The Swan inn in New Forest

Went for Sunday lunch. It was telling that the pub was advertising for cooks, the roast was OK but the gravy tasted like they had gone a bit heavy on the bisto. Service was OK, but you had to order from the bar.

Probably the best service I've ever had. Billy was extremely helpful, telling me multiple places to visit on my trip to the new forest. Cannot recommend more

While the food was served quickly and hot, the overall quality varied. The fish finger sandwiches were dry with bread that didn’t seem fresh, and the onion rings were powdery inside with hardly any onion. The steak was underwhelming, especially for the price. That said, the burger was excellent, and the selection of beers was great. The restaurant itself was spotless and well-maintained. Since the meal my wife and sister have both been poorly who both had the same meal and we believe them being poorly is due to the food eaten.

While the food was served quickly and hot, the overall quality varied. The fish finger sandwiches were dry with bread that didn’t seem fresh, and the onion rings were powdery inside with hardly any onion. The steak was underwhelming, especially for the price. That said, the burger was excellent, and the selection of beers was great. The restaurant itself was spotless and well-maintained. Since the meal my wife and sister have both been poorly who both had the same meal and we believe them being poorly is due to the food eaten.

Food was excellent and came quickly cooked well and served with a smile 😊 They even have nibbles for the dog so he was absolutely spoilt

Just Perfect. Lovely location and local walks followed by the best food and a lovely dog and family friendly environment. The dog had dinner from the dog menu so everyone happy. 10/10

Great Friendly Service from josh. Place was Empty for a Friday Night. Lovely Cosy place for a Drink or Meal. Resonable Prices.

Food fantastic, do visit staff very Freindly. Loverly pub to visit They also have a f beer on tap well worth a visit 10/10 b

We didn't stop for food but pulled into the car park for an emergency. A member of staff came out to check we were OK, he was pleasant and helpful. He bought us out mugs of tea at no cost. If it was all about the staff..they definitely are a credit to the pub

Great food, friendly staff, dog and children friendly, we felt welcome, manager and staff very helpful, beer, especially the porter was great. Food delicious.

I had the worst Sunday lunch that I have ever been served. The meat was as tough as leather in places, the potatoes, parsnip and carrot were barely roasted and just covered in some herby mix (which had far too much pepper in it) to make it look half decent. The only other vegetable was a small amount of tender stem broccoli which was fine. I must say the Yorkshire pudding was good. They were obviously short of staff. There was a long queue at the bar when we arrived and nobody to guide us towards the table we had reserved. We queued at the bar along with many others that were equally confused. We decided to grab a menu and order straight away as the queue was taking so long. When we finally got to the front, we were told what table we were at and after ordering the food and just about to pay we were told there would be a 40 minute wait for the food. By this time it was too late to go elsewhere and other people in the queue had mentioned that everywhere else was full, so we stayed. We did eat most of the food as we were very hungry due to the clocks changing, but the meal was awful. The staff were trying as hard as they could and did give a partial refund when we complained about the food, but I wouldn’t visit again.

A great hidden gem of a pub, stopped off on our way to Barton on Sea with 4 small dogs, staff were incredibly kind, helpful, and hospitable. Food was amazing. We go to the new forest regularly and this is our new favourite spot and will return. Highly recommend a visit. A huge thank you to all the staff.

Had a really nice meal today with my family. Food was reasonably priced and good. Staff were excellent, so friendly and couldn’t do enough for us. Atmosphere was good and relaxed. Great place with kids and dogs. Recommend.

Food was OK, but had to wait 45min and the place was empty. It's a little tired, but ok 👍

A very nice traditional pub in New Forest with a huge history over a 100 years old. Food is lovely and fresh. The staff was very welcoming and professional. Definitely recommend!

So happy to see a non alcoholic lager on draft! perfect pub to find after a walk in the woods

Often stop here after travelling home from London. Great quality food served quickly. The quality is excellent. Staff very friendly. Adequate parking outside. Something different happens each evening. Folk music when I last visited,! Lovely atmosphe in re and great place to come home to.

Went for Sunday Roast lunch 22nd Sept. Unfortunately very disappointed. Must have been off day in kitchen. Broccoli Spears very hard and dry, couldnt even cut through with Knife and Fork. Roast potatoes not cooked throughout propetly, very hard on inside. Presentation was good, unfortunately quality of cooking let the meal down.

