Lainston House

My friends and I family treated me to a pre wedding afternoon tea .. a beautiful location … with excellent service and staff very attentive.. the private room was decorated and was so beautiful arranged it made you feel very emotional…the tea and food was superb thank you Lainston for helping create such a wonderful occasion would highly recommend

Having seen Tom Hamblett on Masterchef and been very impressed with his dishes, the opportunity to experience a 3-course meal at Lainston was too good an opportunity not to take up. £85 for 3 courses, extra for additional sides, drinks and service at this level is pretty decent value, as long as the meal lives up to expectation, and it went way beyond that! We’ve been lucky to experience many 3-star Michelin and fabulous meals and restaurants all over the world, and whilst the theatre and starched service is not on the menu here, the food was amongst the best we have had in a very long time. The service is really friendly, the right side of familiar and the crew we experienced certainly knew the dishes and their wines. From the moment the home made breads and butters as a complimentary palette wetter were brought, it felt this was going to be good. Lobster (£10 supplement) was simply sublime. The scallop starter was possibly one of the best things I have ever eaten, to combine scallop, cauliflower, ponzu and raisins in a dish is audacious and it paid off! We both went for the signature beef fillet with beef tartare and roscoff onion stuffed with brisket - incredible. The additional side of truffled new potatoes were absolute perfection too. Desserts were simply outstanding - olive oil cake and the now legendary peanut and chocolate slice with banana ice cream. I can still taste it. We were celebrating a birthday and our anniversary, and we also got a little chocolate cake with a Happy Birthday, a very nice gesture in a high-end place. To top it all off we met Tom in person afterwards; you could tell he had been burning the oil for the last few months but was so humble, interested in what we had ordered and what we liked. We have vowed to try and celebrate our anniversary wherever he is cooking next time as he really is an exceptional talent.

Charming 'English country house hotel' , friendly staff however some need extra training on their service levels as service in bar and especially breakfast was very slow and disorganised. Otherwise our room (Camilia) was very comfortable with a super view, the highlight of our stay was dinner at 'the avenue' by Tom Hamblet, he's a superb chef , our tasting menu was sublime , its worth treating yourself!

Myself and my son came to Lainston House as Tom Hamblet is residential head chef. The food was absolutely amazing and some of the best we’ve ever eaten, the presentation was perfect and the front of house staff were lovely and so attentive. We also got to meet Tom after we’d eaten which was so special, he gave my son, who is a chef some sound advice

We had a lovely overnight stay - we booked the junior suite and dinner/breakfast offer. A friend also booked a smaller room. The room was large and great for us to be able to sit together before dinner. The smaller room was also a good size and perfect for our needs. Dinner was fabulous, great food, good staff and we weren't rushed at all. Breakfast was also lovely, with our various requests well catered for. The weather was not good - we had gone for the Christmas markets which were cancelled due to storm weather, so we didn't have an opportunity to walk the grounds, but what we saw from the windos looked lovely. It is not a cheap experience, but it is one that we very much enjoyed and would hope to repeat in the future.

Our third visit this year to Lainston House, this time to experience Tom Hamblet’s relaunched The Avenue - it did not disappoint! With a tasting menu with choice it meant we could both have something fantastic. It was a truly amazing culinary adventure, thank you to Tom, Holly and the team for a brilliant chef’s table experience and to Alberto for such superb wine pairings and knowledge delivered in a warm and engaging way. The team at Lainston House make you so welcome, with a friendly smile and excellent service it is a special place to stay, with a big thank you to Chloe, Rhiannon, Sophie, Gerry, Rhona and Evie for making our stay so good.