Afternoon Tea at Burley Manor in New Forest

Meal service appalling. 40 min wait for wine. 45 min wait for starter. Two different excuses given. Wine and water spilled on table. Wrong main course served, waiter argued that was what I had ordered until he actually checked. Wine and I main course offered to be deducted from bill. We left after they agreed to make no charge. Avoid this restaurant at all costs. Hotel good. Food service overpriced and rubbish.

Can't comment on the rooms as we didn't stay but Sunday lunch was decent enough

This is purely a review of the restaurant, very similar to the one I left on Trip Advisor, but with a 24 hours later update: After a challenging weekend in the New Forest, (not the Forest’s fault) we decided to try and salvage something by having a posh afternoon tea at Burley Manor before returning home. We rang and booked the day before as wifey is both vegetarian and GF, and we wanted to give them a fighting chance. I wish we hadn’t bothered. Let’s start with the parking - there isn’t any if your vehicle is bigger than a small family gadabout. We were in our motorhome, and ended up parking in a field that was open for a separate event. Burley Manor assured us this was fine, and that neither gate (big or small) would be locked. You guessed it - wrong , but we squeezed out thanks to wifey’s skilful driving and steely nerve. Then let’s talk about the perfectly coiffed member of staff who seated us, took our drinks order, sent somebody else over with them, then ignored us for nigh on 45 mins. Finally our afternoon tea arrived and was placed by a disdainful waiter, who when he was confused about who’s was who’s and I pointed out the ramifications of getting it wrong snapped, ‘well I didn’t take the order, did I?’ The food itself was fine, just fine, not excellent or amazing, and certainly not worth £61! When we challenged our disdainful waiter on the horrific wait, he was more than happy to throw his colleagues under the bus, saying that his previous establishment had been much more professional! His excuse was that they had had been overbooked for lunch and had several afternoon tea bookings. They had our phone number, if they couldn’t handle the number of guests, they shouldn’t have taken the booking, or they should have cancelled us. To be honest, the nice man who had accidentally locked us in the field, on his Penny farthing and talked about deer and pigs, but reassured us we would easily get Buzzy the motorhome out was the highlight of the whole debacle, and he didn’t work for Burley Manor! 24 hours later - reader - Wifey got glutened - she is so poorly today! Luckily she is only intolerant, not allergic and should recover within 24 hours. If you are actually allergic, coeliac etc, avoid this place like the plague.

Amazing location. Stunning grounds, beautiful English hotel with friendly, attentive and efficient staff. Highly recommended and will definitely stay again soon. Well done ✅

Beautiful location and views from the room / drive, of deer's in the fields and old oak trees. We came for a work convention, and all had the best time. The room we used for the day was setup well, and the snacks / lunch was lovely. In the evening we had food in another part of the hotel with a big group of 25 ish, and it was done really well. Ivan and Tiger were great hosts, and were good at gaging the mood of our party (very happy!) and joined in with the fun. Location is also great, very short walk into the local high-street with some nice pubs and very random Witch Shops. Thanks for being such a great location for us.

Jaymee was too Helpful, overall services excellent,

Went to the Manor for afternoon tea. Friendly service and plenty to eat. I can thoroughly recommend trying this.

A lovely building in beautiful surroundings, the rooms are also very nice. But the service is absymal, Sunday roast takes an extremely long time to come. They did not have our pudding but their substitute ice cream was one tiny scoop that was basically already melted. I went to a wedding there last year where the staff were very angry and even talked down to the guests! Shame the service does not match the manor itself and its surroundings.

I picked this location for our honeymoon immediately after our wedding, and though I certainly didn't expect “free stuff” a little comment or something would have gone a long way. I had various other locations in mind where people said the hotel went above and beyond to make their honeymoon special, but decided to go here, but ours fell flat. There was no mention of it by the team here even though it was clearly stated to them beforehand. We told them prior to turning up that we were going to be checking in late because of this. It was a flat start to the honeymoon. On top of this on the grounds directly in front of our room there were lots of caravans and Fire-trucks playing their sirens constantly. We were not told about this prior to booking. It was disappointing.

