August 2025 by Jo B
We enjoyed a family dinner last night at The Kings Head the food and service was excellent!
We arrived mid afternoon and the weather was perfect for sitting in the garden listening to the jazz band whilst having a pre dinner drink...
The pub been recently been refurbished by new owners and the interior is welcoming and tasteful two menus were on offer -we opted for the more informal bar menu plus a tempting daily special board. I opted for the salt and pepper squid followed by the sweetest tastiest mussels ever they were delicious!
The smoked chicken Caesar salad had two fans both said it was top notch and the gammon with pineapple ketchup and a duck egg was much enjoyed too.
We shared desserts as we were feeling full- hubby and I enjoyed the homemade strawberry cheesecake luckily it was light and fresh.
We had really lovely evening thanks to all the team.
August 2025 by Carina Hotson
Had dinner here recently and it was excellent. Great quality pub food options but also an excellent fine dining menu. The pub has been tastefully refurbished, keeping original features with a modern twist. Service was attentive and friendly. Really pleased we have a great pub and restaurant option close by now.
August 2025 by Richard Evans
Stayed here on a work trip. Was top quality
Rooms - newly decorated, very nice and in keeping with the building
Food - dinner and breakfast was on point. Plenty of great Lilley?s ciders
Plenty of gluten free options in the menu
August 2025 by James Anderson
Disappointing service. Extremely poor food. Clearly very badly run. Do not go for food.
August 2025 by Harry
Good evening y?all! It has to my knowledge that there?s been an upset. I hope this can be resolved and you can look back at your actions?. Thanks and I really like the roast btw.
August 2025 by Kat
Allergy sufferers, please be careful eating here!
To summarise this long review, I would not recommend eating here until the owner has actioned the following feedback:
1. Familiarise yourself with your legal requirements regarding allergens and provide your staff with appropriate training.
2. Ensure your establishment has reasonable staffing levels and training so the few poor employees just trying to do their job do not have to take the fall for your shortcomings as a business owner.
3. Ensure your chefs know how to and have the resources to cook the menu provided. If not, reduce the menu or hire more chefs.
4. Take pre orders for large bookings. Based on the current service and quality levels, it may be a good idea to refuse bookings larger than 6.
5. Learn how to receive constructive feedback - we were extremely patient and kind and it was a birthday dinner. There are many diners who would not have the patience we did and rightfully so.
Further details below:
I am writing this review as the second individual of the large party that had the unfortunate dining experience here recently. I am one of the people that discussed the experience with the staff on the night and I am also the one with an allergy. This is probably the most concerning dining experience I have had regarding feeling safe with regards to my allergy.
When ordering, I made the waitress taking my order aware and asked her to please check the sauce that came with the burger and if it?s okay I?ll have that and if not, asked them to remove the sauce.
Now in all of my dining experience it has been common practice to confirm and clearly identify the plate of food for the allergy sufferer so they can be reassured this has been checked and is safe. When I asked the waitress which plate (as there were two burger orders) was mine and if they?d checked they said ?I?m sure it?s fine, I think it?s this one?. I asked her to obviously go and confirm as this didn?t fill me with confidence and I?m sure Mr Bullock can fact check me on this from his CCTV archive.
I do not want to repeat the earlier review but I would like to clarify a few things for the owner following his responses to the other member of our party.
I agree that we were kind to the staff on the night with our feedback and acknowledged that they were unfortunately left to deal with chaos due to lack of staffing and I felt they did their best given the circumstances. The staff also took full responsibility for failing to take a pre-order for such a large table and we agreed this would have made the night smoother. They looked defeated every time they had to come and say they did not have something so yes we felt sorry for them and there was no need to be rude to them.
We did however say they should feed back to management on the general awful experience we had in the hopes they receive training and resources. Out of 18 people, not 1 enjoyed their meal as the food was frankly abismal. As this was refunded and we understand the pub has recently lost a lot of kitchen staff (we were advised majority had just walked out) I won?t comment on this further as I?m sure the chef was under immense stress that night due to poor management.
