The White Horse — Restaurant in New Forest

We were welcomed by the owner who told us where we could sit which was fine, no covid check in QR code that we could find and when asking about it we were met with no response.

We’re very benefit of the doubt people - so knowing we had a new girl who’s first shift was today we were fine with ☺️

She seemed lovely! I don’t think she had really been shown what to do, or given the opportunity to shadow someone, but I could tell she was confused/nervous. Which we were fine with and fully understand and support after all everyone has to start somewhere!

Our first round of drinks came out in decent time. We then asked for one more drink later on, it took a while (before receiving our food) so I went in just to chase it up, I then saw the man who welcomed us behind the bar trying to chase up our tables food (he’s been sat down having a few pints with a regular/friend, so it was nice of him to still show concern) to which I overheard the kitchen did not have a ticket for our food. The new waitress didn’t know she had to take the ticket out, which is fair enough if no one had told her!! That’s not her fault at all.

We would’ve liked the owner to have touched table and just apologise for the wait on food and explain or maybe even offer something to show an apology, but we didn’t get that, just multiple sorry’s from the same waitress bless her, it’s not their fault! It just would’ve been nice to have that owner interaction. Another Waitress told us our food wouldn’t be long (I felt bad for the girl who originally served us and I genuinely hope she’s ok!).

We asked for another couple of drinks from a different waitress and she seemed puzzled and like she didn’t want to deal with us as we weren’t “her table” but still took our drinks anyway.

The food... AMAZING!!! As always - chefs always outdo themselves here!

After the food I did have a conversation with Sophie about our experience, and she is a complete asset to the pub! So so lovey so understanding and has sorted us out something for when we return - which we still definitely will!

Thank you to all the chefs and particularly Sophie, honestly you are all a credit to this team! ⭐️

I always feel bad and anxious for making a complaint or just sharing an “off” experience with a staff member but Sophie didn’t make me feel like an inconvenience or a trouble whatsoever and genuinely hoped we’d return which don’t worry Sophie, we...

It seems like they could really benefit from having another member of staff on a Saturday night, the nice blonde young lady seemed to be delivering food and taking orders, between pulling pints, so it wasn't the speediest of service, but, we weren't in a hurry, so we were quite happy to wait. However, someone more demanding than me might be unhappy with the delayed service. The food was good, quite generic, but tasty enough. I had the burger, my other half had the 8oz rump steak. He requested the steak medium, and when it arrived, it was erring more towards well done - I can only assume it was on the hot plate waiting to be served for a while, and kept cooking whilst waiting. Altogether, I would eat here again, but it wouldn't be my first choice, and I'd probably describe it as "alright, worth a try" to my friends. It's a shame, because it really could be great, you can see the potential, but I suppose they're just understaffed and don't have the time or resources to make the experience a bit more special or unique. They have plastic flowers on the tables, just having a couple of fresh flowers would really kick it up a notch. They have candles on the tables, and the decor is really nice in the restaurant section, but that's where the ambience ends, and the atmosphere is really affected by the lack of dedicated table service. It seems to be very 'between' stages of being a 'locals pub' and a gastropub...

Are we under different Management? Disappointed when we went on Tuesday evening. We have been many times before but not for a while. The menu was the same but the food was certainly different from what we expected. Moby Dick Large Cod and Chips came out as two chunks of cod in breadcrumbs. The Lemon Sole came out as a very small piece, again in breadcrumbs balanced on top of some vegetables surrounded by four very dry new potatoes. They had no steak other than fillet (which admittedly they gave for the rump price). The curry was tasty but the bowl of rice was very hot in the middle and stodgy (felt a bit like it had been microwaved). It was served with one poppadom balanced on the side of the plate. No sauces offered at all with any of the courses. We had to ask specifically. Not what we have experienced before and certainly not what we expected. Cutlery for our second course was 'dumped' on the edge of our table in a pile with fresh napkins, not a word spoken. What a dreadful shame, we will be thinking twice before we go back. We bought two rounds of drinks and perhaps sat and chatted for rather longer than expected but advised that they were closing early (10.00) as it was quiet. We got the hint. Very...