The Talisman pub restaurant in Fareham

It was supposed to be a very nice relaxing day with a good meal good atmosphere to celebrate Christmas. First of all I walk in with followed by a white family behind me. We both stand and wait to be seated when the head waiter/manager comes along he goes straight to talking to the white family behind me and ignores me. Strike 1: Thankfully the white family were decent and corrected this white head waiter/manager’s errors, but he does not apologise for over looking me, strike 2: He tells me that I was 10min early I should wait and so I do, the white family who were behind me were then seated ahead of me this could be that their table became free first who knows, anyway I then wait a further 30mins to get seated, and a further hour for my food to suddenly show up and this was only when I started getting upset for having bothered to arrive on time for the timed booking and as you can see from the pictures when the food came it wasn’t fit to eat, I wouldn’t serve it to my CAT. While I appreciate that it was Christmas busy time etc, there is just no excuse for scheduling timed booking slots but then fail to uphold the level of service expected by the customers keeping me waiting for 30mins past the scheduled booked time slot is unacceptable and furthermore preparing my food and leaving it under some hot plate, before I am even seated at a table so that when I did eventually get it an hour later it was not fit for human consumption. Then to be informed that I should not be upset because they were busy… that is not my concern and I refuse to be treated in this disgusting manner and paying for food that was not fit for human consumption absolutely disgusting behaviour and appalling service would not recommend this pub to the public for any meals.

Popped in to join a Christmas works party. I didn't have any food but from what I saw it looked amazing. Will definitely be back in the new year to have a meal...

Food and service fine. But the car park is fraud! You have to register your car either on the way in or out. When I entered the counter where you register the car was crowded with people and I didn’t see it. There are virtually no signs of car parking penalties. I got a ticket and as my friends were paying I was driving. Suggest warning are on each table you are nothing more that day light robbers!

Birthday dinner and Xmas . Ellie served us was excellent, very attentive,went out of her way to find Prosecco glasses for 7, great eye contact, friendly, lovely, upbeat, thank you

Christmas party night.. Great service and fun atmosphere. Food a little disappointing but they were obviously very busy. A great night for a works Christmas do.. thank you x

Lovely food, generous portions, welcoming and buzzing atmosphere, and great service from Sophie and Leah. I haven't been in a while and forgot how great the Talisman is - glad to see it's stayed great, and I'll be sure to come back a lot sooner next time!

Had drinks here, no food. Nice decor, pleasant atmosphere, but must be the most expensive pub in the area.

It’s a shame because the pub is great on the eye. The food is over priced for what it is and the service, HA! We booked a table of 6, 3 couples for 3pm on a Sunday. We arrived bang on 3, when we went through the pub and past management, which were there at the bar, they looked at us if though were something they’d trod on. When seated we started to catch up, as it’s the only time of the year all 6 of us can meet up. We were told by the waitress if we could order quickly as they had another table booked in at 5 so needed us out by half 4, this was at 3:09. We ordered quickly and ate as equally quick, the fact we were being “kicked out” within an hour and 21 mins from ordering. When we left we again walked past a manger and 3 members of staff and were ignored. I’ve never been to a place where the staff/managers are so ignorant and rude. We will definitely will not be returning, unless we get knighted or become famous, as it seems the only way you would get a decent human response in this place.

Lovely pub, cosy log fire and good food. Very tasty Chilli con carne.

Had a Christmas meal which was much as expected, tasty.

Twenty members of my family booked in for Christmas lunch and were very well looked after. We had ordered our food in advance and it came promptly, the portions were a good size and it was delicious. We were very well looked after by Millie and Connor who made sure we had everything we needed. We were able to keep out tables after the meal to carry on chatting, which was great as we had all come from different parts of the country.

14 chips the smallest portion of mushy peas ever and all for £19. Not good

Family meal really lovely food, nice hot and tasty would come again!!!

Food was fantastic, with a lovely atmosphere! Millie was amazing, would definitely visit again!

Great Sunday lunch, staff were exceptionally helpful. Lovely setting inside and out.

