The minute I saw that Bill's Restaurants would be opening in West Quay's new watermark development I kept going on and on at Arran, saying we had to go eat there again. We've been to the Salisbury branch a couple of times but it's not the most convenient location for us so we never got to go as much as we would've liked. After having to run some very last minute Christmas errands on Christmas Eve, we found ourselves having a late brunch of pancakes in Bill's, then the same a week later for my Birthday and a handful of times since. It's safe to say we're huge fans.
We headed in for an evening meal not that long ago and as we've previously stuck to the breakfast menu, we were eager to see what else Bill's Restaurants had to offer. Greeted by the wonderful staff and shown to our table, we were well looked after all evening and even sent away with a bag full of edible treats when we left. The staff on the evening really were incredible, full of knowledge and on hand at every moment even though the restaurant was full all evening.
After drinks were ordered, we browsed over the menu wanting to try everything in sight. I eventually decided on the Crispy Calamari as it's my favourite then I talked Arran into ordering the Veggie Plate which is a sharing dish so I could pinch that too. The Veggie Plate was amazing and had chickpea and parsley falafels, crumbed halloumi sticks,
baked tomato hummus, tzatziki, red pepper tapenade, mixed olives,
pickled red cabbage and warm piadina bread. I would order this again and again.
We successfully demolished our starters, we're like an eating power team ya see and after a little breather we were ready for our main meals. Arran ordered the Bill's BBQ Ribs with caramelised apple, creamy slaw and skin on fries while I opted for fish in the form of Pan Fried Sea Bass with cherry tomatoes, avocado and caper salsa plus a bubble and squeak potato rösti. Both our main meals were out of this world. I'm crap at cooking Sea Bass so I always order it when we're out and this was probably the best one I've tried in a long time.
Even after all that delicious food we gorged on, we still had room for dessert, I do have a dessert stomach after all. We decided to share the desserts as there were two we both really wanted to try. We ordered the Warm Mini Cinnamon Doughnuts with fresh strawberries and chocolate sauce as well as the Warm Chocolate Brownie with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate flake. The doughnuts were my favourite as they were just the right size and didn't make me feel overly full either. Arran really enjoyed both and as he's a massive brownie fan I let him finish off my piece too.
The evening came to a close with us both in a happy food coma. I could so eat that Veggie Plate again, Falafel just makes my day. Since we went in for dinner, Arran and I have been in a further three times and the blogging girls and I had brunch there last weekend too. I think that kinda shows we really, really love it there.
There are a lot of restaurants in Southampton but Bill's is definitely one that was needed.
Complimentary meal for the purpose of review - see disclaimer.