Salt Café in Fareham

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 👍👍👍👍👍

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Had my birthday breakfast there,very nice food really enjoyed it

Absolutely love this place! Can't fault it. Great views; lovely, friendly staff; wonderful food! Made my dog really welcome - cooked him a sausage!

Great place, first visit. A little gem tucked away. Looking forward to visiting again when the weather improves. It was really wet and cold when we visited, however warm and cosy inside, really good breakfast and the very were very helpful and cheerfull.

excellent cafe, wonderful food and service great location, highly recommend

Went there for lunch with my fiance for my 60th birthday. Staff were really lovely and very friendly and helpful. Would definitely recommend 👌.

One of my favourite places to have brunch. Nice location, friendly staff and yummy avocado toast and coffee.

Lovely up market cafe, menu and interioir, tucked away in a hidden small marina I spotted on Google Maps near Portchester castle. Not too long for the food considering how nearly full it was. The various loaded fries options are amazing, and delicious! Highly recommend. Do cooked breakfasts too although only till about noon so missed it. Bit pricy for a family of 4 or kids if just looking for a bit of lunch, but it was well worth it for the quality and location/atmosphere. Great looking cakes and pasties, and we also had a great coffee. Friendly staff, although a bit hard to catch their attention when walking past, but probably just because it was busy. Great views of the harbour and lovely out door seating if dry and not too windy, even a jetty with picnic tables over the water which will be great when i assume accessible in the summer. Great find, definite want to go back.

Great breakfast and excellent service. Dog friendly as well.

A really nice café by the waters edge and only a short walk along the shore to Portchester Castle. The food is lovely, reasonably priced and the place has a lovely atmosphere.

Clean,well presented with good service. Atmosphere was relaxed and good.

food was ok , didn't like the sausages, tesco sells better tasting ones

Superb the full English is to die for.

Excellent brunch here. I guess that a mid-winter visit might not have shown off venue in best way, but the setting is promising for a summer revisit. There is a large public car park nearby (ask Mrs Google) and at busy times that will clinch parking for you. Great local walks.

Undergoing some work ready for spring. Well worth a visit but make sure you book. Food was great. Can't wait to visit again soon.

Lovely meal. Good staff. Well worth a visit.

Lovely out of the way cafe, on the waters edge, 2 miles from either Porchester Castle or Cams along the coastal path.

A bit cold but nice food and service.

Lovely lunch with a great view.

Love that this great cafe is on my doorstep

A lovely cafe right next to a boat yard. We stopped in for a bite and found the food to be very nice and was served up quickly. The staff were friendly. Definitely recommend.

I only discovered Salt for the first time this week despite being relatively local to the area, it was a brief visit just grabbing a take out coffee and cake, but both were excellent and I frequent a lot of cafes travelling all over the country for my job! Location and decor fantastic, can't wait to return for a longer visit.

Great location in the wicor marina. Very busy when visited for quick coffee

Great food and service, best outside in my view on a sunny morning. Popular with dog walkers which is OK if you like dogs.

Really friendly, helpful staff. Location beautiful and the food, sausage sandwich with caramelized onions, generous and totally delicious. Great coffee too.

Food was okay, but we were sat outside under a porch canopy. The entire roof leaks and the wait staff won't move you inside until you ask. Rain water leaked through the roof onto our food and drinks the whole time. After moving inside the wait staff sat other customers at the same table. For an hour we watched customers sit outside and then ask to sit inside or leave... Very unobservant wait staff. Fix the roof

Excellent food, service & surroundings, what a find. But book beforehand its a busy place. Not sure how much parking there is, from what I saw not much but I could be wrong.

Enjoyed a lunch here with my friend. The food is delicious and we were stuffed by the time we left. It is upmarket place to eat but you get what you pay for. The staff are friendly, warm and welcoming. They do however add a big tip to the end of your bill which I'm sure people would freely give if let up to them. I guess your only looking after your staff. Its quite out of the way and not easy to find. I would definitely put the sign for Salt on the other side of the road as it's not in the correct view for the drivers. The do have a small car park which is free and a good walk way for wheelchair/ pushchairs.

Always a nice place to visit. Their food is always great and the staff always polite and friendly.

Great food and a great location. Large portions and reasonably priced.

Although not in a location you could easily stumble upon, this cafe is well worth the effort to seek out. Went for lunch and had the disco fries followed by an affogatto; both were delicious, abundant and served with a smile.

Fantastic waterside venue with seating inside or out - friendly staff, good service & most important, great coffee 💯

Went on a very rainy day. Apparently it has changed hands. Food is basic BUT presented and cooked well. The cakes are tasty and varied. There is a covered outside area where you can eat and/or drink. A covered outside bar has also been introduced, it looked enticing. Access to the bar does not have to be through the cafe, there is a walkway around the outside of the cafe. Being on the waters edge makes the experience all the more enjoyable. Open until 8pm. The staff are kept very busy as it is so popular.

Lovely cafe right on the water front excellent food and very friendly polite staff really enjoyed it here and would highly recommend definitely going back

Good food not a big menu choice but very tasty would go back again

Love this place. Staff are so friendly and attentive. The cafe was busy today and the staff seemed to be under pressure, but they remained welcoming, calm and efficient.

Always a joy. Staff very attentive & food tasty. Lovely way to start a sunny day.

Great venue, good quality, we'll prepared breakfast. I would certainly recommend.

The best Breakfast type sandwich I've eaten in many a year.