Salt Café in Fareham

I've visited a few times, sometimes just to grab a coffee, an ice cream or even pizza night. Just purchased a pecan pie and ice cream to go so I could sit on the beach with the dog. Always good service, very reasonable prices too which I means I tend to pop in every time I walk past.

A great place to come for an amazing breakfast after a walk around the bay

Brilliant place for cuppa and 🎂

Ordered the open crab sandwich at £15-ish for lunch. Very disappointing portion. Standard sliced bread, one slice!! Small spread of lovely fresh tasting crab. Tiny portion of (not mixed) salad leaves. Small portion of fries. Fair enough on the small portion of crab (expensive) but I did expect a doorstep type slice of uncut bread for that price. Also, potatoes are cheap, maybe double the fries portion. Left feeling hungry (not a huge eater!) but by then I didn’t trust the dessert/cake portion size!!

Lovely, tucked-away spot. Clearly popular, helped along by plentiful, friendly staff and a nice sea breeze. Corking views and OK cake.

Just along the Wicor shore at Portchester the Salt Cafe is a nice pitstop for drinks or even brunch/lunch if you fancy food. Failing that there is always a nice range of cakes. Good to sit outside in the sunshine or there are plenty of tables inside.

Beautiful cafe tucked away - must visit. Staff very lovely and made us feel very welcome.

Lovely location for a quick treat, especially if the weather is good

The latte was very weak. It's very expensive for what we had. Unfortunately we won't be returning . Shame as my friend and I have been trying to get here for a couple of years now but with scheduling it's been impossible.

Very helpful staff and delicious food! It's set on the coastal path from Portchester Castle to Fareham and would make a good stop along the way. A special mention to Ellie for helping us to make the most of our visit with my wheelchair-bound father. Not the easiest place to find, but worth it.

Such a lovely place, and lovely people! Really appreciated their attention to my mention of vegan on our booking, they kindly talked us through all the options available. We loved the bean chilli & corn bread (yum!), the soup looked lovely, and we’ll definitely be back to try the vegan breakfast / brunch! It was my mum’s birthday and the weather was great, being able to have a walk from there made it the perfect destination! P.s. best fries ever!! 😃

Lunch. Slightly pricey but good food and coffees.

Nice place with very good service from Sam and Lisa. Quite crowded but that's indicative of the quality rather than any complaint. Coffee was good and cakes were a very good size and tasty!

Motored up from Porchester having booked a short stay with Wicor Marine. The food here is outstanding all round . Will definitely call again. Do book in advance if you are wanting food. Coffee and cakes also very good. Very dog friendly. Service can be a little showcase they are usually busy but there is a reason for that.

I have come here with my dog on two occasions. I strongly recommend that you book as it’s very small and very busy! You get exactly what you expect with a busy cafe in a nice location. It’s very popular but expect a few delays in drinks and food.

Delicious hot chocolate with cream and a flake 😊

Overpriced food , ordered 2 cans Fanta , had to wait for them to bring it out ? One young member of staff extremely rude , the others not much better, will be going to Dove cott in future, cams hill, much friendlier staff , really disappointed

We have been to the Salt Cafe many times and in the main we have had good experiences, today I took my two daughters and dog there for the normal Disco fries. We asked for a table and although a few empty tables we where shown to the only table available which was a high table ( not great with a dog though) there were a few staffing milling around but it took a while to be served! After our food I used the toilets and didn’t look like they had been cleaned recently! Then when I paid there was a service charge for just 3 of us! Apart from the normal amble I don’t think we should have paid for a service charge! It was not the best experience today, maybe they were having an off day!

Service charge on a coffee and a cake! Ill judged. Sadly our last visit. Unacceptable and unaffordable for most of us on a fixed income. Which on looking at the customer demographic, looks to be the lions share of their customer base. At least out of season.

Came in with my partner and sister for a lovely breakfast. A little wait, but it was busy so the view definitely made up for it. Really friendly staff and have been before, and will be going back again. The parking can be a bit of a nightmare at times, but I don’t believe this is down to the cafes fault.

Lovely cafe, great food, excellent service.

