Zen Garden Restaurant — Restaurant in New Forest

My partner and I dined here as part of our winter retreat stay as Thai food is one of our favourite cuisines and we often eat out in some great Thai restaurants. The Zen Garden is in a pleasant space with a “Thai-like” atmosphere and the waitresses were very hospitable and friendly so they get a 5* rating from me. However, the reason I have to give such a low overall rating was due to the awful food. We both ordered the spring rolls- they were the only decent item. We then ordered a soup course. I ordered (sorry can’t remember exact names) the coconutty soup with mushrooms and my boyfriend ordered the chicken Tom Yam soup. Unfortunately they gave me the mushroom Tom Yam soup and I didn’t realise until quite a bit in. This soup was very very spicy. Not the nice kind of spicy that leaves a warm feeling in your throat but you can still taste all the other flavours. It was the kind of spicy that over powers absolutely everything else and leaves a tickly cough with every sip. It was inedible to be quite frank. It tasted like spicy water it was so bland and overpowered by chilly. We both love spicy food so it was quite a shock. I didn’t complain about getting the wrong soup because I thought maybe it had been a miss communication as I couldnt pronounce everything that well. After this we got our mains. I ordered the vegetable stir fry with soya sauce with a side of “Jasmine” rice. I have this regularly at Thai restaurants and I couldn’t quite believe what I was given. It was a mix of anything but Thai or any Asian vegatbles at all- instead it has cauliflower, carrot, broccoli and asparagus!!! Asparagus!! It was the weirdest cobinnation off bland veg I have ever tried. The soya sauce “sauce” that it was coated in was the weirdest mix of flavours that I could only describe as Bisto gravy with some light no-sault soya. The rice had no jasmine flavour and was incredibly bland. It had a crispy top as if it had been reheated in the microwave or left out on the side to harden.

I feel bad writing this because the service was very quick it just wasn’t Thai food. I assume the other reviews saying they had delicious food have never been to an authentic Thai restaurant and don’t know what it’s suppose to taste like.

All in all it was bland, definitely not cooked by a Thai chef and was very over priced for the quality. I have had far better from a...

My other half and I ate at The Zen Garden a couple of weeks ago. We had previously visited this restaurant to celebrate our engagement back in 2019 and were looking forward to eating here again. We ordered the satay, spring rolls and papaya salad which were delicious and full of flavour. Unfortunately the mains were not up-to scratch (Pad Thai Goong & Tofu with mixed veg). This was particularly disappointing for my partner who is vegetarian so options are not as broad as non-veg options. The Tofu with mixed veg dish (Med Ma Muang) in particular was very disappointing. The tofu was very tough and rubbery (Which is characteristic when there is too much excess water held in the tofu). When brought to the waitress' attention she kindly asked the chef on our behalf and the feedback was that "this was the way it was cooked" (This dish was not rubbery during our last experience). For a dish that costs £18.95, I think the minimum expectation is for the main condiment of the dish to me edible which was definitely not the case. As as result we left the dish untouched. Overall, it was a disappointing experience considering we had such positive memories of this place from...

Lovely food, had the sea bass for the starter which was done well and then had the lamb shank for the main which was great. The broccoli side was very under cooked and once the kitchen had closed the waiting staff seemed to disappear. They didn't charge me for the broccoli side which I appreciate but considering the price of the meal its basics. My starter arrived 5 mins after ordering and I had to ask for the main to come a bit later. I was told I could have 15 mins before my main which is fine but it came out after about 6 mins. The restaurant its self is delightful but I'm really disappointed in the service.

I came back to give this restaurant another go. Massive improvement in service and hospitality. Saw the improvement in the quality of food as well. If you’re staying in the hotel it’s deffo worth a try… Glad to see they take our criticism on board. Many thanks to all the staff...