Had a lunch here today with friends, best service ever from “Millie” friendly, warm, informative and extremely hospitable. Go back again, in a heartbeat due to their customer service. Thank you Millie, you’re amazing!

Millie was amazing, really good service. We felt cold so Millie moved our table next to the fire. Was so attentive & look forward to coming back

Millie was excellent today and really looked after us. Lovely afternoon

The Talisman offers an exceptional Christmas dining experience with great food, a festive atmosphere, and amazing hospitality. The menu is a delightful celebration of seasonal flavors, with every dish crafted to perfection. From the warm, cozy ambiance to the attentive service, it's the perfect spot to enjoy a memorable holiday meal. Whether you're indulging in a classic Christmas turkey or savoring a rich dessert, The Talisman makes every moment feel special. Highly recommended for anyone looking to celebrate the season in style.

Lovely place and very friendly staff but sorry food overpriced -£ 7.75 for ice cream & steak and ale pie £18.75 which to be honest looked and tasted like something from Brakes.

Great food supplied by very helpful staff.A most enjoyable afternoon.

Great service from the start, really friendly and the Christmas roast was lovely.

Had a lovely Christmas meal, staff was brilliant

Came for a Christmas celebration with some friends. The food and service was great and the table was laid up all festive. Thanks for a lovely evening.

Very nice Christmas meal with a big group.

Lovely food and friendly staff

Great catering for a Xmas party. Quick service and attentive staff.

Just like an Audi R8 engine, mid

Had the best roast! I had nut roast will all the trimmings, others had beef. Cooked perfectly - first roast here but certainly not the last. Friendly attentive staff and generous portions. Leave room for dessert ! Very good also!

Only coffee for a meeting but was a nice place.

Great food and service! Leah and Annabelle were great! Always come here, sticky toffee pudding is the best!

Rude manager bad attatude worst of all the food .i wouldnt give it to a dog if i served foor like that id be ashamed avoid like the plague

This is what happens when pubs are chain-managed, not owner-run. A nice environment, a warm welcome, but then the process goes wrong. 2 hours in total to serve a small starter, and then a main course. We didnt dare order dessert or a coffee. The waiter started to avoid our gaze when we started to look impatient. His excuse was how busy they were - in a half empty pub. The food was surprisingly poor ... child-sized, uninteresting portions for a very grown up price. The crowning glory, after no attempt at any sympathy ... the waiter automatically tried to add a hefty tip for himself into the card machine. As I said, just following a process, with little regard for the actual experience.

Honor was absolutely fantastic!! She was so attentive and full of smiles

Wonderful service from Honor tonight. Thank you so much for making our daughter’s birthday special. You were brilliant.

Honor and staff were wonderful - welcoming,fun and professional 👍

Currently 33% off on Mondays Excellent Nachos

Nice good and friendly staff. Would definitely go again.

Great pub. Great food. Never disapoints

Great pub and restaurant. Popped in on the off chance of a table late on a Sunday. Offered 2 tables despite being incredibly busy. Had no idea of their offer on Roasts, £10 after 5pm on a Sunday - we would have been happy to pay full price. Excellent service from the bar staff, managers, and runners. Great venue, well presented and clean - both at the bar, tables and facilities. We look forward to sitting outside in the Summer.

Excellent Sunday roast, top customer service especially Olivia who was lovely. Will come again and recommend it for a fantastic roast

Waited ages for food to arrive even though we had pre ordered it 5 days in advance! Food was tasty but a bit expensive

Great food and new waiter (Harrison) in training was really spot on and attentive being coached by a great team

Unfortunately had to delete a previous 5* review from 8 months ago to this; took my family in for a late Sunday eve roast and left extremely disappointed in the food. Service, as always, was great. Young vibrant staff who want to look after you. But every time I have bought various family members here for lunch or dinner since, it's been a disappointment (food wise) Roast dinner (beef) was disappointing. Beef was cold & tough. (Check back was done so quickly I didn't have time to mention the issue - I assume it was rushed due to the manager coming out & rushing the staff around). Roast potatoes tasted of oil & the bottom of the baking tray, and the Yorkshire pudding was dark, cold and stale. Veg was delicious, but not much of it. Such a shame because I love the establishment, the draught choices and the staff. But I'm afraid I won't be eating here again for a while.

