Hartnett Holder & Co

Always a winner.

We've eaten here a good handful of times , noting that Ms. Hartnett's involvement seemed to bring about a marked improvement and the last few meals here have been very good, and eating here something to look forward to.. First thing to note is that this restaurant, like quite a lot of others doesn't update its online menus very often. So when we arrived the menus we were given seemed to bear little relation to what we'd seen online. Now not only was it different, it was much less attractive, especially the set lunch. Frankly it was hard work to choose, and from a situation where all 4 of us were expecting to order three courses, two opted out of dessert, one opted out of starter, and I got to three courses by the expedient of ordering an a la carte starter and paying a £10 supplement for cheese rather than pudding. The dessert selection in particular was unattractive on both menus. and almost uniformly stodgy. It takes a couple of minutes to get a typed menu onto a properly designed website- so I'm betting that failure to do that might well mean reluctance rather than forgetfulness- but customers need information to make a fair choice. And it's fair to say that had we seen the menus we were shown before we got there, they'd have had a cancellation and we'd have been off to the Jetty, or the Pig, or the Mirabelle , or any one of the half dozen or so restaurants in the area that serve a more interesting choice and frankly better food than we ate today. Having pushed our friends to make this one Lime Wood, I frankly felt embarrassed. Three of us chose a pork rib-eye on a mixed base of tomatoes and peppers for a main. The meat was totally overpowered by its sharp accompaniment and was a long way from melt in the mouth. My risotto with red mullet had the same problem- a strongly flavoured risotto rendering the small piece of mullet pretty much tasteless. These dishes had no balance. Service was good, wine was decent, menu and food quality wasn't up to par. I think Ms Hartnett should reassure herself that she's happy with what's going out under her name, and if they aren't able to put out quality food at the prices they're currently charging, then for heavens sake put the prices up rather than serve an uninteresting choice and mediocre food. As intimated there's enough decent food available in and around the New Forest to keep us occupied on our 4-6 visits a year, with or without Lime Wood. Its a nice place, the service is good, but the food (Menu and cooking) really does need to recover its standard. Go back? Well if I do it'll be because of meals we've had in the past , not this one. I'll keep an eye on what others say, but right now Lime Wood has lost its place on our notional list of "must go back and before too long"

This was probably the most successful and certainly the best value meal we've had at Limewood. The special offer HH&Co Experience, an informal variation on a tasting menu with sharing plates but retaining some theatrical flourishes, covered a range of rustic-style Italian dishes and served up some reminders of what you can experience in Italy, and with Luke Holder in the kitchen we were not disappointed with the quality of the cooking. As before, apart from the youthful sommelier who really knew his stuff and was confident enough to engage in vinous conversation with the diners, the staff were young and enthusiastic but slightly careless and hampered by the size of the table which was clearly designed not to accommodate a series of sharing plates as well as the place settings. We began with a sparkling fruit liqueur cocktail, which set the palate up for the starter of artichoke hearts with crushed duck egg and truffles with dandelion leaves adding a touch of bitter contrast. The rich risotto that followed throbbed with delicious tomato and anchovy lifted by a judicious dose of truffle and garlic, and the baked bream main course was served with a deal of show in large dishes topped with a bread crust which the waiter cut into and removed to reveal two large, completely deboned fish in a colourful sauce of mixed vegetables. The fish was perfect in all respects but slightly let down by the relatively chewy crust which had quickly cooled on being parted from the rest. A grapefruit granita did the job of cleansing palates excellently and acted as suitable prelude to the picturesque dessert of fresh strawberries, strawberry blancmange and an exemplary set strawberry jelly. The sun shone throughout to further enhance the New Forest majesty of the Limewood estate and the mood of the customers, and despite the minor lapses we came away very satisfied.

cant disagree more with the last reviewer (peter) sorry but this restaurant is one of the up-and coming prime venues in the city, the deserts are the best you will ever taste. is it too expensive ? yes, no doubt about it. but you get what you pay for at this place. You can not make comparisons between this venue and Gibson Hall. Firstly Gibson Hall is not a restaurant but a venue that has in house caterers at play (kudos). all very good but its chalk and cheese comparison. Hartnett is the best and will be for a few years yet so long as money isn't an issue.

We visited this gig as it was recommended to us by business colleagues who are usually well in formed. so we took some clients there for a business lunch. sadly it was lacking in all the areas that a venue of this prestige should not be these days. Its perfectly fine for a quite and average meal out but nothing here screams special. maybe it was because we had attended an organised event the day before that cast a shadow of this. sadly this is increasingly the case these days. The standard of Cuisine at organised events and the atmosphere created to order is making the restaurant business harder and harder to use as a means of impressing and generating solid business relationships. Venues like Gibson Hall, and even the new Tower Bridge walk ways and many others like this are now the go to place if you have a party you are looking to develop commercial, relationships with. we will continue to use the restaurant scene for small occasions but the standard is so samey that its a tired option. I would come here again, but just not for business.

A birthday lunch, a lovely day, beautiful New Forest setting, yet we came away thinking that it would have been nicer somewhere else, which was a shame because in general the food was not bad. However, not all the dishes were of the same standard and the service was variable with, for instance, one sommelier doing what was expected, and very well, while the other was distinctly offish, our main waiter being quite efficient, although he did fail to indicate that the mains really needed "sides", but the servers getting the destination of the different dishes wrong, and even on one occasion the tables, and a surprising lack of attention when we wanted to pay the bill. Our starters were quite varied, very good creamy smoked cod's roe with chopped chives and crunchy toast sprinkled over, a big helping of hare sauce linguini, a goat's cheese salad with rather neutral cheese, and light pizzette with forest mushrooms, garlic and thyme. Our choice of mains was divided between fish and game, the former being good John Dory with an almond topping, a centrally placed sweetish onion and an onion purée, and reasonable halibut with a decent serving of girolles, and the latter being massive portions of pink pigeon with a good, but luridly green, courgette purée and nothing else to balance the dish, and the hare linguini with the gamey meat in the form of a bolognese, more meat than sauce, which went down very well, and quite sharp tomato. The cabbage, ordered as a side for four people in the absence of vegetables with the dishes, was rather ungenerous. Ice cream or sorbet was preferred as an easy dessert by three of us, but two of us selected the fig and almond torte, which was light and crispy but on the neutral side, and accompanied by a good mascarpone ice cream. The petits fours, small batons of iced pastry, were nothing more than a gesture, and the coffee very expensive. Rather average was the overall verdict.

It's a long way from home, but we have friends nearby which explains why we've eaten lunch at Lime Wood twice in the last few years. This time, with Angela Hartnett's influence (I do like Murano), was much better than before. The look of the place was much less severe and stiff, and whilst not overflowing at least there were plenty of other customers, who seemed to be enjoying their lunches. The most difficult thing to do here is choose. Both the good value set meal and the more extensive a la carte- which can be mixed- had much to offer and the choosing took a while. The food I did select- a starter of Calamari in a deliciously soft linguini, followed by Brill in a butter sauce with plentiful brown shrimps, were both very tasty and bore the marks of careful, correct cooking whether Ms Hartnett was there today or not. All four of us enjoyed everything we ordered. Particular mention should go to the rhubarb crumble which was both tasty and delightfully elegant. We chose a bottle of Rueda from the cheaper end of the list, and that was fine too Service was uniformly polite and timely, breads and coffees good, and all told this was a very successful visit and I'm sure we'll all be back. The bill for the four of us at about £230 including service, was by no means out of line for food of this quality in such pleasant surroundings.