The Dozen at The White Horse

Very pleasant evening with lovely food. Previous experience at the Dozen was not got as service was poor and it took ages to order food etc. However on this visit, waiting staff were all pleasant and very attentive. Food was delicious and service quick. Lovely evening!

Unfortunately this was not a good experience for us. After researching for ages and this looking like a good place we finally arrived and ordered pork belly bites for starters and the steak and ale pie for main course. The pork bites came out like warm, some of them cold and the pie had to be the worst pie I’ve ever had. After breaking the pastry on the top, the inside of the pie was watery, more like a soup and had no taste. We sent the pies back into the kitchen to see if there was a mistake but the chef was arrogant enough to tell us that’s how they were meant to be and they gave us spoons to eat the liquid with. Instead of a hearty saucy pie, we were treated to what seemed like dirty water with a couple of bits of chewy beef. At 18 pounds per pie this was a disgrace. Luckily they took 30% of our bill but we will most definitely not be returning.

really lovely meal from the brunch menu, and the staff were really pleasant and helpful

Unbelievably shambolic and inept ... will not be returning

The staff did not know the menu, any basic questions we asked about the food, they did not know and had to go and ask someone. I had steak which was cooked well, but food was served on a wooden board for effect which is no problem but why they put paper on the board under your food is bizarre as the food makes it soggy and you end up eating it. Sticky toffee pudding was obviously a microwave job, it was bland and like hard rubber. Very overpriced for quality of food, I have had a lot better food for half the price. Sorry would definitely not go back

Great food well presented - compliments to the chef and kitchen staff. Same for the front team - friendly, relaxed, knowledgeable.

The restaurant was great. The staff more so.
We thought the back dining room was a little quiet and too brightly lit so opted for the more relaxed comfortable bar area.
Sardines fantastic.
The lamb was a great piece but unfortunately undercooked. The waiter noticed only half had been managed as no complaint was made I was ok with it, and offered a free glass of wine each he knocked off the bottle.
Great service, great food, the bar area is lovely and one mistake was sorted with interest without asking.
Thanks guys!

First visit to the White Horse, since having our wedding reception there, 25 years ago. It has had major facelift which has transformed the interior from a traditional coaching inn to a more contemporary style. The food was lovely and good value for money with very generous portions. The staff were extremely welcoming and happy to chat. My only slight quibble is that considering it was a quiet Tuesday evening, the service was quite slow.

Good atmosphere & ambience, great service..our waiter was very friendly. Lovely food.

Lovely atmosphere and decor. The food was delicious with big portions. Enjoyed every minute!

Fabulous, go there immediately

Food was excellent. Disappointing service. Wasnt offered full menu selection, drinks were slow (even tho restaraunt was empty), staff were clumsy and at times awkward. Pleasant meal overall and saved by good food.

This meal marked our return to the White Horse after many years and it was a birthday lunch. We enjoyed everything, and found our waitress very helpful and friendly. We were very surprised to find we were the only diners for most of the time. Our food was delicious and attractively presented. The only minor complaint was that you don't have Tia Maria for my wife's favourite liqueur coffee!
We hope to return.

We had a really lovely meal here on Friday (10 May). The service was excellent, the food delicious and the whole hotel is tastefully decorated. Would thoroughly recommend.

Gutted I booked this for mother’s day, redeeming factor of a free plant however.

The food wasn’t great, service wasn’t great! Really wouldn’t recommend the roast.

What a shame that this newly refurbished establishment did not put as much time and effort into its staff training and customer awareness that it did into its decor! Our experience included extremely long wait times (despite being one of only two tables being occupied), spilt wine with no apology or compensation until we asked for it, wrong drinks, poor customer service, lack of customer awareness and attentiveness. Needless to say that we will not be returning in the future.

Chef would not allow us to swap new potatoes for fries without charging us. Seemed really pointless as some of the dishes came with a choice of potatoes. Staff disinterested in resolving the matter dispite having spent £350 on accommodation in the establishment.

We went for the Sunday lunch and the food was plentiful and good quality. Reasonable prices and attentive staff.

We were in for an early dinner and the staff were very attentive. As it got busier they were less so but it didn’t affect our evening. The food was great and they catered very well for our dietary requirements.

Delicious food in a very relaxing atmosphere, would definitely recommend

The food was lovely but...when we got to our table we got two different menus, no explanation as to why. We ordered wine which took ages to arrive because apparently the lady that was waiting our table wasn't trained behind the bar. I asked for celeriac with my sandwich and got slaw instead. We ordered fried mac and cheese balls to start, these arrived after our mains as they had been forgotten. Just to reiterate, the food was very tasty and the service was very apologetic and friendly, but there were too many mistakes made for it to be acceptable!

Thanks very much. Lovely dinner with great food. My wife & daughter particularly liked the Lamb & Lemon Posset. Will come again. Great offer.

Chose the sweet potato dauphinoise from their Veganuary menu which was very delicious. Really hope they continue to offer vegan food as I'd love to visit again in February! My husband enjoyed the herbed chicken from their usual menu. Bar/front area has more atmosphere than the restaurant area.

