Hare & Hounds in Isle of Wight

We have lunch with friends every month at this pub and the food is very good. We had a Christmas lunch there and we nearly got the wrong order but no problem as it was just a blip. Apparently the chef wasn't working that day ( or had left), and one of the regular bar staff stood in. A good portion and it was proper turkey, not processed. The roast spuds were good too. Unfortunately the pig in blanket was very hard as if warmed up in a microwave. Yorkshire was soft and chewy and only a stamp size portion of stuffing. Also, it was just warm. My husband had a special burger with the rosemary salted chips as the chips have always been so good. He said they were soft, not crispy as usual. I expect the fact that the chef wasn't available, the staff did their best and they must be thanked for putting themselves out. I hope the chef returns or they employ another one that is as good as the last one because the everyday food is very good. The staff are very friendly and it is a lovely pub and we enjoy having lunch there. For the everyday food I'd give 5 stars.

Amazing staff extremely friendly food excellent good price point

Definitely worth a visit, great food, great staff and atmosphere, highly recommended

Had a fantastic lunch. Thank you very much for your kind hospitality! - The Seely Family

Food, waitress, atmosphere & facilities were all amazing and could not fault anything. It's been the best restaurant for food we have found whilst being on holiday. We will definitely come back to yourselves whenever we visit.

Waitress Jessica was very helpful and friendly, as was all the staff. Highly recommend the food was amazing, best food we had on isle of wight. Will return.

Went mid afternoon so not very busy, made to feel welcome and shown to a table, lady came and took our food and drinks order Food was delicious and piping hot.

Matt and Jessica were very accommodating Good service and lovely place

A lovely evening enjoying the festive fare. Great food Kenny, and a big thank you to Jessica and Matt for excellent friendly service. Would thoroughly recommend.

Terrible service and food wasn't great

Staff were lovely and delivered great service. Food was good and overall happy. Thank you.

Paula was fab friendly knowledgeable of menu and helpful

Lovely atmosphere & friendly staff

Greta value, yummy food, lovely setting, friendly staff and all round great place to come.

Really welcoming staff, very helpful and polite. Food was great value and tasted amazing, especially the fish cakes

The food is lovely and the staff are friendly. Went on a weekday so it was quiet but can be fully booked on a busy weekend.

Lovely staff. Very dog friendly. Food was really nice!!

Good food, very kid friendly. Nice friendly staff.

A lovely pub with friendly staff. There was a good choice of meals which were a decent portion size.

EDIT following on from our review and Matt's response, we called as requested about the outstanding bill only to discover that the assistant manager had lied about our experience and informed Matt that he had "asked us to leave" as opposed to us refusing to stay and eat the poor quality, uncooked food. He also agreed with us not paying the bill, and leaving when we did. He agreed that with the standard of the service and the poor quality food, he would refund the bill and apologised explaining that a new chef was being trained and he "wasn't getting the hang of it" a fact that Matt has since set us straight about. There is no new chef being trained at all. Matt said he would call us back on Monday, it is now Wednesday and we have heard nothing else. A very sad shame. Absolutely disgusting..... food was cold and frozen, and there was hairs on our food and terrible service as food came out at different times, the gammon was over cooked, we ordered two sides of squid and we got an extra portions of squid as starters .... we waited around 10-15 for each starter to come out the kitchen (bare in mind we only got 4 starters) so we were waiting for over 40 minutes.... it was very poor service, we went for an afternoon lunch expecting a pleasant roast to come home and have nothing to eat..... absolute shame as food was amazing last year and service. I highly recommend to NOT go here if you don't want to walk out as unhappy customers (we walked out hungry angry and annoyed)

Don't be put off by the 3.8 star rating you'll find online. But, bear in mind that a wide range of customers are catered for. Yes, there's a dartboard, one-armed bandit, children's play area, a television, on but with no sound (subtitles on, please!) and when we were there, a bit too much Halloween decoration.If you don't want any of that, maybe go elsewhere. We hadn't booked, and arrived in the middle of the afternoon, and were warned there would be a forty minute wait, which was more like 30 minutes in fact, so that was ok, and we weren't in any hurry. As to the really important stuff: the staff were very friendly and helpful, and the food was as good as it should be. We had the steak and ale pie with veg, mash and gravy. Delicious, and crucially, hot, which isn't always the case, particularly with mashed potatoes. The other meal was mac and cheese, again, hot, and with plenty of cheese. The toilets were clean and not unpleasant at all, but watch the water pressure from the taps in the sink (gents) which is a bit fierce! So, it's basic fare, done well, with nice staff, at about the right price. Better than 3.8 we think. Would go again.

