REVIEW: The Rockstone – Best Burgers In Southampton!

We’ve heard it many times on the grapevine that The Rockstone offer ‘the best burgers in town’, and so The Tab sent along a crack team of food junkies to the depths of Bevois Valley to give YOU the lowdown! 

Despite being right on the main road in Bevois Valley, on entry the pub has a quaint, country feel to it, with plenty of character – a nice change from the busy hustle and bustle of Southampton. The music played in the pub caters for everyone (probably); when we were there it varied between Morris dancing music, to Irish folk, to Pop and we don’t even know what else – it was certainly interesting!

The Rockstone has a lovely quaint feel to it, a great change to the majority of Portswood pubs

We were greeted by a friendly face behind the bar, got two pints of coke (anti-lads on tour) and took the table reserved for The Tab. Being overzealous punsters ourselves, we loved the menu, where every dish name is also a (varying in quality) pun!

Having been informed that the starters were in fact MASSIVE, and if we weren’t ravenous it would be reminiscent of a ‘Man vs Food’ episode to have one each followed by a main course, we settled on “Who Framed Roger Rarebit?”; ciabatta bread with leeks, cheddar and apple chutney. All food is homemade, fresh, and locally sourced, and it’s definitely noticeable!

A delicious fancy twist on the student staple cheese-on-toast

Having chowed down and put away Roger Rarebit (and thankful we’d shared it), the wide variety of main courses – even the vegetarian was appeased! We chose an item off the specials board (duck and bacon salad, but can’t remember the name) and one of the burgers, “Stack Bauer”. These burgers truly are fantastic, 14oz of MEAT – almost a pound! On Thursday nights it’s 2 for £18 – perfect pre-munch for Sobar or Jesters, and conveniently situated about 100 yards away!

Duck, lardons, pine nuts, salad and more – does life get any better?

Anyways, back to our main courses – despite being known for their burgers, the duck and bacon salad was both delicious and filling – a winning combination, and the “Stack Bauer” was lots of grilled veg in a lovely burger bun; at under a tenner it was great value too!

The “Stack Bauer”; vegetarian paradise!

After both starter and main we were feeling as full as Mr Creosote, and decided the best option was to share a dessert. Settling on an enormous sundae, we regretted NOTHING…and will definitely be back for more!

Somehow managed to find room for this belly-busting sundae!

The Rockstone is based at the bottom of Bevois Valley, opposite Tariq Manzils and only a hundred yards from Sobar, this is a MUST VISIT for any Southampton student…we recommend heading along on a Thursday night when it is two burgers for £18, or Tuesday when you can get a Tex-Mex meal for £8! And it’s not just us that likes it; TripAdvisor ranks it the 5th best in Southampton, and MSN rated it as one of the top 21 burger places in the country so HEAD ON DOWN!