The Boathouse

The staff were friendly and the coffee was good as we arrived earlier than planned for our roast lamb dinner. The lamb was cut very thinly and not overly hot and the veg was only just hot but not hot to the core. Thought the price was a bit on the high end considering the portion size was not as good as other places we have eaten at.

We decided to try here for a non residents breakfast, we usually go elsewhere locally that do a great breakfast but fancied a change and the Boathouse is in a beautiful location with nice outside seating area. We were greeted by a lovely lady on the desk who was very attentive, polite and good fun putting up with our bad jokes. The breakfast was beautifully freshly cooked and hot. The sausage and bacon was top quality, the poached egg was cooked to perfection and I really liked the toasted cheese scone which was a nice alternative to toast. Even got Heinz tomato ketchup (my favourite). Hats off to the chef for a nicely cooked breakfast with quality ingredients. Coffee was from a bean to cup machine so it was okay, but I'm fussy and like proper barista made coffee. The only let down (and why I did not give a 5 star rating) is that there were no beans, not even an option to buy as an extra. For this reason alone the rest of my family said they would not return. I would highly recommend that you put beans on your menu as a extra so diners can choose. It would also have been nice if the 3 huge umbrellas had been up to shade us from the sun but they remained down during our visit and there were no shady areas outside.

Not the first time we've been really disappointed here. Firstly it's really expensive just for a drink as a couple. A pint of lager is £6.10 a pint and a glass of wine for a medium glass of an average wine is a similar price. So to sit down and have one round of drinks is over £12 + ... These are London prices ( which would be ridiculous in London) but even more ridiculous on the Isle of wight. We have eaten here in the past 6 years but as you could imagine a meal for two with a drink or two becomes seriously expensive . Cue the summer and my wife sees an offer on the price is wight for Sunday lunch. Buy one get one free £18. Now we thought well the Boathouse must be trying to drum up business and bring in some trade to the pub so she bought the deal and along we went. The first time we went we were pleasantly surprised,the drinks were still prohibitively expensive but the roast was very nice, portions were ok, the ambiance was nice worth going and the " Price is wight " deal was worth it. We did note that the pub appeared to be providing a separate menu for "Price is Wight " guests,upselling certain items you normally expect to come with a roast, listing items such as " Pigs blankets " ( £4 )...for 4x .. a quid each for a small sausage wrapped in overly fat bacon that I'd expect to come with a good roast in a good restaurant/pub anyway. Also on the upselling list was "larger portion of Beef/pork also add ( £4 ) extra roast potatoes also ( £4 ) etc... my point being that a decent portion should come with any meal,you shouldn't have to pay extra to obtain something you would get elsewhere as a matter of course anyway. The reason we were so disappointed the last time we went was ONE THIN slice of beef on our plates,and not really even a decent size slice either,the food was luke warm, the vegetable portion was also very small in comparison of meals we've had there in the past. We also had to wait the best part of 25-30 mins before our orders were taken beforehand,when we were asked if we were happy with our meals we both had to say actually no we weren't,explained why and very little was actually said or done by the staff apart from a bit of a wet apology and the staff chatting amongst themselves saying they need a better chef. All a bit of a letdown really for a place charging London prices for food and alcohol, providing nouvelle cuisine sized portions served nearly cold, backed up by poor customer service. It just feels as if they are in this instance getting people in the door by way of participating in the price of wight scheme,but then trying to rip them off by asking for more money for decent portions.