Lovely evening great food quick and lovely staff.

We went twice from some distance and both times turned away because nit enough staff. Not recommended.

We arrived without pre-booking and the pub was very busy. The manager, Jason, managed to re-arrange things to find us a table. There were 5 of us dining and nothing was too much trouble. The food was excellent and we were made to feel very welcome. We will return.

My 2 guest ordered fish and chips that was OK , I ordered the lamb shank and apparently they didn't have one , me and one of my guests ordered the crumble and apparently they had run out

Nice to see the peacocks roaming around the grounds . The lamb shank was lovely. The steaks overdone , but service was good & had a good time here .

Nice pub food friendly good parking

When we walked in my wife had to look for a member of staff and was advised food wasn’t being served for 10 minutes yet it had been open 20 minutes, also another guest was already seated enjoying their meal, only one member of staff seemed to have a clue about customer service who was our server, it seemed to me they must be doing well enough from tourism not to have to worry about customer satisfaction.

We went for a friends birthday and were very pleased with the food. The staff were lovely and very helpful. We will definitely come back next time we are visiting the Isle !

Food was lovely! Staff were kind and had a laugh with us :)

Had the most amazing meal here lovely staff even gave my daughter a free shot for her birthday would definitely go again lovely food 😊

Food is always of a high quality. Love the peacocks outside too.

Came in for food and drinks. Looked after very well by the lovely Kim. Will be back

Excellent food and service with a friendly team.

Hubby and I went last week and both had steak. The place was welcoming and the staff were helpful initially, but unfortunately the member of staff who waited on us spoke quite quietly so I had difficulty hearing them. They also stood back from the table which didint help. The restaurant was not that busy but we had to wait quite a while for our food. Howver, when it came the steak was quite tough. So sorry but we were disappointed in our visit - we were on holiday at the time so will not be around to try it again.

Enjoyed a steak and ale pie accompanied by mash, peas and carrots.

We had steak pie and chips. The pie was obviously warmed up and the crust was very hard. Too hard to eat. We didn’t have dessert. The toilets are in need of some tlc. Would not re visit.

Very nice fixed price lunch. 2 courses for £8.99 before 5pm. Portions plenty for seniors. Friendly staff

Food was fabulous and so tasty. Service was excellently provided by Sue and Paula.

Lovely food and very friendly staff would totally recommend this pub. 👌🏻

The mixed grill was poor, chicken was dry, sausage so hard you couldn't eat it. Staff were nice enough though

Lovely atmosphere, Sue and Paula both made our visit pleasant. I had the hunters chicken and it was absolutely delicious! Definitely will be returning

Excellent location and place. Very welcoming staff, sue in particular that served us was amazing. Food was delicious. Great kids play area, perfect for us to relax whilst they got rid of some energy. Thank you x

Beautiful place, bar staff are so friendly and helpful. Thankyou for the mermaid bottle

Lovely service from Matt and the team. Beautiful food and great interaction from the staff, Paula was very helpful and informative, may just return for a Christmas day special.

Great little pub in a nice location, friendly and helpful staff made sure we were well looked after throughout our afternoon meal. The food was great and just as described, the table went quiet meaning the food was enjoyed. All food arrived together, on time well presented and hot. We would definitely come back and recommend The Hare and Hounds. Well done all staff there!

We had a lovely meal at the Hare & Hounds tonight, service from the staff was excellent and the food was just as good! So much so, we have booked to come back in a couple of days!

Lovely meal freshly cooked and really tasty. We were served by Jessica who was really polite and friendly. Manager was really friendly and helpful too. Highly recommend

Fantastic food, Sue was was great and a little problem with the till which meant I ate after everyone else was put right by the fantastic staff.

A pity but the pub must have done well to sell out of what we wanted.

Lovely old pub,with good food and friendly staff.

