An Honest Review of 7Bone, Southampton

I’ve been pondering whether to write up a review of 7Bone Southampton for quite some time – months, in fact. A cult favourite across Portsmouth & Southampton and now with many restaurants open across the south, 7Bone has rapidly grown from humble roots in Southampton, and we’ve been regulars since they opened in Portswood back in 2013 – until last February (with some unfortunate food choices resulting in a funny feeling). I pride myself in writing honest reviews of places we’ve eaten, and I often won’t write a review if we really haven’t enjoyed somewhere – but when somewhere is generally good (and has always been in the past) and then misses the mark on one occasion, it poses a bit of a question.

However, 7Bone does have a lot of good characteristics and some excellent items on their menu, so I think they deserve a mention – even if we haven’t been back for a while, we’ve been loyal for a long time. We absolutely loved 7Bone when they first opened, and for a few years after that; but now, in 2020, I feel they have become a little overrated and have lost that special something that we loved.

Onwards to my review – and some food!

Burgers are up there with my favourite foods – and in my opinion, the dirtier & messier the burger, the better! (Within reason of course – I’m not a fan of unnecessarily messy burgers)

We always visit the original Portswood branch of 7Bone in Southampton, which has doubled in size since opening – which was well overdue. However, it’s worth noting that this is an extremely popular dinner spot, especially on weekends – so it’s more than likely you’ll have a wait on your hands (we normally end up waiting from 30 mins to an hour for a table, which can be quite frustrating).

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If you’re local to a 7Bone branch, a lot of them now offer takeaway (or delivery) – so if you don’t fancy a long wait at the restaurant, you can wait from the comfort of your own home.

Once you’re ushered through the bustling restaurant to your table, your order is taken fairly promptly and the food is a little wait – depending on how busy they are.

The menu at 7Bone Southampton is extensive – with a huge range of choices covering burgers, loaded fries, chicken, hot dogs & vegan options, you’re spoilt for choice.

On this occasion, I opted for my favourite burger – the Peter Green. A 6oz patty topped with texan steak chilli, cheese, american mustard & jalapenos. This is where it went a bit wrong for Tom & I.

Beef patties at 7Bone can be ordered either well done or pink. Tom & I ordered ours as pink patties – and I personally wouldn’t ever order a pink burger again. They were delicious – I always enjoy the Peter Green – but I would definitely order your burgers well done.

Alongside my burger I ordered a dirty side – the Portswood Poutine loaded fries. I had been incredibly excited about trying poutine for the first time, and it definitely won’t be my last. It was incredible – crispy french fries topped with cheese curds & a jug of braised beef gravy for pouring over.

One of our ultimate favourites from the menu is the 7Bone classic, truffle mac n’ cheese. It is amazing – by far outshining any other mac n’ cheese I’ve tried. Oozey, gooey, cheese goodness with a truffle twist – it’s almost too good to share!

Tom opted for the loaded chilli cheese fries as his side – and these were nice, but not amazing. It’s worth noting just how filling the sides are – 7Bone is guaranteed to fill you up.

Always happy when eating.

This review might have left you feeling confused about whether to visit 7Bone – and that’s understandable, as I’m not too sure about my feelings towards them either.

On the plus side, they absolutely nail their marketing & their menu creations – always thinking outside of the box, and coming up with edgy new additions that no-one else would think of. Their food always tastes great, their in-house Southampton staff are friendly and it’s got a great atmosphere.

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For me, however, I think the negatives now outweigh the positives. We’ve always been used to waiting a *very long* time for a table, in an area of Southampton where you don’t really have anywhere to sit other than the pub next door – which is frustrating, but we’ve always gotten over it. The wait times for food inside can also be pretty slow, and seem slower now that the seating area has doubled inside – which is understandable given how popular they are, so that too doesn’t really bother me (although it is annoying if you’ve already waited a very long time for a table). The menu is good, but is – in my opinion – definitely on the pricier side for burgers. Again, not a deal breaker – and it is good food (especially that truffle mac. yum).

Onto the major negative points for me, which perhaps are a result of the rapid expansion and opening up of many more restaurants reducing the quality of the customer service & attention to detail in the Southampton branch. You may have gathered our main issues came from the burgers that Tom & I ordered to be pink – which is perfectly OK for restaurants to do if everything has been handled properly. However, after a not-so-good experience in the evening compared to the usual, and then a really not-so-good feeling the next day (I won’t go in to details), the head office customer service team wasn’t the best at dealing with us. Sort-of apologetic, sort-of friendly & relatively unhelpful are the words I would probably use to describe our experience with the 7Bone customer service team – which was surprising coming from what we had always thought was a family-run, friendly restaurant we’ve always loved.

I’m not condemning 7Bone – not at all – and I do still feel that they are a good burger restaurant. There’s no doubt about that. As an independent business, started by two guys back in 2013, they have done incredibly well – and they deserve a huge amount of credit for that. However, since they expanded from just the one Southampton restaurant and opened 8 additional restaurants (in quite quick succession), I feel they’ve lost their touch and that special something that kept us going back for more.

Would I recommend a visit to 7Bone Southampton? Maybe – I do love their hot dogs and the truffle mac & poutine are definitely delicious – but I’m not rushing back. I do think that they have now become a little overrated. There are so many other burger restaurants these days, that I wouldn’t need to go back to 7Bone. I’d recommend Feed & Hubbox in Portsmouth and Bite Me Burger in Southampton over 7Bone now, simply because I prefer their atmospheres & their menus and we’ve fallen out of love with 7Bone. One Tonne Burger Co. at Outside-In Food Court looks amazing, and so do the burger offerings from Need Street Food.

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Take from the above what you will, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this extremely honest review – it was a funny one to write, but I owe it to my integrity to be as honest as possible.

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