Been here a couple of times now thanks to family buying us gift vouchers. Serving breakfast and lunch by the water, the Salt Cafe in Portchester is a real hidden gem. Good size breakfast, with vegetarian and vegan options, excellent coffee and a takeaway brownie to die for. Plenty of reserved parking around the Marina but do book as can get busy most mornings. Oh and it's dog friendly inside and out.

Fantastic atmosphere with very friendly staff! Would highly recommend 10/10 💪🏻

I really love this place. Food always lovely, outlook beautiful over the water. Dog friendly. Plenty of seating.

Lovely cafe, wonderful food and lovely staff, Sandra Mike and our little dog Bertie.

Good selection of food and drinks, cakes looked amazing. Staff friendly and helpful. Orders took a while to arrive, but I guess it was breakfast service. Prices are higher than an average café, but tasted delicious...I had Avocado and poached egg on sourdough bread, yummy 😋

Food was very nice however it should be for the high prices charged waiting staff were friendly however kitchen staff quite rude when we were looking for someone to pay and no one was at the till … I didn’t know about this until later in the day when my husband told me otherwise I would have tackled this behaviour at the time … also didn’t know about the large service charge added on which you would not expect for a cafe which I personally would not have paid it’s a cafe not a restaurant … the place isn’t very clean lots of dust on rails along the walls and on the wall lighting which makes you wonder about the kitchen too …sadly after this experience will not visit again

Amazing hidden gem! The food was delicious.

Lovely place for a chil and meal cuppa break in great location with lovely staff.

First customers of the day arrived at 9am, the waitresses were shocked to see us upon arrival even though they open at 9am? They then sat us down on the tall tables rather than any of the others the whole place was empty so don’t see that as an issue there’s no way they booked out the whole cafe on a Tuesday morning 9am? We came for a coffee and a breakfast. Menu has barely any choices. Food is horrendous, rubbery mushroom, dry bacon, snotty eggs, soggy Hovis bread, sausages were just mush, beans average, tomatoes soggy and mush, no flavour whatsoever. We received this 30 minutes later, no excuse for such a long wait time we were the first order of the day. Overpriced for what you get, even the coffee wasn’t the best. We then had to go up to pay as no one seemed to come clear the plates or ask how the food was? Terrible service and terrible food. Location is great which is why I assume they are busy with dog walkers.

Lovely place next to the water. Coming here quite often for lunch or coffee and grab my favorite pecan pie.

Cramped tables and sporadic service. Food is generally ok although perhaps a bit overpriced. The sausages need a rethink, really dry.

Beautiful little cafe on the boardwalk at the marina. Plenty of outdoor seating, some of which is sheltered enough to use during winter. I mean it would be cold and unpleasant, but you can use it in winter, just saying. They have a breakfast menu and a brunch menu and are open some evenings (check ahead), and it's a limited but fun menu and the food is good. Excellent coffees. Few cafes in this area have the view and the vibe.

A unique restaurant as it was a bit hidden. My son loves it and he wanted to come back next time. Food is very nice and affordable. Staffs are very helpful and approchable.

Excellent food and wonderful service

Love it here. Good food and friendly service. Great location.

Lovely little find after a local parkrun at Fareham. Nice views over the estuary, nice coffee but most of all the cakes 😍. From what I could see regards the breakfasts they looked banging 👌

Surly staff who have little idea of customer service. Chocolate brownie had been sitting around a while, solid and dry. BEWARE if you have allergies, one member of staff didn’t come back to us with an answer; a second one gave an answer of what she thought. We had to push for her to go and find out from ingredients list to confirm.

Very very busy and staff overworked and very curt. Could do service with a smile … well we might come again as the menu looks good.

