Hive Beach Cafe in West Dorset

The food was delicious, the service was great.

This is one of my favourite places to eat Fish & Chips and the place is always been busy. But lately I’ve had a few gripes. Firstly the food is always excellent. What I didn’t appreciate is the large increase in prices (more than 15% on the price of say fish & chips) plus the additional charge for peas (mushy or garden) which h used to be included. So shrinkflation at its worst is operating there. Also whilst I admire hiring teenagers to work serving and waiting tables, it would good to train them. Half of them didn’t know who’s order was who’s, three times they came to one table with different orders which h the table didn’t order and twice they dropped food and had to get a new plate. Come on guys get your act together. You have a good thing going here and good clientele. Don’t piss them off with dodgy service and over inflationary increases!

Food was tasty and hot , expensive for a breakfast at £14.95 and a bit small, Egg wasn't runny, no beans "not even a choice" hash brown should of been homemade at the price.

This little place has a bunch of things going for it. The location is awesome, the staff - whom are quite young did a great job. The food, was nice yet lacked a little refinement to reflect the price. It is worth a visit as I hope my experience was not 5 stars because the kitchen was under the pump. Some great menu ideas!.

Great food And sevice its just a wonderfull place to watch the sea and relax in the sun

Went for a breakfast with family, and had to listen to the manager fire one of the servers on the table in front of us at 11.15AM. A very awkward and unprofessional situation that ruined the atmosphere and vibe of our visit, only to then have slow service (unsurprisingly, as they fired the server?!), drinks were messed up, and the food was really substandard considering the “London” prices commanded. Overall, very relieved at the thought of never returning to this establishment, the management seem to be cruel, and have no issue with customers witnessing this?? Absurd, dystopian, and sickening.

A beautiful place to visit and eat

Great cafe with a fabulous location.

This is a fabulous place for an informal lunch, a romantic liaison or a very special breakfast. The food is superb and the service is excellent. The view out over the sea is beautiful whatever the weather is doing.

Brill service friendly staff i have been many times

I live in Dorset and have been to Hive Beach Cafe many times over the past 12 years. Always loved it, especially the Lobster. But sadly the last couple of visits have been very disappointing. The food is not to the standard I have previously experienced. I went yesterday with a friend who’s never been and we both ordered the crab sandwich. It was served in super quick time which we were both very surprised as it was busy. The first thing I noticed was the coleslaw was not made by them but was cheap shop bought processed food! Yuk. And the sandwich was worst.The bread had either been sat out for too long or it was not fresh as it was dry and fell apart when I picked it up to eat it. The crab was not good either. All the brown meat not white and all lumpy like it had just been taken out of a can and put in the bread. We sent the sandwiches back and just ate the chips. If they didn’t have the location that they do they would have to consider what is coming out of the kitchen. The location keeps them busy in my opinion not the quality of the food,

Had a great breakfast on a windy cold morning. Food was great and staff were friendly

What a find! We chanced upon this place whilst visiting Hive Beach. The food was both delicious and generous portion size. We had the hake, and the squid, and the squid is the best I have eaten anywhere in the world (yes, really!). Cooked to perfection, it melted in the mouth. Our server was absolutely delightful, friendly and full of smiles. The location and views are just breathtaking. I really cannot recommend it enough!

Delicious, very obviously fresh seafood. Great location. A good lunch.

Nice friendly service here. Had local cinnamon and apple cake with clotted cream which was exceptionally light and delicious.

Wonderful friendly service. Dog friendly too.

We arrived at 3:03, just three minutes past closing time for the kitchen at 3:00. They refused to serve us any food or take away.

Been a few times and remember it being so nice. Came today and had the hake and chips. Plate was cold. Chips were cold. So over priced. Don’t think we will be coming back we were quite disappointed

Really friendly staff and great selection of snacks & main meals to take away. All reasonably priced and some hood coffee too.

Gorgeous place for fish served with a smile. Lunch starts at 12. Go early, it gets busy!!!

Great food and service in a beautiful setting.

Appalling!! As great as ever! This is what I wrote in my original review, mot now though. We have been coming here for many years. However, we came last Friday, my husband ordered his favourite, hake and chips. Wow!!! An appalling piece of fish, hardly any fish in it. Incredibly expensive, my tart was ok but not worth the money they charged. We will no longer be coming back

This wld be lovely if yr dressed appropriately. Knew it was in a marquee type place but it was very cold in there . Had a jacket on but needed a warm jumper too. My breakfast was lovely...crab hash Benedict...only downside was muffin wasn't toasted. My husband asked for eggs Benedict which normally comes with ham and was asked if he wanted bacon or salmon or spinach with his breakfast so he said ooh bacon wld be lovely... thinking he was getting a couple of extra slices of bacon in the side aswell as ham underneath but that wasn't the case...his eggs were a bit overcooked but they did give us 10%discount because of this. Very nice hot chocolate and a nice flat white

This is a nice place with a real beach vibe and excellent food. I am taking a star off because if you are calling yourself a café, you should offer something at lunchtime which is not £15+. However, I should also add that much of their food is available as a takeaway at considerably reduced prices, so you are paying to sit down.

