Old Inn, Holtback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
We, a party of 8 senior citizens, had a family reunion lunch here on Tuesday 1st May2012. We had pre-booked on the recommendation of our relatives from Bournemouth and Wimbourne who had been to The Old Inn in January. Everything about our 'party' was excellent: the very warm welcome on arrival, the ambience of the rrecently refurbished interior, the variety on the menu and the quality of the food and its presentation. The service was efficient and considerate, the beer was served as it should be, and hot food came on hot plates. The portions were such that several of our party could not consider having a sweet course. In our opinion the the whole experiwnce was excellent and good value for money. Our only regret is that we are not local folk so cannot become frequent users of this great venue.
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We ate here as a family of 8 (4 adults & 4 kids) on Easter Sunday. Choice on menu was varied, and quality & quantity of food also good. Considering the pub was busy, the service was excellent. I understand from my bother (who lives locally), that this pub has recently been taken over. The modern interior decor was still beautifully in keeping with the traditional country pub. Good luck to the new licencees, and I strongly recommend a visit if you're in the Dorset area. I would not take any notice of old postings, as they are clearly aimed at the previous owners!!
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After ordering, very grumpy lady at till, and paying went to the ladies.
Absolutely disgusting, although the food we all had was delicious I kept getting flashes of the toilets. As they were near the kitchens the thoughts going through my mind were amazing!!!!
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Visited the pub and well...... the food is great, the service is awful, with the chef/landlady being incredibly rude.
I have have never experienced service like it, 1 hour 15 minutes wait before we even got our starters.....and the service went down hill from there.
The attitude of the landlady/chef was abysmal, particularly seeing we had been very polite and not complained, as we could see they were very busy (we had pre booked two weeks in advance)...... she was openly rude to customers...
I think she should stick to cooking ad employ a general manger with some consumer facing skills........ and several more waiting and bar staff, especially on a busy weekend.
Such a shame as the food was wonderful...
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Generally I only comment on beer, atmosphere and service (why else would the site be called BITE). Pleasant decor, good service; landlady/chef talking to customers. Beer were the predictable offerings from Hall & Woodhouse; Badger was well-kept. My ploughman's contained an excellent Cheddar, that must have come from one of the cheesemongers at Wimborne Market.
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on November 20th my husband and I visited the Old Inn. Afterwards I wrote to them this letter:
'Dear Sir or Madam
My husband and I visited your pub on 20 November 2008 with two friends in order to treat ourselves and celebrate his birthday.
After being seated at a table rarely big enough to accommodate all of us, we ordered our food. The gentlemen ordered rump steaks, which were gristly and tough. Worse still, the steaks had been peppered. This was not obvious from the menu and neither of them like pepper.
A cat came and sat on one of chairs and stuck it�s nose on the table. I like cats and I have two of my own but they do not feature at the table where we eat.
The waiting staff wore grubby white aprons and looked like they worked in the kitchen.
To top it all off, when we ordered sweets my husband was presented with the tiniest piece of chocolate cake, which at �4.50 was rather overpriced.
At no time during or after the meal did anyone enquire if everything was ok. Maybe you were short staffed. Other customers were also treated in quite a short manner.
Unfortunately this experience was all the more disappointing as I myself recommended your pub following a recent had lunch with you where I had very good food and service. It is also a shame because the general atmosphere in your restaurant is very nice.
I just thought I would let you know how we felt. I hope you don�t mind.'
I had no acknowledgement of this letter.
I am still quite disappointed.
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Excellent food and good service. Tudorbeathan interior (all beams and brick noggin) contrasts rather uncomfortably with the genuine late Georgian/early Victorian exterior. Places to sit out both on the front (to catch the late evening sun) and in the garden at the back.
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