The Chequers Inn in Hart

The owners and restaurant staff were very welcoming and friendly. It’s a really lovely place in beautiful surroundings with a great atmosphere. The food was excellent and outstanding value, highly recommended.

Great. Didn't eat there. Know the place from my past. Went in to see how it was still.

Is it a pub. Is it a fish Resteraunt. Is it a gastro pub… ? Hard to say. 3 menus that don’t fit together. A ceiling that drips warm water on you “yes, it is annoying, isn’t it sir” and… Hits of the Shows, 1950s edition on the speakers. 10% compulsory tip and no umbrella offered for the free shower. Would not return.

A relaxed atmosphere, charming staff and beautiful food.

We visited for a celebratory meal last night. All three of us chose grilled sardines as starters, at £9.50. They were very nice and served with delicious fresh bread and butter. For the main course I chose the roast duck, which was delicious and was a generous portion size. But the addition of sauté potatoes and green beans brought the price to £29.45. My brother had the liver, bacon, and mash (£19.50), a fairly small portion, but reported as "very nice." My wife chose the prawn curry with rice and poppadoms (£21) and said it was "delicious." Dessert was homemade cheesecake (£6.95) for two of us; absolutely delicious, the best cheesecake I've ever had, and a generous portion. The other dessert was creme brulee, also £6.96, and very nice. A bottle of good quality merlot at £29.95 accompanied the meal. All in all a delicious and satisfying meal but at a high price even by local standards. So, why only 3 stars not 4 or 5? That's because the evening got off to a poor start. We had chosen to eat at a pub so we could enjoy a pint of beer first, but only one of the 3 handpulls was in use, serving rather tired and flat Badger Fursty Ferret. Serving beer correctly is just as important as wine (Tom Kerridge takes great pride in serving top-notch cak ales in his premises). Also, most restaurants now provide chilled tap water as a matter of course or on request. Here, we requested water but it was brought to us tepid, and we had to ask for ice.

One of the best meals I've had in a pub for ages

Recently revisited with new owners. Menu the same but high quality. Waiters and staff remain and all very organised and polite. I tried the sardines and Skate wing. Both excellently cooked and fresh.

A delicious lunch with friendly staff and a lovely atmosphere. Well worth a visit.

The liver and bacon was delicious and hot. The large prawn curry was also delicious. Unfortunately we were sat near a very loud man who wanted everyone to hear his conversation. Great service.

One of the best pub food places in the uk I would say .

Excellent food, excellent service, and a fabulous atmosphere.

This is an excellent restaurant, the food is delicious and staff are very helpful and friendly. Plenty of fish dishes and specials, the portions are generous and each dish was tasty.

Fish is fantastic, but the side dishes aren't as good and expensive. very grumpy lady , every time we've been ! spoils it slightly.

I live in London but grew up locally and always look forward to coming back and eating here. The food is fantastic, a wide range of options. No issues with vegetarian food - my brother is vegetarian and loves the options. The pub is cosy with a wood burning fire in winter, and the staff have always been super friendly to us.

Expensive gastro pub, but good food. I had the grilled fish which was done really well. The old pub look gave a lovely homely feel. We were sat near the huge fireplace which was lovely on a cold winter's day.

First of all: the food is delicious. The pub is very snug, but sad to say that the staff are very selective of whom to be friendly towards. Unbeknown to us, we obviously did not fit the criteria. We just visited to stop off for a quick lunch. My son asks for the bill, we need to pay at the bar, not the other guests. Very rude. We did not feel welcome. It's interesting that you can afford this in the middle of nowhere.

Fantastic food and service, a lovely

Lovely pub and restaurant with an emphasis on seafood. Great menu all cooked beautifully.

We had a gorgeous family celebration meal here, the waiter was attentive and humorous in the right way, the food delicious and they made every effort for my partner to have a wonderful birthday meal.

The food is generally good, but like a number of other reviewers here, we were all struck by the rudeness of two of the four staff who served us. Those two staff seemed to hold all four of us at various times in contempt for merely making enquiries about the menu or following up on orders. Equally oddly, looking at the reviews, this is clearly a pattern that’s been there a long time without any desire to address it. Perhaps, as someone else has noted here, they’re aiming for a Fawlty Towers vibe, although it wasn’t a joke which worked for us.

