The Leather Bottle — Restaurant in Hart

We booked a table for 8 people at 6:00 pm on a Friday. Two arrived on time, three more at 6:30, and the last two at 6:45. At no stage were we asked if we wanted to order starters early to help meet the pub’s stated 8:30 pm table turnover.

Our order went in at 7:08 pm. The manager told us starters should take around 20 minutes — but they arrived nearly 50 minutes later. At 8:10 pm, just as our mains were due, we were told we’d have to move outside.

I suggested a compromise: the next group could start with drinks and starters outside, and we’d have desserts outside instead. The manager refused outright, saying, “I’m not backing down, you have to go outside, it’s your fault for not ordering starters by 7pm.” This was abrupt, dismissive, and ignored the fact the kitchen delays were beyond our control (only one chef working that evening).

We were told to leave the table at 8:15 pm — 15 minutes before our booking ended — and the interaction felt unnecessarily confrontational.

The waiting staff were polite and professional throughout, but sadly the manager’s attitude overshadowed their efforts. The delays and the handling of the situation left us feeling unwelcome and disappointed. Given the number of poor reviews this pub already has, it’s clear the management style is letting the whole team down. I used to come here a lot and recommended it before Grace, the manager left us feeling disappointed with her...

Lovely little pub, cosy fire. Starters were absolutely incredible. But, if I go again, I’ll just order multiple starters.

The halibut was very small in portion, nothing mind-blowing, and an horrific £27. That is compared with the much larger roast for £22, though that was also fairly underwhelming. Everyone knows roast potatoes make the roast, but people in our party were giving them away! They were just about rock solid on the outside, and without much substance on the inside.

Furthermore, a member of our party ticked the gluten free options and specify a gluten intolerance. Well, it’s fortunate that they only have an intolerance and not coeliac, because while we awaited our starters a server came around and quite plainly said that it isn’t actually gluten free and there’s cross contamination, offering no alternative. DO NOT EAT HERE IF YOU ARE COELIAC

I also had to ask 4 times for the glass of port I had pre-ordered at the time of booking the table.

All in all, I would be interested to pay The Leather Bottle another visit as it’s a lovely location with great atmosphere and crisp drinks (albeit £4.25 for a Coca Cola). The starters were also phenomenal across the board. The quality & cost of the mains and dessert service was just a...

I did really like this pub. It sells some great beers and the food is reasonable although not remarkable. That doesn’t matter because it’s about the overall experience and I’ve had some great times here, until just before Christmas. We made two reservations one at the beginning of December and then out traditional Boxing Day lunch. We loved it so much previous years it became our tradition as our son just lives round the corner. We booked a high chair for out granddaughter who was 1 and then 4 adults and our two other grandkids. After we were seated we asked for our high chair, there was panic on the servers face,

you can’t have one, she shouldn’t be here you’re only allowed six. We told you when we booked how many, no you couldn’t have done you must have lied. What and hope you didn’t notice when we arrived and for our Boxing Day Booking.

She went off to get management, they literally tried to make us put her in the car, eventually they have in and said she could stay but wouldn’t give us a high chair and made us cancel Boxing Day......

I understand the government have come up with this pathetic rule but I’m sure it doesn’t include babies and there was no need for the attitude of the staff. Will have to create a new tradition...