This feedback is solely to management - provide resources and training to your staff so you have a pub that can actually serve edible food and not accidentally seriously hurt their customers due to complete unawareness of food allergens.
Food.gov.uk has excellent resources on the legal requirements regarding allergens so I suggest that one evening you swap watching CCTV of your customers for exploring your legal responsibilities as a food business owner.
December 2024 by Taylor Billing
We actually had our wedding reception here and given they do not normally do this kind of thing they smashed it, I would really like to thank 2 people in particular, lily and Chris (chef). First of all, lily saved the day! She was always there at the end of the phone, reassuring a stressed pregnant bride and was smiling the whole day, she was just incredible! And well, Chris, I've never had so many people comment on how amazing the food is. At an event like this you always get one person that doesn't like the food, not here! Everyone was raving about it. There where a few other staff members that where amazing too, a nice man with dark hair was lovely too. You guys really did smash it and I can not thank you enough! You did amazing!!!
October 2024 by Jo Gordon
We ate here. The food was ace and the staff were lovely. The building is really
Beautiful. We will definitely be back
October 2024 by Christopher Taylor
Butcombe bitter on tap plus one other Butcombe beer. Well kept.
October 2024 by Edward
Visited for Sunday lunch having been several years previously and thought then that service and food were excellent. What a disappointment this time, service was OK ish but food was pretty dire, this seemed to be an object lesson in how not to present a roast dinner. Served on a tiny plate with meat not visible under all other items, topped off with a large soggy Yorkshire pudding that seemed to have come straight from a freezer and was difficult to cut, resulting in other food spilling out onto the table. Meat was very tender but without much taste or a particularly large portion, measly portion of gravy and roast potatoes were barely cooked. At least horseradish was hot and pungent unlike the rest of the food. Had I been asked how was the meal was I would have given feedback then but no-one did
October 2024 by Craig White
Having recently visited The Kings Head in Hursley Village, myself & my partner enjoyed a wonderful evening meal. The menu was varied But not overly so! Sometimes just choosing a meal from countless options can be daunting in itself. We both opted for their Burger meal & we weren't at all disappointed! The food & service was wonderful. Definitely planning on returning.
September 2024 by Linda Fowler
Read reviews before hand that put us off but they were so friendly room was clean needed a little update on decor but I expect COVID has made it hard for the business funds.
Food was excellent and nothing was too much trouble had a fabulous breakfast so much choice
September 2024 by Deb Walker
Stayed 1 night. Lovely pub but in severe need of a makeover. Rooms very tired. Carpet on stairs threadbare, many grubby marks etc. Food ok but over priced and service very slow and inconsistent as the staff (though friendly) seemed bewildered.
September 2024 by Martin Tunnicliffe
The bedroom and bathroom was a good size but in serious need of refurbishment.
Dinner and service in the evening was fine but breakfast was very slow. 35 minutes to wait for bacon and egg (no buffet to pass the time) was ridiculous. Luckily we were not in a rush. Not really good value at the moment but a refurb is promised next year.
September 2024 by Rhianna Napier
We booked a feature signature room only to find it was nothing like what was advertised on the website. The upstairs was incredibly run down. Our room had broken lamp shades, cracks in the wall, furniture just in general bad condition and the bathroom was quite grimey.
This was such a shame as downstairs the bar and restaurant areas were in great condition. But the room was unacceptable fir what they were charging and the company need to put some money into the hotel side.
The supervisor on shift who dealt with us was incredibly kind and understanding and great customer service all round. We stay in many of the Butcombe hotels as we have a dog and have never had a bad room until now. They have always been the same as advertised. I would recommend if you are planning to stay here, calling ahead making sure your room is what you are expecting before you arrive. As for us it did ruin our trip as we had been looking forward to this stay for months.
