Lands End Road
Old Bursledon
Southampton 
Hampshire
SO31 8DN

Tel: 023 80405557

Vegetarian: Yes

Parking: On road, popular pub, not easy,

Wheelchairs: Best to call, steep stairs down to pub from road.

Loos: Average

This was our first visit to The Jolly since its long closure for a refit.  It's looking good, a longer more modern bar but the rest of the pub has kept its olde worlde feel. Very busy Saturday night & like so many places these days they don't take bookings.  I can well understand the benefits of this from the pubs point of view but the facility would make it more relaxing for the customer.  You feel so guilty hovering around tables that look as if they are about to finish!  Its also irritating to see a couple on a table for 6 when tables for 2 are empty.  If I was the couple & could see a party of 5 were trying to find room I would move to the smaller table!  End of rant!

Once we got seated we enjoyed ourselves.  Usual procedure, start a tab at the bar & order your food there.  After that we were served by a very charming waitress, all the staff very friendly.

Reasonably priced wine, chose a ( well 2 actually!) Trivento Viognier & one Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, both @ £ 11.50 a bottle.

Unfortunately as we were starving we started off by sharing 2 orders of Olives & Breads with Tapenade & Balsamic Olive Oil.  Delicious & ate far too much of it so were really full by the time our main courses arrived. 

Fish Pie

Moules

3 of us chose the Fantastic Fish Pie, Smoked Cod in a creamy wine sauce with mushrooms & sweet corn topped with a spinach & cheesy mash served with veggies. A little salty, but otherwise creamy & very tasty.  Another choice was Moules Mariniere, Irish mussels with white wine, leeks, garlic & tarragon served with bread (a massive portion!).  Delicious & you can also have this dish as a starter.  Last choice, a Wedge of Cumberland Sausage, set on mashed potato with onion gravy & red cabbage.  Very filling!

We needed a pud like a hole in the head but suffered in the interests of research!  We chose, to share, a Trio of Puds, Chocolate Mousse, Orange & Lime Cheese Cake & a scoop of Blackcurrant Sorbet.  We felt it rather expensive @ £10 for small portions, advise you just choose the sorbet, it had the best flavour.

A note for anyone who has not been here before, the pub is at the bottom of quite a steep stairway down a hill, advise phoning re wheelchair access.  They have a conservatory & lots of tables outside.  Super views over the Hamble, lots of boats to drool over, mooring pontoon.  Parking, at top of stairs, tight!  Sorry, forgot to find out opening hours, too much Viognier!  

Ladies Who Lunch Scoring:

Quality of food
Variety of menu
Staff and service
Ambience, setting and decor
Value for Money

Total Yummy Factor

5/5 = Cannot be improved upon, 4/5 = Very good, 3/5 = Good,
2/5 = Satisfactory, 1/5 = Poor, 0/5 = Terrible

The higher the "Yummy" factor, the better the food & service. The higher the number of £ signs the more expensive. (Roughly one £ sign = £5 per head)