The Drift Inn in New Forest

Lovely service from staff. Food extremely average and quite expensive for a pub dinner. Fish and chips: fish skin was not removed from fillet. Mushy peas: dull and poorly presented. Chicken burger: bun was of industrial quality & tasteless. Chicken was good. Olives had no taste either. Wine Picpoul was good. Shame overall as it’s a nice location and we were expecting high quality, local home-made ingredients.

Bad experience in a pub that can surely do better. Very poor communication, really bad day in the kitchen (half of the menu wasn’t available; we have waited 30 minutes for our sandwiches, plus an extra 15minutes for a hot dog, and the food wasn’t even great). The staff never came to check if we were happy with the food, never came to check if we had finished our mains and to offer a dessert. We came directly to the till to ask for the bill. Service charge was added when truly this option could have been removed considering how poorly they have done. Once paid, the staff didn’t even bother to say “goodbye and thank you”. We won’t come back and surely won’t recommend this pub.

When you pay over £10 for a sandwich you expect it to be an amazing sandwich. You don’t expect to have to hunt for the cheese or the smallest side of soggy coleslaw.You don’t expect to wait half an hour for it when no one else is eating and it is quiet either. The only positive was the girl behind the bar was pleasant. If anyone had taken the time to come over and ask us how our meal was, as you may expect in a place with such high charges, I would have spoken to them there instead of leaving a negative review, which I don’t like to do, having worked for years in the industry.Very disappointing.

Popped in recently for coffee and lunch with family . Nice location and great garden, however this pub is now completely CASHLESS so dipped out on six people eating. This may suit some people but it would be nice to have a choice. The coffee was good but also cold and the bar staff were even colder, robotic and miserable. Why don’t young people have any personality these days! I would have thought that pubs and restaurants would take any type of payment these days considering the hospitality industry has taken a big hit in the past 2 years. So unfortunately we will not be returning.

I visited early afternoon on a Monday Bank Holiday and honestly didn't have a bad experience. Beer garden was lovely, play area for kids, everyone around seemed pretty happy and were served in good time. Food was good, although expensive and limited menu, but you're next to a train station, it's expected. It was a nice little pit stop on our walk.Unfortunately there is a lot of bad reviews about this pub from what I can see. But maybe the case is, when they're busy it's overwhelming like any other place 🙂

Pleasant enough pub in picturesque location, though the fenced off garden area doesn't do much to take advantage of this. On taking our food order we were warned of a 20 minute wait which ended up being closer to an hour, and all for a chuck burger that was fairly bland. Okay for a brief stop off after a walk nearby but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit again.

This pub has a lot of potential as the food and setting was lovely, but we waited over an hour for our food, due to the waitress mixing up orders with another table, who got our order. Staff didn’t even acknowledge or give us an apology and we were left waiting wondering when our food would turn up. When we raised it with another member of staff, we had to wait another 30 minutes and still nothing. In the end we went through 4 different members of staff and finally got our burgers over an hour later!! We were very disappointed with the service and will not be returning.

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT !! Service non- existent …staff just not trained correctly in any way & looked unkempt !! Roasts arrived without anything whatsoever resembling ‘green’ which was a shame as expecting the “seasoned greens” to come as specified on menu along with Yorkshire pud which wasn’t present on my roasted salmon plate either . My ‘special ‘ pud on the blackboard which I ordered along with toast to ensure I’d get one … was told it was a special from the previous week !! The worst thing was the rudest Manager, who on stating why we weren’t happy , told us “ this is why I don’t take ‘WALK-INS ‘ “ … such an insult …it wasn’t a walk-in anyhow as we’d prebooked earlier by phone. Ive eaten in restaurants worldwide and never been insulted in this way before ! Such a shame as the pub itself is well presented / and in a lovely setting . That manager in the blue suit needs to be well & truly given the sack !

Literally a few minutes ago we have gone back to the Drift to try lunch. We reviewed a few years ago after a dreadful Christmas day dinner there. So scarred were we, we have never been back. Until now. Out for a forest walk and thought we would try for a lunch time snack. Few people in there but no staff. We waited to be seated, then went to the bar, then back to the door. No staff. Checked with a couple sat at a table who said 'you'll have a long wait. We still saw no staff. They said, they have a Management Issue. That is what we said a few years ago on our disastrous Christmas. No change then Drift! Get a grip. Best forest location & no customers! Shocking.

I'm not the sort of person to usually post a complaint - but feel compelled to write this to warn off others...Don't believe what you read on the website. Forget the carefully styled photos or the impression that the expensive prices and the way the menu is written might give.The food is low quality - definitely not made with 'the best seasonal ingredients from local farmers and producers' as their website suggests. It felt like basic stuff from the cash and carry that gets served in canteens. Definitely NOT worth the gastropub prices being charged. Even the cokes we ordered didn't actually taste like real coca-cola.The warm and cosy atmosphere the website boasts of was also severely lacking. There was no ambient mood lighting. The tables lacked any of the styling shown in the marketing photos. There were no roaring fires - and to be honest, the restaurant was a bit on the chilly side.The reality of The Drift - in its current form - is far far away from the expectations it tries to set.