Bashley Manor Tearooms - New Forest

This morning (09:15am) we stopped for tea at the Bashley Manor Tearooms and I also ordered a pastie. When I collected the pastie it was awful, the pastry base was black and the sides were dark brown all the way through, the filling was dry and salty and unpleasant, possibly from being heated up quite a lot the day before and again for me. I returned the pastie and explained the problem to the person in charge (a man with dark hair) and his reaction was unbelievable, he took the pastie from me and in one move hurled pastie, plate and all behind him saying there was nothing wrong with it, he had 200 more on order and no one else had ever complained. He then ignored me. The lady on the till said “am I meant to give you a refund” and I said yes please, she then said as I had paid by card the man had to do it, she asked him and he eventually came over banged open the till and without saying anything gave me £4, when I said I had paid £4.50 he snatched another 50p from the till and held it out. I turned and left and as I did so he muttered something under his breath. His whole behaviour was appallingly rude, I can only think he bases his customer service skills on Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers, his attitude was shameful. In catering there will always be from time to time food which is not up to scratch for whatever reason, the way to deal with it is to apologise and replace it or refund with a smile not turn the whole experience into a scene from a 1970’s sitcom. I know the difference between food that is not my personal preference and food that is not of merchantable quality and the pastie was most definitely the latter totally inedible and not fit to be sold. We will not be visiting the Bashley Manor Tearooms again and will not recommend it to anyone else or take visitors there. We will still visit the Sammy Miller Museum which is first class, We”ll just go elsewhere for refreshment.

We decided to revisit this restaurant after four years, hoping for a nice tea and cake experience while on holiday in the area. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed. The limited menu offered nothing substantial, and there were only a few cake options available. While the coffee and cake were decent, they were served on paper plates and in paper cups. Overall, this visit was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

This restaurant offers a fantastic option for a quick lunch when in the area. The pasties and tea cakes are delicious, and they serve great lattes and flat white coffees. The service is prompt and friendly. Highly recommended!

Been here a couple of times a few years ago it was great proper cups and plates…. and lovely sandwiches and cake. But in 2020 when covid hit it changed to paper cups and plates which I understand but they are still using them…. And they said they are to stay, they have stopped the lovely sandwiches, all though the cake was still very nice the paper coffee cups were not…. So sadly we won’t be eating there again

My friends and I bought teas and coffee and asked for some extra hot water. We were shocked to be told very curtly that they charge 50p as often people bring their own teabags and just have free hot water. We had just bought drinks. The assistant was unfriendly and unwelcoming. Also all food and drinks are served in throwaway containers. Surely with their kitchen they could be washing up?