Old Mill Pub & Dining - Lymington

Francis S.

Visited on impulse on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon. Great location with interesting and spacious garden. A lot of tables and chairs in garden well laid out and clean and tidy. As a former hotelier and publican I thought providing a good level of service to a high standard is going to be challenging at peak busy times.
Staff were cheerful and friendly and gave good service. Sunday Menu was good with a mixed offering of choices. Pricing was a little on the high side for what was on offer. Desserts were also similarly too high price and a simple biscuits and cheese platter priced at £15.50 not acceptable.
Bar prices also a touch too high.
Will be interesting to see if customer levels can be kept buoyant "out of season" at the current price point.
Will go back for another visit to see midweek offering regarding service, pricing and quality of menu. Lots of positive points especially staff service
but pricing needs attention (a very subjective opinion, others may disagree).
Definitely worth visiting to form ones own opinion

Tracy

Stopped at this pub by chance on a rainy Good Friday, not really knowing if we needed to book a table in advance as the pub looked very busy. When we enquired at the bar we were immediately shown to a lovely table in the conservatory over looking the gardens. The waiter was very friendly and bought us a menu and made polite conversation whilst taking our orders. I ordered the fish & chips and my partner ordered The old mill burger. When the food arrived at our table it was very impressive and both meals were very tasty. Overall a very good experience, good food and friendly courteous service. We are both looking forward to visiting again on a sunny day to enjoy the garden 😊

Roc (.

What a beautiful place this is, haven’t been back for years, so glad I tried it again. Having a couple of starters which were lovely and a glass of bubbles, this place is so quaint, looking forward to a return. The weather was beautiful today and there’s plenty of outside dining available, lovely menu too. The Mill is set in really pretty gardens with stream, linked by bridges and has plenty of parking to accommodate a massive amount of covers.

Alex O.

The food was absolutely exceptional! Done to a wonderful high standard & completely flawless there

The disappointment was in the timings. There were huge delays between being served drinks & food. It appeared that there were too few staff working this evening which was probably the main reason for the overwhelm! The fantastic food did make up for it somewhat- although hopefully the speed of service will improved next time.

Garth C.

Best pub in the UK by a country mile. As a South African that loves the outdoors the Old Mill ticked all my boxes. The tall lady Karen was an absolute pleasure and made us all feel very welcome.

Mark K.

Having seen mixed reviews and with some apprehension, my wife and I decided to revisit this restaurant (we had been to years ago), booking a table for lunch on 23 June at 12:30. This visit, however, proved to be an unexpected disappointment. Upon arrival, the restaurant was almost empty, and we were shown to a corner table, despite requesting a window seat during the booking process. The atmosphere lacked vitality, and there was no background music until about 30 minutes after we arrived, suggesting it was initially forgotten.
We were handed the à la carte menu without being informed of the fixed price set lunch menu, which we later had to request. Moreover, we were only offered bottled water, when we requested tap water none was provided until we followed up. While the staff we encountered were polite, they seemed disheartened, which further detracted from the overall experience.
For starters, we ordered chicken satay. Unfortunately, the chicken was underwhelmingly prepared, with the meat being very pink. When this was brought to the manager's attention, we were informed that the pinkness was due to the use of thigh meat. The menu, however, had only mentioned "chicken," leading to our assumption it would be breast meat, as is typical elsewhere. My wife, who does not eat thigh meat, sent hers back after barely starting, while I had already consumed half of mine.
For our main course, we ordered fish and chips. The portions of fish were thin, the batter was overcooked, and the salt shakers across three different tables were all empty. At no point were we asked about our satisfaction with the meal. Adding to the disappointment, the fish served to another table was significantly thicker than ours, though it was supposedly the same dish (even though it was from the à la carte menu).
As the restaurant gradually filled, we overheard other diners trying to order desserts, only to find that a number of options had run out already. This lack of availability further highlighted the lack of preparedness and attention to detail.
The overall cleanliness left much to be desired. Dust and cobwebs were visible, and the state of the toilets was unacceptable. The bins were full, used toilet paper rolls and paper littered the area, and there was unflushed debris in the toilets.
When we received our bill, an unexpected £3 supplement per person for the fish and chips was added. The menu did not clearly indicate this charge, as it lacked a pound sign and appeared as though it related to allergen information. Additionally, the starter my wife could not eat was not discounted, and a discretionary service charge was automatically included. After raising these concerns, the manager discounted my wife’s drink and removed the service charge. And when I outlined all the other issues he offered little more than “budgets” as an explanation for the poor experience.
This visit was a far cry from the enjoyable experience I remembered from years ago. The quality of food, service, and cleanliness has deteriorated significantly. While some diners may have had a better experience, such inconsistencies only amplify the shortcomings. Regrettably, we will not be returning to this establishment anytime soon.

Breda M.

Extremely disappointing visit! We generally come here for special occasions as it is usually excellent. Today, however was entirely different. Went for Sunday lunch & was offered inside or outside seating. We choose to sit outside & was told by the bartender we could order off the app or have a waitress take our order. We were left waiting & when we enquired we were told we could place order at the bar or use the app. Even though there were plenty of staff standing around that could easily have taken our order.
We ordered & paid on the app. Starter came promptly & was delicious. Plates cleared, we then waited over an hour for our mains to arrive after reminding a waitress we were still waiting.
I had ordered the chicken with stuffing which came without stuffing. When I asked I was given dried up stuffing smaller than a table tennis ball! When I asked for cranberry sauce the waitress left to get some & did not return.
Staff were very young & there was no apparent person in charge. No reason was given for the delay, the restaurant was not busy. No apology for the lengthy wait was offered. Overall a thoroughly disappointing experience, felt more like a rather expensive Wetherspoons, than a high end restaurant.

Jake T.

I spent two nights at the old mill with my wife and two dogs and had a lovely stay, the place itself is charming they do allow dogs which is why we chose it. The staff are lovely especially Dean who was fantastic and made us feel so welcome, I highly recommend a stay here..