Horto Restaurant — Restaurant in Great Britain

I cannot rate Horto higher than the five stars given but I would gladly give it ten stars. We had the pleasure of eating there on their first night of opening since COVID restrictions were lifted. From the professional welcome received from the Restuarant Manager Rory to being the last table to leave we were overwhelmed with the level of service from the whole team and the standard of the food. The menu description does not do the food justice. Their angle is to avoid the norm of Starters, Mains and Puddings and go for a selection of small plates seasonally lead with fresh ingredients from their own kitchen garden. It's suggested that you chose 4 plates per person but as there was a total of 9 on the menu we decided to go for one of each to share per couple. Each dish seemed to surpass the last one, the flavours and textures were fantastic. The Chawanmushi (smoked eel, peas and wasabi) I would have never chosen in a million years but turned out to be the best thing I have ever tasted in my life! Thank you to Rory and the team for making our experience so memorable. We...

Visited for both lunch and dinner during the same visit.

Lunch menu is very overpriced for what it is. They have a captive market so feel they can charge what they want but £20 for a bowl of Tom Yum soup, a Salmon salad, or a Lentil Dahl is far too much. Similarly, £14 for a simple cocktail and £12 for a piece of cake seem over the top. The food itself was ok, but I've eaten much better and at a better price at both Rockcliffe Hall and Seaham Hall spas.

Evening menu is much better though not as good as when I last visited in Feb 2020. We both had the tasting menu and thoroughly enjoyed it. The price has gone up over 50% since Feb 2020 and is now above some Michelin starred restaurants I've eaten in (Hrishi in the Lake District for instance). For some reason they've also stopped the wine pairing. Overall I'd give the evening menu 4* and the...

The duck cherryaki was one of the nicest meat dishes I've ever had. Also had the squid which I would not order again, nowhere near the same amount of flavour or enjoyment. Chips were great, BBQ brocolli delicious. Focaccia to start was good. My vegetarian wife's meal was a bit of a mixed bag, the flatbread was good but the artichoke meal wasn't particularly enjoyed. To finish we had the white chocolate fondant which was a huge disappointment...very bitty texture and wasn't pleasant. I think vegetarian options could be improved and with the prices I would expect more consistency. We have paid much less in other high quality restaurants and had much better meals. Service was great although they seem to have stopped re-explaining your meal choices which was a bit of a shame. All in all, an enjoyable meal and will...