Haven't been for a while so decided to pop in on a lovely sunny Saturday morning for breakfast. Expected it to be full but it wasn't. Ordered a full English. £13.50 No toast, no beans, no tea, half a tomato, a small mushroom, one egg, two tiny sausages, a hash brown, some bacon. It looked lost on the plate. Very very poor. The only good thing about this place now is the staff. Breakfast is a rip off.

The crab meat was dry and bright orange and the bread was old / stale. Very disappointing. Price not short of £15. We’ve been 3 times in total and there is no consistency regarding the crab sandwiches (first time they were adequate (not a lot of crab meat), second time they were better).

Great location. My food was cold quickly as the tables are metal, so the coldness from the table quickly made the food cold. Glad we experienced it though.

We have been eating here for a number of years and were looking forward to a decent lunch of fish and chips . We were sadly disappointed as the food was dry and tasteless. When asked how our meal had been, we told two members of staff that we were not happy. One said she would tell the chef and another said more or less the same but then took our money. We expected some reaction ,or an apology even , but none came. It’s a great pity as we have really enjoyed eating here in the past . Now we will probably not go again.

Our first visit was on the 29th of December 2025 and we were dead impressed with the Hive Beach Cafe. We will return this year, for sure. The staff was on the ball, and the food was quick to the table and delicious. We highly recommend the Hive Cafe. Gary, Poole, Dorset.

Cafe open all year round serving a well deserved bacon butty and coffee for those winter dog walks in all weather's!

Amazing restaurant, food is ridiculously good!!! Can get busy but the staff are great, always keeping you updated and cheerful. Would highly recommend

Food OK but expensive for what it is. Service not good as another table were arguing with the waiter that they didn't order or eat some items on their bill. When our bill arrived we had the exact same problem. About 3 extra breakfasts that we didn't order were on our bill. How many customers pay these fake bills without checking?

Great view and beautiful seafood like being on the Mediterranean

Only had a coffee but lovely setting and views.

Wonderful crab sandwich. The warmest welcome too.

Always very good. Slightly pricey for those on a budget, but well worth it.

Beautiful food (fish soup was amazing), staff friendly and efficient on a busy day, and you can't beat sitting outside with a sea view. On the pricey side, but worth it.

Dog friendly cafe. Dogs are allowed on the beach between the 1st October and 31st May. Staf were friendly. Only had hot drinks so cannot comment on the Food.

The cafe used to be one our favourites, always having the half lobster meal. The lobster now is served like an overcooked semi cold mess served alongside overcooked mushy prawns. Wondering if the lobster was previously frozen. Upside: the chips were good. Very disappointed and sadly will give it a miss in the future as they are now clearly catering for the unsuspecting one visit tourist.

Lovely food. Staff polite and very helpful We would come here more often if we were local to them

Friendly service but luke warm not very good quality food. No beans so quite a dry breakfast . Tomato & brown sauce nice. Coffee good

Great little cafe, although far more than a cafe, wonderful warm welcome for us and the dogs, biscuits given to dogs, had breakfast but huge range menu and drinks, takeaway cafe and shop. Service wonderful genuine warm

Very disappointed with the food and service. Very expensive to. Won't go back.

Lovely view, good hot chocolate, not too crowded.

The food was Fantastic. Service was great. I would highly recommend this.

£16 for fish and chips only was a small portion (half a fish). Took 24 minutes to be served.

Lovely place to eat. Staff are so friendly & we felt welcome with our dog. Food was amazing, good portions & fresh. We will definitely return.

Please save yourself money and time and don’t attend this dirty shack. The place is overrated, the menu is overpriced and the ‘food’ is overcooked. I only finished my lobster because I felt sorry for it. Please avoid this place. If you think the food is bad, the service is worse. The waiting staff are a bunch of surly sixth-formers with no manners. They hover around and watch you eat with their creepy grim faces. Just a dirty little place that I should have exited immediately rather than being let down and ripped off. It was recommended by friends and I seriously doubt their judgement now or perhaps this place used to be good in the past. It certainly isn’t anymore. Don’t go. You will be disappointed.

