Shelburne Restaurant at Bowood Hotel in Wiltshire

We are staying here for a friends 50th birthday. The hotel is lovely and the room great. We could have gone the the nearby pub but due to time constraints we decided to eat in the restaurant. Betti, thank you for your excellent service and banter, you were a delight. However, the food. At the prices they charge, this was underwhelming and miniscule. The chicken burger (£17) had barely any chicken in. The 'Jengy chip' take the pi$$. They were bare cooked once, let alone "triple cooked". They were half the size of normal chips of this type, which is puzzling as they can't cost much? The fishcake (£17) was just a deep-fried (suspect frozen) fishcake with an egg on. We ordered the triple cooked chips as a side for £6.50 (!). Any chip shop would be in horror at abomination we got for this financial outlay (and as we know they're not cheap these days!) I feel ripped off. Avoid if you can. (the afternoon tea looked really nice) Over and out

Dropped in for lunch on the terrace. Lovely location, good menu options, lovely food, excellent service and reasonably priced.

Reservation for 3 people for my birthday. Choice of eating inside or outside. Friendly decoration, very pleasant outdoor setting, pleasant staff and service. My dish was good (cod), this one from my husband (wagus beef): less, no choice of cooking, therefore overcooked. Good children's menu. Just was disappointed not to have a candle on my pavlova (even though I had specified when booking that it was for my birthday).

Lovely services from the staff and manager throughout the breakfast

We went for a lunch, we had preordered the food as there was quite a lot of us They don’t have starters per de, but I had a cheese soufflé which was nice, and I thought gave good expectations for the main. I ordered a burger which got brought out with regular fries, I pointed out that they should have been herb and the waitress seemed pissed off with me when I pointed it out, she left for a while to confirm, and whilst she offered to correct it, I already knew the food had been under a heat lamp for a bit so didn’t want to delay my lunch further. The burger was not good, whether it was actual Wagyu I can’t confirm as it was like a burger from a school canteen, and at £17.50 and with the wrong chips I expected better. I also tried some of the chicken and from what I could see it had no aioli and was dry. The restaurant is definitely style over substance and to get a dish wrong when it was pre ordered a week in advance is ridiculous.

Really nice atmosphere in the middle of the countryside. Very friendly service and food was really good as well.

Afternoon tea booked for my hen party with large group as a combination of friends and older family attending. It was beautifully set up on a long table for us all to sit together. My friends decorated the table and my seat which was lovely. Parking was a bit of a walk from the door, but we were allowed to drop off the lower mobility family members at the door and then go and park. The food was lovely and we really enjoyed all the sandwiches and cakes and the constant refills of tea or Prosecco. Grateful they could accommodate with vegan platters for some of the party. I felt that some of the staff seemed generally a little annoyed with our party, though we were not rowdy or overly loud at any point, so that was a bit disappointing and the female waitress almost got into an argument over the fact we had booked dietary requirement specific plates and due to a misunderstanding we had been given the wrong platters. It was all sorted in the end by us each having to give food to one party member as she was left with a non vegetarian option. With the amount you pay, I think a little more patience, and a little more understanding with guests would be recommended. I would definately return here and would highly recommend it for hen parties or events.

Nice place to visit and servers were helpful, though did need to be chased a few times. Very few people there so felt quite and no atmosphere sadly.

Very nice restaurant very nice staff and golf course views. Lucky to see beautiful deer

A lovely relaxing place to spend a few hours

How disappointing!! After the teas and chocolate arrived, trying to get someone's attention took 5 minutes and we had to ask for milk to go with the tea. surely this is not acceptable. getting the attention of a waiter or waitress was very difficult. Thought it was a good idea after this to ask for glasses to go with the water.

Great vegan options on the main menu now, delicious and unusual. Clearly a lot of thought gone into including vegan items on the main menu and it is appreciated! Friendly staff, light and bright restaurant.

Starter of crab cake was very bland. My wife had the asparagus which was even worse. Main course of baked cod was tasty but spoiled by lukewarm veg & sauce. Dessert was a very ordinary choc brownie which was no better than our local chain restaurant. The young waiting staff were very polite but seemed completely overwhelmed and we waited about an hour between starter and main. Not great for the money.

A beautiful dining room in a country estate. The service was a little slow and unresponsive at times - a request for a beer took long enough to be actioned that I was about to go and find out what the problem was. One of the duck dishes was cooked until the meat was dry and hard. When mentioned to a waiter the plate was removed, but no further feedback received. Other empty plates were attempted to be removed when some in our party were still eating. When it came time to pay still nothing was mentioned about the overcooked duck. When we raised it, the cost of the dish was deducted at their initiative, so that's something. I'm hoping this was a one off as I'd like to visit again and enjoy what has the potential to be a memorable location.