Great place for after work drinks. Super clean and modern. Love a warm atmosphere and can't keep away

Great food and snacks really friendly staff always willing to help

I attended with my daughter and son on Saturday 26th Oct. I had to leave early due to feeling unwell. I had not eaten anything. The staff were excellent. One young girl with pink hair (sorry don't hv her name) came to see if I was okay and to reassure me! Excellent young lady. I wanted to let the Manager know how delightful and caring she was to me. I can't wait to come back and enjoy a meal, which my 2 children said was awesome xxx🩷

Nice pub, nice food. However, when we pointed out that half of the steak in the sandwich was way to tough to chew, impossible to cut, we were told that the steak is supposed to be tough!! An apology and understanding of the problem would have been the perfect response, but this was really poor.

Always a great service and brilliant environment. A well run pub with a quality team of publicans.

The food was very overated and over priced.

Lovely pub for food. The decor is really nice. Quite busy so probably best to book a table if you need one.

Went there for a meal on Friday evening. The food was awful as was the service. Seemed to me had to wait a very long time for everything drinks starters main meal. Could understand if the pub had been busy, but it wasn't won't be returning. Very expensive for what it is.

Due to "menu changes" many things were not available, however the food quality and service were great.

Very Nice food, although no cutlery was brought over for our deserts even though the waitress said she was going to get us some it never arrived! So we used knifes and forks to eat the ice cream and pudding!

Awful food and over priced. I wouldn’t recommend.

I called in for a pint and a snack.. There was one person behind the bar and service was nothing to be proud of. Three weeks later I received a penalty charge notice for parking for 25 minutes. Judging from the fact that the barman never mentioned the need to register, coupled with the fact that there is no mention of the charge on the website. I assume that the charge is for revenue rather than deterrence. I shall certainly never visit a Hall and Woodhouse pub again.

Had amazing service especially by one of the waitresses Annabel, great drink choice and atmosphere, food very nice.

The food was great, many seating options great staff had a very sweet girl serve us, Annabel she made sure we were all taken care of great attitude and conversation. Perfect place to go.

A midweek visit for a quick cider. A very tidy Hall & Woodhouse gastro-pub. Clean, comfortable, quiet (6-7), friendly staff, good drinks & food selections available. Well worth a proper visit.

Great location, wonderful food and excellent service. What more can you ask for?

lovely place and beautiful food. Thank you

Booked as meeting point for friends, then saw recent reviews and was concerned! Our visit was lovely, made sure we put the reg number of the car in the machine by the bar, there is a sign as you go in the car park but could easily be missed but, if i recall correctly, there was another sign as you enter the pub. We all enjoyed our meals, it was good pub grub, plenty to choose from on the menu, the staff were very attentive and didn't have long wait times for our food. I would certainly recommend a visit from my experience, there's also a lovely outside seating area for those warmer days!

Great place for relaxed drink and meeting friends

Visited the Tali for an evening drink with a friend last month and was surprised to receive a £100 parking fine in the post written in a very threatening tone. I’m a local and a regular, and in all the 20+ years I’ve been visiting this pub, they’ve never had a parking company issuing fines. There may well be signs in the car park but they’re not obvious in the dark and locals are not expecting to see them. I didn’t see any reminder sign or screen to enter your numberplate at the bar. The signage at the Village Inn down the road is much clearer and the sign-in screen is right in front of the bar. The bar staff there also remind you, unlike in the Tali. I forgot to sign in at the Village once and when I took the parking fine in to them, they immediately said they would cancel it for me and I heard nothing more. I hope the Talisman will do the same. Please get more signs and make them blindingly obvious so the regulars like me who’ve been coming for years don’t get caught out. I know of at least three other people who’ve had letters recently because there was no warning about this new system. I’ve put two stars but that’s a reflection of the unexpected fine, not the pub itself.

