The Sparsholt

We decided to try "recommended by the chef 5 courses". So you will pay 45£ per person. Don't expect to be overfilled with food but for that amount of money the portions are more than reasonable and decent. The product quality is really high class so you'll not be disappointed with the selection.

I stayed at the Star inn with my wife for 2 nights, as soon as we arrived the staff welcomed us as if we were family. The first evening we ate at the Star and had a lovely meal served by Hew, who was friendly and attentive. I ate the Duck terrine, followed by the slow cooked beef cheek with horseradish mash, it was lovely. My wife had Roasted beetroot with butternut squash and goats cheese mousse, followed by Sea bass, she said it was lovely. The sweets looked amazing but I honestly couldn’t fit one in, and I enjoy my food. Both mornings of our stay we had breakfast, Served by the lovely Ness, who nothing was too much trouble for, also the Chef Ewan came out and checked we enjoyed our breakfast. This couple of days was a lovely treat, would we return to The Star? absolutely!. Thank you to all the staff at The Star for making us feel so welcome.

This old Inn is now a top restaurant. Food and service were excellent. The meats cooked to perfection with deep rich sauce. The taste of the terrine was masked by a little bit too much salt, but this was the only issue with an otherwise flawless meal. Expect to spend £30 a head for 2 courses. New winter menu has some excellent desserts

I don’t know where to start. Absolutely an amazing place to dine in. The building itself is carefully renovated, and the original beams have been revealed while all place has been modernised so simply and elegantly. The dishes are very authentic, craftily balance of acid and different flavours. I ate two starters, one main and two deserts and wished still had some place to test the rest of the menu! My congratulations to the chefs, and all the knowledgeable hosts of this fabulous restaurant! It ls definitely worth travelling to.

Mind blowing. Attentive service. Incredible food. Party of 3 wanted to share one of the starters as it looked too good to pass up but we didn’t want to spoil our main. The kitchen thoughtfully distributed it across three separate plates to avoid dividing across a table and spoiling the fine dining atmosphere. Amazing flavours and well cooked, recommended.

This restaurant has a reputation locally for being expensive, but this is so far from the truth. The prices are extremely comparable with similar establishments close by. Six of us went for breakfast on Sunday last week. We had a fabulous full English, eggs florentine, toast, unlimited coffee and tea etc. On Sunday we tried the Sunday roast. The beef almost melted in the mouth and the desserts tasted amazing. The service was excellent, couldn’t have been any better, thanks Nes & Hayley. We will definitely be going back to try the midweek theme nights.

Went for dinner on the 7th of October to celebrate my partners birthday. Started off with a lovely Nigroni for myself and a gin and tonic for my partner but unfortunately was downhill from there. We ordered our food with the waitress, explaining that I was dairy intolerant, I ordered and the waitress checked with the kitchen that what I had ordered could be done dairy free. We also ordered a bottle of wine so that it had time to open up while we finished our drinks. No wine appeared. I had the duck terrine to start and my partner and I shared some sourdough. We asked for some balsamic and oil to go with the bread for myself but this was forgotten and did not get picked up until we had nearly finished our starters. The terrine was bland and did not seem like much care had gone into making it. The plum chutney was overly spicey and the "celeriac slaw" consisted of some raw celeriac dressed with what seemed like just pure lemon juice. The toasted bread was missing from the plate. I left over half the dish, the waitress that cleared the table asked if the dish was okay and I said that I did not really enjoy it. We then asked for our wine which had been forgotten about. My partner had the beef cheek for main. The beef cheek itself was well executed, it was served with a horseradish mash but unfortunately this was under seasoned. Also on the dish were three tiny florets of over cooked broccoli. This meant that the whole dish was one texture and boring. I had the venison for main, the haunch was cooked nicely and the cabbage was okay, but the scotch egg was split down the side, rare and cold in the middle. That was unpleasant to eat and I left it. I asked the waitress if it was meant to be served like that and she told me that it was meant to be "served rare but that should have been explained" For dessert, my partner had the creme brulle. This was nice. I had the bakewell which was okay but the sponge was dry. Again I did not finish the plate. The bill came with no change based on any of the feedback I had given, I did not want to complain further as my partner and I don't get out often and I did not want to spoil our evening. We were expecting a similar service to the Woodspeen being its sister resteraunt but sadly it was no where near the mark. Overall a very disappointing evening.

Much improved w the new ownership. The restaurant has been taken over by Woodspeen ppl. We were here couple of years ago, and it was okay then. But now, it is a refined pub. I just wish they would be dog friendly.