Local cafe good food, reasonably priced, go on visit. Very busy and popular cafe, Booking recommended

We came for a visit today for my birthday lunch with my husband, parents and children and came away very disappointed. Pro's: - Great views, especially with the tide up - Food is good quality Con's: - Portions small and pricey for what you get - Very limited menu, makes it difficult to satisfy three generations - Limited hot food, not great for parents who would have liked a bigger lunch out and a small supper later - Dirty cutlery and crockery. Had to ask for fresh cutlery. Glasses are all cloudy, like they've been run through the dishwasher too many times and need to be replaced. This wouldn't be a problem if you were eating in a greasy spoon but this is a pricey place! - Free tap water supplied but in a greasy jug. Again, dishwasher issue? - Limited soft drinks menu. No lemonade for my youngest son or J20 for my Dad or even similar and £3.50 for a can of Fanta! - Relatively slow service. I had to ask if we got up to order at the counter. - 'Discretionary' 12.5% tip added automatically to the bill. No total to show what total is before the 12.5% is added. Where are we? America?!! While I got this taken off easily, this leaves a bad taste. We have a minimum wage in the UK. Tips are a gesture, not an expectation. Especially with only 'OK' service. Overall, the food is nice. Not out of this world but good. The rest let's it all down and I wouldn't return. Just wish I'd read the bad reviews before we came as we'd have gone elsewhere for my birthday.

The food was good, no doubt about it, but it's leaning more towards tucker than gourmet in my opinion. Splendid tucker. Fantastic views and great, relaxed atmosphere.

Salt Café became our breakfast place for the duration of our stay. Good food, magical place especially with the sunny weather we had. Of you haven't booked, try the takeaway, the tables closer to the water can be used in that case.

This cafe could be fantastic. The lunch menu is very restrictive and isn't great if you have any form of dietary requirements. Service charge at 12.5% being mandatory wasn't a good thing, especially when two different servers gave me two different answers about allergens. I also feel it is over priced. The location and cleanliness of the cafe is great. It has a little takeout window which is good for those on the go and I would use this again in the future.

We have been here a couple of time and the service isn’t the quickest but food quality has been good. But this Sunday has been terrible, we booked online for a table at 12pm but we arrive a bit early and ask if our table was available yet. She told us that there is no booking has been made under our name and she said that they are fully booked. But we have seen few tables were empty. Then she said that there is a table available at 12:15 and we said we will wait. We asked if we can order a coffee while we wait and she said well you just have to order it outside and get a take away cup. We said ok we will do that. We go and order outside and the service was slow and the person serving us doesn’t know if they have syrup or not. We waited outside till 12:15 and when we went inside the girl in the ( the least helpful and looks like she can’t be bothered to with her job and don’t care) front desk said your table is still not available and ask us to wait which we did. Then while we are waiting there a couple behind us who ask for a table for two, who did not book and got seated before us. We wait for 10min before someone else notice that we have been waiting. Then we wait few more min for them to clean the table. We order our food and drink. I order peppermint tea and my husband order English breakfast tea. When the drinks arrived my teapot was not even half full of water. Then when I asked them for a little bit more they filled the whole teapot full of hot water. Making the whole pot tasteless and just like drinking hot water. This just show lack care with customers service. When the food arrive the sausage we have order clear have deep fry to its life and very dry. The bacon is clear not cooked fresh and has been sitting in the food warmer for a while because it’s was very hard and tough. Hardy can taste the feta cheese. In the menu state there there is chilli oil again can’t taste the chilli oil. Over experience is really disappointing.

Just had a pizza night their. The food was ok but not great. The staff was friendly when you managed to get their attention, but the service was very poor. Had to get their attention as only half our table had plates when the pizzas came. Getting an extra drink was hit and missed. We shared the bill from the pizzas and paid for our dessert separately, and they added on a service charged . So, a £7.50 dessert is £8.62 their are no signed up that they do that. As we're still in England, I would like to leave a service charge when and if the service is good.

Lovely place with a very good choice of food, a great view, dogs welcome and even binoculars on the table to look at the birds. We well enjoyed our time here and within an easy walk of Portchester Castle.