Had such a lovely evening celebrating my mums birthday. Such a friendly atmospheric visit being served by Leah. Look forward to coming back soon.

Went with our dog. It was a bright, sunny evening, so we sat outside. Nice beer garden with a water bowl for the dog. Service for drinks was friendly and the bar tender was chatty.

Fantastic service, delicious food, only reason it was not 5 stars is because we had a long wait (although we were told that was because the chef wasn’t happy with the first pie so they re-did it, which would add on a half-a-star)

Good service and wide menu. Food was well cooked and ambiance comfortable. Have eaten here 3 times lately. All without complaint.

Only one barman serving behind the bar. 4 sets of people waiting to be served on a Saturday afternoon. One disinterested manager very busy looking out the window.... While someone's coffee sat on the dispensing bar for 20 minutes (yes that's how long I was at the bar for) before the barman asked a waitress to take it because it had been there so long. Food looked terrible. No effort made at all by any member of staff. Such a shame, after the refurb this could have been a great venue but I definitely would not bother again.

Great food, great beer selection, very attentive and helpful staff, nice relaxing atmosphere, fantastic roast dinner I would highly recommend .

Would not recommend this establishment on the basis of the cost of drinks and lack of customer service. The staff are rude and don’t seem to have a queuing system in place for customers and when you query it with how to get served they accuse you of being rude!? Avoid this place unless you like overpriced drinks and rude behaviour from staff! They wouldn’t even ask who was next- just favouring whoever they may recognise from regular patrons! YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!!!

Very disappointed. Three meals were served with an apology that one meal had been forgotten and will be out soon. In hindsight we should have sent the 3 back and have all brought out together. To be fair that meal was deducted from our bill. My chicken schnitzel looked like it had been run over by a steam roller and was over cooked, very dry and hard. Double cheese burger looked like 2 skinny burgers with squirty cheese between them. Everything overpriced, including the drinks. Had a meal in Harvester earlier in the week which was far superior. Won't be going there again.

Staff were friendly and very helpful, the food however was far from good. Portion sizes are miniscule. One order was a chicken salad sandwich without the bread as not surprisingly another place that does not cater for people with gluten intolerance. The chicken was tablespoon size same as the lettuce and a piece of cheese the size of a small butter pat and two of the thinest slices of tomato you have ever seen. The meatballs had no taste and far too many chillie flakes

Very nice place to go and eat .. friendly staff .. I thought the food was a little expensive.. bit was nice and enjoyable.. the only thing was on the menu on a Monday you get 33% off your food ,but if you order on your phone you don't get the 33%off .

Had a birthday lunch here today where the sandwich I ordered was literally inedible due to it mainly being mayonnaise. We told the waiter who could also clearly see the food had barely been touched and his response was “oh”. He then cleared the table and that was that! Not even a sorry just an “oh”. Shame as the pub itself is lovely 😔

Staff warm and friendly but understaffed meaning long waits even though not busy on Tuesday lunchtime. Food was good but a second drink was thought better against due to excessive time. Staff asked upfront about allergies which was good to see.

Been going to the tail for about 3 years on and of,drove my car up for the first time for a while, I met my friends in the garden as arrived so never went in to pub ,my friends brought me my drinks so I haven’t any proof of buying a drink. But this week I got a £100 fine for parking my car in the car park for 1 and half,I didn’t know it was a chargeable car park ,it. never was before. Very very annoying Be warned.

Nice pub, good drinks. However they had a big marketing push for the £10 Sunday roast after 5pm. When we arrived at 6pm they said it was all out of roasts which was extremely disappointing. The restaurant also messed up the table as there was a reserved table with our name on it with someone else sat in it. We had to wait for another table to be found. After we ordered the waiter then said the house sharer was unavailable. Just constant disappointments which is a shame as the pub is lovely just poor planning and management.

