The Coach and Horses — Restaurant in New Forest

My mate and I, after being traumatised by the bad experience at The Haywain, ventured to the Coach and Horses for a Sunday roast. The place , from the outside, looked quite idyllic as there was excellent facilities for children and spacious a place to sit on a sunny day as Sunday 24th June 2012. My mate sat down and I ventured inside to the bar, there were a few 'locals' who gave a snotty look at an 'unusual' face but this is by the by. I went to the bar and noticed they had a decent selection of beer,ale and wine . I stood and the place , with exception of the 4 yokels was empty. I stood at the bar and was completely ignored by the vacuous bar maid, and waited, and waited.....and waited. Finally the pub manager appeared and said to them 'customer waiting' and gestured in my direction, the girl looked at the pub manager as though he was talking venusian. Eventually he served me and apologised profusely for the ignorance of the bar staff. In a way I felt quite sorry for him . Anyway , we ordered the food from the specials board - roast beef. The service was prompt but the food was tepid , the plates were not hot and despite the quantity of the vegetables I am not too sure of the quality and would say it was just slightly above a school dinner . We asked for horseradish and the condiments were brought out in a bowl and were those crap sachets. They had two sachets of horseradish and brought out no pepper despite asking for this. My mate had to go in to get more. The food was edible . Not once did anyone come and ask us if we were alright and if everything was satisfactory. It is a shame , it seems in order for this pub to work I would sack the staff but not the manager who was clearly struggling to do his best amongst useless staff that seemingly wouldn't know how to spell customer service - leave alone perform it. The building and furnishings are lovely it's such a great shame that the customer service is a major let down as well as the food to a certain extent. I won't be going there again and I advise you not too either if you want decent customer service and...

love the place, staff are friendly, and the place has a great atmoshpere. however on my most recent visit some old guy harrassed our table about what the drinking limit was, i had, had nothing but cola the whole time, he may have been taking the mick or joking but it ruined the rest of the evening, he seemed very intrusive. the whole vibe of enjoying the place was ruined by this and it just didnt feel the same. ill likely still go back since the prices are pretty reasonable and the general atmosphere is decent but ill probably be on the sidelines, dont need random people harassing me when im just trying to relax or have a good time with my grandparents. also he kept trying to hit on one of the waitress, hes in his 60s or 70s atleast and she is in her late teens maybe early 20s, i found this pretty creepy. i love the place, the sceenery and the staff are great, i cant stress this enough. but this one guy with his table of 3-4 and a dog just ruined it. they wernt the problem, just him. i just wanted to be there with my grandfather and admire the place not be tested on the spot on my road safty knowledge while im just trying to enjoy a cola, my grandfather kept trying to take his focus off of me, but he seemed a bit fixated and he just kept saying to my grandfather that he doesnt care. i get some people dont mean what they say or maybe he had 1 to many but i just kept agreeing with this guy in hopes he would leave me alone, i already struggle from imense stress and, i...

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT & FABULOUS 9 of us went to The Coach & Horses last night for dinner.....& WOW! The pub has recently undergone a change of owner & they have worked really hard to freshen up the place & make it a really inviting pub with a great food offer. As you arrive, the garden & kids play area is clean & tidy with plenty of seating for a sunny afternoon. When you go into the pub, the decor is light & fresh with a really welcoming feel. We had booked & were directed straight to our table. They offered to take our drinks order for us, but we chose to go to the bar where service was swift. The menu is simple, but packed with all the things you would expect to find at a good traditional pub. Between the 9 of us, I think only 2 people had the same thing, and the verdict about all the meals was unanimous - really good, home cooked food, for a reasonable price.

I really can't recommend this place enough - we will certainly make it a regular stop.

Well done guys for going against the grain of pubs closing down, by opening up such a friendly, good value place to meet,...