Very crampt and dark. I had sea bass risotto. Fish was good but risotto was lumpy, not light and fluffy

Nice meal in smart relaxing setting. Our dover sole and skate wing were spot on. Good service from costa.

Had a fab Sunday lunch. Thoroughly recommend

Love it here. Delicious food, great service, lovely seating area and beautiful location. Even the drive there is stunning!

Lovely people serving fab food. The fish menu is extensive but we love their sirloin steak; it is just the best steak around. Recommend their moules starter, and the white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake is to die for.

My friends &i had a very enjoyable experience the service was good & pleasant. One fault 2 of my family had prawns as their main course which was very small we thought.But i would go again.

Wonderful village pub/restaurant set in old English countryside, the bits hidden between motorways and major roads. The pub is a beautifully appointed, with wood panelling internally, a sumptious conservetory and a big garden. It lets itself down a little by having food that's OK, but not great. The menu choices are good though. Don't expect to get burgers or ham, egg and chips here. Also check the menu. Some dishes come as complete meals, where others need to have vedg or salads added as side dishes. There are quite a few fish choices, if you're into seafood.

Highly recommend the fish special menu. A great dining experience.

Disappointing. Badger Best was very good. Beef stroganoff was very good. Not so the cod and chips. Chips were excellent, petit pois also good, but the fish wasn't cooked and because they didn't do a check back, I'd finished the rest of the meal by the time they came to clear the plates.

Great food and a warm friendly ambience. Very unique experience. Lovely for a special occasion as well as a relaxing lunch or dinner.

We went for a family birthday recently on a sunday. While half of our group that didn’t choose the roasts had no issue with their meals, three of us ordered roast beef- It was delivered stone cold. Meat and yorkshire puddings. So we asked them to reheat. So they took plates and returned with meat 10 minutes later - now hot but yorkies & vegetables stone cold. So we asked for them to be heated. They come back with three barely made yorkies (full of dough and not cooked) and left the cold ones on the plate. The vegetables had to be re-heated. After going here for years and previously when the owners owned the vienna restaurant- we had no problems. But clearly the chef here has no standard of temperature control. It was a spoilt meal on and an elderly ladies birthdays. Staff seemed put out when we asked them to warm it up. So don’t bother with roasts though ala carte meals seemed to be no issue. Deserts were also unimaginative compared to rest of menu. Lovely place though just shame the standards have dropped.

The food is as good as the beer. Or should it be the beer is as good as the food. 2nd time there. Very good food. Peppered steak the best

nice country pub serving excellent food

2/3 stars. The food was delicious - a party of 8 having a mixture of seafood/fish and Beef Wellington. Lovely wine and tableware. Lovely surroundings. What spoilt our experience was that the service was unfriendly and unwelcoming. Most odd. We were a happy family celebrating our son’s 29th which they were aware of. We were seated in a corridor area for service with the tableware counter behind us and continually disrupted by staff going past us to and fro. It was unfortunate but hey ho sometimes one can be unlucky with seating areas. It was the downright unfriendliness - bizarre. We all felt we were an unwelcome nuisance. We enjoyed ourselves because it was a special event and times are too precious together to let that sort of thing impact. Thank you for a lovely meal - hope whatever is affecting staff morale improves.

Very nice food and atmosphere, especially if you like seafood!

Lovely staff - a nice variety of offer on the menu. The Sunday roast was perfect !

I've had several meals here over the years. It's always been good. They love their food here and it shows. It's reassuringly expensive. Lots of seafood specials available. Great to see a seafood paella as a starter! Our last visit was a birthday celebration and there were 16 of us spread across two tables. The restaurant was very busy yet they managed to plate everyone efficiently without a hiccup. Everyone loved the food. Can't wait to go back.

Delicious family lunch on a glorious sunny day. A firm favourite for 40 years.