Very expensive, so instead of lunch there, we only had a coffee and a biscuit. Shame, but the beach was great and our two dogs enjoyed their walk there. We had hoped to have the crab sandwiches but at £13 each, and 4 of us, we thought £52 was a lot for a snack.

Excellent place in a gorgeous setting

Went for breakfast. I had an excellent full English, my wife had the pancakes. They were very busy but the service was very good. Plenty of servers “crew” to see that it went smoothly. Parking just out side and a few yards off the beach.

Andrew and the staff together with the food were fab - Thank you

A great option for meeting friends or just soaking up the atmosphere yourself.

Right on the beach and just lovely to eat and relax

Camping at Freshwater holiday park, a 20 minute walk to visit this gem of a place. Busy and bustling restaurant, great menu, food was outstanding and the service was great too. Dog friendly aswell, all in all, will definitely be returning soon.

Excellent quality fish meals served here. We had the standard fish and chips which was really crisp and tasty but on future visits will experiment with some of the other exciting looking choices. Service was friendly and unobtrusive and prices were very reasonable.

Stunning view. Great coffee £16 for a small takeaway fish and chips is ridiculous. Completely unacceptable to charge that for takeaway. Lovely icecream.

Nobody interested in serving you. Took a long time to make 2 cups of coffee. The cups leaked returned them but disinterested staff member. Not just me but quite a number of customers unhappy.

Great food in a great location. Best fish and chips we've had.

Great food and service 5 star all round. Must try their desserts !😋

Great as always although the service is a little slow. Too many young kids having to be directed by the boss to clean tables take orders and also remember orders. But will keep going back when we are down there as the location and food has always been great.

Huge muscles in a nicely balanced blue cheese cream sauce. The fish chowder was also lovely, great tasting fish and fresh veg. We enjoyed on a wet and windy day, outside seating had heaters which warmed us up nicely. Would recommend after a walk.

Had a take away consisting of 3x fish and chips one soup and one crab sandwich. Food ok but tiny half size fish and chips and they forgot my crab sandwich had to go back for it. The issue was the £75.50 cost. Extortionate. If you are dieting and money is no issue go for it!

We had heard amazing things about this cafe so made a point of eating lunch there whilst in the area. The set up undoubtedly is amazing with views out over the sea. The food is good (but if I’m honest we’ve eaten just as well elsewhere for less) and is served reasonably quickly. Dogs are allowed which is another plus - for us at least. However I am a Coeliac and that’s where they let themselves down. The young lad who was our waiter - though impeccably polite did not have a clue about what contained gluten and the menu had no indicators. I’m pretty good at guessing what should be suitable but at each question he had to go back to “ask chef”. At one point he even totally confused which dish I was asking about - and they were very different dishes! The whole process was the worst I have encountered in a long time and made me feel like a total nuisance so frankly I did not enjoy the dining experience at all.

A lovely place to have lunch beautiful views

Great place, great hake and chips, chowder, mussels. Very good house wine and cider. Servers were excellent. Thanks.

Been a couple of times but really not sure what the fuss is about, waited over an hour for mediocre and overpriced food. Location is obviously superb but you can't eat a view 🥴

Amazing food, with a beautiful view. The staff are so friendly and welcoming and it's a great place to bring your dog. Superb cocktails too!

Apparently they are dog friendly. Our 10month old puppy was barking whilst outside the venue. He always settles once we sit down as he is just excited at first. But we weren't even allowed to take our seat and sit down. we were told that people get upset at dogs barking and were turned away. So is the venue dog friendly or isn't it? the fact we weren't even allowed to sit at our table and settle our dog I found quite extraordinary. I would understand if he continued to bark whilst at the table but we weren't even allowed that opportunity.

It's just not as good as it used to be unfortunately.

Probably expected to much. Service was very efficient, but food was so so. I had hake and chips, pretty much tasteless, I know hake lacks flavour, but that's what cooking is about, giving it ummph. Lovely setting with lots of people on seperate missions, i.e., not very friendly.

We have lunch with a magnificent seaview here. Better book the table in advance or you need to spend some time for waiting.

Great place to visit always love national trust a few years since we've been back not really changed

Arrived at 4.30pm. They shut at 5pm. We had a Cream tea each but you could have coffee instead. Choose of plain, fruit or savoury. £7.50 each which I thought was very reasonable. Sat outside with our dog and watched the sea. Lovely service . Very polite young people.

Love this restaurant set right off the beach very layed back vibe with the best fish dishes

Great coffee and apple cake well served, just what you need after a long lovely walk on the beach.

We have been coming to Dorset for years and always like to have our crab sandwiches at The Hive Beach café, but I have to say, I was a little disappointed this year after yearning for one for so long. Years ago, you used to get uncut doorstop bread and fresh crab on its own, but now you get sliced bread (nowhere near as thick) and the crab is mixed with either a dressing or mayo to bulk it out a bit. Although it tasted ok, it wasn’t up to the standards it used to be. Such a shame.