Went for lunch,part way on a circular walk from portchester castle. Had a fantastic meal,in a great location. Highly recommend this place.great for families and dog friendly 👍👍👍👍👍

We had heard great reports about Salt Café and yesterday we managed to find it. I do not usually do negative reviews as taste and choice varies from person to person, but I feel with just a bit more care when serving up things like fried eggs, the breakfast we had, and to which we had been so looking forward, could have been amazingly good. So here goes. After following the circuitous boardwalk from the carpark we reached Salt Café which is beautifully located right on the edge of Wicor Lake on the upper stretches of Portsmouth Harbour. It is slightly quirky with a mish mash of chairs, sofas and tables both inside, along the outside and on a "pier" and we were greeted by a lovely member of Staff who showed us various seating options. After checking out their cake selection, we decided to go for breakfast at £12.50 each as it was still only about 1145. What could (and should) have been a delicious grilled breakfast treat for us was actually very disappointing. I had requested lightly done bacon, but not only was it overdone but it had "dried out". It was also very, very fatty as is often the case with the collar rashers. The sausages also appeared to have been cooked and kept warm, but the mushrooms and tomatoes were excellent as were the baked beans. However the eggs, which were just as I like them, had not been drained and were swimming in fat which covered my plate and when I took the little mug of beans off my plate, the fat on the bottom of it dripped onto the table. And dripped again and there was still some visible on the plate! Having owned and run a small hotel a few years ago, I would never have served these meals and, with just a tiny bit more care when plating up, Salt Café, you would also avoid it. My husband's meal was similar but the fat had been soaked up by the slice of toast under his eggs which he could not eat. I'd declined toast. However, I must say we both enjoyed the fries we shared as an extra and the coffees were good, so will we go back to give them another chance to up their game? Maybe as, as I said, it had been highly recommended by friends who must have had a better experience! I decided to post on here rather than TripAdvisor and hope my constructive criticism will be viewed in the way in which it is meant.

Amazing food and service. Great location

Great little place with amazing views 👌

Beautiful and still relatively undiscovered gem in Portchester overlooking Fareham Creek. Wonderful setting on the water serving simple but lovely food and drink in an ever-changing setting where weather and tide change the view on a continuous basis.

You really need to know where this cafe is located, you're not going to find it by chance. It's located adjacent to a ship yard, and you follow a circuitous path to get there, but it's well worthwhile. The cafe looks over the sea and has outside tables on a small jetty. There are a few tables directly outside. Inside it is lively a little loud and fun. The staff are great, helpful, happy, and friendly. They set the tone for the atmosphere. The food is very good with a wide selection of dishes from a piece of cake to a full English breakfast. I would recommend the pancake stack. A great breakfast for six of us was £100. If you want a meal you need to book a table in advance. We were there on a Sunday morning, and the place was full

Having a nice walk along the shore line we came across this sweet little cafe,well worth a visit..

What a find! You can park in the harbour car park or at Porchester castle and walk for 40/50 mins along the water. Good selection is amazing we had the avocado and eggs on toast. Service was amazing.

Love this place, good food and great location.

Right, so walked in, no one at the entrance to seat people. There were people standing waiting for someone to seat them. Staff don't seem helpful, when you ask questions to explain what bakes they have, they only mentioned 2, like it was a major effort to mention the others. Staff were vary few and far between. Take forever to get your order. When the food eventually arrived it was oily and things you can whip up in the kitchen in 5min. But it is so expensive that I ate the oily chips, because I paid that much for it. Portion sizes are ridiculous for the price. And then... Drinks.. So expensive for a supposedly Frappuccino. Which tasted awful, small size. Then we stood forever by the counter waiting to pay the bill. Whilst we were sitting we watched people waiting to be seated for ages because no one attended to them. I honestly was hoping it was just a bad day there. Thoughts actually went through my head that people only go there because they are the only Cafe there and they have seating along the pier.

Just lovely. Make sure you book!

Fabulous Satutday brunch at Salt Café. Freindly welcoming staff, delicious and plentiful food freshly prepared. Buzzing atmosphere, dog friendly and all with a wonderful view over the houbour and creek. What is there not to like about this gem of a café.

There’s never a bad day when you start it at Salt Café. A yummy breakfast with beautiful view over Portsmouth. Ellie and her team are always ready to help; a job well done so keep up with the great work

A dog walk followed by a brunch at the Salt Cafe (Fareham) Lovely way to spend a Sunday morning. Highly recommend booking as very busy both inside and outside. The staff however were super efficient and very attentive the whole time, top marks for great customer service. Food was well cooked, hot and nicely presented. Highly recommend the Salt Cafe and will be back again soon.