Vegan-hating pretentious place We stopped here on our hike today. There was nothing on their menu for vegans or vegetarians. We were shocked by their rudeness, unfriendliness and unwillingness to accommodate us. We were repeatedly rejected when we asked if we could adapt anything of the menu. In the end we ate bread, olives and tomatoes which could be nice if they weren’t so rude. When we finished, the waiter asked if we would like to finish our leftover bread with a smirk on his face adding if we would like to see the pudding menu again with a smirk. Something is badly wrong with this place and I am astonished by 5 star reviews here. But one thing is certain: if you are vegans/vegetarians stay away from this place. Because not only you will find nothing to eat, you will also be insulted and mocked for your dietary choices in this place. The picture below what you get if you are vegan. The beer also didn't taste right--they don't know how to look after their ale.

Absolutely love this pub. So cosy with the fire lit. The food is fantastic. Went twice and both times had french onion soup followed by a skate wing. Highly recommend.

Definitely a restaurant and not a pub, beer ok, didn't eat here and there was a pervading smell of fish, staff very friendly.

A great pub/dining room . High quality food and friendly staff. Definitely a place to go back to

Always a pleasure to dine here.

Absolutely wonderful evening spent celebrating after my graduation. Went here on a whim without a booking due to a recommendation from a friend that the beef wellington was exceptional. It did not disappoint, service was excellent, could not fault it, kind, respectful and human. Has an authenticity or genuineness that is missing from most establishments these days. The food is delicious, sourced and created to the highest standard. I wouldn’t normally use this word but ‘superb’ comes to mind. Somewhere that really stands out amongst the mediocre. Thank you.

Food was lovely apart from the brownie. Staff were very friendly and it is a very cosy place. We will return.

Wow … as always: Paul & the Team never fail to deliver the finest menu for miles around. We visited on 29th October. I had the sea bass with mussels and cockles and it was quite frankly the best I have ever had (and I’ve eaten out in some of the finest restaurants worldwide in my former working life). The other half chose the calves liver, which was cooked to perfection and tasted utterly divine. A great choice of side dishes too. Excellent wine menu: glass of champagne followed by a glass of really smooth Rioja, whilst I chose a lovely Provençal rosé. One of my friends had a small wedding reception there a few years’ ago and a sit-down meal for 34, whilst another had a birthday evening with 15 of us there. Again the food was amazing. I always appreciate the attentiveness and efficiency of the staff: well trained & friendly. Thanks again The Chequers: we’ll be back soon. (Cathy L) 💕

Brilliant place. Staff are great and very friendly. The beer was spot on. The food is superb, and not silly price's. Great for a night out, and a meal. If your in the area it's a great place to stop at.

Pretty pub, food OK, service not. Poor lass on first day messed up order, an hour later reordered, rude (think Fawlty Towers) waiter also failed to get the order right. 3 hour lunch, some had 2 courses, some 1. A great shame, this could, and should, have been much better.

Apart from chap mowing lawn while we tried to have a quiet drink in the garden,it was nice

Delicious meals from an extensive menu

Nice to visit again, must have been 2 years since we were last year. Same great atmosphere, superb menus and kitchen, check the fantastic fish and seafood specials board. Will be back for dinner soon.

I've been to this restaurant twice now and both times, I couldn't book the first time I phoned them. Despite having the diary in front of them, the member of staff said they had to check with the manager before they were allowed to book anyone. I couldn't get the exact time I wanted and was asked to come 15 mins earlier which was fine, but when we arrived, there were plenty of tables free so I'm not sure why this happened. On both occasions, we were told it was because they were busy, but both times there were plenty of tables free that remained free for our entire sitting. This is a minor inconvenience, but I think gives some indication as to how this restaurant is run. When we arrived for our dinner booking, we were given the option of sitting in their lovely conservatory area or inside. I chose inside, purely as there were no other diners in the conservatory and I wanted some ambience. Despite being offered to sit inside, this seemed to cause a bit of awkwardness as the two members of staff around were not allowed to seat us without prior approval of the owner. This meant we were stood in the doorway for an awkward few minutes while a stone faced lady (the owner) got around to speaking to her colleagues and selecting a location for us to sit. Again, a minor inconvenience but felt like an unnecessarily awkward opening to the night (particularly when there were plenty of tables empty and already made up). When it came time to take our order, the owner took this and she could not have been more functional and cold in doing so. My partner was deliberating between dishes and she just stood there in silence waiting for him. As the owner, I thought this would have been the perfect opportunity to be friendly and talk about the various specials they had on offer etc. It made for a really awkward moment and I would have expected more warmth from the owner herself. Overall, the setting is lovely and the main courses are very nice. We don't have a lot of nice food eateries in this area, so this does stand out. Unfortunately, the service is a bit 'off' in multiple ways. In addition, the side vegetable dishes are incredible basic. You pay £4-4.50 for a side of green beans, wilted spinach or 'minted' peas, and there is no seasoning or anything on them - just boiled plain veg. They are clearly trying to be a fine dining restaurant with the white tablecloths etc. but it just doesn't quite measure up.