Had lunch here today. New waiter, who was lovely, but hadn't been told of menu / offer changes. Sat ourselves down as no one around. Once greeted, we had to ask for the specials board, on ordering the offer of two mains for £24... was told it wasn't available as had finished a few days ago... even though there a huge board advertising it in the restaurant, and outside by the road! We had the sharing special of baked camembert, chicken coupons, calamari garlic bread and chicken wings. Ahh... not quite cooked camembert, garlic bread was actually slices of toast with garlic on! Goujons were fine, but the rest had been dropped in the deep fat fryer and forgotten about. So sad... nicely cooked, some lemon wedges and a salad garnish, it would have been delightful. Don't think anyone out of the 6 of us will be rushing back anytime soon!

Very disappointing. Saturday lunchtime and it was fairly quiet which, perhaps, should have been a warning sign. A simple order of steak sandwich and chicken salad took over 30 mins to arrive. The steak was cold. The promised cheese sauce and gravy were nowhere to be seen. When asked for, they came having been heated to luke warm in a microwave. The "caramelised onions" were a thin spread of chutney. The chicken salad was listed as having tenderstem broccoli, which it didn't. Roasted peppers? Also no. Spinach? Nope! The menu is quite specific about the dishes they serve. Unfortunately the staff treat the menu as a vague suggestion of what they might serve you. Certainly won't be returning.

Popped in after a long dog walk and were greeted by a wonderful dog friendly atmosphere, helpful staff and great food. Thank you looking after us and the dog so well.

Food was lovely and the staff were fantastic Always stop here when I am this way very worth a visit

Lunchtime visit, good food options whether a salad, sandwich or something more substantial. Popular with locals and walkers

Quick lunchtime pint en route to the forest. Polite staff, nice beer garden and the food.looked good. Trad british pub grub.

My partner and I stopped here with our two young children with the intention of having dinner. When we arrived no staff greeted us at all. We weren't sure if we were supposed to pick a table or wait to be seated so we stood by the bar waiting for staff and nobody acknowledged us. We decided to pick a table and my partner went to change our baby. He found the male and female toilets but no baby change/disabled, so once again had to wait at the bar to ask for help. It turns out there is a disabled toilet with baby change with the other facilities, it is just not labeled at all. Inside the toilet, the nappy bin was over flowing. We looked on the app for food options and half of the menu was unavailable so we decided to leave. Upon leaving my partner needed to put something in the external bin which was covered in large maggots. Unfortunately, we would not be returning based on our very short experience.

Popped in to the swan as it was on our list of places we hadn't been in the forest. Used the app as instructed on the various signs around the pub . Nearly every option was greyed out , so went for basic chips and sandwich type meals. 40 mins passed and our drinks hadn't even turned up . So had to go in to find out what's going on . Apparently the app doesn't tell the bar that drinks are ordered (pretty pointless app) . When asked about food we was told there are staff shortages and apparently out off food too. Not great being lunch time on a hot summers day during school holidays. At the least they could tell customers this upon arrival to save disappointment. On a positive note The food we did receive was good 👍

I was reccomended the vegetarian sausages but they were nearly impossible to eat so hard and dry. The roast was good fir my husband and the rest of my meal was good enough.

Disappointing lunch. I always drive past the Swan and it looked so inviting so stopped as coming back from London. Shortage of staff signs around. Waited nearly 1 hour for normal pub food and when it arrived it wasn’t great. Extremely salty gammon, broken egg on top and undercooked peas.

Great day at the Swan pub for the bank holiday BBQ and great Band Human Radio. Great singer! Was a lovely atomosphere and great food

Reasonably priced food in a typical country pub. Located on a busy road so can be tricky to access and thus also not the quietest. However the staff are incredibly helpful, friendly and welcoming. Dogs welcome too.

Waited 1 hr and 30 mins for food in an almost empty restaurant. 2 meals of the 6 came out stone cold and the remaining 4 were going to be 20 minutes later. We were not kept up to date with the progress off the food even after questioning the time taken multiple times. Eventually left without anyone eating after 1hr and 30+ minutes. Terrible Service Terrible Food Do not recommend

We stopped by just on the off chance and were so glad we did. The atmosphere is great. We ordered an array of food from fish and chips, lamb shank and triple roast dinners. The food quality was fantastic and unlimited roasties and Yorkshires finished it off well. It was that good we had 3rd's of the Yorkshires. To top it off there was a bouncy castle for the kids in the garden. Thank you very much to all the staff for an amazing meal.

