the meal received was a joke. I found this very dishonest, we were left hungry and really annoyed. My only thought is that looking at their feedback which is good, they might have run out of containers and used their starter containers as a way to get around instead of informing the customer or ensure a normal meal size is delivered. My search for a nice local Italian restaurant continues. I can cope and understand errors but dishonesty is a total different league. Be warned, if you order a take away you may need to order double portions. Can’t comment as to what it is when you sit in the restaurant but I am certain their portions must be normal otherwise they wouldn’t be still going. Maybe they don’t appreciate the take away system and want to discourage people of using it… who knows … in the photo the size of my measuring tape is almost as big as their container and this was pasta not a steak … Anyway be warned…

The calamari were oily and straight from a packet, rather than fresh... The penne salamone was very bland with overcooked pasta and "tinned" tasting salmon.. Margherita pizza was good..

Great stuff - 17 of us arrived unannounced in the middle of the day. We were seated without a fuss, orders taken and service was courteous and friendly. We had 7 children with us and all were welcome and happy. Great job and thank you!

Food as always delicious, staff very attentive, would not hesitate to return

I order regularly from them on UberEats and I crave their tortellini a lot. Would recommend!

Very nice place to eat and drink. Staff very friendly and polite. Waitress was checking on us if we needed anything. Will definitely go again and highly recommend. Thanks

Phoned and picked up our order. Very pleasant place, very tasty pizza, excellent pizza base, cheesy garlic bread needed more garlic. Will return Recommended

Great service, happy and helpful staff. Food was great, hot and prepared quickly but didn't feel rushed.

Outstanding relaxed atmosphere . Lovely polite staff . Excellent food .thankyou

The food was hot, fresh and tasty with a very wide choice - it was also priced reasonably which makes for the ideal combination. The service was excellent. The lady serving the tables never seemed to stop for a rest but definitely took care of the customers and was both friendly and attentive. Definitely a restaurant I will return to.

Having my flight cancelled at the last minute ,we decided to cheer ourselves up and find a nice Italian Restaurant,we found Puccinis in Shirley ,what a lovely surprise, they had a huge function in another section of the restaurant but Sondra managed to take our...

Obviously new people are now running things. Food was good, but slightly smaller portions, and some dishes presented in a different way, but we would probably go back again

Lovely laid back Italian restaurant in shirley, with excellently presented food. Excellent pizza and pasta chefs. Good value wine list. Relaxed atmosphere and you can visit for just a drink. Extremely clean.

Have had lunch here a couple of times. Always the food has been top notch. Very yummy and service size is perfect. Prompt service and price range was equal to all similar places. Only thing is, I felt that including some entertainment like some books/ notes about the history/ anything (like how other places are doing) to read would increase the footfall more!

Not as good as last time. Ciabatta was scorched, could hear lady in kitchen scraping off the burned bits. Batter on Calamari was chewy. Hopefully better next time.

We have been here numerous times over the last few years but seems to have gone downhill a bit. The portions where always a good size but now you only seem to get half a plate of food. My wife had seafood risotto which seemed...

Extremely short staffed. However, the young lady not only managed extremely well on her own but did so with a smile on her face! The wait was minimal with a friendly, happy member of staff. The food fantastic with decent sized portions. First time there definitely won't be the last.

Nice place with the seating area outside. We have enjoyed during sunny days. Tasty food. Recommended!

Nice little place with good food, reasonably priced and good service from friendly staff. We will return

Food was fantastic and the waitress that served us was an absolute star. Friendly welcoming gem of a restaurant...cannot wait to go back again 😊

Got shown to our pre-booked table and we waited 20min to be seen but no one came over to even take our drinks order. My mum had to go and order them at the bar from then on we waited another 25min for someone to take our order and then another 45 for food to arrive. Kids were bored and fed up and so were we. Food was cold and way overpriced for the quality. Spoke to the waiter at the end about our experience but he wasn't interested and started shouting that we are lucky to even get the table!!!

Excellent food. Staff made us feel welcome.

As always great experience, came for mums 70th at lunch time, waitress was great, foos was great! Thank you for another great time! :)

As my friend and I have eaten here for years ,we know what the food tastes like( we always have the same) and the portion size Sadly on this occasion we weren’t impressed. We were the third table in at the time we booked for,...

Delicious food. Loved the pasta veryyyy muchh

First time that we have been here for a few years. The food is delicious and served by very friendly staff. It was very busy and noisy but very enjoyable.

Could do better but could be due to staffing issues. Food was great.

Went for a meal here on New Year’s Eve and could not be more impressed. The food was amazing from starter, main and dessert. The service was very polite and had a very welcoming feel. Would highly recommend this place

The food here was pretty decent, not the best Italian food but the experience was definitely close to it which is why I gave it a 4 star overall. It's hard for myself and my family to give away 5 star when it comes to Italian food since we grew up in Italy, so I'm sure it's understandable to most why we marked down on food. The atmosphere, however, was very Italian. The owner was very hands-on and always wanting to interact. We went on Christmas Eve and it was fun trying out this restaurant for the first time during the holidays. Conversations with the owner and their staff was fun and friendly. Would definitely come back again, it's nice to have a taste of home!

I ordered a takeaway, ordered pasta with no extras as I'm a vegetarian and it came with bacon in it so I could not eat it . my partner had a burger very small and overpriced . would I order from there again NO

Waiter very attentive ... food not bad again overpriced ...

The food was outstanding. However.......service could have been better- one of the waiting staff didn't seem to have any urgency about them told us 3x that they were coming to take our order but it seemed that polishing cutlery was more important- we were eventually served by a different member of staff. The toilets are very tired and in need of a refurbishment.

Considering that the place was nearly full, the two servers did a good job in seeing to everyone as best they could. The food was good but not as good as it used to be. I think this place has great potential but maybe needs...

The best pizza I’ve ever had… pizza base is so light and fluffy, lovely staff and delicious food - will definitely be back (so much better than commercial places)

We were greated very welcoming even though it says there are open all day on a sunday, we ordered 3 light bites, but only 2 turned up as they had no meatballs, so had to choose something else, so that turned up 10 mins after....

Meal out with grandson .He had spaghetti Bol and I had penne pollo .Both really nice .Hubby had burger which was ok .Could have been hotter and a tad larger .Very small burger in fact you get larger in a small country pub we visit...

Had an amazing evening for my brothers birthday! All the waitresses were so lovely and helpful and did everything they could to make the night just perfect for us! Bianca really stood out her customer service was amazing! Everybody enjoyed their food! My steak was...

So disappointed with the service. My drink was wrong, my main didn't turn up until half way through our party meal and my dessert didn't turn up. After a prompt it finally arrived when everyone had finished theirs. The waitresses spoke hardly any English and...