Fabulous , Skate and Dover sole ,😋 . . Wednesday evening and fully booked...

What a surprising find, for once road diversions were very welcome. Beautiful setting and the food was delicious. The staff were very friendly and polite. A mainly seafood menu with other food choices, the interior was and exterior were clean and warm with the terrace having a grapevine covering the ceiling. Fabulous ace. choices

We visited Chequers pub on Sunday for lunch. My sister & I are trained high class chefs, she has visited twice before & has rated the food & pub very highly. Unfortunately we did not have the same experience, I was really looking forward to going, my roast was disappointing. The roast potatoes were very hard & greasy, the veg wasn’t very exciting, tasteless stuffing. When we came to leave, we all said Goodbye no one acknowledged us. Definitely won’t be returning, very disappointing.

Visited The Chequers for a birthday treat. Lovely menu, specialising in fish but with classic meat dishes too. My mussels and calves liver were delicious. Service first class.

Had a lovely business lunch here under the vines. Sea Bass was first class.

This is a lovely country pub. Our son who is an Air cadet was on the nearby base doing a course. We come from Eastleith and were at a loose end because it was 4:30 and we needed to kill an hour and a half before picking Freds up. We decided to find a local pub and we found this great place tucked away in the Hampshire countryside. We first visited on Saturday, we had a chat with the kind landlord and ordered some drinks. Sat outside and enjoyed the scenery. On Sunday we returned for the same reason, waiting for Fred to finish his course at the RAF. The landlord walked past us and said a kind hello. We were so impressed he remembered us from the day before, it really does show great customer service. Highly recommended as an off the beaten track British Pub! I used to be a cellar man and know how to keep beer. The beer is fresh and clean. On Saturday I had a lovely clean pint of Firsty Ferret. On Sunday I realised they had Peroni on deaught. I am def going back! Any pub with cold clean Peroni on draught gets my vote!

Great. Will visit again. Thank you.

Superb pub / restaurant serving excellent food and professional in every way. Well.done

Fantastic Sunday lunch, thank you very much.

A great family friendly pub in a beautiful setting serving excellent quality food.

Superb food and service as always ....highly recommend!!!

I loved it great food and service though it was predominantly fish, very limited vegetarian mains if you're vegetarian. fabulous sweets.definately worth a visit

Very nice pub with very good food. It is pricey, but at least the portion sizes are generous. Excellent fish dishes!

Charming restaurant, certainly not a pub!! Very poor attitude by the eastern European staff, made to feel very unwelcome, sorry, We drop in!! certainly won't be visiting again.....

Was a quick drink but the place seemed nice

Fabulous menu and the food was the best meal of this year!! Fish all cooked to perfection....Excellent staff too.

Quite possibly the rudest people Iv ever met, booked a table for my mum and daughter here today for Mother’s Day, had popped in the week before to look at the menu. Arrived today very rude greeting if you can even call it a greet, menu was totally different, nothing any of us would eat and definitely not for my 11 year old daughter and none of us our fussy eaters and virtually eat anything. Infact this is the only review Iv ever written in my life because I am so upset and disgusted with the service we received today. We had one drink and left because I refused to give my money to such rude arrogant people that have ruined our Mother’s Day leaving us with no lunch. A smile and simple hello goes a long way!

The front door was open so one of my walking party entered to enquire if they were serving drinks, coffee mainly. It was about 1030 so perhaps a bit early to open. But no drinks available. Once my friend was outside the door was locked. Hopefully service is better during opening hours.