Really good for kids. Big outdoor area which was good for the kids to run inThe food was good and reasonably priced, the drinks are a bit pricey but that seems to be standard these days in most pubs. The staff were very nice and helpful.

Booked a table here the other day on their website, got to the pub and was told the kitchen had just shut(at 7pm 🤷‍♂️), and I shouldn't have been able to book, and even if they opened kitchen again, it was a very limited menu due to issues?!. Fairy apologetic about it, but still very annoying, had to go find somewhere to eat!. Suggest you sort your website out so this can't happen to others.

Brilliant food and great service as usual. The steak sandwich was absolutely delicious. Easy and free parking also , located in a convenient place. Thank you to the team 😁

We drove past this pub because of some of the reviews however after the pub up the road had stopped serving food half an hour earlier than advertised we ended up here and what a pleasant surprise !!! Food was fantastic, kids ate for £1 , a previous review said traditional pub grub and you get what you pay for but honestly I am fussy and I had a chicken & bacon focaccia sandwich with rocket & sundried tomato salad for £9.50 !!! Very impressed and would come again

Great food. Good value. Large sunny garden. Dog friendly. Visited August 24. Really nice food and friendly staff. Had the steak sandwich. Was absolutely lovely. 😊

On ordering my food there was a problem with having gravy on the side. Got back to the table took a sip my pint and it was off. Taking it back i was told there had been other complaints (why did they continue to serve it). When the food arrived there was no gravy on the side instead the plate was swimming in it. I like gravy but this was ridiculous. My food arrived and it was warm at best i took it back and was told heat could be felt through the bottom of the plate. I asked for my money back because it seemed he didn`t want to do anything about my cold (now getting colder) food. Only then did he offer to rectify the problem. My food arrived (a gammon steak) it was chewy and dry. I do not like paying for food before I`ve eaten but to ask for a service gratuity before you`ve actually had any service is a nonsense. Needless to say we will not be going back. Yet another Pub in the New Forest serving food that really don`t know what they are doing.

Epic Sunday lunch which we polished off happily. Great portion, great taste. Everything was seasoned well and will eagerly be waiting for my next visit. We both had pork this time as they had run out of the beef, but very delicious for a spur if the moment drive by. It was right nice!

This lovely place cattered for 12 of us and help celebrate our daughter s birthday and engagement .

Didn't eat just had a few drinks nice place just to chill 👍

"Kids eat for £1" stopped us in our tracks. We're so glad we decided to eat here. We left feeling very satisfied. The food was perfect. The service was a little slow and the mango cider was revolting but putting those two things aside we were very pleased with the burgers and the kids meal deal - a main + a pudding= £1.

We had lunch here,when it was really busy, But I couldn't fault the food , service or atmosphere. Well done guys keep up the good work

Lovely pub, great food, nice garden area, landlady is a diamond, highly recommended

Absolutely gorgeous pub. Huge garden which is dog friendly. Friendly staff and very relaxing. Will definitely be going back.

Shirley was absolutely amazing, taking care of us the entire time. The atmosphere at the Swan was fantastic, with a great layout and excellent food.

Not very busy today at lunchtime but been waiting for. 40 Minutes and counting. Unacceptable.

Decent pub and good selection of beers.we didn't eat nut food looked good and have a deal of kid eats for £1 if with adult. When moneys tight this is pretty good

Sunday roast was marginally better than a school dinner. Not worth the money at all I'm afraid!

We’ve driven past The Swan countless times and always said how nice it looked. Our first ever visit ended up being a let down. Took 40 mins for the food to arrive. Kids eating for a £1 was a great deal. But My son wanted garlic bread - which was an extra £3. What he received was a single slice of pre cut bread (like warburtons) with garlic butter and cheese on top… so any value gleaned from the £1 offer was swiftly eradicated. My wife and I ordered the pork roast, and the three meat roast (think that what it was called) The meat was good - but the veg tasted like it had been sat under a hot plate all afternoon - and wasn’t very pleasant. (We arrived mid afternoon, we’re guessing most people ate Sunday lunch at midday - and we ended with the leftovers. None of the food was particular hot either. We gave up waiting for my sons dessert and left for home. With drinks - we spent just under £50 - and feel quite ripped off tbh. Only saving grace was the lovely beer garden - which my son had a great time in - and the other customers were all very friendly.

