The New Inn — Restaurant in England

We thought we’d treat ourselves on the last evening of our holiday but starters aside the New Inn provided us with a pretty miserable experience that we won’t be repeating.

So with so many rave reviews, why only two stars out of five? I’ll give the New Inn a star for location, setting and Covid-19 measures - the latter must be difficult in an old building. I’ll give it another star for the initial service and the Dorset Blue Vinney soup which was excellent. The mains were delivered promptly and regrettably that’s the last positive thing I’m able to say about the meal and the evening. The bream, which I think must have been baked in a pan rather than grilled as it had a soggy skinless underside, was bland beyond belief, and the not-very-seasonable veg and not-very-new pots were steamed dry and utterly butter-less. No sign of a sauce other than in a bottle, and nothing wouldn’t have been out of place on a Friday school dinner plate in the 1970s - so no star for that. I don’t know how it’s humanly possible to cook such a bad dish with such simple ingredients. Like the other review it was only after the mains that the level of service collapsed, starting with a long wait for the table to be cleared. When someone did turn up, unlike the table next to us, we weren’t offered more drinks, dessert of coffee - so no star for that either. After another long wait we decided to cut our losses and asked for the bill. In fact we had to ask twice and had a third, even longer wait for it to arrive - yet another star lost. It wasn’t busy - staff were prepping place settings for the following day, and it wasn’t near closing time - mains were still being served whilst we were leaving.

The evening wasn’t a total loss as we carried on to a nearby nature reserve and saw nightjars in the dusk. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our week in Dorset, pity about...

Average food, mistaken order and then charged for food not delivered Staff friendly and helpful, but poor at taking food order. We went for a treat meal out on last night of holiday with our two young kids. Unfortunately the high chairs provided were not fit for purpose and had no straps to keep them secure. This led to an uncomfortable meal with kids clambering out of the seats at every opportunity and led to us having to leave halfway through main course.

Main complaint is that there was a mix up with ordering that ended up with the serving staff making an order of a mussel starter and mussel mains for me. When the first mussel arrived and they said another was on the way. I said hold on only ordered 1 not 2 (like mussels but not that much). The 2nd never arrived.

We then had to leave quite embarrassed due to kids being unruly and no way to keep them in the seats. Paid the bill and got the food boxed up. Did not properly check the receipt. No extra mussels was boxed up and provided. Checked the bill next day and there was an extra item of Mussels.

Called to correct mistake. They then accused us of lying and said we got the food etc.

Overall food was ok, but serving staff made a mess of order and then did not take on the chin when called out on the mistake and snuck the item onto bill without at least providing the food. Poor form really.

As per response we did not receive a crab sandwich either. I had cancelled that and tried to change to mussels with chips to come with bream. The waitress said the order ended up with a mussel starter and mussel main. I said I'm afraid been a mistake only wanted a main mussels. No crab sandwich and chips or mussel starter was delivered. However we were billed. You are correct on the drinks the listing on receipt as salsa...

My husband found this pub for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Lovely old country pub in a beautiful setting. Shown to our table, and told that menus were on the boards on the wall, which was fine, until we realized that everyone else would have to stand over our table to look at them aswell, The menu on the internet does not match what is available at the pub itself, as my husband was going to have the fish pie and ended up having pork belly ! I have to say that the food we ordered was perfectly cooked so compliments to the chef & understand that in COVID times, things may not be available.. So up until the point that we wanted to order coffees everything was great, that unfortunately is when the service fell apart. I'm not a dessert person ( although they had charged 2 x desserts to our bill which they had to refund ) I like a liqueur coffee so asked for a coffee with Baileys & my husband had an espresso. My husband then seen them trying to make the coffee which was left on the side, we waited over 20 minutes for them to arrive & hence when they did they were stone cold, when pointing this out to the member of staff that I couldn't drink it & to just make me a regular coffee if that was easier. The member of staff stormed off and made it perfectly obvious that she was annoyed with us. Another wait and a black coffee came ( No milk or cream ) I darent ask for any as they had been so rude & now this was quite upsetting for an evening which was a celebration. The strange thing was that an older gentleman intervened ( Not sure who he was ) and brought me back a Baileys in a glass so I could add it to my coffee, which was extremely kind. So all in all, food great, service very poor, if we ever visit again hopefully this will...