The Guinness Arms in Forest Heath

First time here, decided to finish the week off with a roast dinner so booked to go late afternoon/early evening. I ordered the Roast Turkey, my wife had Roast Pork and they doubled up a kids sausage and mash for my 13 year old son to an adults portion. They had run out of Turkey but offered me chicken, which was fine. When the food arrived we both commented on the amount of food on the plate, a really good amount of food. We both agreed it was the best roast dinner we have had from eating out, there was a huge amount of meat, the Yorkshire pudding was enormous and it all tasted great. My son was happy with his sausage and mash and all our starters and desserts were equally as good. A great ambience in the restaurant and the staff were really friendly and helpful, we also never felt rushed. Will definitely be back.

This pub has been extensively renovated and has a beautiful garden. The staff are friendly and the menu has a lot of choice. We have been a couple of years ago and didn’t have the best meal but as it was a sunny evening and the garden is lovely we decided to give it another try. I really wish we hadn’t gone. The patio wasn’t clean, my dog was constantly trying to lick old food from the patio and it needed sweeping. My husband ordered the venison burger thinking it would be amazing as it’s from the estate and I ordered the fish and chips as I needed gluten free. We were disappointed the minute it arrived but really tried to be positive and polite. I’m sorry to say it was awful, and not worthy of the price being charged, I have had far better quality from a fast food restaurant. We didn’t even have a scrap of garnish or salad on the plate, the burger came in the wrong bun and the presentation was dire. I’ve not had such a low quality meal in ages especially as the food at Elveden courtyard is so good. When paying for our meal we did explain that we had found the food poor but nothing was really said by the staff so we left. So £40 later we have learnt a hard lesson and we won’t be returning.

I’ve visited this place several times over the past few years and have recommended it to family and friends. We’ve always had great service and the food has been excellent. Today we visted again and we’d been looking forward to it all week. I was honestly shocked at how poor the quality of food was. I don't know if it has changed hands or there is a new chef but my god have the standards dropped. I ordered the roast beef (£19), when my meal arrived (in good time) I was presented with a childs roast dinner, it was the only way to describe it. Three small slices of the fattest roast beef, half a carrot, 2 pieces of mange tout, spoonful of cabbage and three very small roast pots. I am happy to spend money on good food but you couldn’t justify this plate of food for £8 let alone £19. The Yorkshire pudding was something else, when I say flat as a pancake I mean a pancake. The lady on the table next to us thought it was a large mushroom on her plate (summed it up well). In the past the Yorkshire puddings have been huge, but this was shocking, a chef with any care would have never let something of this quality leave the kitchen. Flat, tasteless, lifeless. I wish I had taken a picture. Everyone around us was getting the same so it wasn’t just our table, you could see people were not finishing their meals. Luckily for the staff I’m not confrontational so I didn’t complain, we were with family who due to illness hadn’t been well enough to leave the house for the past month. I didn’t want to cause a scene and what comes out of the kitchen is no fault of the teenage waiter, he shouldn’t get an earful from me. A real shame, will be interesting to see if this place stays open with the continued quality.

Early Saturday evening Meal, The starts of Artichoke Bruschetta, cauliflower wings and scotch eggs were very nice and well presented. The disappointment was the fish and chunky chips, my batter was very dry and tasteless as was the small portion of fish which fell apart. The chunky chips were under cooked and hard in the middle, the tartare sauce looked good but again tasteless the mushy peas were nice. The best looking and reported tasting great was the Asian Salad. The scampi looked good I tried two both were over cooked. The service was good throughout. Although nice atmosphere but when a large long table came in very noisy. Nice seating area in the garden.

We were really looking forward to this visit, the pub looks gorgeous and the atmosphere is peaceful outside. The menu looks great too. However we were very disappointment. I’m not if this is usual or because busy. It took 1 hour and 30 minutes before we got our mains and the burgers and fish were over cooked and inedible for the adults and children. It was all just very dry. The kids couldn’t even wait for dessert as everything else took so long. The pub would have never known as no one ever asked how the meal was and we were following up with our meals and drinks all evening. If you need another drink while eating, I wouldn’t bother asking waiters just go to the bar yourself otherwise yours drinks will take 30 minutes to come.

