The Lyndhurst Tea House — Restaurant in New Forest

Extremely Disappointing and Dangerous Experience – Do Not Visit If You Have Allergies

I strongly advise against visiting this establishment, especially if you or someone has food allergies or is coeliac. Despite advertising that they cater to gluten-free diets and food allergies, our experience proved otherwise — with serious consequences.

We visited for what was meant to be a pleasant birthday lunch. Upon arrival, we specifically asked for a gluten-free menu. She ordered a gluten-free scone, while I had a sausage sandwich and my nan ordered a regular scone.

A waitress took our order, fully aware of the allergy requirements, and later returned with the scones — explicitly stating, “This is the gluten-free scone.” My sister began eating it, whilst I was still waiting for my food. By the time my food eventually arrived she would have eaten it all.

Fifteen minutes later, a member of the kitchen staff approached our table and asked who had the “gluten-free” scone. He then informed us that it was NOT gluten-free. By that time, my sister had already eaten over half of it! This is absolutely unacceptable. Cross-contamination is one thing — but serving a completely wrong item and failing to correct the mistake promptly is a serious food safety issue.

To make matters worse, another staff member attempted to downplay the situation, saying she “shouldn’t be feeling ill straight away” because reactions take hours. This was not only medically inaccurate but deeply dismissive, especially as my sister was already in the bathroom being sick. Everyone reacts differently, and she happens to be highly sensitive. As a result, she had to cancel the rest of the birthday plans, an annual event the next day, and even her upcoming holiday she was going on 2 days after this due to the physical toll this took on her health.

When we left, not one staff member acknowledged us — no concern. Several people stood behind the counter and ignored us entirely. It was humiliating and disheartening. One staff member even asked if she needed an EpiPen, displaying a shocking lack of basic allergy knowledge (EpiPens are not used for coeliac reactions).

This level of negligence could have had even more serious consequences. It’s clear that staff need urgent training in allergy awareness, communication, and basic food safety protocols. Mistakes can happen, but the way this was handled — and the delay in even identifying the error — was completely unacceptable.

I sincerely hope no one else has to go through what my sister did. We will not be returning, and I am considering escalating this further, as this incident should serve as a wake-up call for the business.

1-star is generous for how this...

Warning- not clean, not dog safe or friendly. Unhelpful and incompetent staff. Do not visit!! Cost us £250 in emergency vet fees! Avoid at all costs.

Stopped for lunch and were shown a table. Table area was unclean, with large bits of cake underneath. Dog ate some before we had a chance to inspect under the table. Could immediately see it appeared to be many raisins under the table, which are highly toxic to dogs. 1 can kill.

I approached staff members to understand what the ingredient are used on their cakes, explaining I needed to understand asap as if it’s raisins or sultanas they are toxic to dogs and would need to go immediately to vet. Staff were incredible unhelpful. 1st member said ‘I can clean it now’. 2nd one was quite rude and said ‘you can see the ingredients yourself displayed in front of the cakes.’ (Some signs were there, others missing).

The 3rd member of staff then got involved (male manager) by asking me to move whilst I was trying to read the ingredients on display (despite it being in a customer area).

Finally, there was a helpful 4th member of staff who was actually helpful (thank you to the blond young woman behind the counter). At the point, I could see based on picking up the large amount of leftover cake on the floor that it was a flapjack which had the ingredients ‘dried fruit’. The 4th member behind the counter went and checked the actual ingredients list and confirmed raisins.

Emergency visit to vet cost £250 and vet confirmed raisins consumed.

Accidents happen and busy cafes can’t expect to be perfectly clean all the time. I should have checked under the table (although dog is 8 and have never had this issue in any other establishment). However, the amount of food under the table was far beyond crumbs and was large chunks of food. Additionally, the response from the staff was absolutely unacceptable. It should not take 4 people to confirm basic ingredients lists. Had the tea house been responsive and helpful, I could have overlooked the filthy floor. However, they need basic customer service training to be able to respond to an ingredient request.

Avoid- other nice clean places with better staff on the...

My Family and I have been coming to the tea house for years and have always loved it. But our last visit this week was quite disappointing. The older woman who was serving us was snappy, disinterested and seemed rushed although there was only 2 tables full. When she served us another tables food and we let her know it was not ours/not what we ordered, she visibly huffed and rolled her eyes at us - we were all in shock as we had done nothing to offend and there was no attempt to hide her displeasure whilst in front of house. (With past working in customer service and hospitality - do what you want behind close doors but in-front of customers this is terrible!) We also felt very rushed, as other waitresses cleared away drinks that were still being consumed and taking away chairs of my friends who had gone to the toilet without asking. This used to be an amazing establishment but now feels awkward and uncomfortable which is such a shame. The food is still on par despite the fact we were served incorrect menu...