We took my Stepmother for her 75th birthday lunch and had hoped for a really nice occasion. from the pictures it looked as if the place would be slightly upmarket and the food exciting and good. All of that was sort of true. This restaurant seems to be mainly about fancy tea, rather than lunch. if you didn't want sandwiches and a bowl of (slightly under cooked) chips you had six options for starters and mains together, although they are not separated on the menu. Perhaps I just misunderstood the web site but it was not the celebration we had hoped for. That said the staff were all lovely and the food we did have (other than the disappointing chips) was good (oh and the avo mash was disconcertingly cold, rather than room temperature, which made the toast and egg completely cold as well). I wouldn't chose to go but but I wouldn't shriek if someone said that's where we were going.

I was given a Tea for 2 voucher as a Christmas present from a member of my family & her bf. I was so excited that they cater for Coeliacs and food intolerances. What a disappointment to be serviced soggy sandwiches. Anna was very apologetic and changed them for me, but I was too embarrassed to tell her that the sandwiches she brought out were frozen in the middle?? I would have said something but didn't want this to reflect on a family member who works there. The grounds are beautiful, the restaurant is gorgeous but the food was not up to standard and sadly will not be in a hurry to return. Such a shame!

What a huge disappointment! Friends and my husband and I went here for Sunday lunch today. I can only say what a complete and utter disappointment. Waited ages for food, menu changes happened before we ordered, a lot of wines were unavailable. When food finally arrived it was cold , tough and all together not enjoyable. The whole thing was a disaster from the start. We will not be going back.

Shockingly bad service from a four star hotel. I had my baby shower here yesterday and the service we received was absolutely dire. We had to chase our own hot drinks for our afternoon tea, and ended up getting them towards the end of our meal, no offer of refills. Cold drinks ordered that never materialised, yet was charged on the bill. Sandwiches were dumped at one end of the table and not presented on tiers. Had to ask them to clear the table, which was abandoned half way through after a few trays and plates were taken away so we ended up ourselves moving it onto a clear table. Plenty of staff around they just hide in the corner appearing to do not much at all! We were then presented with our bill and they had the audacity to add a £50 service charge because we were a large party. Asked immediately for it to be removed which then caused huge confusion when receiving our new bill. Very poor indeed for £27.50 a head. Food wise it was ok, standard finger sandwiches. Scones were lovely, jam was more of a compote than a set jam. Plenty of cream etc and the patisserie cakes were pleasant. I certainly won't be returning and have experienced much nicer afternoon teas (and for a lost less money!)

We had breakfast and dinner there. Dinner menu is a bit pricey but food was tasty and staff was very friendly and attentive. Overall our dining experience was great.

Vegan Afternoon Tea. Selection of sandwich filling - 2 Cucumber or Tomato Plain and fruit scones - the outside edge was practically solid. Found it very hard to get the knife through. Selection of Strawberry jam and Blackcurrant jam were generous and good. The alternative for cream was a frothy tasteless liquid. No idea what it was. Selection of cakes was excellent apart from the raspberry mouse that collapsed when I tried to pick it from the cake stand. Very disappointed.

Such a delicious meal….We eat out a lot and this was the best in a long time! Highly recommend the vegetarian pithivier!

We treated ourselves to a Sunday Lunch at the Bowood Hotel. We chose to go with a mains and a pudding and had full roast dinners followed by Eton Mess. The staff were prompt and friendly. The food was really nice. We had a coffee on the veranda afterwards and then went for a nice walk around the grounds.

Lovely Scones and Cream Tea, nice surroundings. Champagne added to the occasion.

Great food and wonderful service.

Never been there , don't think I'll bother after reading the bad reviews ,and a metal staple in the tea .staff member should have been fired ,or even arrested.

Booked for 2pm afternoon tea. When we arrived I asked for the sandwiches to be on brown bread but was told that they were already prepared. We then waited 40 minutes before the food was served despite there only being a few customers present. 40 minutes to plate up a few prepared finger sandwiches four scones, a pot of jam and cream and some cakes. Really!!!

Outstanding food, and impeccable, attentive service from the friendly staff. Highly recommended.

Really enjoyed the afternoon tea the only thing I will say is we would of enjoyed less of the scones and more of the patisserie cakes. And it would of been nice to have more tea offered half way through we ran out.

The food was ecellent, my guests were very happy, the staff were friendly and I look forward to going again

Sluggish service, otherwise about ok

Very nice food, but limited menu.

too much cringe, i had diarrhoea after

Lovely location, nice restaurant setting. Food good and value for money. The service on the other hand was extremely poor - lots of staff around but not focusing on customers ( too busy chatting with each other). We waited half an hour and had to ask a waiter to clear our table and bring our desserts. Then went to the lounge for coffee and digestifs but had to go to the bar to order it. On our way out there was no one at the reception desk to give us our coats, we had to find someone to help. We observe too many members of staff but not well supervised. We expected to have a nicer experience than we did considering it was Bowood. This was our first dining experience and unsure if we will return.