Restaurant at the Hickstead Hotel in South Somerset

Very nice meal I had a neck of lamb and colleagues had steak and chips, very well prepared and staff attentive

Received a Champagne Afternoon Tea for two voucher for Christmas and I took my mother this afternoon. The staff were welcoming, attentive and charming, serving our glass of champagne on arrival. The sandwiches were delicious, cakes a plenty as was the tea on offer. Thoroughly recommend, a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

It was very delicious and filling. Staff very polite. We had it as a Christmas present so a lovely afternoon out for me an Hubby Hope to call again xx

A beautiful place in lovely setting. Food was scrumptious and the staff were amazingly friendly, smiley and helpful. Would recommend

Fantastic food stayed here 3 days evening meal 3 courses all amazing fresh ,well cooked lovely presentation and service ,highly recommend this hotel and restaurant x

Hickstead Hotel is a mixed bag. The restaurant is its stand out feature as the food quality is stunning, albeit from a modest menu of half a dozen options per course. Food aside the hotel feels tired with rooms and communal spaces in need of a periodic upgrade. I suspect the cost of such investment is way beyond the budget of the hotel which is a shame as the hotel is located in a great spot to explore the South Downs. All told it is worth a look but don't expect more than "Travel Inn" quality.

We visited the Hickstead for afternoon tea, The service was excellent and the food was fresh, beautifully presented and great quality. Really super scones and cheesecake. The venue itself could be updated, but the friendly staff and the wonderful afternoon tea made this a memorable occasion.

My wife and I enjoyed a lovely Afternoon Tea here. All the staff were friendly and helpful, the surroundings were nice, and the food was fresh and well presented. Highly recommended. Thank you.

Being vegetarians it is often a problem finding good veggy food in many hotels but the Hickstead fare was excellent and if we needed something that was not obviously on the menu then they came up trumps ! I even had veggy sausages for breakfast !

The food was lovely. We had pate and chutney with toast as a starter - lovely smooth pate and tasty chutney, and were offered extra toast from the start as (like most restaurants) they don't serve it with much. We accepted the extra toast and were glad, as the pate portion was generous. We then had the chicken supreme, which was another generous portion and was very tender. It was on the menu with asparagus, chantenay carrots, fondant potato and a red wine jus. Neither of us likes asparagus, so we asked for savoy cabbage instead, which they did with no fuss at all. For dessert I had the sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream, which was gorgeous. The restaurant staff were brilliant. It was fairly busy, and there were only 3 staff on duty - Justine (the restaurant supervisor), Kelly and Cammy. They all worked really hard and efficiently, so service was fast, but they also managed to find time for everyone, to be pleasant and friendly, and we never felt rushed at all. There was a very calm and happy atmosphere in the restaurant, and the staff made us feel as if nothing was too much trouble. Really excellent.

Staff were very welcoming and very friendly. The food presentation and quality was excellant at both breakfast and dinner. Someone once said to me that you can tell the quality of the place by the quality of it's breakfast sausages and these were probably better than most. - well done

Great food and great staff would definitely go again. Staff are excellent and very helpful. lovely to talk to and a great conversation is always available.

Visited for an afternoon tea with my daughter and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The staff were very friendly and attentive. A new waitress was being trained the day we went but this did not hinder the service, it was great to see how passionate the lady training her was about her job. The afternoon tea itself was superb, well filled sandwiches, very nice scones, good mix of very tasty cakes and unlimited tea/coffee. My daughter is not a tea or coffee drinker and was pleasantly surprised when we asked if she could have something else and was offered juice, which she could also have unlimited. We left feeling very full and satisfied. If we had not finished our cakes there was the option of them being boxed up for us to take home.

Main course - lovely. Dessert - lovely. Starter - not bad, but gave a distinct impression of having just been thawed out prior to serving rather than made fresh. Price-wise, I'm glad we were eating here as part of an inclusive deal with the hotel, because the menu prices were too high for what you get. Wasn't particularly impressed with the service, though. As we went in, one of the waitresses was out in the bar making a huge drama out of killing a large bee that had found its way in - much shouting, yelping and leaping around. Once in the restaurant, we were told by a very young (and clearly inexperienced) young lady to 'sit anywhere' - which we did, only to be told a minute later by the other waitress that we would need to move to another table as the one we'd picked was set for afternoon tea (at 8pm?!). The only other four-person tables were REALLY close to adjacent two-person ones (like, almost touching them), and I don't want to be eating dinner elbow-to-elbow with an occupant of an adjacent table so we sat at a larger one in a corner. (As a side note, the same very young and inexperienced later tried to sit a newly-arriving couple at a table which hadn't been cleared from the previous diner ... they rightly refused to sit at a dirty table, so she then sat them at the first table we'd gone to - "set for afternoon tea" - and sure enough a minute later they were asked to move!) Orders taken, drinks and starters served, all fine. But then a long delay with the main course ... the waitress came and told us that "chef has done something daft" or words to that effect, which didn't exactly fill us with confidence! But the mains were fine when they arrived, if a little on the small side considering the a la carte prices. Mains cleared, and shortly the return of the young and inexperienced staff member ... "would you like to order dessert?" ... might be a bit difficult without having been brought a menu! Oh, OK, she'll go and get them for us. So overall, a mixed experience. The food had some highlight moments - but the atmosphere was pretty dead, and the service was average at best. Oh, and they could really do with getting a decent draught bitter onto the bar to replace the "Wolf Rock" that's the only option at the moment.

