Bel and the Dragon-Odiham

I have to say we did frequent The Bel a lot back in its heyday, and it was always amazing. The bar is a really buzzy busy place and the bar staff are brilliant. In fact all the staff when we visited were great. Unfortunately the food is overpriced and just a little underwhelming. All four of us were not really impressed. For the price of the meal I don’t think we will be returning. Definitely not value for money.

Really disappointing meal : from a group of 9 of the 5 people I discussed the food with their meals were served cold. This was our third visit over the years and will be our last. My burger was cold - the ingredients were potentially good but it was cold by the time it reached me. My daughter's pasta, my wife's fish, my son's steak and my mother's steak were all cold. My wife's sea bass was small for £29 and she said tasted 'fishy' and not fresh. Beer wise the Hog's Back was off so the only option was London Pride - not a bad thing in itself but indicative of poor stock management. Most other guests (not from our party) looked to be having roasts, it being Sunday lunch, but can't comment as none of our party opted for this. The dining room was 2/3 full - though other areas such as the private dining were in use so it was reasonably busy. Service was young, friendly, and adequate. The dining room was chilly though it warmed up a little as people arrived. Unfortunately I think there is something wrong between the kitchen and the service - either the food is being prepared but not presented warm enough or the slightly haphazard service means it is sitting on the pass too long and not reaching the table promptly. We regret not raising concerns at the time but as my mother was inviting and we were there to commemorate my recently deceased father's birthday we did not want to spoil the occasion. Despite this restraint it was not what we were hoping for. Prices are aggressive and not justified by the offering.

I came with a group of friends and had a most enjoyable weekend here to celebrate a birthday. My accommodation was spacious and very clean, and I loved the Roberts radio playing classical music to welcome you into the room. I liked the mixture of the tradional busy pub coupled with a quieter and more genteel restaurant area. All the meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) were very good. The service was excellent, expecially Rosie, who went above and beyond to look after us and make our stay as relaxing and pleasant as possible.

We arrived the night they were trimming up the Christmas lights, and we were late in the evening, staff very attentive, and they had phoned us the day before to let us know this and the restaurant would be closed that night, which was fine as visiting our son and eating out with him. The hotel is just beautiful, its layout, furniture, so inviting and warming, very old but furnished so well. We were seen to our room which was WOW factor, huge room, old furniture, massive bed, decorated wonderfully, bathroom had huge standalone Bath, husband very happy. The quality of detail was evident, had a complimentary treat of a sloe gin on arrival awaiting in the room, Roberts Radio was playing as we walked in, even the coffees and T-bags were of a quality type and choice. On the bed we had a pillow mist, and after having a long journey and feeling very tired it was wonderful to relax in the armchairs in the room and then climb into the bed, so comfy, not a marshmallow mattress, which was a relief, had some firmness and very comfy, pillows were soft and in all it was a wonderful experience, slept well. Now that we found this place we will be back when visiting to stay here in this room, no need to look elsewhere for a room. Breakfast was included, not many in, it was not the best breakfast experience, nothing to do with the staff or service, but fruit choice a conference pear, quartered, Mmm! No brown bread, all white, and it was clearly not from a bakers loaf, more a supermarket sliced loaf, floppy white or a 50/50! We did order the English breakfast, eggs were overdone, had to ask for them to be redone, Sausage and bacon disappointing, streaky bacon is not bacon for breakfast, and to touch, it crumbled, was really overdone, and you got what I can only say was 1 slice broken in 2, considering its streaky! the sausage was also tough and did not shout from a butchers, however the coffee (not from the breakfast bar) was amazing, just think more attention to detail of the food, and it would be wow. Odiham is a lovely old authentic looking street of shops and houses.

We received a very warm welcome when we arrived at the Bel & The Dragon for our meal. We were immediately shown to our table by our waitress who was very friendly, smiley and very efficient. The restaurant was warm and welcoming. We ordered starters and mains all of which came in a timely manner, and everything was absolutely delicious. We all cleared our plates and as a result we could only manage one shared desert between the four of us, the Sticky Toffee Pudding with ice cream which was also delicious. We have eaten at B&D before, and it was nice to see the menu has been changed. We felt everything we had was of a very high quality and was very good value for money. We will definitely be back.

Lovely staff and great food. Cosy spaces inside, modern and bright dining area and attractive garden. The only downside was that people can smoke anywhere in the garden, which really affects people eating outside. Would be so much better if smoking was in a designated area.