Great location by the water, lots to see (binoculars provided at window tables). Excellent service, welcoming and friendly in just the right proportion with nice coffee and delicious cakes. From the outside its an ordinary grey box .... inside its a gem of a cafe !

We went this morning. It was nice but not great, to be fair they were extremely busy so I think the service suffered a bit due to that. Food was good but took a while due to how busy it was. The staff we interacted with were all great and apologetic about the wait for the food. Location is the main reason to go here if you can time a visit with the right tide I bet the scenery would be amazing.

Great atmosphere with fast, friendly and helpful staff with amazing food in both taste and presentation.

Delightful Cafe in a great location. The staff are helpful, friendly and the food is reasonably priced. On a good day it's nice to sit outside with the great views.

Nice place and lovely staff. Would be good if they updated the menu every now and again and added something new and tasty as it seems like its been the same for the last 3 years 😋

Walked from Porchester Castle to the Salt Cafe and had a bite to eat. The food was wonderful and sat out on the benches along the jetty in the sun, which made it all the more enjoyable 😎

Lovely location with stunning views. Food and service great :)

Stopped for a coffee. Queued for while outside. It wasn't clear to us about inside/ outside seating / service. We just sat outside but no one came to take our order. They attended the tables around us so we went to the takeaway counter.

Extremely unfriendly to have no tables available for a quick breakfast at 25 past 9 on a Sunday morning. Felt quite unwelcome and a fully booked café seems a strange concept. Particularly when most of the tables were free. Would not recommend for breakfast.

Quirky cafe in an unusual location, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I was walking across the wooden pathway, but we were greeted with a very warm welcome and comfortable lively atmosphere. The coffee’s came quickly and the breakfasts followed to a very high standard. Also the views are stunning.

We booked table for 9.30am on a Sunday. We ordered drinks and food about 5 minutes after. By 10.15 we still hadn't had our food , so we ordered another pot of tea to share whilst we still waited for out food. We could see other tables complaining about the wait. We was then approached by a waitess who said our food was due be "one of the next ones cooked" by this time it was 10.25am. She did apologise and ask if we wanted some drinks on the house, I explained how we had already ordered an extra drink and that she was going to have the drinks removed off this bill for us Our food eventually arrived just past 10.30..it was nice enough. Bacon was rock solid and eggs were very snotty. But as I said it was nice enough. But definitely not nice enough to wait an hour for it. When it came to paying the bill, only one drink was removed from the total? We ordered 3 pots of tea. It's a a shame our first experience was like this.

The food was good, and the lively atmosphere was enjoyable. However, the servers seemed a bit rushed due to the café's busyness. I’m giving it 3 stars, as better service would have made the experience great.👍🏽

Really lovely food, great place to stop for brunch, met a few cute dogs with their families, had a stroll along the beach afterwards. Really nice. Car park was a bit full but I waited a few minutes and someone moved.

Had the Disco Fries. Really good and a surprisingly big portion for £9.50. Location is brilliant, being tucked away right in the corner of Portchester with different than usual views across the harbour. The Jetty can get quite breezy but blankets are provided along with some binoculars!

Extremely noisy and food very average and overpriced.

Tranquil, peaceful setting to have a cafe. The food is good as is the service, it is busy and on a weekend around midday expect to wait 30 minutes for a table

Asked for an outside table on the jetty at the end of the jetty and staff said we don't serve there we only serve to the first two tables on the jetty? I said why because it's an extra 10yards to walk! Anyway we took the second table and on the jetty and then we were given water glasses and menus to carry down to the table ourselves ! When ordering drinks we had to give alternative options because they didn't know if they had what I wanted to drink which they didn't and ended up with the third option I gave them, a beer! Food delivered with no condiments offered had to ask and got a reply when received it's a long way to go for mayonnaise and ketchup! Food was excellent, fish baguette and chips. When presented with the bill it had a discretionary tip added of 15% which we were not given the opportunity to use our discretion as it was already added and I was going to leave a cash tip. Good job I looked at the bill. I feel that they might need more staff here so they can make it to the tables at the end of the jetty and improve the service standards! Also explain that the discretionary tip is automatically added with or without your discretion!

