The Hoste Arms - 4 Star Hotel & Spa Review

We went to the Hoste for a special Birthday meal for my Mum. We waited 30mins to get a menu and drinks, in fact the starters came before the drinks. The waitress tried to take our order without a pad and subsequently got the order wrong. She also didn't know the catch of the day which I think is poor for the this type of establishment with high prices, you expect the service to match and it was just poor throughout. We lost all patience when she disappeard for 20 mins to get the desert menus, the place wasn't even busy, the only other table near us were equally ignored and had to wait ages for drinks. Good food but poor service won't be rushing back which is a shame having had many lovely meals here in the past.

Long wait for food & drinks. Staff good but overwhelmed

There's more atmosphere on Mars and there are no happy staff.

Nice place, not sure if the price reflects the service

Another wonderful stay at The Hoste! Never fails to delight. Rooms immaculate with tasteful decor, staff friendly and very accommodating. Vegan options on menu a bit lacking, but that s was the only thing I d change. Thank you for another lovely visit!

Amazing palaces and great for meteor and stsr gazing

Stopped by one midweek evening to eat (& drink!) with our 2 dogs. Very friendly staff (all of them that we encountered), we were going to sit outside, but as it was getting chilly they happily put us at a table inside, in a dog designated area (where there were other dog owning guests).
We both ate the same, simple salads to start, & one of the BEST burgers I ve ever had for main, followed by the lemon meringue as desert (which was delicious!). A modest but good selection of beers available. Price wise it s about on par with average country pub rates (the village & its ambience probably push the prices up a little, we come from London where you can pay far more obviously, but also cheaper if you hunt around as we cheapskates tend to do!). Anyway the bottom line is we d definitely come back here again...we had an all round very pleasant evening!

Nice atmosphere and location, Beer well kept. Service for food served a little random with the table next to mine having to leave hungry after errors with their order (may have been a one off or misunderstanding). Nice pub.

Had an amazing afternoon tea... service was great...

Had lunch with a group of 6 people today. Service was slow, one server started taking order and just walked away in the middle of it bringing another waiter. Food came out delayed, average quality. Fairly mixed service quality in the bar area.

Myself and my partner have visited The Hoste many times and have never had a bad experience. The reason for our visit yesterday was to discuss our wedding that we will be having at The Hoste next year. As always they were welcoming and accommodating. Couldn't recommend enough.

Very large extremely well appointed bedrooms, friendly and helpful staff. Excellent breakfast but food in restaurant could do with improvement.

Beautiful hotel, although restaurant staff was rather clumsy (our food and drinks were delivered to the wrong tables several times)

We went here for our 3rd wedding anniversary and although it is lovely, its tired. The whole place needs a lick of paint and touch ups, then I think it would justify the prices of the rooms and food a bit more. Dinner was really tasty and enjoyable, breakfast was quite a let down. Presented nicely but missing black pudding (only confirmed when we read menu again on way out) and arrived tepid at best. Bacon was heavily cured and tough, everything else pleasant enough.

Very nice venue tandem high quality afternoon tea was very reasonably priced

Good place for lunch. A little bit expensive but best place in town

A very nice meal. Scallop was done to perfection. Halibut was sweet and meaty. Caramel tart was disappointing, caramel flavour was missing.
Good safety for COVID 19, one way system easily marked plenty of sanitizing stations and City Club app made it easy to pay without contact.

It's a nice place with lots of character
Shame they are no longer selling Abbott ale.

Great food and service Very dog friendly Highly recommend

Reviewing restaurant only.
Disappointing experience at The Hoste restaurant, Burnham Market. Efficiently and politely seated at 8:30pm, the first course did not arrive until 9:25. Although the menu does mention food is prepared freshly and diners should therefore "bear with us", this wait time is not acceptable, especially when the restaurant is only half full. We were not the only diners experiencing this excessively tardy preparation. Perhaps The Hoste should advise diners not to arrive hungry.
The food, once with us, was delicious: full marks especially to the desserts! That's where the 3 stars are coming from here.
Due to the biblical wait for food, we were only able to finish up at about the same time that staff start to clear tables for the night. We were one of only a few remaining tables and yet service had entirely evaporated, staff with eyes firmly down, highly focused on whipping glasses off tables and pressing touch screens studiously.
The structure of serving staff roles is also uncomfortable for customers: some bring food, others take your orders and hearing "it's not my job" when you want to order something gets frustrating very quickly. All staff should be able to take a customer request and pass it on.
Shame: great food is being let down by slightly dodgy organisation.