We stayed at the Hickstead for a few nights so visited the Restaurant on our first evening. Big mistake! The service was very slow even though there were not more than 6 other couples. There was absolutely no atmosphere, it was so quiet that you actually felt uncomfortable having a conversation. When we eventually got our food my order had been taken wrong but it honestly was not worth sorting because we had waited that long I had almost lost the will to live!! Food very disappointing and not good value.

I had an afternoon tea at this hotel's restaurant. Service was really friendly and helpful. Sandwiches were fresh and hit the spot. The scones were the highlight - homemade and delicious. Although I have had faded cups and saucers at vintage cafes, you expect a smarter tea set in a restaurant, so perhaps that is something that could be improved.

Had the deluxe afternoon tea which included unlimited tea, sandwiches, cream tea and various cakes and fondants. Not bad value for money. The tea was hot and all the food was fresh. The sandwiches were very tasty as were the various cakes. Only one scone per person but you struggle to finish all the food. A lot of people round us left some items when they left. The very pleasant and polite say to people that the hotel would package up any unfinished food if they wished to take it home. The whole deal was reasonably priced. The room/ restaurant could do with being a bit less stark.

Lovely afternoon tea with plentiful selection of traditional sandwiches and cake. Efficient, quiet waitress and various teas completed this excellent service. Dining room a bit utilitarian with closely placed tables but an otherwise pleasant experience.

Ordererd the stitfried veg and tofu and just got stir fried veg.. asked the waiter who said the chef insisted it was there. Imaginary tofu.

Pedí el menú lo describe como una hamburguesa con patatas fritas y ensalada de col. Primero no nos dejaron sentar en el restaurante en caso que deshecha mesa porque estaban puestas para el desayuno. Teniendo en cuenta que era 9:00 pm. Mi compañero y después acompañaron a sentarse en una mesa de 4 pies de alto ornamental top estante de cristal en taburetes que eran más altos. Que luego lo producido sólo puede ser descrito como un desastre. Mi llamado fue que rezuman grasa la hamburguesa patatas fritas congeladas hecha y la col roja col sabía a que salió de una lata. Ahora la guarnición de lechuga pimientos y brotes de soja, parecía que salía del compost bin fueron bastante obviamente marrón en los bordes. No hace falta decir que comí muy poco y el personal unobservant que vinieron a clara la estantería jarrón nos estamos sentados en ni siquiera el coraje o ingenio para preguntar cuál era el problema, él simplemente eliminará los platos y aclaradas.

Nos gustó estar cuidados por el tipo de equipo que nos recibió y graciosa nos sirven en este restaurante. Disfrutamos del té para dos. Buena comida, servida bien

Nos alojamos en el Hickstead decidimos comer una noche en el restaurante. La escasa variedad en el menú fue una gran decepción para nosotros, teniendo en cuenta que se hacen llamar un Bistro! La iluminación para una noche era como Blackpool - demasiado brillantes, velas, luces laterales estaban así como luces principales. No hay ambiente. Dos montones de música al mismo tiempo, dentro de la zona de comedor y a todo volumen desde la cocina. La comida era buena comida pero sólo un promedio de pub. Decepcionado con mi postre quemados. El desayuno era estilo buffet y de nuevo en Aceptar. El servicio estaba bien, pero nos preguntó qué queríamos incluso antes, se sentó, y pidió de nuevo a los pocos minutos de sentado. Promedio general.

Teníamos una oferta y nos ahorramos un par de libras sólo nos costó 28 libras para dos personas.

Este fue un regalo y qué encantadora manera de pasar el domingo por la tarde. Llegamos un poco temprano y me senté en el bar tomando una copa de vino. Nos llevaron a través, nos sentamos en nuestra mesa y el servicio y los camareros eran muy eficientes. Tuvimos algunos canapés para comenzar y luego un plato de bollos y pasteles. El servicio era bueno y el personal amable. Los bocadillos, bollos y pasteles muy fresco y nos fuimos con una sensación muy completo. Bien merece una visita y muy agradable.

We visited for afternoon tea and were made very welcome. Service was quick and friendly and the food was nice. A little sweet with lots of cream but a choice of tea or coffee and refills were offered regularly.

Afternoon Tea was nice but not brilliant Restaurant Manager very attentive. Nice surrounding but could do with updating

We live locally, had been given a prepaid voucher as a present, so were not staying at the hotel but had not visited this restaurant for many years, although, when we arrived we recognised reception, bar and restaurant. The dining area was about half full. The waiting staff could not have been more pleasant, attentive and helpful.The starter choices were excellent. We requested some additions to our main course (e.g the chicken salad came without tomato, boiled egg or chips). I requested them and they were all supplied.I decided not to have a sweet but was allowed two cups of expresso.All in all a very pleasant evening which I'm sure we will try again.