The Bell Inn Hotel

We ate in the restaurant to celebrate our son's birthday with his grandparents. We arrived, ordered drinks and had a look through the menu while we waited for the drinks. The menu is VERY bland with limited choice. If meat / fish / veggie alternative and two veg isn't your thing, this isn't the restaurant for you. Most dishes are priced around £20, my son and I had fillet steaks at £30 each. When the drinks arrived, we ordered our food - main courses only, no starters - and some bread and olives to pick at while we waited. The first time the waiter asked if we were done with the bread and olives, we said no and thought little of it. The second time, I thought "what a weird question". The third time, when we said no and he said "Oh, OK, I'll tell the chef you're ready for the mains" I realised he was treating bread and olives as a starter and was holding our mains until we'd "finished". By the time our main courses arrived, we'd been at the restaurant for an hour and fifteen minutes and were all hungry and annoyed. The food - 2 fillet steaks, 2 trout and 1 fish & chips - was mediocre. The fillet steaks were tiny - round and approx. 7cm diameter - and despite being ordered medium rare, were served medium to well done. The chips were basically 7 lumps of roast potato. I expect steak to come with pommes frites. I recommend you avoid this restaurant. The Sir John Barleycorn is 5 minutes away and is a much better restaurant in every respect.

Welcoming staff, really comfortable bedrooms, fab food and a wonderful atmosphere- what more could you want ? We wanted somewhere where we could take our dog and not feel like she was in the way. And we got it. With a special little doggy goody pack and a table out of the way in the bar for dinner we were made to feel as though the dog was a welcome guest too. Would definitely go back

over priced and under fed. The hearty meals advertised did not happen. the staff did not turn up for our breakfast on our last morning. we had no hot water and some had boiling water making the showers un-usable. broken door handle to the bathroom, broken chair and frayed carpet in the door way. This was in the room advertised. They *forgot* our £120 deposit and the manager was not to be found to handle all the complaints from our group of 18. Disgusting.

We received a warm welcome from the excellent staff and the quality of service remained exceptional throughout - apart from a slight dip after dinner on the bank holiday Monday night probably attributable to staff shortage. Everyone seemed genuinely concerned that we were having a good time. Food was also excellent - particularly the full English breakfasts. Our only slight grumble was the price charged for the golf. Nobody can help the exceptionally wet winter which meant both courses were far short of the quality one would expect - but some allowance for this should havre been reflected in the green fees.

We visit the New Forest frequently and have been to The Bell on numerous occasions when we have always been happy with the service we have received. However, this most recent visit was a bit unusual to say the least! We pre-booked a table and arrived as what appeared to be some sort of baby party was wrapping up. There seems to have been quite a change in staff this time and we observed one young lady run off her feet trying to clear the room that had just been vacated. A woman with red hair and I mean, bright red hair (hardly in keeping with hotel etiquette) saw us to our table. We ordered our food and waited for what seemed an eternity but when it arrived it was of a good standard. I couldn’t help but notice that there appeared to be some tension amongst the staff, with the red haired woman speaking down to the young lady and young man that were working the floor! They were so busy and maybe an extra member of staff is required at weekends. When we left the young lady thanked us for visiting and we said we would see her again soon. My wife thinks her badge said Katie. This would have been a 3* review but due to the politeness of Katie who apologised for the wait for food and who managed to smile through what appeared to be a stressful shift for all and also the young man whose name we didn’t see, I’ve given it 5*s

We came in for dinner on Friday, the lovely lady Jane showed us to our table and looked after us all eve.the food was absolutely anazing ..gave us good advice on what to eat, also places to visit in the local area. Will be visiting again ..........

Myself and my partner came here for the fish and fizz Friday, we were served by a very lovely lady called Jane, nothing was too much trouble for her. There was such a nice atmosphere and the food was incredible. We will definitely be returning with family and friends.

We are quite seasoned travellers and visit the New Forest several times a year in our motor home with our two dogs. We have visited The Bell on several occasions and believe it has now changed ownership. We received a very warm welcome, along with our dogs and were seated very quickly. The food was of a decent quality, albeit the plates weren’t very hot. Our dogs received a treat. Katie was most helpful and very smiley throughout our visit, courteous and pleasant. We shall return again in July !

Lovely setting in the New Forest. Bright and clean, we went for dinner with friends. We had booked in advance and were greeted by Katie who showed us to our table. We had mains and desserts which were of good portion size and quality. Katie was a wonderful host and was very attentive throughout our visit which means we will definitely be visiting again!