Wow! What a hidden gem this place is! We went for a breakfast after dropping the kids off at school. Food was excellent and staff are very friendly. We’re going to come back one evening and try the cocktail menus.

Been before and went as a family group today and I have to say the food quality & service quality were really good. We will be back one day soon and look forward to a sunnier day and being able to eat outside.

Only thing that stops this review being 5* is that the service was a bit slow, however they were busy and the quality of both the service and food were top notch

Really enjoyed our breakfast at Salt Cafe. Not the cheapest breakfast, but the food was excellent and the service really friendly. There were 4 of us, and they automatically added a 12.5 percent service charge, which we were very happy to pay. Would highly recommend, it will be lovely to sit outside once the weather improves.

Good service, good staff, food was very delicious 😋😋 and and beautiful Cafe❤️

We always enjoy a visit toSalt Cafe, the food is always fabulous and it is just an all round lovely cafe to visit. Today we brought along our young puppy for her first ever cafe experience, the staff went above and beyond to make this a positive experience and we can't wait to go back again soon

Great service and food, staff were helpful and accommodating

Walked here from fareham ..enjoyed a coffee and savoury dish (cheese and chorizo pastry thing) sat in the sun overlooking a fabulous view. Didn't need need to book ..

Lovely venue overlooking a marina. A nice walk from Portchester along the coastal path. Dog friendly, outside seating. Food and coffee was of good quality. Only let down was the automatic service charge. Was told it could be removed but most people feel uncomfortable doing so. I personally feel you should tip the amount you want and not made to feel obligated.

I love this place! Brilliant location, wonderful views, friendly staff and delicious food - that all feels local and fresh. The only slight disappointment was the wait time on food and although they offer poached and fried eggs, they don’t offer scrambled!?

Lovely food, friendly and helpful staff, highly recommended, but suggest booking as it's a very popular venue.

Great atmosphere, unique location, superb quality. Will 100% return time & time again.

Love going for a walk to the salt cafe along the shore.

We love eating English Breakfast and have eaten quite a bit of it over the years. We have our favorite places all over the country, but we also like to discover new ones. We thought Salt Cafe would be a hit, but it turned out otherwise. English Breakfast was very average. The mushrooms and bacon were just not good, the rest were just ok. The waiting time was about 30-40 minutes. The service charge charged in advance is additionally discouraging. It's a pity because the location is lovely, but we won't go back there.

Lovely place, tasty food and good service.

Could be a lovely spot on a sunny day, however the staff and service was appalling! Waited twenty minutes for two coffees, the girl on the seating desk said all the tables were booked, then gave the table next to us to some other people who had just walked in, then asking us to move. No problem with any of that really as we hadn’t booked but her attitude was awful. Such a shame as could have been a lovely brunch spot!

Foods ok but too expensive. Service from waiting staff is fine but the kitchen needs a visit from Gordon. It took 45 minutes for our food to arrive and it was just a cod fillet in a cold brioche bun. Looked like everyone around us was waiting the same time.

Really nice location by Portsmouth Harbour. The website is really good in that we were able to book a table just 3 hours in advance. I would recommend booking a table as this great cafe is very popular. Signs to the cafe are really helpful although parking can be limited. Staff were really friendly and helpful. We will definitely return again.

A lovely place. Nice food. Can go for a walk then goto cafe. Staff were nice. Did have to wait a while for food but we were told there was a wait. Food was hot and fresh when it arrived

Good place for a coffee stop! Looks good for breakfasts, too. We were just on a walk from Porchester Castle to Fareham.

Lovely food, nice coffee, reasonable prices. Nice location to walk round to Porchester harbour. Book in advance on weekends as it does get busy

Coffee was excellent, food was really good and well presented, the service however was extremely slow with no warning, we waited over an hour for our food. I’m only taking a star off for this cause otherwise it was excellent.