Crab Mayonnaise
Wild Carrot

Wild Carrot

Dogmersfield Park Chalky LaneHampshire RG27 8TD, Hook, United Kingdom

Full • Coffee • Breakfast • Bar-lounge


"This restaurant is housed within the excellent Four Seasons Hampshire hotel. Unfortunately though this restaurant seriously lets the hotel down. We found the service to be very good, and the ambiance of the restaurant is lovely, but the food leaves so much to be desired....There is minimal choice on the menu (even most small restaurants and pubs have a more extensive and varied menu), so if you’re staying in the hotel for quite a few days as we were, you would very quickly become bored with eating the same things. However, the main issues are the portion sizes, the extremely poor value for money, and the way some of the food is cooked. As an example, one evening I ordered dover sole. When it arrived it was such a small piece that I could have eaten it in three mouthfuls. And on top of that it was hard and overcooked. These three mouthfuls of overcooked fish cost I have no problem at all paying that price, but I do expect the fish to be cooked properly and for the portion to be of a normal and acceptable size. We did bring this issue to the attention of the staff and I must say they addressed the situation extremely professionally, but the enjoyment of our meal had unfortunately already been marred. We originally had no intention of eating anywhere else other than the hotel restaurant, but after two nights eating at the Wild Carrot we’d had enough. We then found a great pub (The Queens Head) just a little way down the road where the menu choices were far greater, the food was cooked perfectly, the service was extremely friendly and efficient, and the portion sizes meant it was much better value for money. We weren’t surprised to see another couple at this pub who were also staying at the Four Seasons. They were eating at the pub for the exact same reasons as we were. If you’re in the area or staying at the Four Seasons, you definitely won’t be disappointed if you eat at The Queens Head pub. I did find it somewhat bizarre that eating in a pub was so much better in every way than eating in the restaurant of the five star hotel that we were staying in. The Wild Carrot really does need to up its game."

Who'd A Thought It

Who'd A Thought It

Headcorn Rd, Grafty Green, ME17 2NW, Maidstone, United Kingdom

Juice • Seafood • Desserts • Breakfast


"I stayed at Who'd a Thought It as a surprise treat for my husband's birthday. Having seen the website, it looked like just the thing for a special night away. Unfortunately, our stay did not live up to expectations and we were very disappointed. On arrival, we were told that we would have to have dinner by (This was a Sunday) as they would not be serving after that time. There does not appear to be any mention of serving times on the website, and being primarily a restaurant, we did not expect dinner service to be over so early. We therefore had to eat much earlier than we anticipated in fact had we arrived later than we would have been unable to have a meal at all. On being shown to the room, the door to the cupboard containing the fridge was hanging off which did not create a good first impression. A quick fix was done at the time which did not last and we had problems with the doors each time we used them. Considering that the room is being charged at a premium rate (in line with star hotels) this really is quite unacceptable and surely rooms should be checked prior to guests arriving and any maintainance carried out on a regular basis. We also had problems in getting all of the jets in the hot tub to work at the time of booking a selling point for this restaurant/Motel. Lastly, the continental breakfast was a total shambles. We were given only one danish for people which had been placed in the fridge and was hard/dry by the morning. Although there were bottles of orange juice, these were not screw top and we had no means of being able to open them. Also, bearing in mind the ambience they are trying to create, a plastic carton of milk was left in the fridge. Surely a jug of milk would have been more fitting for use with the cereals. The fruit provided in the fruit bowl was not in very good condition either, with some of the fruit being bruised. Unfortunately, with all of the above, it totally ruined the whole experience of what should have been a lovely night away. I can see what they are trying to achieve with the rooms, but this is let down totally by lack of detail in other areas. On checking out, there was also no sign of any customer service at all and my husband was not asked whether everything had been ok with our stay. We feel that the above let down the experience and are areas that they need to look into, especially in order to attract repeat business on the accommodation side. On a positive note the food we had al fresco was good.On sending an email to state all the above, no response has been received. We will not be making a return visit!"