A lovely setting in the countryside. The food was excellent and the staff were very attentive, friendly and professional.

After After 5 mile walk and extremely wet we popped into the restaurant to ask if you could offer take away coffee. Anyone would think I stepped in something nasty, the disdain on the waiters face as he looked down his nose was quite frankly un called for and rude. Shame on you.

Excellent food and atmosphere, everybody friendly and very polite. Lovely venue which we came across by accident and are glad we did.

Outstanding food in a beautiful, charming and welcoming pub , highly recommended

Taken as a surprise thourly enjoyed the roast beef and all the trimmings followed by a Lemon Tart um

Cant beat it. Friendly staff. Brilliant booze and food

Famous fish menu. Great service. We will be back that's for sure!

The Chequers is one of our local pubs and generally the food is good but after taking a friend there for lunch a couple of days ago it will be a while before I return. We ordered the sizzling prawns which were completely tasteless - anaemic looking over cooked prawns swimming in garlic butter. In my opinion they should be served shell on with a chopped parsley garnish. The waiter asked how they were but when I offered my opinion he couldn’t have been less interested. My main course of mussels was nice enough but my friend’s scallops were covered in cheese sauce which overwhelmed the delicate taste of the scallops. All very disappointing (and expensive) and made worse by the fact that they are clearly not interested in any sort of constructive criticism. If they had even taken the time to acknowledge our opinion I would not feel it necessary to post this review. We have a great choice of pubs in the area and The Chequers would do well to remember this.

The pub is very snug, but sad to say that the staff are very selective of whom to be friendly towards. Unbeknown to us, we obviously did not fit the criteria. We just visited to stop off for a quick drink before embarking on our journey back home to Canterbury, as my husband managed this pub years back (2003) but this proved to be a massive mistake, we were short of being thrown out! The young lady who showed us in said the bar was full, and offered us a table. We sat and she treated us like peasants who were begging for food. She took our drink order and we didn't see her for the next 15 minutes. Her colleague came to ask if we were ready to order, hubby mentions we just wanted to pop in for a drunk but was told the bar was fully booked, and he just smirks! Very rude. My son asks for the bill, he smirks again and says we need to pay at the bar 🙄 The one that was fully booked... We make our way to the bar, finally a friendly face. The barman says there are plenty of seats to please make ourselves comfortable. That is all we actually needed.. a welcoming smile but by this point we are all (including my 2 teenage boys) feeling pretty awful about ourselves and ready to head home. A very very bad experience to say the least, unfortunately i felt it was racially motivated as we are a mixed race family. My husband was extremely disappointed as he had so many fond memories working at this Inn, so always looked back with sweetness, but sadly the friendly, inviting, welcoming atmosphere no longer exists to people like us 😢 He was heartbroken, I was angry and my boys were left feeling uncomfortable and self conscious. Horrible way for anyone to be treated.

Reasonable food. Expensive. Pleasant atmosphere.

Traditional and cosy English pub

Excellent food. Cosy atmosphere.

Excellent food. The outside eating area is covered should it rain. They accommodated our dog stroller and provided a water bowl for her. Will return for more scrumptious food.

Booked a "restaurant" table but were placed at a high table by the bar, which was a very busy service area, we were told we couldn't move despite at the time lots of other tables being free. This was to celebrate our tenth anniversary and we specifically asked for a good location when we booked so this was very disappointing to start with. You should make people aware of this when they book, the seats are really not very comfortable at all and I am sure more elderly people would really struggle. We had also asked if we could turn up early and have drinks which was "no problem", however after 15 minutes the proprietor asked "what would you like" to which we said we were just having drinks first, she said "well don't wait too long or you will miss your slot". I don't really know what that meant, but then and when ordering she was very terse and abrupt. Not rude, but her bedside manner could be vastly improved, I like a smile and someone personable when I am paying top dollar for a meal. The food is the strong point here, no complaint on quality and indeed value for money, given the quality, and that's why I have given a four star and not a two. Also had a quality St Emillion which wasn't marked up through the roof (£32 versus £18 high street). Some of the waiters need to know the menu better, with a great selection of specials on fish you would expect them to know a bit about the recipe and the sauces as we heard one table ask and the waitress didn't have a clue. (Buerre Noir is NOT a sauce!) Great food and lovely setting, but don't come here if you want friendly. Award goes to the owners for the most miserable landlords in the country Not even a goodbye or thankyou when we left. It's the small things that make a difference. Won't be coming back as it's also a £20 taxi ride from Farnham so not a cheap night out.

