Arbor — Restaurant in Great Britain

Average dining experience for a fine dining restaurant. I visited Arbor restaurant along with other 6 work colleagues on a Tuesday evening when the restaurant was not busy at all. As soon as we stepped in, we were greeted by the lovely staff who have been amazing throughout the night. They provided a friendly customer service without the pretentious attitude you sometimes encounter in a fine dining establishment, contributing to a relaxed atmosphere.

Arbor wants to be seen as environmentally friendly and sustainable restaurant, careful about their food miles (as they mention on their website), however, I was surprised to see that their dishes had mackerel caught on the Cornish coast (which is not so close to Bournemouth).

In terms of the actual food, we all had different experiences. The char siu pork belly nibble I ordered was definitely not what I was expecting. I have eaten and cooked pork in a char siu style which usually involves a marinade made of red fermented tofu, Shaoxing wine and five spice powder among others. When cooked, this becomes very flavourful and slightly sticky on the outside, imagine a Cantonese version of the BBQ sauce. The pork belly was far from it, lacking the depth and balance of flavour associated with char siu dishes.

My colleague’s asparagus risotto with poached duck egg was abysmal. The risotto was bland and watery. The duck egg was undercooked with some of the egg white still raw and the asparagus was bitter. She couldn’t eat it.

Another colleague had the steamed bao buns with crispy oyster mushrooms which were a bit dry with all the sauce being on the outside of the buns rather than on the inside.

Most dishes were nice but not amazing for what we were expecting from a fine dining restaurant like Arbor. There’s definitely room for improvement if they wish to live up to their website...

This was our 7th visit to Arbor and they never disappoint. My fiancé and I were here for his Birthday, straight after work and right after New Year so we were expecting it to be quiet, but we had the restaurant to ourselves, the staff were incredibly friendly and attentive but also gave us time to ourselves to enjoy the peace. To start we had Warm Sourdough, Mixed Olives & Crispy Halloumi with Tapenade Mayo followed by Filo Tartlet of Wood Pigeon, which was perfectly pink in the centre, Creamed Leeks and Puy Lentils & Ragu of Venison with Saffron Linguini and Old Winchester Shavings, so rich and full of flavour. For mains we enjoyed Roast Breast of Creedy Carver Chicken from Devon, Chicken Leg and Tarragon Pie with Truffle Mash, I've never had such succulent chicken before, it was amazing & Locally Sourced Market Fish Special of Black Bream with Squid Ink Spaghetti and Fish Cream Sauce with a side of Koffman Chips which were so crisp and fluffy. For dessert we decided to share 3 as we couldn't make our minds up... Chocolate & Hazelnut Babka, Hazelnut Ice Cream and Warm Hazelnut Sauce, Salted Caramel Tart, Banana Ice Cream and Banana Praline & Parsnip Honey Cake (made using the honey from the beehives on the roof), Malted Ice Cream and Parsnip Chip. All of the food was perfect, incredible flavours and combinations that were to die for. To help was everything down we had English Oak Engleman Cuvee from Dorset, keeping it local, Red Carignan 2021, Domain Reine Juliette, Freedom Lager, Amaretto Sour & Whiskey on the Rocks. We would always recommend Arbor Restaurant to anyone wanting to visit Bournemouth looking for an amazing place to eat at a reasonable price whilst using locally sourced produce, we will...

After coming from London to revisit this restaurant for our anniversary we were shocked as to how rude the welcome was from the manager Pedro who after not offering to take our coats told us that we shouldn't leave them where we put them in a rude way.

He then told us very rudely to hurry and that he couldnt order out childrens food first after giving us 2 minutes to look at the menu. He was very rude, which we called him up on. He said he had a headache and a had experienced a bad day and left. Our very young children became upset and we resultantly left with our anniversary ruined and our children hungry and missing dinner. The menu was not what is once was for children and the service was the worst we have ever had anywhere in the world. He did not try to offer us anything in a way of an apology and is unfit for the positon he is in. His colleague was also making excuses for him. A far fall from grace for a once michelin restaurant. Personal issues should not be taken out on customers and toddlers. We will not be returning and would not recommend. A fast food restaurant offers...