The White Swan Inn - Arun

I had an amazing experience at the White Swan restaurant on Christmas Eve as we were traveling to visit family. We stopped for a lunch break during our 5-hour journey and I was thoroughly impressed. The carvery was fantastic quality and value for money. The staff, from the friendly lady who welcomed us to the skilled chef who served our meat, were all wonderful. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a great dining experience.

We've driven past here many, many times en route to Ferring from Oxford. Needing a meal on this occasion we decided to stop here as the reviews were pretty good. Parking was plentiful and easy. We were warmly welcomed at the bar and shown where to sit. Someone came soon after to take our drinks order and we ordered our meals. Great care was taken with a food allergy for one of us, for which we were grateful. The food was fine, but we felt it was very expensive for food that whilst tasty enough, was not spectacular. We don't think we'll stop off again on our regular trips along the A27, sorry.

We made a mistake by waiting too long to book Christmas lunch and ended up having to settle for The White Swan as our only option. We were hesitant as we had never dined at the hotel before, and after enjoying previous Christmas meals at The Swan Hotel in Arundel, we had high expectations for the food. Unfortunately, The White Swan fell far below our worst expectations and was quite possibly the worst meal I've ever had. The starters were mediocre and the bread served with our entrees was stale. The mains were incredibly disappointing, with rubbery turkey, overcooked trout, and salty gravy covering chewy, overcooked beef. The potatoes were undercooked, Yorkshire pudding was soggy, and overall the meal was a disaster. Desserts were average, but we were surprised to learn that coffee was an additional cost on top of our already expensive meal. The staff were lovely, but the management and chef need to seriously reevaluate the quality of their food. Despite the challenges of working on Christmas day, as a trained chef myself, I know that quality should never be sacrificed. Additionally, the lack of alcohol-free beverage options was disappointing. We will not be returning to The White Swan and will be seeking a refund.

Recently had a 3 night stay at this hotel, the first day being a Sunday; and we were both looking forward to sampling your Sunday Roast Carvery. And, having looked at the menu prior to booking would have been happy to eat at the hotel on another night of our stay. So, the good points about our stay: Great parking facilities Very polite and helpful staff Nice comfortable bedroom with adequate facilities, very clean, and quiet. Hotel in a good location and within walking distance of Arundel (although not good when it’s dark). Decent breakfast. Now, the bad point: On our first night we sat down for our evening meal at around 6.30pm and as mentioned wanted to take advantage of the carvery. However, the restaurant/bar was not busy and the carvery bar was empty. We asked if the carvery was still on and were told that it was, but the meal would be ‘plated’ and in fact there was only some beef left. So, not a carvery then. I decided to go for the beef ‘carvery’ but my wife decided she’d go for the shoulder of lamb which would normally be £25. We also both chose a starter off the specials board which was garlic mushrooms on ciabatta and with a blue cheese sauce at a cost of £8.95 per person. So, the starter came, and although it was quite nice it was basically a half ciabatta with a few sliced mushrooms and a bit of sauce. The main problem was that the sauce had no blue cheese in it; indeed it didn’t taste of cheese at all, but more like a simple weak Hollandaise type sauce. When the waiter/barman collected the plates I mentioned this and he said he’d take it up with the chef. When he returned he told us that the chef ‘thought’ he’d put blue cheese in it. End of. So, we were not at all impressed. When the main dish was served we both eat it. However although my beef dinner was okay it was quite obvious that the vegetables, particularly the broccoli must have been kept warm from earlier and had continued to cook as it had absolutely no taste. Likewise with the new potatoes that came with my wife’s lamb. They didn’t taste like potatoes at all having been so over cooked that they were almost translucent; and the lamb consisted of two small slices. Based on that meal we chose not to eat again in the evening at the restaurant during our stay. If other customers had a similar experience of your food on that day they won’t be coming back. Does this explain the lack of customers in the restaurant?

Very disappointing Sunday carvery. For the price, I would expect leg of pork, not shoulder, which was stringy ad grisly. Roast potatoes and Parsnips were undercooked. Not brown and crispy. White and mushy. The swede was watery. Gravy not good either. Very disappointing indeed. I will not be going again.