The Country Pantry in Portsmouth

Go there regularly, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. None of them have ever been less than impressed. I always have the veggie breakfast. Great value, well cooked. Service is friendly. Don't go expecting American pancakes or avocado on toast. It's a traditional caff with a traditional menu. The lunchtime meals look great. Haven't partaken, mainly as there doesn't seem to be a meat free option. No complaints about that, they know their market. Final point, it's cash only. Co-Op is nearby with a cash machine. Thoroughly recommended.

I enjoyed the “Early Bird” breakfast. A lovely meal in pleasant surroundings. The staff very helpful, one could not ask for more.

Nothing fancy just good home cooked food ....tasted just as my mum used to cook....worth every penny...Will definitely pay another visit

This restaurant serves lovely Sunday roasts, Tip get there early it does fill up because of its good value and great taste 👍👍👍

Me and my boyfriend go here quite often. We're in our 20's, so are our friends who like it here but even my old school 64 year old dad likes it here, so does my vegan cousin, so does my corporate office manager... I think it's basically for anyone whose not snobby, so that might be a challenge with it being in Southsea, tehe. The food is always quick, hot and plentiful. Proper working class cafe. Don't get me wrong, I love sourdough toast with avocado but if you want something filling, reasonably priced and just straight to the point, no frills grub then this is your place. Also, great paired with a hangover.

You would easily walk past this place and disregard it going by appearances, but venture in and you'll get a reasonable breakfast for a reasonable price. Basic cooking and surroundings nothing fancy just filling.

I was told that you could get a reasonable Breakfast here at a good price! We ordered the Breakfasts with Tea at which point I enquired as to the type of tomatoes that comes with the Breakfast the lady didn’t answer but wrote something on her order pad! So I asked again “are the Tomatoes tinned?” She replied ‘I’ve already put you down for tinned like you said’ I proceeded to tell her that I’d enquired if they were tinned or fresh but as it happens i prefer tinned! I then asked for a slice of fried bread with the baked beans put onto it. I wasn’t given any choices as to :- Type of tomato Type of egg Type of potatoes Strength of the Tea Anyway the Tea Arrived first not as strong as I would have liked and the teabag had been removed but still of a medium strength so drinkable. The toast arrived shortly after, plenty of butter👍🏻 but I’d prefer it with the main meal. The Breakfast arrived to be fair not long after, on immediate inspection the mushrooms looked a little bit dry and shrivelled, they were not the best! The Beans were on the fried bread as requested so that was good. Ok the worst thing on the plate are the sausages! Not very nice and they are solid! Closely followed by the mushrooms and then the sautéed potatoes were ok but just needed to be cooked a little bit longer. Thankfully the Egg was edible, runny and not crispy (can’t stand crispy eggs) the beans on the fried bread was perfect and the bacon was well cooked and the tomatoes were ok too! (Pictures posted with review) On the whole not recommend I won’t return to this establishment, I’d rather spend the £7 elsewhere like the bookshop next door!

Good range of classic English breakfasts and lunches. One of the last traditional working class breakfast cafes in my area so I like to support them now and again.

I was a regular customer at the country pantry for many years and would overlook the staff’s general lack of welcome and their insistence on even the coldest of days to leave the back door wide open so that they could smoke outside. However, we were shocked and appalled that recently, mid-pandemic, our breakfasts were inadvertently served to the wrong table. This was irritating enough as we had been sitting and waiting patiently whilst other later-arriving customers were inexplicably served before us. Then, as the table prepared to eat, handling the plates and squirting condiments on the food, chatting over it, the plates were reclaimed by the staff and returned to the counter. There they stayed, never leaving my sight, until subsequent to a whispered conversation between waitresses, whereupon I heard the words ‘just do another egg on that one it’s got sauce on it’ one of the breakfasts was brought to me (presumably the one without the offending egg) and presented as my full English! Even pre-Covid-19 this would be absolutely disgusting, but considering the current potential for serious illness and perhaps worse, this ranks as the worst, greediest, most irresponsible and downright nasty and potentially criminal acts I’ve ever been victim of where food and drink is concerned. All the more disgusting is they were very ungracious when confronted by me, a regular customer. If anyone reads this, I would caution using this place, if they would do this, what other corners are they prepared to cut?

I've just had the most amazing full English breakfast I can remember having for years, home-cooked served by Friendly welcoming staff, no boil in the bag, will definitely be visiting again soon.

This small,dated, little hidden gem is providing a real service to the community in Southsea. They provide excellent value for money meals and have a loyal clientele, mainly elderly. They care about their customers and provide take away meals if the person is unable to attend. The food is so good you may have to wait especially Sunday. Real value for money for food made with love.

Great breakfast and really cheap. All staff are friendly. Serves traditional home cooked meals. Would recommend

Best breakfast served all day, lovely staff and a decent cuppa too. Oh and they serve a nice dinner aswell

My husband had the hand eggs and hash, said it was very good. My Cobb salad was very good,filled with lots of goodies! The service was excellent.

In Portsmouth and needed a lunch stop. Was just outside a place looking to go in when we realised it didn’t open for another hour only to spoken to by a passer by who pointed at and recommended this place. This is a Cafe and a proper one at that. Don’t be fooled by the decor and the chalk menu boards. The food is superb. Hearty and wholesome and with good size portions: You won’t leave hungry. I opted for a panini and chips and boy you get chips !! The place was bustling and I’m guessing it always is. No frills, but heavenly. Highly recommended.

Got to be the best small cafe in portsmouth,food is good and basic and not too expensive.Because it is quite small inside,it can get really noisy especially when you get a gang of lads in,they dont seem to have any respect for other diners.Still when its nice they usually go out the back where they can shout to their hearts content.