The pub and garden are both very nice and look great but is this what you pay the extra for? The drinks prices were more expensive than London. But what I thought was disgusting was massively over charging for non-alcoholic wine - there is no need for that! I definitely don't recommend on this basis. I look forward to a response, I know it will be justifying costs 🥱

Perfect place for meeting friends or spending time with family . Always a warm welcome and good service .

First ever visit to the establishment, found the food excellent and portion size just right. Menu selection was great. The service provided was 1st class without being over powering.

Club sandwich more mayonnaise than chicken The filling was awful Coffee nice

Popped in for a few extortionately priced drinks served by self-interested bar staff. Few weeks later received a parking fine for £100 despite no friendly warning when entering. They have NPR cameras but fail to warn you. Avoid this horrible place, total rip off.

Waste extremely disappointed. Meal was not very poor and the drinks were extortionate. Will never be back and a few people have said the same. Used to be good but that was a long time ago.

Food was lovely as well as the service the building is very nice a large clean area outside to eat but in is even better very comfortable and lovely decorated a very comfortable place to eat !

🍖🍳🌭🥗🌭🍳🍖 Had a fabulous time at The Talisman Pub It is a huge place very welcoming with a lively atmosphere The service was great and the food delicious The pub has a lot of character and feels cosy The outside space is well thought out. Will definitely return ✨️

A very easy-going pub with wonderful food.

Polite friendly staff and lovely food, especially the Sunday roasts.

Ordered the flat iron steak with chips, mushroom and tomato, cooked rare. Steak arrived well done. Waitress took it back for the chef to do it again. My companions had their meal while I sat and watched. Eventually my steak arrived with no tomato and no mushroom. Just chips. I asked for the rest of the meal, and was told "we've run out". I asked what they had done with the original tomato and mushroom, and was told "we threw it in the bin". My meal out with friends was ruined, and I was unable to face eating the late and incomplete meal. I got up and left. After many positive experiences at The Talisman, the last visit and now this one have been extremely disappointing. I will not be going back.

Had a works leaving do here. They were very accommoding. Very good atmosphere, menu for everyone and all well priced.

Bar staff not very knowledgeable about wine. I asked for a Californian or Australian wine, I was told there was only New Zealand wine but as it is near Australia was just the same!!!!

An enjoyable spot for a drink where good times are certain to be enjoyed by all 🤩 🌞 🍻

The food here is Ok, decent pub grub, although the service was slow. The evening was spoilt by the drink prices , £28 for a bottle of white wine and £10 for a glass of large red. Drinks bill far outweighed cost of meal, and I felt ripped off, bar staff seemed embarrassed at some of the prices. First time visitor, and I am afraid last time.

I went to eat here with my family after my graduation ceremony. It is a very nice looking, quiet restaurant and terraced area. You can order via the app or order at the bar. We ordered at the bar and this young lady was very nice in taking our order and preferences. I marked the service as a four because we had to set up our own cutlery, we also took our drinks outside and poured them ourselves (bottle of wine). I feel like there is probably more service in the actual restaurant area though. The terrace was beautiful, open and spacious. Dog friendly. The food is a three because presentation could have been better and some bits of the food were cold in a the sharer plate. The rice in the chilli con carne tasted microwave as well. Overall, would visit again!

I visit the Talisman with my friend Ron on a regular basis Food is excellent as are the staff who are all friendly and helpful. An excellent venue to enjoy a quiet drink or an outstanding meal. Overall an excellent place to go.

The meals were very tasty. The decor of the place is very nice. Staff very helpful. Thank you

We sat outside after a wonderful dog walk at nearby Holly Hill. It was busy but not too crowded. There were plenty of parasols to provide cover. The food was lovely and served by very friendly, chatty staff who made lots of fuss of our dog.

Great bar Very polite staff And a nice pint of course

Food is good! Services is excellent, cannot Fault location. Prices are a too steep! 2 pints of birra moretti for £13 plus quid. Your not wickham stop acting like it ;)

Lovely food, staff friendly and helpful. Great service.