Pebble Beach Restaurant — Restaurant in New Forest

Avoid utterly awful !!!!! This restaurant must now be owned and operated by a completely different owner as it was previously completely different in every way. The whole place has changed from was once refined high end, French style, fish restaurant to one that is definitely masquerading as the previous establishment but has been sold to a shockingly, appalling fraud of a restaurant. Without doubt the most unprofessional, ignorant, rude speaking Albanian? waitress staff, the most hopeless, depressed waitor ? and appalling manager I've ever experienced. The service was non existent, the portion sizes to be astonished and laughed at e.g. the smallest bowl of pasta for a starter I have ever seen enough for a small child presented in a cereal bowl. The pasta starters were shockingly bad, Dolmio on the cheapest badly cooked spaghetti worse than a spar ready meal, priced at circa £13-15! The starter portions were no larger in size than the palm of my hand (which are small). I ordered a crab and king prawn advocado starter, a tiny blob with one prawn on top arrived with a pea shoot stem nothing else.....I was totally shocked considering the extortionate price, it was bland and looked like it had been turfed out of a shop packet. I complained to the waitor when he placed the starters on the table, that they were the smallest starters I had ever seen in my life.. and after trying them very disappointing, he turned away, ignored me, as he obviously knew and was embarrassed, but he said and did nothing to address our complaint. I thought about leaving and discussed with our table who had come to celebrate a birthday, now worrying about what appalling course of food was going to arrive next. The main course was even worse, the mains were the smallest most basic I've ever seen, small as you would expect to receive as a starter, no veg nothing included in the extortionately priced course. Our separately charged miniscule vegetables arrived smallest greasiest new potato portion in what looked like an ashtray and 2 spoons of spinach and some frozen supermarket chips. To say we were disappointed was an understatement, we were utterly shocked at the audacity of the staff and management to provide us with such an utter rip off, disgracefully small, exceptionally poor quality food and service. Without doubt this was the worst "con" which is all I can call it, riding on the back of marketing of was once a completely different restaurant establishment. Do not be fooled by the good reviews because they were certainly not written by anyone independent or anyone who has any credible food knowledge or taste. Exceptionally disappointed, totally ripped off by this misrepresentation of previous Pebble Beach establishment. A totally ruined birthday groups celebration meal. Very saddened to let my group down by booking it. Gordon Ramsey needed, but not sure if it would take a whole...

Great value for money. Perfect location with amazing views from the restaurants outside terrace. Free on site parking. Cleanliness of the rooms is outstanding. Friendly and helpful staff.

Lovely breakfast. Finally a restaurant where my fried egg arrived exactly how it is supposed to be. Same for the toasted sourdough. Somehow a lot of chefs struggle and/or neglect this.

Only penthouse comes with see view so don't expect the same quality view you get in the restaurant when in your room.

So why four and not five stars. Well, this place is rated/advertised as a 5* hotel so had to review it as such and below in my opinion is not befitting its current rating.

There's no 24h service and on Mon and Tues restaurant is closed so after 3 p.m. no one available at all. Floorboards are extremely squeaky. Towel rail in the bathroom was damaged so each time I've tried to pull out the towel it was falling apart. As there's no 24h service couldn’t report to anyone. AC making some strange noise, possibly condensation water pipe is blocked? WiFi very slow, 10MB download, 2MB upload. No Netflix, doesn't connect even though it was supposed to and TV is a very small, corner one. My guess around 30". Although the bed was fairly comfortable it was also very short. We’re not extremely tall and our feet were hanging out of the bottom when trying to stretch. No safety deposit box in the room.

Overall I do recommend it. If I choose to stay again, I definitely will try a different room and if staying for longer than 1 nigh the obvious choice would have to be a penthouse. Also, will look not to stay either Mon or Tues so can try out the...

Pebble Beach was recommended by the nearby hotel at which I am staying, but it was surprisingly disappointing. Food good but avoidable things occurred.

First, the half-a-dozen first-class oysters were excellent but served on ice-cubes - not crushed ice. That is ineffective, and such an elementary error.

Second, I was driving, and so limited myself to just a gin and tonic and then one glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The main course of bouillabaisse appeared but no wine. I had to wait for it, and two of the waiting staff asked if I had ordered any wine - and, if so, what. That is unforgivable.

Third, my table for one was set so that the action was behind me; so it was difficult to catch the eye of the waiting staff. Does no-one think of practicalities?

Fourth, the air conditioning unit was blasting on me, and I was distinctly chilly. I mentioned it to the waitress and she said she would have something done about it. But nothing resulted. There was a nearby unoccupied table to which I could have been moved - and it was not for me to suggest that.

So, top dollar pricing (£55) for an experience which was sadly less than perfect. Would I go again? Probably not. Tonight, my last of this minibreak, I will eat here at the hotel where I am staying. Excellent food, friendly, attentive service, without eye-watering astronomical prices.

Brian

PS I was told the chef's recommendation of the day at Pebble Beach was the large Dover Sole (I think) at £32. You bet he would recommend it, but he was not going to...