Llevo a mi madre a cenar aquí al menos una vez a la semana. Siempre tienen una opción de 5 comidas principales diferentes. Ya se trate de pastel de pescado, hígado y cebollas, carne de cerdo, pollo, pastel de pastores. Luego tiene todas las otras comidas que son comidas tipo chippy o desayuno cocinado, etc. Una amplia gama de opciones. Solo hay una crítica que manipula las sillas dentro y fuera de las mesas es una lucha porque las sillas son demasiado grandes para el área, pero aparte de eso son brillantes.

Good quality home-cooked food served by lovely friendly ladies. Steak egg and chips £7.50 was excellent value. This was our first visit and certainly won't be the last.

Visiting Portsmouth and wanted a proper full English before heading back over seas, and for service its first class, cleanness and very polite owners. Breakfast was hot and worth the money. It’s a little cafe on the high street .

Un gran café para una buena comida abundante a un precio asequible. Ideal para OAPs. Noté que muchos de los que deben ir la mayoría de los días son recibidos calurosamente por sus nombres.El pastel de pescado es realmente delicioso, en abundancia, servido con verduras o ensalada. ¡Pedí fichas también, pero era un tramo demasiado lejos!Un montón de opciones para las comidas. Es básico, no es lujoso, pero puedo decirle que vale la pena la visita y que se irá con dinero en su bolsillo.Ve a probarlo.

Best food ever cottage pie on a Tuesday is the best fresh veg and large portions always something tasty on the menu

Can never go wrong here ,sometimes hard to get a table as so popular but that’s to be expected as food is so good

. . . que era dorado, caliente y goteaba (¡hasta los bordes!) con una deliciosa mantequilla salada. Actualmente mi desayuno inglés completo favorito en la ciudad, con tocino de calidad, muy buenas salchichas y "Refreshers" de patatas fritas para morirse, tal vez no sean tus verdaderas patatas souffl, ¡pero no muy lejos! Para toda la calidad, el lugar es completamente modesto con un servicio eficiente pero amigable y el té de constructores adecuado. ¡Prueba el "Mega" si eres valiente!

He perdido la cuenta de cuántos años he comido aquí. Tiene que ser al menos 15 años. Comí aquí al menos dos veces al año cuando estoy en la zona.

Absolutely beautiful breakfast, cooked to perfection. Costumer service was brilliant and i wasn't waiting for my food. 10/10!

Delightful little cafe. Very friendly and lovely freshly cooked honest food. It's a bit like eating around your favourite nans which is a massive compliment. Me new favourite Albert Road cafe. See you soon x

For really good, basic home cooking "just like mother cooks", this is the place. It's frequented daily by the same people, many who have been going for years, which must say something! Good size portions too.

Normalmente ve el desayuno de 'madrugador', brindis extra (mantequilla la tostada) y un café con leche en este amigable café, pero decidieron probar su cena de pollo asado.

Still my go to place for a full English. Friendly staff, good value, freshly cooked and piping hot. I've also tried the mid day meal, roast lamb. Cracking home cooked food.

we visited the cafe at a busy bank holiday Sunday. the food was great, the only thing we missed was the balck pudding from the breakfast

This place has aways been a family favourite for a breakfast or lunch but is now in a steady decline. Which is a great shame the staff could hardly raise a smile and showed little customer service. Last visit i'm afraid.

Me he comido aquí varias veces y lo recomiendo a todo el mundo. Decoración de moda, muebles ha visto días mejores, pero no te puedes quejar de la comida. Hay desayuno caliente, sabroso y abundante, el té es el mejor que he tenido en un café y las cenas de los domingos son bastante alucinantes, con la cola para comer un domingo, siendo testimonio de esto. Todos los productos frescos recién cocinados. ¡Me encanta!

We went to eat at this cafe have been before and really enjoyed.

Después de que nos cambiaron a Portsmouth hace dos años tuve una lista de tareas:

La cálida bienvenida me recuerda de cafés de pulsar tiene la cuchara de grasa pero me refiero a ese ambiente hogareño en forma acogedora. Los desayunos son un tipo de lugar al que quieres comer antes de un largo viaje. El personal es encantador y precios muy razonables.

Warm welcome. Freshly cooked full English breakfast, decent tea. Good value. A regular haunt for me. Recommended

Working away from home and me and the lads were recommended this place Asked the cook for an omelette of our choice and it was cooked to perfection We shall be back every Tuesday thanks gemma u have given us a piece of home My mate had a fry up and said best he had !!!! great service had good food and a warm welcome

We had a good roast dinner at a really good price. The place has a greasy spoon ambiance. They do fry ups, baked potatoes. Probably would like to go back!

Visited this cafe on a recommendation of a friend and very glad we did. We asked if they did fried bread as it wasn't on the menu and they swopped one slice of toast for one slice of fried bread. The toast didn't get eaten as we were so full with the rest of the breakfast. Would recommend giving this a try, they do lunches as well and close at 2.30pm.

Apart from being the best cafe in Portsmouth it is with much sadness today to hear that Tommy Mellor who with his sister Sandy having run the cafe for many years has passed away He had lived a very colourful life and will be remembered for the club's and eateries that he had been involved in over the years R I P

Good value for money. Good portion, and they have a nice sheltered back garden for sunny days. Always have a fried breakfast here and the good thing is you don't come out smelling of greasy bacon. Efficiently run and not expensive. It's not an al a carte menu but the food is fresh and tasty.

If you like home cooked food on a budget which is absolutely wonderful to eat,then this is the place for you.I have been going to this cafe for ages and has got to be one of the best ever.The staff are really nice, and there is a garden space for eating out the back, with a toilet when the weather permits.The menu is quite varied with different dishes served up each day,at a very competitive price,and you will not be disappointed,Sandy is the owner.