Took my 87 yr old mother here for a very late lunch it was 4pm. So it wouldn't be fair to comment on the rooms. As we didn't actually stay there or even view a room. We did have a drink and eat there as planned on what so far was the hotest day of the year, 32°C. I ordered what hoped would be a nice cold beer. To be presented with just a bottle of. Giving the barman a few minutes to hand me a glass, I then ordered some food. Still, no glass was given. The barman, during our brief chat, finally admitted it was his first day as an agency placement, so he couldn't answer my questions as he said he'd received hardly any training. I finally had to ask for a glass. As I poured my beer, I realised it was warm! I almost gave up. The other staff were in the restaurant eating their lunch and as I went to ask them, I got a look as if to say don't you dare. I did give up. The smoked salmon and horseradish sandwich (£11) was nice, but where was the horseradish? The chunky chips with skin on were nice, though they were served in an S/S cup (£6). The hand batterd fish and chips with mushy peas and half a lemon were OK (£18). We couldn't tell what the fish was. It was clearly freshly cooked rather than out of a packet. But what the fish was remained a mystery. We had to ask for vinegar, which strangely enough was served in an S/S egg cup. 🤷🏼‍♂️ So the question is, would I take my mother to eat here again? Probably not. Would I drink here again? Possibly, as it is a lovely place to visit. With a herd of deer in the grounds, which impressed my mother as she watched them. With several lovely Bambies eating grass and the proud stag watching over them all, that was far more of a highlight for her than her meal.

I came with my friend for a surprise birthday lunch to Burley Manor. The location is magical and the Manor House is stunning. Extremely peaceful with lovely tranquil grounds. The sun was shining so we ate outside in the shade of the trees. Rosa served us and was delightful and extremely helpful. Her attention to detail was impeccable. She helped us order tapas and brought us drinks. We didn’t want for anything. Thank you Rosa and all the staff for making this a truly memorable day for us. I can’t wait for my next visit! Highly recommended.

We spent a weekend there with the family. We had one of the garden rooms which open up towards the lawn, which is nice. Overall a pleasant experience though the main house is starting to show its age. Rooms were nice and modern with comfortable beds. Breakfast and dinner were good as well. A nice experience for a weekend away.

Stayed two nights in Shepherds Hut. It is really lovely. The spa stuff, log burner and firepit all good. Food in restaurant was great too. Only thing I'd change is it is hard to get hold of someone in the main hotel from the hut, the ipad thing just wasn't quite right. Night sky you can see satellites overhead from your bed.

We had a lovely one night stay here. We had a snug room and it was actually quite spacious and our room faced the deer sanctuary so it was lovely waking up and seeing deer in the field. Only complaint about the room is the shower kept changing temperatures from hot to cold and there was no room to put washbags. Restaurant is amazing too.

Beautiful place had coffee and a light bite lunch very nice ,staff were very friendly and service was so good.

We visited Burley Manor for afternoon tea and it was delicious. The staff were amazing, very attentive. The place is stunning! Plus, we got a beautiful day. There are vegetarian options!

Very good afternoon tea. Very pleasant staff.

We came for dinner in the restaurant as a group of 8 friends. Lovely venue, nice 5 service was horribly slow.. The evening we visited the restaurant was only half full with no obvious reason for any delays. After we were seated and given menus, the waiting started... for drinks, to order, for food, to be cleared, to order deserts, and then to pay.. We were not even offered a second drink nor checked upon once the food was served. Such a shame as it was a special evening for our friendship group. Doubtful we will visit again.

This is a very characterful hotel to stay in, made better by good use of candles and the open fire. The deer in the grounds are a highlight. The service was a little slow in the bar and restaurant but the beauty of the hotel made up for it. The bed was also 10/10.

Lovely three days, perfect in all ways, service,food,and sleep.

We had a lovely time but the hotel needs some love. There was water streaming down the walls in corridors, wall paper bubbling and falling off and lots of signs of damp damage. We also had our massages and spa treatments cancelled at the last minute which was a big reason for our trip there in the first place.

Beautiful hotel in a great location. Lovely decor, great staff and lovely walks nearby

I have Coeliac Disease - not a preference for a gluten free diet (in fact, I would love to be able to eat gluten!) - and I felt very much like an afterthought at Burley Manor. The reception staff were all very friendly, but the man who I now understand was the Event Manager (!!!) was dismissive and unhelpful. In terms of my dietary needs, Burley Manor were informed in detail about what I would need before my stay, and I took great pains while I was there to understand what was safe for me to eat and what wasn't. Their lack of clarity meant that I went without things that had been ordered and paid for, and I ended up crying in my room from the stress of it all. If you have any specific dietary needs, I would definitely not recommend visiting Burley Manor. Oh, and their response to my colleague's complaint about that and other less-than-satisfactory things that we experienced over the course of our stay was initially to take no responsibility, which also says a lot. I subsequently received an underwhelming apology from the hotel, but didn't feel like they'd taken anything on board so have decided to post here so that others with specific needs can make an educated decision as to whether to part with (not an inconsiderable amount of) their money to stay there.

Beautiful location, cozy hotel with a fireplace, peaceful and enjoyable. highly recommended.