Staying at a nearby campsite and chose the Guinness arms based on location and menu. Easy online booking, plenty of parking and a well decorated venue. Very clean and welcoming place, with a touch of class. Menu was ample and the food was great. The waitress was knowledgable and friendly and attentive. Price was fair although I still dont like the service charge being added to the bill as optional, as they know most people won’t request its removal. On this occasion we let it stand as it was less than we were going to tip. Great venue, great food, great staff. Go on treat yourself

My wife asked mentonwrite this as she had a great ine. This is her review: This was a midweek visit for lunch with a friend, and the admosphere was relaxing. We sat in the window and had a nice view over the fields. i had a burger, and my friend had the lamb wrap, both very generous portions. The meat was delicious, and both were served with chips. The offer is leaning towards a gastropub and, although not the cheapest, very much value for money. The staff were professional and efficient; there when you need them but not overdoing it. She concluded with: I will bring my husband here as soon as I can. So I can't wait!

We booked (very late) for Sunday lunch, having had one here before and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were warmly welcomed and shown to our table in the snug…the main restaurant was fully booked. Having eaten in both the main restaurant and the snug previously, we prefer the snug, as there seems to be a little more elbow room around the tables…this may just be a perceptive thing and not actually the case. We each ordered the pork roast and a couple of soft drinks. Our food wasn’t long in appearing and was absolutely lovely. We did notice that there seemed to be less meat than the last time we ate here, but this is likely to be due to the sheer cost of living these days. Irrespective of this, the quality of our meals was superb and worth the trip over. The service was excellent and quick and overall, this was a really pleasant experience and one we will no doubt repeat in the not too distant future.

Went for Sunday lunch today was a bit apprehensive following some of the reviews on here but shouldn’t have been. Never been to the pub before. Lovely decor and tables nicely spaced with really comfy chairs. Bright and airy. Also a lovely garden area. No starters and we all had roast beef. Have to say it’s one of the best roasts I’ve had in a long time. Meat perfectly cooked, good Yorkshire pudding and crispy roast potatoes. Also a great selection of veg, red and green cabbage, mashed swede, cheesy leeks and good gravy. Decent sized portion but not overwhelming. Very tasty. 3 desserts were all good too. Good service not too slow but also not intrusive. My advice - give it a go for yourself

Luxurious tranquil stylish comfortable clean and I would absolutely recommend. My first time here but my husband and sons had previously visited, and went on about how lovely the place is. The decor is stunning and lots of nature themes which is definitely my cup of tea. The room was spotless and dog friendly with good complimentary beverage selection also complimentary toiletries including toothbrush toothpastes razor etc. A really handy nice touch for anyone forgetting an essential toiletry item. The bed was super comfy and the shower excellent. The staff so friendly efficient and food delicious. The staff made us all feel so welcome at dinner time and breakfast also. They also welcomed and fussed our dog which seemed to settle her which she usually struggles with in terms of visiting a new place. Great choice of music in the restaurant and the breakfast /coffee delicious. Lovely spacious beer garden clean and lots of dog bowls and water.We used the bunny guinness room. Can honestly say it's one of the prettiest most stylish places I've ever resided in. The room was cleaned and tidied beautifully while we were out on our second day. We didn't expect it but was lovely to return to a beautifully tidy organised room. Really hope to return to this little gem in the future.

Family Birthday/ EasterMeal. Very friendly staff. Warm welcome on arrival. Nothing to much trouble children well catered for.

Lovely pub and garden. However not good value. Starters were good. Mains average. We waited ages for our starter and much longer for the main. We arrived at 2.00pm and left at 3.30. Some of the staff didn’t care less but a couple were polite enough. Pub wasn’t that busy. Been before for Sunday lunch and it was better. Would recommend for maybe a drink and a sit in the garden which was large.

We went for a birthday party there was 12 of us. The service was slow, menu was bizarre to say the least. Venison/ beef was overcooked. We had to constantly ask for accompaniments that were missing from the table, we provided a birthday cake, but we had to ask for side plates. A 10% surcharge was added to the bill, so we payed extra for poor service and overcooked food.

Fantastic pub lovely staff food excellent and for what you pay for it’s not half bad . Will definitely return thank you for having us

This pub restaurant is very nice. We came in for Mothers Day. We ordered the duck and toasted focacia starters. Both were good although the hummus was only plain. I didnt feel the roast was as good as last time but it was plentiful. Love the cheesy leeks but the swede and red cabbage werent that hot and the gravy was very runny. They were very busy. The Guinness sticky toffee pudding was lovely. For a Sunday roast, I disliked having a chunky service charge added to the bill. The young woman serving us was very polite and helpful but it did push the bill up to £109 for three of us which for a two course Sunday roast without alcohol was a bit steep.

