The Malt House — Restaurant in Test Valley

Just had lunch at The Malt House. The pub had a nice enough atmosphere and was relatively busy for a Thursday lunchtime. We were shown to our table and were able to order reasonably quickly but, unfortunately, things went downhill from then on. For two of us in our party of three, our choices from the menu were unavailable as the sausages and liver had not been delivered that morning. So we had to choose alternatives. In the end, two of us ordered pork steaks with apple and cider sauce, new potatoes and fresh vegetables, and one ordered fish, chips and mushy peas. The food took 30 minutes to arrive which, for freshly cooked food is not unreasonable. However, whilst we were waiting for our food, other tables were still waiting to be served and people were becoming more and more frustrated at the lack of service. All three of us would describe the food as "OK". With my pork steaks I was expecting a nicely flavoured apple sauce, perhaps finished off with cream. Instead, it seems as if some stewed apple was unceremoniously dumped on top of the meat. The vegetables were fashionably "al dente" but, for some reason, didn't seem to taste of anything. The fish and chips were described as being "alright". Once finished, we had to wait an age to get the bill and pay up and, as before, other tables were waiting longer than us. In conclusion, the pub itself is very pleasant but the food and service were...

Fantastic food and surroundings! Visited first time on Thursday with a family member. We had the homemade chicken curry, spinach and mushrooms....it was truly lovely! Had wonderful service - nice waiter called Gareth. We went back again the next evening and both had the homemade lasagne, salad and garlic bread, with a huge portion of the house chips. No issues at all and again we were served by Gareth. This will be my local now. Couldn't fault anything and everyone was so willing to please and very attentive. Thank you The Malt...

After hearing good reviews from family we booked and went for Sunday lunch. I wouldn’t say that it was particularly busy but we waited over an hour for food. More staff are needed as it looks like there were only 4 people working for a Sunday service. We asked where the food was and stated that one member of our groups had dietary requirements that meant they had to eat at a certain time, we were told it would be 10 minutes and food arrived 30 minutes later. Very disappointing. Food was ok but not...