Not a great night; I should have paid more attention to the other reviews. Incredibly slow service considering how quiet it was and although the starters came out quite quickly the mains took forever and they forgot to give us the bill so we had to keep asking. The did say they had staffing issues but it was pretty quiet and I don't really think that's a good enough excuse.

Such a shame as it could be a fabulous place but poor staffing and cold food made this a let down.

Lovely food, excellent service

Could not fault the food but service was quite slow although when served staff very good

We were looked after by Adrian who did a fabulous job ensuring we had everything we needed food was excellent and a good selection of drinks and wine and knowledgeable staff it’s very nicely decorated I would highly recommend for drinks meals afternoon tea enjoy

We have been several times and enjoy the food but the service is extremely slow

A very pleasant Sunday lunch. The service could have been a bit better but we were there when an enormous table was in the cafe behind. We had to ask for the 3rd sharing starter as that seemed to have been forgotten. But all in all somewhere very pleasant and different to go. Have already made another booking.

Venue wasn’t aware of our Open Table booking when we arrived, were able to seat us nevertheless.

Food was ok - Sunday Dinner just needed finessing and some stuffing.

Really surprisingly very, very good!
Nice to find a restaurant that’s not a chain and will happily return to

Food good but the service left a bit to be desired.
Offered a choice of chunky chips or skinny fries, chose chunky chips but skinny fries arrived as they had run out of chunky chips. Coffee maker did not know how to operate machine properly so Latte arrived Luke warm at best and several minutes after the cappuccino.
No bread with either the garlic prawns or the smoked salmon starters

What a shame, we had great expectations about our dining experience. Very smart restaurant, and innovative decor. Staff were smart except the very tall gentleman with the scruffy ponytail, and shirt hanging out. He told us that the Australian Sauvignon Blanc had run out, and wasn’t sure about one of the Ale’s. The waitress that took our orders was efficient, but omitted to tell us that certain things had run out, and still brought the dish, minus a main ingredient.

The salad with the avocado was missing the avocado. The burger with beef, tomato and bacon, was missing the bacon. The risotto was hard, and just warm. The only one of us that had a good meal was the person having fish and fries. He actually had fish in the batter. Two of the party thought about having peach cobbler for their desert, but were told they had run out. Our table was booked for 7pm!!!!!!! Not sure we will be going again. It would have been lovely to have a local restaurant to regularly frequent, and recommend.

The two Sunday lunch roasts were well presented but not hot and the portion size was not overly-generous. The superfood salad main course was missing two key ingredients of quinoa and avocado. The ordered second bottle of sparkling water never arrived. On the plus side, our waitress was friendly, the surroundings were stylish and we had plenty of room at the table. It was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday lunch time.

Disappointing. The menu selection is limited and on the day we went several items on the lunchtime menu were "off". We asked for bread, olives and oil in place of any other starter. The bread was rock hard - literally unchewable. We went on a Monday and I seriously wondered if the bread was left from Sunday or even Saturday. Our comments / complaints were received with little more than indifference. The food was OK but not exciting. A glass of wine was spilt over us. We finished with coffee but wondered if we should have gone to Costa instead. Disappointing.

A very strange evening. We were originally shown into the back canteen like restaurant which was very noisy. The front restaurant which we asked to be moved to had one occupied table in it although it was clear the couple there were having problems. Neither of the staff members seemed to be equipped to be doing their jobs. Limited menu where everything was an extra. In today's world of readily available on-line reviews, it is surprising that this restaurant is able to attract any customers. It is a shame that such an old established venue in the middle of such an attractive market town has been expensively refurbished to produce such a poor quality dining experience.

Pleasant meal, service was friendly and young staff very nice but they were not well organised and we had to wait a while for one of our party o be served with their main course plus had to wait for a second glass of wine and at one point were also given a red wine when had ordered white.

Food excellent. Service was pretty good, but excellent by our young friend from Poland(?), who used to be at Café Rouge, and also exceptional by the american girl, Anniston(?). She was extremely kind and good with our two grandsons (who I'm afraid were not always on their best behaviour). These young ladies made it a very enjoyable occasion for us. Thank you.

Richard Gilbert

Pleasant staff but had to ask 3 times for bread, otherwise very attentive. Reasonable menu selection with some interesting options. Good wine selection. Will definitely eat there again.

We parked the car in the courtyard and entered the building from the back. There was nobody at the Reception desk and we wandered around trying to find the way into the Dozen restaurant with nobody to ask (we have known the White Horse for 50 years and we knew where the dining room was). The place seemed completely deserted, and not even any guests. Eventually we rounded a corner and found the new bar area and so to a table.

Starters were good, but the pork loin was overcooked, dry and tasteless. Then there was no dessert suitable for my lactose-intolerant husband - no fruit salad or poached fruit.

The service was quite good, but over-enthusiastic and rather juvenile for our elderly taste.

We had been prepared to give the new place a go, but were disappointed.