New Forest
The Three Lions

The Three Lions

0.5m SE Of Fordingbridge, Off A338, SP6 2HF, New Forest, United Kingdom

Full • Lunch • Drinks • British


"Our visit was completely ruined by the hotel manager and I ended up crying in the car park when we left! The worst experience I’ve had at a hotel or restaurant ever. When we checked in the receptionist told us the breakfast time and there was no mention of the cost. We thought breakfast was included, my brother made the booking so I didn’t have the record. At breakfast we were told it wasn’t included (fair enough if we hadn’t paid for it but I said I thought it was included and offered to go and get my phone to check. the lady said she’d call the manager to check. We sat down and the lady told us breakfast was £10 but that she was waiting to hear back from the manager about whether it was included and she gave us some menus. We were going to pay anyway even if it wasn’t included but just wanted to check. The menu was a set menu with a main brek item, tea/coffee, fruit juice and 1 side. We all ordered the items included. When it came to paying I said to the lady that I’d pop back down and pay as I didn’t want to cause my Dad any stress. When I came back to pay, the lady said we hadn’t paid for the rooms! I showed her the payment on my phone and that issue was sorted but it was strange and a bit strange. She then said the breakfast was £52!!! Then the manager came in. I explained she said it was £10 each which would have been a total of £30. The manager then started getting angry saying our rooms were really good value and why did I ever think breakfast was included which was strange as I already understood we needed to pay for breakfast by this point. We then got into a back and forth argument about whether the lady had given us the menu with prices. The manager then showed us the menu with prices which we hadn’t seen started saying we must have seen the menu with prices as my Dad had ordered a grapefruit juice (it’s just his favourite juice! I then turned and asked the lady if she had told us the breakfast was £10, she said no. I asked her if she had given us the menu with prices and she said yes. I asked her twice and she lied repeatedly. It was a very strange situation. I actually started to feel a bit sorry for her as I think she must have been scared of loosing her job if she told the truth as the manager was very aggressive. He then said things like ‘You’re really enjoying this aren’t you!’ I was not enjoying it at all!! He then started going on about the cost of the Frobisher juice and how could the breakfast have been £10 talking again about how good value our rooms where and starting to rant, he was getting quite angry. But this wasn’t a question of value, it was a question of whether we knew the cost of the breakfast we didn’t. In the end I paid the £52 as my Dad was waiting and I went into the car park and burst into tears! My Dad popped back to tell them that we didn’t have the menu with prices and that we had been told it was £10. So overall, a horrible experience!! of course it wasn’t about the cost in the end, it was about not knowing the cost then being asked to pay a different price to what we’d been told I was a liar."

Pilgrim Inn

Pilgrim Inn

Hythe Rd, SO40 4WU, New Forest, United Kingdom

Steak • Salads • Cheese • Coffee


"We had a family lunch here yesterday and was to be a happy occasion catching up but was hampered by really bad service. We ordered 5 Sunday roast plates. Were given only 1 gravy dish serving for 2 person. Would have thought it’s easy maths when it’s 5 roasts at least bring 2 or 3 gravy’s worth. Told the waitress we needed 2 more as everyone does love gravy and it took about 20 minutes before we got the second gravy by which our beef roasts had turned cold. We ordered chips but was given purple cabbage instead so told the waitress who took our order and attended to our table. The chips arrived about 15 minutes later. Asked what happened to our third gravy which by this time we have given up and decidedly thought we are not going to even be bothered with ordering puddings and just want to get out of here soon as we can. Too frustrating as we only communicated with this one waitress who seemed not to understand or know what to do. Finally third gravy arrived with the manager as we have requested to speak with and she explained that that’s the last gravy dish and that they had made a big pot that day plus gravy should have been on our roast when served. We explained that we were served with no gravy on our plates hence the ask. She seems at lost on what to do and said that’s not how they usually serve their roasts. I have a photo of my roast plate without gravy here. I then suggest that the manager talk to the kitchen staff as it’s clearly something they need to sort internally. We saw another table earlier on where two person having roasts were given 2 gravy dish! And we were 5 people. Overall food was delicious but not coming back for the terrible service though to be fair they did give us a 10 percent discount and we did pay for the purple cabbage which we hadn’t ordered but eaten anyway."

Stanwells Bistro

Stanwells Bistro

14 15 High Street, New Forest, United Kingdom

Steak • Pasta • French • British


"We booked here for a birthday dinner celebration with friends which turned out to be a frustrating and disappointing experience. We arrived early to have a drink at the bar and the experience of poor service started here. It took 10-15 minutes before anyone even approached us for drinks orders and then took a further 10 minutes for the drinks to arrive. The bar wasn’t overly busy so this was a bit of a surprise. We informed the waiting staff that we had arrived and then received a phone call 5 minutes later by someone else enquiring as to where we were. It all seemed very disorganised. When we sat down at the table, we were given menus but no wine lists. We weren’t asked if we wanted water or drinks and had to prompt for these ourselves. We had to ask numerous times before we finally got any water to the table and this theme continued throughout the evening. When we tried to order the red wine the first two bottles we ordered weren’t available as they had sold out. We eventually found a bottle that was available. Then the white wine we ordered was sold out after our first bottle so we had to move onto a more expensive option. After being at the table for around 10 minutes we were told that we had 5 minutes left to order food as the kitchen would be closing. This was surprising for a Saturday evening but we got our orders in. Starters arrived and the food was nice. Then main courses started to arrive but two of us were left without our dishes. We were told that there had been a mix up in the kitchen and that the food would be with us shortly. The first of the two dishes that were originally missing arrived as everyone else was finishing their main course. The final missing dish still hadn’t arrived sometime later and we eventually cancelled it as it was taking so long. Those who did receive their main course did say that the food was good quality. It was just a shame that the poor service overshadowed this. The hotel did acknowledge that they had fallen short of standards and removed the cost of the two bottles of wine and two late main courses (although we did cancel the final one anyway). The whole experience was disappointing and frustrating and it felt a little like we were a big inconvenience from the moment we arrived. As local people to the hotel it is a shame to say that we will not be returning and would not recommend this venue for anyone."

Mantagu Arms

Mantagu Arms

The Montagu Arms Hotel Beaulieu New Forest Hampshire SO42 7ZL, United Kingdom

Fish • Coffee • Cheese • Breakfast


"We were given a voucher by a friend for a savoury afternoon tea as a wedding present. They had specifically gone for a savoury afternoon tea as I do not like cake or chocolate. The Montagu Arms is about an hours drive from home but as our honeymoon had been cancelled we had the spare time and we were very much looking forward to it. When we arrived we were taken to a small table which was less than a meter from the entrance and more like a waiting room with people walking past carrying their bags.We ordered our tea from the selection and it was very nice hence the 2 stars. Next came some sandwiches which were also ok.They then brought out cakes and chocolate brownies, we pointed out that we had booked the savoury afternoon tea and they initially blamed us and fobbed us off by telling us we should have mentioned it when we booked and that there was nothing they could do now as everything was pre made in advance. We had booked by email and in the opening line of that email we said it was for the savoury afternoon tea. We were then offered a glass of champagne (still no apology though), but seeing as my wife doesn’t drink and I had an hours drive home ahead we declined. Again we were told there was nothing else they could do.I can’t speak for the food but the service was really disappointing. There was little effort to put things right and they’re general attitude was of disinterest and that somehow it was our fault. We left the cake and went home."