Unless you're a proper fussy arse, this place is just great.. Sat, chatting, eating good food, with a sea view. The unpredictable weather added to the environment, with staff rolling up the clear awning sides as soon as the sun was out and rushing to roll em down when a shower caught us out. I say us because diners helped out. Just great 🙂

Stopped for coffee and cake. Very pricey for average coffee and cake. Great views Good staff

Always a good place to break ones journey - national trust car park - access to beach - the cafe and toilets.

Lovely food right on the beach. Place katsu was really nice as was the squid. Expensive, especially given the shabby decor/furnishing.

Eat seafood overlooking the beach at sunset. Simply lovely.

We arrived at 11.20, just in time to order breakfast. We were lucky to get the table on the edge of the 'tent' overlooking the beach. Despite being quite busy we received very efficient service. The food arrived within 15- 20 min, then our hot drinks. We had 3 x full English and egg Benedict on muffin with bacon. Everyone enjoyed it. The only nuisance were a few wasps but not a lot to spoil our experience.

Very disappointing meal tonight, experience much below last visit 2 summers ago. Service levels, food appearance/quality and environs all issues. Time of the booking (early evening) should make no difference but felt like all concerned were keen to get off home. Indeed the main area was being dismantled for cleaning as we were leaving after leas than an hour. Won’t be returning.

It's a lovely place with great views and good food but a bit pricey

Great place to visit with superior menu. Staff are friendly and pleasant. Food is professionally prepared and served. Thoroughly recommended.

Came here today, after walking from our campsite at Graston Copse through Burton Bradstock village. A warm welcome by a member of staff & shown to our outside table for 4 with 3 dogs. Our waitress took our drinks order & returned after a few minutes to take our food order. She was very friendly and attentive, giving time for a chat despite being extremely busy. Wait for our food was minimal and when it arrived it was hot, tasty & well presented. Back ground music was pleasant, giving the Mediterranean feeling due to the sunshine. Wouldn't hesitate in returning if we are in the area again .... thank you.

Beautiful location overlooking the sea. Attentive staff , generous helpings and plenty of choice to meet all tastes and pockets

Well I only had coffee and cake but it looked nice inside the cafe. It has got a small shop and the beach is fantastic.

The food is good but the service has gone down hill. We have been several times over the years as we are local. You can book online for the evening but be careful as it shuts at 8pm but you can book for this time. We booked for 7.15pm which was accepted but then we were asked to pay as they were cashing up before we were even finished. Drinks came way after food and one of our party had to wait a long time for his food so we started as ours was getting cold.

Very busy but friendly staff and good food. In an ideal location

After a long walk on the beach the Hive is just the place to visit. Lovely atmosphere and great food

Great staff and very understanding about wheelchair access being needed. The food was good but they could do with more vegetarian/vegan options for dinner/lunch.

Great service and excellent staff!!

Everything about it is excellent. The cafe, the takeaway and the ice cream shack are all brilliant

Second time coming back to this place. My wife is an awkward eater, so she normally has to settle for a combination of non-fish sides, whereas I can eat everything on the menu! Lobster and pan and cream dishes a little in the echidna side... but then again they usually are! Great location, great food and a friendly helpful team.

Views are incredible, food is ok- it’s the position of this cafe that makes it and I feel they ride on that a bit as it’s expensive! I had kippers for Breakfast, could have done with a side dressing and the waitress couldn’t even help with how to get the bones out- I worked it out myself- Not her fault but for a fish place you would think this came as staff training.

We booked for dinner for my wife's birthday and i was very disappointed. We were put up in what seemed to be the overflow marquee on the edge of the site (they obviously didn't want to open the main restaurant due to lack of bookings) It was a very windy nasty day which of course wasn't their fault but we felt unwelcome. Our food arrived without drinks which took quite a while to get resolved for some reason. When leaving we had to search for a staff member to pay the bill. We have had many nice experiences at Hive but this one was supposed to be special for my wife. It wasn't.

Large queues, disinterested staff. How hard can it be when you have a captive audience and no competition? Despite waiting for 20 minutes, when we finally got to the takeaway window we were told that they had stopped serving food 15 minutes ago. Some ideas for improvement: Display your menu in a prominent position Clearly state what times food is available Move the body boards, spades etc out of the way so your customers can actually access the serving hatch without clambering over your stock Train and manage your staff so that they are aware of what the menu is, when it is available and so that they accurately and efficiently serve the customer

Nothing bad to say , excellent all round