The Plough Inn — Restaurant in New Forest

Unfortunately had a poor experience here, dining as a group of 11. We had booked a table in advance but ended up waiting over 2 hours for our food to arrive which was frustrating as it affected our plans for the rest of the day. The pub was not busy so assume the kitchen was understaffed.

2 of us were vegans - there were a few options marked as vegan on the menu (vegan burger and vegan pie on the specials board) which we ordered. We also asked if the veg soup could be made vegan, to which the answer was no which we were fine with. After waiting 2 hours for our food, the vegan pie arrived with mash which tasted very buttery, and the burger came with coleslaw which did not seem vegan so we asked the waitress to check with the kitchen. She came back and asked if any of us were “actually vegan”, then went back to the kitchen and came back to tell us that no the mash and coleslaw were not vegan.

To her credit she did offer to take away the non vegan things and gave us some chips to substitute the mash. However, given that we ordered things which were labelled vegan on the menu and that we’d specifically asked about making things vegan, the last thing we’d expect is to be served something non vegan.

Advice to the kitchen; if you have a main labelled as vegan, make sure everything else on the plate is vegan!

Overall, the food was average to good quality. The vegan burger itself was a bit dry as it only had a patty and nothing else. Pie was good and others in our group were satisfied with the quality of food, just...

Went for Sunday lunch here and had a table booked. Good selection of beers and wines and soft drinks - it's a pub so you'd hope so aye.

Struggled to get a pot of tea- gave 2 large cups instead, one obviously went cold,I don't mind cold tea but if you did that's a bit of a problem. Also spilt my tea and didn't return to clean it up.

Ordered the roasts and when the food arrived 15/20 minutes (pub was very quiet) No stuffing or chipolatas wrapped in bacon which they were advertised as coming with. Went to ask the guy behind the bar where they were before I could speak he said" if you you're going to ask where the stuffing is we don't have any" I also mentioned about the pigs in blankets. Would have been nice to know when we ordered that they didn't have stuffing. They brought the chipolatas wrapped in bacon after 10 minutes. Veg was very tasty but the roasties were not crispy. Don't think the Yorkshire puddings were home made either. Went to pay and the same guy (skinny,tall,dark haired,young fella)behind the bar didn't notice I'd arrived as he was on his phone.

All in all the food was just about acceptable.

Customer service was poor

If this was my pub I wouldn't be happy with the front of house staff.

Beautiful garden with a lovely alfresco dining area, fantastic play area and even a bouncy castle.

Inside - standard country...

As a visitor to the area only, we located this gem originally in 2022 and had the best rump steaks ever. Sadly in 2023 we had the worst rump steaks ever, even when one was replaced. I have to put this down to the butcher though as I hope it wasn't the chef. They did not fully charge for the food, which was fair. We will still return again, but will probably select other meals. Despite the disappointment, I would beg you to support this pub before it becomes another victim during these hard times. The staff are great and whilst it could do with an injection of money it must be remembered that part of it's charm is the fact that it is old and post Covid has seen massive cost increases for the hospitality sector. It has open and shaded areas in the very large garden as well as a play area. Keeping away from noise is easy. Times are hard but they will be even harder without pubs like this. Note to the owner: Please remove those ugly highchairs from your lovely inglenook fireplace. There has to be somewhere else to put them to avoid ruining the view of your...