Food good, rooms tired and in need of refurbishment, unhelpful management and a distinct lack of customer support leading to poor satisfaction! Hoste will give you everything you want as long as it s something they want to give, if not it s tough luck!

Nice place. Not cheap but the area is great. Staff serving us struggled to understand what a filter coffee was.... didn't eat there

Very slow service, lots of staff walking around not doing very much.

Excellent Boutique Hotel in the beautiful village of Burnham Market.

Beautiful hotel in the picturesque village of Burnham Market. We stayed for one night with our dog and made use of the hotel and bar.
Reception staff were friendly and efficient, showing us to our room under the eaves which was tastefully decorated and adorned with cushions and elaborate furniture. The room featured air conditioning, tea and coffee facilities, sizable TV and a large bathroom with bath. Generally in good condition but the bathroom seemed to need a little TLC.
We enjoyed drinks in the bar for a few hours which was probably the least likeable aspect of our stay. The staff seemed a little irritable and service took a while. On asking, they informed us that the bar food service stopped at 6pm to be replaced by their A La Carte menu... Upon ordering at 6:30 we were then told food service had stopped and we'd have to relocate to the dining area. With the help of the reception staff this confusion was sorted out but did slightly spoil an otherwise enjoyable stay.

Lovely perfect country pub. Great for sunshine and a beer or a coffee.

The pub bit is good, feels authentic. The rest is nice, although a little pretentious.

Very enjoyable stay at the Hoste towards the end of January. The room was spacious and comfortable and the bar was cosy with an open fire. Staff were polite and helpful, will return again.

Wow! I ve wanted to stop at the Hoste for a long long time, this week we had a last minute opportunity!

I booked pretty much last minute, I called the team as I wasn t sure if we could stay with our 1 month old. The girl on the phone was really polite and accommodating recommending the deluxe room for the space.

We needed up taking the Devine room, it was spacious and luxurious, walk in shower, big bed and so much space.

Breakfast was included but felt it wasn t as good as when we d eaten there before from the menu. But still no complaints.

Little tip that we didn t know about was that hotel guests get free tea and coffee throughout the day!

Lovely place, great staff and delicious food though the price does reflect this somewhat!

My wife and I always enjoy the Hoste. The other day a neighbouring hotel refused to serve us because they stopped serving at 9pm and it was one minute past! We were welcomed by the friendly Host staff and enjoyed a dinner of a very high standard. Try the local oysters. You won't get better.

After a bad experience elsewhere, The Hoste were very accommodating for me and my friends needs. When we arrived (after a 5hr drive) the lady on front desk said that she d do her best to make us feel comfortable. All I can say is that The Hoste don t know how lucky they are to have the most incredible staff I ve ever experienced in hospitality. Monica, Lydia, Ron and Nico all made my long weekend stay truly relaxing and enjoyable. They offered advice, smiles and general good vibes throughout the stay. The Hoste itself has an incredible cinema and bar that you can drink dry!

Expensive restaurant with room to improve. The Hoste is a stylish, classy restaurant (and hotel) as befits a venue in Burnham Market, one of North Norfolk's nicest towns. However it is very expensive for what it offers and is let down by poor service and other failings.



Our main waitress was helpful and friendly but other food servers twice trailed dishclothes across the food of some of our party whilst reaching across to other guests to serve their food. One of the starters was missing ingredients and had to be re-done. There were also long waits between courses. Finally, the toilets were very messy with overflowing paper bins and, according to the cleaning schedules, they had not been checked for hours.

So, despite a very comfy and attractive venue, some excellent cooking and a cheerful waitress, some significant failings and undeservedly high prices

Only popped in for a drink so cannot comment on food. There is a very cozy area in the bar where you can sit with your dog. Good ambiance and some interesting cartoons on the walls.

Great decor and atmosphere. An iconic place to visit.

Pretentious over priced establishment. Better places to go without the smug staff and poor service

Perfect and beautiful surroundings and the best Sunday lunch I've had for years anywhere. Highly recommended.

We had people with restricted mobility with us and they couldn't do enough for us. love staff and great coffee.

Ok place to stop for a drink - it s the location and setting that make it really!

We stayed at the Hoste arms over Christmas taking advantage of their special 3 day Christmas package. It was not an insignificant amount of money for the package for my parents and sister and myself, but having stayed at the hotel on a number of occasions previously (admittedly a few years ago), I felt reassured that we would be rewarded with an excellent experience.

We were asked at the time of booking for any dietary requirements, and we immediately informed the hotel of our mother's coeliac condition, thus requiring a gluten free menu. We were assured that this would be passed on to the chef, and we also reminded the hotel two more times before actually arriving.