Went for dinner Sunday evening and was pleased to see they were still serving the Sunday roast. Food came out and it looked amazing however the food was cold! I mentioned this to the waiter and he asked how my daughter’s food was. My daughter said it wasn’t very warm but she would continue to eat it ( they don’t like making a fuss ) however I wasn’t prepared to eat cold food that was costing nearly £20 a head. The waiter took my food away and he came back with a plate that was very hot and food that was marginally warmer. If they are serving Sunday roast on an evening you should still expect that you will receive hot food!

Came to the Arms for a family Roast. Ordered the Beef which was very chewy and gristly. Really poor cut of Beef. Had Pork the time before in December, which was far better. Still lack in the vegetable area, albeit the cheesy leeks are nice. Think the oversize Yorkshire is a visual trick to take it away from the volume of veg you get. Of course I’d come again, but probably avoid the Beef.

Being residents of icklingham village we were naturally delighted when The Guinness Arms finally reopened after a fabulous refurbishment. We eagerly booked a meal and we were certainly impressed but unfortunately it was a false dawn because things rapidly went downhill. We gave the pub numerous changes hoping that things would improve but they continued to deteriorate and over and over again we got the impression that the staff simply could not be bothered and we were not welcome. However we decided to try again when the latest management team took over running the pub. They told us that they were fully aware of the poor reputation the pub had earned and assured us that things had changed so we decided to book New Years Eve with them. On New Years Eve it soon became apparent that nothing had in fact changed. The warning signs were there when we entered the restaurant because there were only ten other diners, we made the total fourteen. There was absolutely no atmosphere in the restaurant and the fourteen guests soon became twelve and then ten and then six when we left. As for the meal, the food we were presented with was abysmal. I find it difficult to believe that a chief would allow such food to leave the kitchen. I will not deny that the bread we were served was tasty (but no butter knife or side plates were provided until we requested them). The soup was lukewarm and tasteless (no soup spoon either). The meat on our main course was gristly, the oven chips were acceptable but that was really all we could say. All the vegetables were cold. The desert (apple torte with ice-cream) was completely inedible because the pastry was uncooked (the ice-cream was ok). The young staff that served us were very pleasant and worked hard and we would not blame them for the poor quality of the food. We always reward good service but the £45.00 service charge was compulsory (something we had not been told when we booked the meal). We left the restaurant at 10.15 pm using our torch to navigate the dark unlit carpark. Given that the management were aware that they only had bookings for fourteen guests in such a large restaurant on what must be the busiest night of the year for most pubs/restaurants I believe they should have simply cancelled the event. Finally: it was clearly beyond the ability of this restaurant to provide a meal for fourteen guests that had pre-booked weeks in advance, perhaps therefore we should be grateful that they were not fully booked I hesitate to imagine how bad the food would have been then. Such a pity that such a beautiful historic pub is so poorly managed.

We had a fairly large party across all ages for a family lunch on Christmas Eve, the food, level of service and ambiance was just fabulous. We had a very enjoyable meal, food was of a very high standard, the waiting staff could not be more attentive and it felt very festive. Thank you for a lovely lunch.

Last minute booking for 9 of us, we were beautifully accommodated, such a lovely welcoming setting. The food was excellent - between us we probably tasted most meals and they were all incredibly tasty and well presented. The waiting staff were friendly and efficient, coped well with a busy noisy table This place is a real gem and a delightful find. It’s not local to us but we’d drive again to revisit, especially in the summer to enjoy the garden too.

We dropped in …had not booked . ..and although very busy they were pleased to accommodate us ! Good menu …the main meals were both delicious and the correct portion size … We even indulged in a pudding which is most unusual for us . Our waitress was very pleasant and unruffled …and it was pretty busy ! We will go again .

Fantastic lunch, staff were very knowledgeable food was amazing, Lamb rump with red cabbage gel was outstanding and sticky toffee pudding was the best I'd ever had.

Great atmosphere Terrible food, some items on menu unavailable Added service charge without consulting Main course was brought out before starters finished 🤦‍♀️ Great cocktails at the start