Didn’t start well and got even worse, ending with the second worst meal I’ve ever been served (the first was raw chicken) and an early departure! When we arrived the surly landlord hadn’t booked us in under the correct name and this apparently was our fault for not enunciating properly on the telephone! Another alarm bell was sliced bread served in a plastic bag - this was to accompany a £9 starter! For starter we had the sizzling king prawns (hard beyond belief and not thoroughly de-veined) and paella (overcooked rice and hard unidentifiable fish bits) which were disappointing but at least edible. Main courses were beef Wellington and turbot with seafood risotto - both over £20 each. The beef Wellington was OK, if a little dull, but the vegetables accompanying it (extra charge) were clearly left over from yesterday’s Sunday lunch. It was the turbot that was disgusting and inedible. The “risotto” was actually the paella from the starter but now even worse - it held it’s shape from the serving spoon (reminding me of school meals served with an ice-cream scoop!) and stank to high-heaven of fish, not pleasant! The turbot looked sad - the flesh was over cooked, but the skin not crisped (it had the texture of a rubber chicken prop) and the entire thing was leaking oil all over the plate. After bravely trying it, my instincts told me the whole thing was rotten and I’d do best to avoid it, so I did. I was offered an alternative, but I had no confidence in the kitchen by this point so I declined and asked to leave, offering to pay for the starters and drinks. The landlord (who said my main course looked delicious and had been left out for him to eat later!!) attempted to charge me for the other main course, which had not been eaten, so at this point we left - never to return. So disappointing! I wish I’d taken photos, but I was too shocked to think of that.

Great atmosphere and some fantastic looking fish dishes.

Do yourself a favour, take your business elsewhere! I’ve been visiting the Chequers for many years. Honestly, the service has always been pretty poor and lacking atmosphere. At times it had a Fawlty Towers feel about it, but it hasn’t even got that going for it now. My wife and I had booked a table for lunch for my birthday. The front of house staff didn’t seem to know what they were doing and a complete lack of leadership from the so called, landlord and landlady. Shame, the food is OK and the building nice, but that is simply not enough. As a result, this is an extremely overpriced lacklustre experience. We left early and went elsewhere. Read the reviews…. You’ll see a pattern in the quality of service and the shocking lack of hospitality skills from the owners. We always try to support local independent busines, but when their service is this poor, frankly you’re made to feel like an inconvenience. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Had a fantastic time in this pub, staff professional food and drink first class, a really good menu plenty to choose from plus a specials board.

Very nice place and very fine cuisine with interestingwine list. I certainly recommend this restaurant.

Wow. Very cool spot and the menu was fab

Average food at high prices. Nothing wrong at all, but nothing great either.

A lovely village pub/restaurant with traditional decor and pretty garden with plenty outdoor seating. The food was very good, however it was a bit pricey and we were all a bit disappointed that you had to pay extra for all the vegetables, salad and potatoes, makes you feel a bit like you are being ripped off. The service was also very good, so I think as long as you are aware of the extras it is definitely worth a visit.

Lovely food and very friendly and efficient waiters. Going again for lunch this Sunday!

The 3 stars is for the manager. The food and the stuff were great. However upon leaving some guy from the bar shouted at us if we paid? The hell! Can’t you ask your collages first?

One of the best around .. very good food and wine selection, good service and pleasant t surroundings. Not the easiest to get to but perhaps better for it.

To the usual great standards, had the Cromer Crab and King Prawn Salad, very good, one of those places you dine at and they make it hard to decide as the choices are all appealing.

Lovely lunch!! Crab & prawn cocktail delicious & hubby had ery tasty moules!! Great staff, service and safe environment. Thank you

Lovely staff serving excellent food

Excellent food - fish speciality - gr8 service.

Excellent lovely food and staff