White Horse — Restaurant in Guildford

I once was a very regular customer at the White Horse as it was once an excellent pub. I moved away from the area a few years ago but recently came back as my Grandmother had passed away earlier in the week and as the White Horse was one of Her favourite places to have a family gathering including Christmas Day Lunch so I thought it would be nice to bring the family there (8 of us) for dinner. I had pre-booked a table for us. When we walked in the place seemed very quiet which was unusual but thought nothing of it. There were no staff to greet us, bar was empty. We stood there for a good few minutes and a young man who was obviously a member of staff as he did serve me drinks later looked at me then looked the other way and walked off. Eventually we were shown to the table which was in the bar not the restaurant as I had expected as it was a dinner booking. We ordered drinks at the bar and placed our food order again at the bar rather than someone come take our order. I am sorry to say that the food was very disappointing. The fish looked undercooked and my Beef rib was cold. We were offered the desert menu after our main but only 2 of the 8 of us decided to order as non of us enjoyed the Starter or main. 1 of the desert orders was for the small brownie and ice cream. Well they certainly were not kidding with the term "Small" Litrally 2 inches square brownie and a teaspoon of icecream! I belive this alone was around £7? We are not talking Gordon Ramsey quality here but you are charging the price I'd expect to pay there for that! We booked this this meal specifically at this Pub to remember my Late Grandmother who had passed away 3 days prior. I really do wish that we had either not bothered or gone elsewhere as the White Horse has really gone downhill in terms of service and food quality. I paid the £260 bill but did not leave a tip. The only thing that I did leave was me and my family including my Mother who'd just lost Her 89 year old Mum feeling very underwhelmed and disappointed and sadly with no desire to return again. Given the History and the tourist attraction the pub from its setting and appearance in past Blockbuster Films it's a shame that it has definitely gone down Hill. Do I feel our food was worth the £260? Absolutely not but given the circumstances of our visit on this occasion I paid and left rather than ask to speak to a manager to discuss the failings. I do feel that the management need to really take a very close look at the running of this place as at the moment I feel its going very much in the...

It’s not often I leave a review like this but we had such a strange experience today that thought I would. First of all it’s worth noting we’ve been to the pub before and not had issues but today was odd. First of all there’s a sign saying “wait to be seated” but staff ignored us and we stood there for nearly ten mins before I had to walk around the pub to find someone to help us. Staff at the bar and serving tables were avoiding eye contact with me and the growing line of people behind us until I forced one of them to acknowledge us. Then despite booking was told “we only have room outside or in the bar”. So booking system not working I guess. It was a nice day so we didn’t mind being outside but sounds like booking made no difference to that. Not enough staff on the bar. Took a really long time to get served. Went to the ladies and no loo roll so I mentioned it to one of the staff and said there was a lot of ladies waiting for it and she handed me two bits of tissue from the roll used to clean the tables and said use that and I’ll sort it out a bit later… quite funny really but not the best service. With the menu we were told the grill was not working so only half the menu on offer thankfully we wanted a Sunday roast so had that and it was ok but they had no apple sauce for roast pork. The garden has a bad wasp problem at the moment. It’s August so kind of to be expected but there were so many it was a big problem trying to eat with at least two around each of us constantly. There must be a nest nearby. Everyone in the garden was fed up with them. All in all usually a nice pub but today was an odd experience all round. Clearly the summer in Shere is always busy and because of it being in the film The Holiday they deal with lots of tourists, but this pub seemed to be struggling to operate efficiently at the moment with some basic things not...

We came here after a 13km hike and were both tired and famished. There is no pub car park but there is free parking a little further into the village, with a 5 minute walk back. It was NYE so the bar was exceptionally busy and, if I'm honest, a little chaotic. There were waitresses running everywhere, people pushing past each other, in what is quite a cramped space. However, once we managed to get a table in the corner it was fine, and we could finally admire the beautiful interior of a 15th century pub. It is famously the pub in which scenes from 'The Holiday' were filmed (the whole village was used actually and no wonder - it's very picturesque) but there is actually a lot more history to the place than that. There are even helpful info sheets you can peruse while you sit that tell you all about it. For our food I went with the vegan burger and my husband with the chef's special hunters chicken. We were both happy with our food although I would have liked to have had a bit of greenery with my burger and chips - maybe a small side salad or a bit of coleslaw. It really would have tied it all together. Also, the seeded bun was quite big and therefore overpowered the taste of the patty. With burger buns I personally find that small and simple is best, so I hope they consider different options in the future. We also had dessert - only because we didn't want to leave, it was so cosy. I went with the homemade plum crumble and my husband had the bread and butter pudding. Mine was nice, but he said his was the best he'd ever had. I tried a bit too and it really was delicious. I would definitely recommend stopping here at least for a quick drink, just to soak up the atmosphere and history. If we are in the area again we will...