Ordered food via the app. Did the 2 course meal deal. All food came out at once - was told this was because we ordered via the app? Made to feel like this was our fault. Food I would say was school dinner quality. Calamari was overcooked. Chicken strippers were fine. Sausage and mash didn’t taste “award winning” was a bit gristly and the mash was hard in the middle? Fish and chips were overcooked. Have been on holiday in the area for a few days and would say there’s definitely better places around

very nice food and good vegan options

Nice place. Friendly staff. Had meal. Was ok but bit greasy.

Ordered on app, waited 20 minutes for drinks and had to chase them, they got one of the meals wrong, £20 steak was terrible, cold sides, complained to young lad serving who was polite and no one from management came out to even. Apologise , don't waste your money having lunch here

Lovely drink in the sun. Near a main road, but unable to hear in the garden

What a lovely place,food out of this world and staff so friendly. Thursday and Sundays are quiz nights which are great fun.

The Lasagne was like a soup; hardly any meat or pasta, mainly just juice in the bowl. The garlic bread, which was a slice of bread covered in garlic butter, was needed to mop up the soup. Quite disappointing for a country pub.

Absolutely terrible food! Chicken wings still frozen in the middle. Avoid!!! So many nice places to eat in the forest avoid this at all costs!!!!

Nice place to stop for a late lunch. Good 'pub grub' menu.

Excellent place. Great value for money , lovely food and clean toilets.

Shirley, the landlady is an excellent host. She and her staff create a warm welcome to humans and dogs. Would highly recommend eating here. We'll definitely be regulars.

Booked for a table of 11 with food pre-ordered. Had a wonderful evening, great portion size, lovely roast and a nice cuppa to finish. We were well looked after by Shirley and the team. Drinks and food were great and a nice relaxing atmosphere. All in all a great family meal. Thanks everyone 🥂

Fabulous food and excellent service from Shirley and all the staff during our visit for Sunday lunch. Wheelchair accessible and very dog friendly, the perfect venue for us.

Lovely pub in the heart of the new forest. Massive garden, helpful staff, lovely food and good range of drinks. Atmosphere is nice. Definitely recommend visiting. Chris on the bar knows his stuff and helped us out

Had a great time, lovely garden area. Chris on the bar was super helpful.

Very nice bar staff and great food!

A must try for visitors to the area. We had the ribeye steak today which was great except for being over seasoned with salt for me. I pointed this out to Shirley who took my comment on board. Nice also to have choice of chips. We went for sweet potato. Yummy. The beers are always good here. Will be back soon.

Great food, great service ! Very nice dog friendly pub with good menu and selection. Staff were very friendly and welcoming.

Went in and had a very enjoyable experience with the staff, food was presented very well, I had the chicken and bacon sandwich which was delicious would highly recommend.

The swan has a great atmosphere and chilled if you are looking for that aswel. There is plenty of parking, staff are friendly and food is great!

We dined at the Swan last Saturday and enjoyed it so much we returned on Monday. We arrived at 7:05 and were told that the kitchen was now closed. We didn't know it closed at 7pm on a Monday. However, the bar staff were so welcoming and friendly and they asked the chef if we could still be served and he said yes. We ordered different meals to our previous visit, and once again the food was delicious and plentiful. We have seen bad reviews on here which are totally the opposite to our experience. We are already looking forward to returning in September. Thank you, Lee, Matt and Chef Peter for both of our very enjoyable meals this week.

Nice place, super dog friendly !!! With a good atmosphere, food is very good, The staff were very pleasant and very organized!! Would go back next time in the area.

Lovely pub to go with the family, nice hot food at a decent price and a good range of ales and drinks at the bar! staff were friendly and easy to talk to with smiles on their faces at all times

Very leisurely lunch in the garden. Gd food, pleasant staff.

Beautiful pub in the new forest! We had the fish and chips and it was the best I've had away from the seaside!!! Good selection of beers and the staff were really friendly! We will be back

Great place to eat. Service is fantastic. Very. Clean and tired Thumbs up from Me 10 out of 10. Great price as well.