An excellent place very friendly staff are great food great always worth a visit when We go to the Island

We all ordered roasts on a Sunday evening. The roast potatoes were so hard it was impossible to cut them and the crackling was missing even though no one told us. Vegetable portions were tiny. At one point the waitress took an order for a drink and turned around and walked off before anyone else could ask for one On leaving it was dark and the car park was completely unlit which left us trying to find our way around with phone torches.

Stopped off dinner on way to holiday app Apartment good quality food but some items unavailable

Lovely friendly reception by Paula who made us the best Irish coffee's. Thank you

Very nice meal and friendly staff, very chilled out pub nice feeling to it

It’s hard for us to eat out since I have a severely autistic daughter. And from the second we walked in to the second we left, we were made to feel extremely welcome and told not to worry about anything, including the things my daughter does. I cannot express how much this means to me. Paula was exceptional - friendly, helpful, welcoming, accommodating. She’s a credit to the company. The food came swiftly and was good. Thank you so much for enabling us to eat out.

Horrible food flys everywhere dirty tables and over priced for the little amount of food

Lovely food, staff were lovely and VERY accommodating to food allergies, I felt very safe 😊

Food was delicious and service brilliant Thank you

Lovely service and very tasty food. Our dogs loved the atmosphere too

Food mediocre. Prices a bit steep for main meals but kids meals were good for £5.

Service good. A lot of meals not available but food very tasty

Staff were extremely helpful and welcoming. Lovely food with a picturesque venue! Would highly recommend!!

We had a table booked for Sunday dinner at four, we arrived earlier and was seated at three which was great but was then informed there was only a turkey roast left. We still ordered our food but after an hour of waiting for the food to arrive we decided to leave as there was no sign of any food and none of the staff had apologised for the delay or let us know if the food would ever arrive. Extremely poor.

Had booked a table in advance as we had enjoyed food at the Hare & Hounds before but upon arrival were advised the wait would be at least 90mins so went elsewhere. At least they were honest about the situation

Peacocks!! Lovely food amazing value! Lovely service. We will be back before we head home ☺️

Absolute lovely pub, with very friendly staff and great food. Even have a kids play area in the garden and a couple of peacocks. Highly recommend.

Beautiful grounds, lovely food and desserts, enjoyed by us all, thank you, we will return next year

Beautiful food, amazing service and serene surroundings (especially the peacocks). 100% would recommend.

To be frank, I would not recommend the Hare and Hound to anyone. Me and my family which includes three children decided on the restaurant and travelled a fair distance after seeing photographs and reading outstanding reviews. Upon arriving the exterior and interior decor were beautiful and the place was comfortable. somewhere I would want to eat. However, the problems came with service and food times. We sat to order roasts and already they were out of a lot of the options, so we ordered some Mac and cheese for two of the children and Turkey roasts for me and three others. We waited over an hour for food which simply didn’t come. The children were understandably agitated by this as we’d been waiting all day to try this place out. Not a single member of staff came by to tell us what was going on or to update us on the situation. After an hour of waiting we stood to leave and informed a waitress who quite frankly did not care and instead of showing any sign of wanting to fix this just told us we needed to tell the bar we were cancelling. We waited at the bar to tell who I presume is the manager and the interaction was blunt and he couldn’t of cared less. The experience has left us hungry and annoyed. I would like to say that they were busy with the Sunday rush but in all honesty.. there was NO rush at all and when we ordered, the place was empty, perhaps a warning sign we should’ve taken 😂 Hopefully this was a one off but me and my family will not return any time soon.

Great sunday roast, friendly staff

Very disappointed 😞 Waited over 30 minutes for food once it arrived was cold Not recommend this place

Paula sat us down firstly, very accommodating and totally understood why we would like a quiet space. Changed our table where we had lovely quiet corner and enjoyed waitress service of 3 sirloin steaks and a pud for our son. Paula was amazing, bringing us hot food and drinks. She also helped us as tourists new to the area. Thank you Paula.

Very slow service and food was only warm. No atmosphere. Very disappointing.

Lovely meal, nice atmosphere and good service

A lovely traditional pub. Excellent for families.

Great pub lovely staff, matt sue nicole really friendly! Great pint of Fosters

Very very dog friendly. They have a menu for dogs and we got to order ours a steak which he loved and it was only £3. Plenty of bowls and blankets too. We just had a drink but this is actually our local and we love it here and the food is really nice.

