The best restaurants in Burghclere, Highclere and St Mary Bourne Basingstoke and Deane South East

First class unassuming service on a pretty quiet mid week January evening. Food throughout very good and well presented. Excellent value, as was the wine by the glass especially the 2022 Languedoc chardonnay.

So glad we came across this place - lovely home cooked food and such friendly service. Also dog friendly - highly recommended. Limited outside seating - would get 5 stars otherwise.

Had a lovely lazy Sunday lunch here. They were understaffed but nothing was too much trouble. The owner dealt with it all with a constant smile and a fabulous attitude, keeping us informed the whole time. The food was yummy, epic portion sizes and very reasonably priced. Kids had great fun playing in the safe and enclosed garden space. Really couldn’t fault it and will definitely return.

Excellent service, really delicious food , great menu with plenty of choice. Higher recommended will definitely come again.

We went for a family Sunday lunch but unfortunately it did not live up to our expectations, it had gammon on the menu as a roast and it was rashers off bacon not a gammon steak. Also we were only given one set of veg between 10 off us we complained and was told they would get us some more but it never turned so some of us had no veg very dissatisfied. We will not be returning in the future I am afraid.

Lovely pub with a country feel garden with a stream running through it

Rooms were ok but room 8 where we stayed suffered from lack of privacy.

The staff are nice and welcomeing, and the food was very good.

Great friendly place for a pint 🍻

We wanted somewhere for my birthday lunch but being in a Motorhome can make finding parking challenging. We were visiting Highclere and passed this pub and did a quick u-turn. We were able to park at the back of the car park as it had a couple of extra long spaces. We were asked if we had booked a table and advised we hadn't, the serving lady found us a lovely table in the window for 2 plus our dog. We didn't want a big lunch so I chose the scotch egg starter with a side of chips, my hubby had cod cheek scampi with fries and salad. It was lovely, cooked beautifully and tasted homemade. Prices of some dishes were a little hefty but our dishes were well priced. There were dog snacks and water bowls We would definitely recommend, some dishes we saw coming out certainly looked very generous portions so be warned. Congratulations to the lady serving as she was serving behind the bar as well as waitressing, I don't think the pub had anticipated being quite so busy but she managed extraordinarily well until a colleague turned up to assist, well done.

Last Sunday I brought my two children in for dinner and as soon as we got there we were warmly welcomed by a lovely waitress, we were asked if we would like water and had it brought straight to us. Service was outstanding, the waitress and waiter were very attentive, the food portions were brilliant as well as the food. Overall amazing food and customer service, will definitely be visiting again.

Had a great stay at The Carpenters Arms, the accommodation is great, large, comfortable room with great sized ensuite. The we had breakfast, lunch and dinner here which was extremely good, food hot, tasty and plentiful and reasonably priced. The staff were very friendly and helpful as we're the landlords. Wish them the best of luck in their new venture.

Great staff, lovely to sit by the fire in the bar. Restaurant area felt a bit formal to me so stayed in the bar. Food was excellent but very small portions, and not cheap either. I had the gammon and could have eaten 2 plates.

Our 4th visit, lovely wonderful staff. Real value for money. Why pay £26 for 8 oz sirloin steak in Freefolk, when you can have 16oz rump steak for the same price at The George St. Mary Bourne. Lovely atmosphere, great value for money.

Beautiful pub, lovely welcoming staff, great pint of cider, but the star is the food. I can't speak for the whole menu, but if the burgers my other half and I had were any indication it's worth trying the rest of the menu... I'm picky about my burgers. Or. Well, everything really. Working in hospitality sort of gives you the burden of knowledge. Or maybe it just makes you a judgemental tosser. Six of one. The Carnarvon is a pretty pub, nicely decorated and kept in a good state - nothing falling to bits, nice and clean; through to the toilet. Staff in the middle of line cleaning a couple of the hand pull lines as we came in - while admittedly meaning that they had to deny me a pint of Proper Job, indicates they care and are attentive to beer care. Big tick in an important box for me. Aspalls instead; nice choice of cider, well kept, lovely pint. Staff seemed to be enjoying the work, they were nice to chat with and helpful. Attentive but not pushy. Perfecto. Based on all of that, and a quick glance at the reception, (which was where the handsome dark wooden panelling started in the building...) I'm going to make an educated assumption and give full marks for the rooms too, though we only ducked in for lunch, just feels unfair to ding on that while giving a nice review. I'm picky but I'm not petty. Back to the burger though. That was easily the best burger I've had in a long while, decidedly up there in terms of best burger I've ever had and my other half had essentially the same response, we both utterly wolfed it down. Absolutely deserved compliments to the chef, just outstanding. Very enjoyable visit. If that's the standard of everything but particularly that damn burger, we'll be back even though it's a bit of a trek across from Devizes.