The Queens at Horton — Restaurant in England

Checked in in time for Sunday lunch as there is no restaurant or bar service on Sunday evening. The room was very well designed and appointed. It was spotlessly clean with an excellent bathroom with shower. There was plenty of tea, coffee, water etc supplied so the staff did not need to come into the room to replenish due to Covid regulations. More was available on request. The bed was very comfortable, plenty of storage space and a table and two chairs. Breakfast was served from 7.00am. We had the small cooked breakfast which was excellent, served by a very friendly chef. How you would manage the large breakfast I really don't know, as the small was very generous. Fried and scrambled eggs were perfect each morning. We booked our table in the restaurant for each day of our visit in advance. We were pleased we did as it was very busy on Sunday. We had roast beef which was lovely, very tender and the vegetables were cooked perfectly. Another night we had the steak and ale pie. The filling was delicious but it came with an enormous puff pastry lid which made it difficult to eat. It would be better served as a steak and ale casserole and do without the pastry lid or make it into an amazing pie ! The following evening we had gammon and the piri piri chicken both of which were very tasty. The portions were extremely generous and we thoroughly enjoyed all our meals. The bar offered a good range of beers, gins etc and there was a reasonably priced wine list. The staff were all very friendly and helpful and could not have done more for us. There was plenty of parking space and a lovely outdoor seating area to enjoy on a nice day. We would thoroughly recommend The Queens , the rooms and meals are excellent value for money. We would definitely stay again if we were...

We visited over the bank holiday as a family — myself, my husband, my father-in-law, and our newborn — looking forward to enjoying a relaxed meal in the sunshine. We chose to sit outside under the covered area to keep the baby shaded, as only one table outside had an umbrella (and it was already taken).

Unfortunately, towards the end of our main course, a gentleman came outside and began smoking right next to us and our newborn. My husband politely asked if he would mind moving one table along, just to give the baby some space. Instead of accommodating such a reasonable request, he became verbally abusive, insisting that he could sit wherever he liked as a regular. Another diner even stepped in to agree with us, but the situation escalated into a heated argument between the smokers.

We were so uncomfortable that we left our drinks, the rest of our mains, and skipped dessert altogether. I raised this with a staff member (who I believe was the manager) and was told that customers are allowed to smoke at any outside table, including under the shelter, and that in winter smokers tend to congregate there. While he said he’d have a word with the man, it left us feeling that families — and particularly those with small children — are left without protection.

Our suggestions: • Provide more shaded seating options (umbrellas or non-smoking covered areas). • Consider designating a separate sheltered section for smokers to avoid conflicts like this. • Make signage clear so guests know where smoking is permitted.

As it stands, we sadly won’t be returning. It didn’t feel baby-friendly, and it seemed that regulars were given priority over the comfort of other guests. A shame, as the food itself was good — but the atmosphere left us walking away upset rather...

Good food, bad service ! Booked for dinner on a Friday evening for a party of 4, the restaurant was busy but not overly so and there seemed to be plenty of staff albeit most of them were very young. We were seated by a friendly staff member who took our drinks order, The first round of drinks came with an apple juice that was clearly watered down and even when it was replaced it wasn’t much better this was the start of the poor service unfortunately.

Once the food order arrived we didn’t see another staff member for 40 minutes or so, nobody checked on the food, cleared the plates or came back to take a second drink’s order, we ended up going to the bar where the service wasn’t much faster, after 10 minutes at the bar we got our drinks but this time there was an orange juice that also looked strange, the colour was off and it didn’t taste like orange , we swapped this for a bottled drink that at least wasn’t watered down, on returning to the table it still hadn’t been cleared and nobody had been to take a dessert order.

After another 10 minutes or so of waiting I went to find a staff member to ask for someone to take a dessert order and clear the plates and glasses on the table, we managed to place a dessert order which did arrive reasonably quickly.

The food itself was good which was the least we expected but the service overall was far too slow and not attentive at all which was...