Advantages: Plenty to do
Disadvantages: Shingle beach

...I was born just a stone's throw from Southsea seafront and lived there until I was nineteen, returning to visit my parents most summers and some Christmases after that. Following many years abroad I came back to live in Southsea in 1999, first in South Street and then in a flat in Festing Road, funnily enough just a few doors down from my parents' first house. I moved away again in 2002 but still work in Southsea three times a week, and I feel that my link with it will carry on for some time yet. My first home in Festing Road was next door to a bed and breakfast place, and I remember that every summer they had parties of senior citizens come to stay. This was in the fifties, and I think at that time Southsea did have a reputation as being a holiday destination for the older generation. It has never been a major resort, perhaps... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good food and service
Disadvantages: Crowded at weekends

...It was perhaps surprising with my love of eating out that, after more than a year of moving back to Southsea, I still had not visited the Italian restaurant Rosita's on Elm Grove. Surprising as, apart from an uninspiring-looking Indian restaurant, Rosita's is actually my nearest, being less than five minutes' walk from my home. I quite often go out for a meal with a friend on a Monday evening, and on this particular occasion she did not feel like venturing very far as she had just returned from a walking weekend in Devon. Rosita's seemed like the most sensible plan. The restaurant has recently been refurbished, the old bay window with the red canopies having been replaced by a flat front made entirely of glass, which I feel has detracted somewhat from its individual character. The red canopies still exist above the first-floor windows... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Size of bedroom, quality of food
Disadvantages: Lack of parking spaces

...<< BEST WESTERN .. ROYAL BEACH HOTEL .. SOUTHSEA >> << Location >> The hotel is located on Southsea Sea Front opposite the South Parade Pier – this is the end of Southsea farthest away from Portsmouth. It is conveniently situated, just 4 miles from M27 junction 12, which for me was about a 20 minute journey between 5.40 PM and 6PM on a busy Tuesday evening in May 2007. Southsea has plenty of tourist attractions within a very short walk of the hotel. Further on, Portsmouth has even more attractions – from Historic Dockyards to modern shopping. << Contact details >> Best Western – The Royal Beach Hotel South Parade Portsmouth PO4 0RN Tel: 023 9273 1281 Fax: 023 9281 7572 E-mail: enquiries@royalbeachhotel.co.uk URL: www.royalbeachhotel.co.uk << Parking >> The hotel has 126 rooms, with just 45 parking... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Excellent food
Disadvantages: Erratic service

...When I first moved back to Southsea in 1999, the India Arms was about two minutes' walk from where I lived but I never visited it because my sons went there and it definitely had a reputation as a student pub. On moving back to Southsea again in 2007, I was surprised to learn that the largest room in the pub had been converted into an Indian restaurant called the Tiffin Room which was fast earning a reputation for serving the best Indian cuisine in either Portsmouth or Southsea. The Tiffin Room had initially served tapas-style meals, whereby you would order a number of small dishes and probably share them amongst yourselves. By the time of my first visit in late summer, however, all this had changed and the menu was organised in the traditional format of starter, main course and dessert. I remember choosing Old Madras lamb chops... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Spacious; view of the sea front
Disadvantages: They had run out of falafel

...Situated on Southsea Terrace by the common, just a few minutes' walk from either the sea front or Palmerston Road shopping precinct, the White Horse has been a favourite haunt of my son and his partner for almost a year now, but it took me rather longer to discover it. One Bank Holiday afternoon, however, after a morning of torrential rain the skies cleared and I was persuaded to give it a try. It is quite an impressive building with spacious gardens at the front scattered with picnic tables. The warm sunshine had already dried these off, so we decided to sit outside and have lunch and a drink. Making a mental note of a table number, we all went inside to look at the menu and place our order. Two of us decided on falafel and pitta bread, the third on a cheddar sandwich with salad and nachos. We also order two Americanos... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Superb food
Disadvantages: Can be very noisy

...Who would have thought that just along from Tesco Express and Ken's Kebabs would lie one of Southsea's best restaurants? But close to Elm Grove traffic lights, five minutes from the shopping precinct and less than a mile from the seafront, Rosie's Vineyard nestles between Nico's Cafe and an office furniture shop. You would not suspect that the narrow, original shopfront with its stained-glass window panes was the entrance to a jewel of a restaurant that could outdo any on the more select location of Osborne Road or the waterfront at Portsmouth's Gunwharf Quays. My first visit was on a Monday evening, and I would say that any restaurant that's full at the beginning of the week must be worth its salt. Deciding on the spur of the moment to have dinner there one Saturday, I suggested going early as I knew how crowded it would be later on...