It's such a friendly place, the food is delicious, we had a lamb shank roast and the flavours were lovely, large potion

We were a group of 36 and very well looked after from the initial booking, on arrival on the day and through to our departure. Shirley and her staff worked tirelessly to make sure everything ran smoothly. The food was very good and the ambience was excellent. The pub is in a lovely setting with a large car park and easy access for the less-abled with plenty of seating both inside and outside.

Brilliant spot to chill, eat and drink after day out. Portions more than ok. Kids menu can easily feed an adult Definitely will come back

A friendly place to be that serves my favourite drinks. The food is good and we enjoy the events they put one. The whole team go out of their way to please. Ben is new to the team and is very cheerful and helpful

Food very disappointing, I can only describe as a ding ding meal , food not freshly cooked .

Where do I start! First off do not come here for food. Ordered food and drinks for me and my partner and were sat waiting for over 90 minutes and received nothing. As I went to complain the waiter was just delivering 1 of the 3 starters we had ordered so I decided to wait for the rest of the food, but anther 20 minutes went by and still nothing only the one starter on the table. I’ve now gone back to complain again and i was waiting at the bar for another 15 minutes as there was no workers around. By this time some more food had been delivered to the table but! the chicken was raw and the batter fish looked like it had been left out for days. Still waiting for the starters and side but as you can probably guess, nothing more arrives. At this point I just wanted a refund we hadn’t eating anything and was extremely disappointed. Raw chicken 90 minutes wait and still hadn’t received starters. They wasn’t even busy and the man I was dealing was clearly intoxicated. We drove 40 minutes (80minutes round trip) to eat here as it used to be such a good pub for food. It’s such a shame it’s gone downhill this fast, there has clearly been a change in management. I had to edit an old 5 star review to leave this review. Would give 0 stars if it was possible. 3 hours of my time wasted and still not sure what’s happening about my refund. If anyone of the higher management would like to contact me to resolve this horrible experience we received then please do. Left my name and number at the bar

The worst food experience I’ve ever had. Dunno what’s happened to this place! Been here in the past and it was great but recent reviews are right- after 1 and a half hours 2/3 starters arrived , mains never arrived, no drinks arrived, had to go inside and ask for them after 70 minutes- had to get a refund in the end as it was nearing 9pm at night- but they still charged for the 2 cokes and 1 starter we ate- very kind of them. no apology. About 3 family’s in the whole place so no idea why it took so long. Insanely bad 😬 off to get a take away now at 9pm. Travelled 45 minutes to get here aswell! Deleted my previous 5 star review for this cos honestly the worst experience ever. READ RECENT REVIEWS PEOPLE!!!

Lovely pub but the food was awful perhaps it was an off day in the kitchen as we have eaten there before and had a lovely meal… everything came out seemingly deep fried to the point it was almost inedible! We had calamari as part of a sharing platter that could have been mistaken for crackling and the chicken was no better 😔 would be ashamed to serve it if it were my pub.

Slow service, forgotten orders and missing items from both our plates. Quality wasn't great - fried egg was half cooked! The "dog friendly" extended to a couple of beds and an empty jar of treats. Nothing to recommend the place.

So disappointing. Pub was almost empty when we arrived at 5:30 but we checked if we were ok to order food as a number of tables were reserved. Barman said ok so we found a table which was grubby. Noone came to clean the table, or checked we had menus, cutlery etc or to take an order so we used the app. On the menu the vegan burger was described as 'buttermilk' style (faux chicken) served with grilled mushroom, sriracha, slaw & side salad. According to the app there were no buttermilk burger patties so I chose the soya option, and I substitutued the side salad for chunky chips. When my food arrived I had a burger with a slice of vegan cheese, ketchup, mustard and a bit of soggy lettuce (none of which was on the menu or listed in the app), about 6 chips and nothing else. My husband ordered the gammon which came without the pineapple promised on the menu, and with an uncooked egg (well, the dog enjoyed that!). The food was fine, but neither of us got the meal we expected. We also had to wait over 45 minutes for it, despite seeing 2 other couples who'd come in after we'd ordered being served first. On questioning a passing member of staff after about 30 mins (during which time noone else had acknowledged us, cleaned the table or brought cutlery) we were told "it's just being plated" which I can only assume was an outright lie because when our (incorrect) meals finally arrived after another 15-20 mins they were piping hot. Oh, and our dog didn't think the empty dog biscuit jar on the bar was very friendly!

