Hambro Arms - North Dorset

This pub is nice to see from outside, but eating is really terrible. the personal seemed simply haunted and happy and efforted to get all as fast as possible in and out, which probably due to sheer embarrassment at the terrible...food ok, so they have problems at the moment when other reviews published here are correct so that actually what they should do is only close to food orders overall until they rent a cook. serving horrific foods will simply call it a bad call that it will take much longer to shake off then it will set a decent chef! the menu on Sunday is limited to roasts and ciabattas. but the products used are clearly extremely poor quality and badly boiled my huh was barely cooked and my mother could not serve a knife through the bef. real shame as the venue is stunning and this could be an amazing gastro pub with the right cook and happier fellow workers!

The service was great, surroundings were beautiful, food was totally amazing!!! Cost of foot was very reasonable, only quibble-if I can say- were the seats were very hard. Wooden pine/style but no cushions at all. But, considering how beautiful the food was, it was totally...forgot when I moved about.

We arrived to this pub after finding them online and seeing what looked like a really good menu. However on arrival when seated we were given a completely different menu which only had starters available and mains available. Which didn’t give much choice...at all. After ordering a waitress then came over and said they had no pork belly for of the main dishes but it would be replaced with pork loin. The rest of the group ordered steak of the day, which when they came out only had been cooked correctly and had to be sent back. of which came back full of fat and gristle which could not be eaten and then the other that was sent back which should have been medium rare came back well done. The pork loin was fatty and didn’t have much meat on either, was a let down that the pork belly had run out. Apparently the chef has left and leaves only person in the kitchen. If this is the case we couldn’t understand why on such a small menu the dishes that were on offer could not be cooked to a decent standard. Also considering we had rang and booked if they were on such a limited menu it would have been nice to have been told this over the phone as they apparently can’t access the website to change the menu online. When speaking to the manager at the end they are apparently changing the menu this week. The meals that weren’t eaten were taken off the bill by the manager after what looked like she had to check with the owner who was constantly stood staring at us with his hands on his hips, which made you feel uncomfortable. I wouldn’t recommend this pub at all until they have got a fully staffed kitchen and by the looks of previous reviews we aren’t the first to have been disappointed.

Arrived to be told a ‘limited’ menu due to only one chef. We decided to stay given we were unlikely to get a table anywhere else at such short notice. The choices were poor so we all opted for the steak. A very small metal...dish of peppercorn sauce for we wondered what they’d have served for one! Steak not cooked as ordered, served with chips and peas (no tomato mushroom onion ring) luke warm at best which was warmer than the service., we’d list the will to live (or eat) by then. The wine was just cold but plonked on the table with no wine cooler so was rapidly room temperature. On expressing our disappointment we were advised to return in weeks when they might do better. A very disappointing meal and certainly would not recommend or return. Stunning location but such a disappointment. Don’t waste your money.

We were staying locally for a weekend break and walked to the Hambro Arms for few beverages . We had already been told when booking a table that no food would be available due to staffing issues thanks to Covid etc. We were greeted...with a smile and great service. Trying to pull out all the stops home made warm sausage rolls and bar snacks were available. Live music was being set up for the evening, wish we would have known sooner as we would have stayed to enjoy . The pub is beautiful and setting perfect. Exciting times ahead new chef new menu we wish you all the best of luck Keith and Bev. Definitely coming back to sample the new menu. Ps thankyou for the paracetamol