White Rabbit — Restaurant in New Forest

We found the hotel facilities basic at best but the room was clean and in many ways all we had need was a bed for the night and it served that purpose. My overriding issue was around service which I think is being driven by a shortage of staff and perhaps a lack of initiative from the staff that were there? We waited for check in for over 5 minutes while watching 3 people serving in the restaurant and 1 person behind the bar (which is within 1 to 2 metres of the check in desk) as the bar could not be left unattended. This, though, I wouldn't have considered annoyance worthy enough of writing a review. But, we had paid for breakfast as part of the room and booked a table for breakfast at 9.30am. We arrived at the restaurant at 9.25 and after a short search for a member of staff, we were shown to our table. At 9.55am we were asked if we would like to order having had had no interaction for 30 minutes. We ordered an English breakfast each, two coffees and two orange juices. At 9.15am our drinks arrived, the coffee was weak and instant, the orange juice fine. Then at 10.25 our breakfasts arrived and what arrived was pretty awful. The bacon and sausages both looked as though they had been boiled and were cold(my partner thought they were raw but I think they were cooked; just oddly? The poached eggs were undercooked and covered in brown scum (perhaps red wine vinegar had been used?). The baked beans were stone cold, the tomato was pretty much raw (which is fine but odd as it was meant to be grilled), the black pudding was undercooked (and cold) and the sachets of butter had melted out of the sachets as they had been placed on the toast and hash browns (the only two hot things on the plate). As we had been waiting an hour and were now running behind we decided not to complain. We just decided to leave. Nobody apologised for the wait or explained it. You've got to wonder how they had managed to take an hour to cook our breakfast when most of the items arrived, cold, un or...

Ambience is absolutely lovely here, great relaxing place, but then it went totally downhill from there! This chef and brewer food is absolutely awful. Avoid at all costs. Ordered the salad with the salmon. Well what can I say! Never ever had salmon that is microwaved ever, so both ends are so crispy they crumble like bread crumbs. The rest of it looked totally insipid . Whatever was the chef thinking off. Surely it could have been cooked on a griddle for a very short time or can’t the chefs actually cook? I sent this back and ordered a lasagne. Another big mistake. Never ever tasted lasagne like it, totally like mushed goo and slop. Yuk 🤮. And it wasn’t just me. The lady behind me on her own also agreed as she had ordered the same. Just slop and mush. My husband ordered the September special, ( it is now October the 4th) of crispy rum ? belly pork etc. hmmmm. Not even tasted like belly pork should. Crispy. NOT. Needless to say we did not bother with desserts. Could not stand the anguish. The manager was absolutely not interested. His comments were “ well that’s how they send it in to us. They are bought in and all we have to do is heat it up” what even the salmon?.. sorry don’t buy it. Then sounded off that he had sent out several lasagnes with no complaints? He should not be in his job if that is how he treats paying customers. Couldn’t have cared less. He has slippery shoulders. Feel really sorry for the lovely Lou who served us. She needs a pay rise if she has to put up with food going out like that. She gave great service and friendly...

As a family, we have always commented on how nice The White Rabbit looked when you drive in to Lyndhurst. And therefore It was a no brainer to pop in for a simple dinner on our way home.

I’ll start off by saying it’s a great layout, open and clean. And the staff were really accommodating and friendly.

Unfortunately I was seriously saddened by the state of the food.

We weren’t expecting anything particularly special, and I appreciate it was a quiet Tuesday night.

But if you don’t have a chef ( or cook ) who can deliver, the easiest of menus. (air fryer level cooking.) Please don’t bother offering people a menu and misleading them in to paying a £60 bill.

I can only comment on the Chicken / bacon burger I had and a Gammon egg and chips one of my other guests had. But it started with a nearly 40 minuet wait for food. Even though I could see, there were only 4 small tables being used with in the restaurant.

The bacon was barely cooked and the onions rings and chips were obviously sourced from the cheapest supplier. Which is understandable but this should be reflected in the price.

My dad’s Gamon was “wet and tasteless and the peas were borderline raw.” And sadly felt unwell once he got home.

I want to finish positively and make a point in recognising the cheerful and friendly front of house/ waitressing staff.

Hopefully this was just a bad evening in the kitchen. I hope other guests receive a...