Friendly staff, great food, brilliant.

Brought my dog he had a dog steak, really lovley ,will be again (but we're it next time 🙂),lovley atmosphere x

Came in for lunch today around 1.30/2pm during the driving wind and rain, along with many other people - it was packed out but Matt and Kev did an absolutely first rate job of greeting everyone, welcoming us in, then sorting tables and serving drinks and food. Faultless service - friendly, professional and swift despite the busy bar and restaurant. Better service than in many high end restaurants which have double the staff! Food spot on too, many thanks to Jason in the kitchen. An unexpectedly delightful lunch - thanks again.

We booked our table before arrival and were greeted in a warm and friendly manner by the male member of staff behind the bar and given two adult menus and a child menu. We had been sat for 20 minutes without acknowledgement before my partner decided to ask if it was table service or if we needed to order at the bar. There were only two other tables sat apart from ourselves and we had booked our table for 5pm, so it was not busy. When he asked, the waitress had to check if it was table service or order at bar. There seemed to be some confusion between the staff and eventually after some debate they decided that it should be order at bar and not table service this evening. Once ordered, the food took nearly an hour to arrive. The table next to us had finished their desserts before their childrens' desserts arrived. We weren't checked back on or advised that there would be a wait despite the quiet atmosphere in the pub and there seemed to be no urgency by the staff who were stood having a conversation by our table at one point. Unfortunately, we would be unlikely to return despite the food when it arrived being quite nice.

What kind staff! The playground kept the kids busy. Lovely honesty about how long it would take for the dinner to come out! Worth the wait! So relaxing

Thank you to the staff at Hare & Hounds for a nice meal despite being short staffed on a Saturday evening. Great cajun chicken burger.

Beautiful pub but I was asked if we had booked and was then told 45/60 min wait for food when there were empty tables in the restaurant but hadn't been cleaned.

Ate here on a Saturday evening, wasn’t exactly busy. Took a very long time for the order to be taken, the food to arrive and for the table to be cleared afterwards (to the point where half the table was cleared then the waitress disappeared and left half to not even come back to clear later). We gave up on dessert, paid and left. The food was average at best, chicken burger overcooked and brioche buns on both that burger and the kids burgers were rock hard. Steak was ok. Pork belly was very nice. We’ve given this two stars rather than one star because despite the slow service and food quality, the staff looked like they’re understaffed and massively overworked, they were still very polite and pleasant.

Great food great service friendly staff drinks brought to the table 👌

Nice place, nice drinks, nice staff. Pretty terrible food but I'm not expecting much from a green king pub.

Avoid unless you want to wait well over an hour for your food when it wasn't exactly busy! We booked a table but on arrival was not told there would be a wait. After an hour enquired when our food would come only to be told the oven had tripped!! Surely this should have been checked during preparation? When it did come the food was average nothing special. The lasagna had been over grilled leaving charcoal remains around the top/side of the dish. The ladies toilets could do with a thorough clean and update. Disappointing!

After seeing the reviews we thought we would give this place a try. What a dissapointment. We come to the isle of wight regularly for spontaneous breaks from business, never cook so eat out regularly. The place was quiet so was quite nice. Ordered our choice of food which didn't take long to come. While waiting the table next to us complained about food being over cooked so a member of staff took the food away, they ended up having a refund, this was a bit of a red flag. The waitress was lovely albeit a bit embarrassed from the impression we got. Our food arrived, my wife ordered steak medium-rare, this arrived well done so I asked the waitress to take it back. I had burger which was also overcooked along with the chips looking/tasting like they had been sat a while. My daughter had fish which had batter that was more crispy than walkers. All in all it was extremely dissapointing, when the most simple of food orders cannot be cooked correctly it really is poor. Not somewhere we will be revisiting unfortunately as it really is a lovely looking place.

Turned away at 1820 on a Sunday evening as we'd not used our crystal ball to book a table. The pub was less than half full with numerous empty tables, and we were informed the kitchen was going to close at 1900 anyway for "maintenance". I dread to think what food was going to be served to the expected hoarde of customers. Oh, and the car park resembles a quarry, a great place to off-road, less great to actally park a car without breaking an axle.