Should have walked back out when we arrived and there was no one here, on a Saturday evening in June. Menu makes the food sound lovely but it was anything but. Even got the drinks order wrong followed by no apology. They did refund one of the meals so that deserves a star. Definitely avoid!

1 hour wait so ridiculous had to go ask were our food is and then said an hour didn't tell us when we are getting our food just bad we were contemplating about leaving food was OK.

Having had a poor experience at The Swan in March we had been given a £40 voucher and decided to book for lunch today. We were shown to our table which was tightly jammed into a corner with litte room, made worse by the proximity of the adjacent table, which had a party of 6 already seated. We asked to move for our sake and the other party's sake, and were told that as it wasn't busy we could sit anywhere. So we chose a table in the bar area and there we sat...and sat...and sat. The pub was not particularly busy - only 4 or 5 of the tables were occupied but no one came to take either a food or drink order so, eventually, I went to the bar to place our order, only to be told there was a 45 minute wait for food. While waiting for our food we noted 4 families come and go having been pointedly told there was an hours' wait for food. A family at another table complained that they'd been waiting half an hour for their food and were told their food would be another 20 minutes but they could have free drinks. Weirdly, our food arrived 20 minutes after ordering but none of it was as advertised on the menu - I chose the Crispy coated buttermilk-style burger layered with Violife cheese, Asian style slaw and a Sriracha glazed mushroom and fries. I'd already been advised it would be a soya burger, which was fine, but it arrived in a bun with a piece of iceberg lettuce, topped with a slice of Violife cheese, together with a handful of fries, served on a small side plate - no slaw or mushroom. Contrary to the unreasonable delay in getting our food, a member of staff came and wordlessly cleared our table as I was chewing the last mouthful. He didn't ask if we'd finished, or whether we wanted dessert. We will never visit this pub again.

My partner and I walked in at 6:30pm on a Tuesday evening and asked for a table for 3 and were told they don’t take walk ins and the kitchen is closing soon so we wouldn’t be able to order food. It’s such a shame because we were both very keen to try the menu. When we walked in there was only 2 or 3 tables seated. Very disappointed!

Great food and great views and dog friendly 👍🏽

One of the most dog friendly pubs around. She loved the Sir Woofchester roast dinner & dog bed. Human food wasn't bad either. Not a fan of the bland background music though.

Drive past this pub and find somewhere else to eat. Sat 11th May we sat in the garden and ordered and paid using the app. After 35 minutes we complained as not even a drink had arrived at the table. This was greeted with “oh dear did you order via the app” and it would appear that no one was monitoring the orders arriving this way. The pub was not busy at 6.30pm so this was a poor excuse. When the food arrived we had to wait again for knives and forks. I ordered a house salad which arrived with 5 of the listed ingredients on the menu missing. When I took the plate back inside and asked about it I was told they could only add 2 of the items as they hadn’t got the rest. I declined as the attitude was really one of not being bothered and they made no attempt to make amends. I asked for a full refund which again was met with a very lack lustre attitude with no attempt made to make my visit there any better with no offer of an alternative or money off the rest of our order. Sadly as I waited at the bar for my refund the customer in front of me was doing the same and the couple on the table next to us left as they had experienced the same thing. Urgent staff training required not only in the use of the app to order but also customer service when dealing face to face with the customer.

Shirley is absolutely amazing atmosphere is spot on and the food is good quality for the value of your money

Long wait for food - an hour Many items not available from the menu

Fantastic pub, with a great range of ciders. We’ve been meaning to stick our heads in for ages and it was worth it!

Visited before and from memory it was lovely. Went back today. Absolutely lovely. Quick service, food hot and delicious. Great portion size. Will be back.

Driven past many times. Today we stopped and so glad we did. Food was absolutely beautiful, well cooked, very well presented and very good portion sizes: staff were attentive and service was excellent: really can’t fault it. Immaculately clean . Will definitely be returning.

Nice food. Nice selection of cider

The bar staff explained they were a chef short so to expect a 50 minute wait if we wanted to order food. We drank up and left. Another time maybe.