Unfortunately the hotel completely disregarded this advance information and made very little effort to accommodate her dietary requirements so that she either had half a plate of food with items scraped off the plate when we complained about the gluten-containing items being served to her (it is very dangerous for her to accidentally digest gluten), or just had to go without. For example, on Christmas Eve dinner she was served pearl barley and a bread roll (Not gluten free). At Christmas Day lunch, she pretty much had to forgo all the trimmings (stuffing, bread sauce, sausages). These days it is incredibly easy to source or make all of these items with no gluten. Bizarrely they also took all the dark meat off her plate too, demonstrating a complete lack of knowledge dietary requirements. The Christmas evening buffet was well stocked with cakes and sweet treats and bread, none of which were gluten free, which resulted in our poor mother having to go back to her room to find a gluten free mince pie that thankfully she had brought with her. There was no marked up cereal or gluten free bread at breakfast either.

On a separate note the Christmas evening quiz was a shambles. Completely disorganised and no one really knew what they were supposed to be doing.

On our return we wrote to explain our concerns, not in an aggressive way, but just to point out where they could improve their service and asked for a response. Since writing on 28 December, we have followed up the email with further emails and phone calls and been reassured that Greg the manager would definitely contact me. However despite chasing repeatedly he has not bothered to call. I have to say that the whole family is very shocked at the lack of care the hotel has shown, and my sister and I feel very sad that a hotel that used to be dear to our heart has gone down hill so dramatically since its change of ownership. If anyone is thinking of visiting the Hoste Arms I would suggest you try some of the other excellent places nearby instead eg.The Lifeboat Inn, where they still do care for their customers.

Nice hotel - ideally situated dor touring Morth Norfolk.

A very welcoming restaurant with a great menu. My issue is that some of the staff were a bit odd and did not seem to speak/understand English and general hosting/waiting requirements. I think that they were new.

Friendly service and atmosphere. Fish and chips which I ordered was very good

brilliant food, attentive staff, lovely building with a rich history... well worth every penny and a visit

Lovely birthday treat from my daughter Kate. At The Hoste in Burnham Market. Lovely Christmas fair on too.

Very pretty place. Will look beautiful in spring/summer.

Nice old worldy hotel/pub in a nice village-- just brace yourself for the exorbitant prices.

Stopped for a drink here over the Christmas period . Very warm , cosy traditional bar with a lovely modern restaurant and snug area. The village has a great feel about it with a handful of upmarket shops , and bars . Great for a weekend get away ! Not far from the beautiful Norfolk coast either .

If you have a mobility issue even the superior room on the first floor presents problems,2 bends on one flight of stairs, a landing with steps up and down and a mirror that can only be used standing. Coupled with a bathroom with 9 lights which is still gloomy. Unfortunately a victory of style over function. The staff are very good particularly our chambermaid who found a bar stool to make the mirror usable

I went to The Hoste for Sunday lunch and we were very happy with the quality of the food on offer and the restaurant staff who were informative, friendly, attentive and very competent. A special mention must be made about the sticky toffee pudding and ice cream, this was simply an amazing dish, not too heavy and packed with explosive flavours! We will be going back again in the future!

Very quick service, and good food. There was a hiccup with a starter being missed, but this was quickly resolved.

Lovely meal (with generous portions) in a fantastic location. Will definitely be coming back

Food is excellent.
Service is very good

Despite empty tables inside and outside they maintained they were full which was a surprise. Not the most welcoming of staff but perhaps the constant stream of customers was a bit of a grind. Will pass in future.

Great place for a good relaxed break, found all the staff really friendly and helpful

Called in for drinks. Clearly a nice establishment and now that I know it is there I will consider stopping the night next time. I like the style of the place and the amenities it offers.

Good atmosphere but the food is poor quality and o erpriced

Good food. Very dog friendly -- people were allowed to have their dogs with them at the bar and in the terrace restaurant.
Service was slowed the night we ate there because a severe thunderstorm (which caused flooding in the streets) distracted the staff who had to deal with a few ceiling leaks.

Very good place to stop and take a bite or a drink on the green ... . Before after the visit to the local shops. ..

Stayed from 12 noon till 4pm, whilst all my party had our massages, looked after us extremely well

everybody was very welcoming and had a fab atmosphere! would definitely reccomend to friends and family!

Always like it over 30+ years of marriage....the critics may be right in terms of style over substance but my ice-cold cider on a steamy afternoon was well worth another visit, albeit missing my precious wife!

Beers good, staff are nice but it's disorganised and the food is below par.

Good location, nice place to stay for a night. Breakfast was very good, muffins were excellent!!