Myself and other family members have been coming to this restaurant for a few years now, and have to say it seems to be going downhill. The quality of food just isn’t the same, and we don’t seem to be leaving as content as before. I only recall seeing one member of staff, who i cannot fault. She’s extremely hardworking and friendly at all times. The atmosphere in the restaurant is quite dull, and the place is in need of a desperate clean, sticky floors, dusty and unclean decor, and the bathrooms aren’t the nicest either. Don’t get me wrong, the food isn’t bad, just not up to the standard of other Greene Kings we have visited.

Couldn't seat us. Very disappointed

We had driven past the pub a few times and thought from the outside it looked quite pretty with the peacocks wandering around in the gardens and decided to have an evening meal there. When we entered the pub there was zero atmosphere and it looked really tired and old. The lady behind the bar looked extremely stressed out even though she was only dealing with one customer and the chap who I believe was the manager who came from a back room didn’t look much better. I ordered 2 pints of coke and a non alcoholic cider and the total was nearly £14! I checked the price as I thought that was expensive and she said the pints of coke were £4.20 each. As we didn’t have anywhere else in mind to go for food we took the chance (this came back to bite me in the backside!) We were told that there would be a 30 minute wait as they were very busy, I should point out they had 1 table of approximately 8 people, a table of 6 outside, our table of 3 and another couple. Whilst waiting for the food I popped to the loo and it was disgusting. There was dirty, wet toilet paper strewn on the floor, my shoes stuck to the floor as it clearly hadn’t been mopped in god knows how long and the back of the door of the cubicle I used was filthy! Hand washing facilities were also gross. We ordered gammon, egg and chips - be warned they charge extra for onion rings! We also ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a main course of their “fancy” mac n cheese. The menu is VERY minimal. It took nearly 45 minutes to arrive and it looked ok at best. The food was very bland and to be honest for the price and the wait we were really disappointed with the overall quality of what we had been served. The mac and cheese was burnt on the top layer which gave a bitterness to the whole dish, the chips which were served with the gammon were warm to the touch but also soggy and the bun for the burger was very hard. We ate what we could and scarpered from the pub as quickly as possible. It’s not an experience I would care to repeat. When we left I mentioned to my family that I felt really ill, we drove back to our holiday accommodation and I felt dreadful the whole way. As soon as we got back I ended up in the bathroom violently throwing up and having a really poorly tummy. Personally I would avoid at all costs. I couldn’t recommend it to anyone unfortunately.

I really wanted to see the place, however we arrived without a reservation and despite the place being alone, they did not move us. The lady at the entrance told us that there was no space when the tables were unoccupied. We left, what a shame. The place should be more aware that many of us are tourists and we don't know that you have to reserve well in advance. I liked that there were peacocks in the garden.

Stopped in for drinks, two older bar staff complaining between eachother about the place being a sinking ship the whole time we were trying to order. Bad mouthing other members of staff to us, as if we cared! Whole place is run down with a really negative vibe- left after one drink and won't return.

Great food at a fair and reasonable price.

I phoned to book a table a week in advance for 9 people, the person I spoke to asked what the booking was for, I said it was for a meal. I asked if we could have a table upstairs as it's quieter away from the bar. I was told that as they are so quiet at the moment they only have the downstairs restaurant open, I said that will be ok then. When we arrived and gave my name, the woman at the bar said that she thought our booking was for a meeting, I replied that it was for a meal, she was very rude and said that they probably wouldn't be able to serve us, she then asked the chef and came back and said It will be an hour and half wait as there is only one chef and they are fully booked. I pointed out that I had booked a week ago and told them I was booked for a meal, she kept saying that she didn't take the booking and that as I had asked for a table upstairs they assumed it was for a meeting. It was embarrassing as I had organised the meal for my relatives who I hadn't seen for a few years. It would have been nice if the woman had said that she was sorry for the mix up and spoken to us more politely, we would probably have stayed. I found another restaurant which was much better and the staff had good customer service unlike the hare and hounds. We will not be visiting again.

The food The atmosphere The Venue The parking The service (Paula,Nicole,kev,Margaret 100%) We stopped the first time because we'd been let down at another venue for lunch. We were very hungry and they found us a table (excellent service and excellent food). Two adults and a teenager After this GREAT experience, we chose to go back for an evening meal on another day. Paula Nicole Kev And Margaret stepped up again. Beautiful evening (with peacocks) Great place