Kings Arms Inn East Stour in North Dorset

Fantastic food from Sunday carvery, definitely go back.

Christmas WI dinner - twenty of us arrived for our annual Christmas dinner. Fabulous setting, delicious food, served all at once, with lots of different choices, staff were attentive and very pleasant. Everyone throughly enjoyed their meal and evening. I would highly recommend. Thank you.

Good value lunch time menu, food came out nice and hot. Friendly staff. Would certainly visit again.

A carvery better than any other carvery I’ve tried before. We visited The Kings Arms to celebrate my parents 60th wedding anniversary and we were not disappointed, we were a group of 17 and the service, quality of food and selections of drinks were 2nd to none - we were pleasantly surprised and will definitely be visiting again. Well done all concerned, you were all amazing.

Great food and attentive staff.

Went for a special occasion, great food and drink, ok for the price and nice staff.

I stayed in one of the very relaxing and quiet bedrooms for a few nights. Really clean and super comfortable. I loved the warm welcome and very knowledgeable staff. Food was outstanding and I can’t wait to return next year! I would recommend staying here, I felt part of the family. Thank you for a wonderful stay.

Ciaran was a great host, food was exceptional, hospitality and warm welcome 2nd to none.

Wonderful building and fantastic food, as good a Spanakopita as you'd find in Greece. Everything is nicely presented, drinks and service swift but without a rush, a great dining experience.

Fabulous Sunday roast dinner, home cooked, hot and delicious - our 3rd visit! Staff were very friendly and helpful. You can reserve a table via their website.

Another great Sunday roast. Delicious.

Carvery is just what you need some weekends and they have it perfected here.

Ciaran And his staff could not be more helpful in making us feel completely welcome and relaxed. With a cycling from Bath to Bournemouth and this was the perfect halfway point the accommodation was excellent and the food was out of this world. For dinner, I had the home-made lasagna and then for breakfast we had the full Monty, which I can’t recommend enough

Beautiful Place Amazing service Really recomend Did my daughter birthday party there and everyone loved, outdoor space 5⭐️ nice garden. Really recomend

The best sole I have ever eaten!Beautifuly presented. I can not wait to come back and eat their veggie risotto.

A nice little pub with friendly staff. The food was good, would definitely recommend the crab, the lamb flatbread and the fish and chips. The cauliflower starter was a bit bland but everything else was lovely.

After a 5 hour journey to our rented cottage in Shaftsbury, we decided to look for a pub nearby, we found the Kings pub in Stour, management were so very friendly and welcoming. Meal wise, we ordered the steak and Ale pie and the vegetarian lasagne which was cooked to perfection at a very reasonable price. With the pub being dog friendly we were able to take our dog in and sit inside, they had a box of toys for dogs, bowl of water and even had a bed for anyones dog..you can't get a better pub and service than what we got today..amazing pub! amazing service! a must to visit if you are passing by.

Popped in for carvery Sunday lunch as when I last visited over 5 years ago the food was outstanding. Absolutely so pleased, the service was still second to none, polite thoughtful staff, food was amazing as always. Can't wait to go back again and have some more of their delicious food. Absolutely faultless here, food is out of this world.

New owners have made this pub delightful to visit. With the great new menu and comfortable rooms for visitors . Highly recommend.

Excellent tapas. We really enjoyed it

Out looking for a place for lunch nearly drove past the Kings Arms in managed to stop. Went in for a lovely lunch first class Service staff very friendly and knowledgeable food compliments to the chef absolutely fantastic. I had the belly pork. My son had the milk but chicken burger and the other half had lasagna very well presented and very hot. Would highly recommend this for lunch or dinner.

Fabulous omelette for lunch yummy 😋

So tonight we went for the tapas night… let me tell you it was absolutely incredible… the food was amazing, the staff were brilliant and very accommodating, very knowledgeable with the drinks we asked them to make and were brilliant with our children. We couldn’t asked for a better local pub. A+++++

Called in to enquire about a meeting up with friends. The place seemed it had no soul. Staff dismal felt like they didn't want to be there. Light bulb out where l was sat toilet dirty. Kitchen staff (female walking around bored. First impression so un welcoming. Ordered some snacks, pork scratching very dry and stale. Did not say about them as felt unwelcome. Don't think l will be bringing custom to this place.

Wonderful food with great service. Highly recommend 👌

We had the roast carvery it was excellent

Sunday lunch carvery. Usual excellent roast.

We had a surprise birthday party and used the function room as we had a total of 21 guests. I was very impressed with how accommodating Ciaran was right from the initial phone call to book and all the way through to the excellent service from all staff and the delicious food. The venue was also very nice. Will definitely be back again.

Very good service nice food had a nice evening in there function room for 60, birthday..🎂 😀

Absolutely brilliant food and quality service with a very personal feel to customers. Definitely recommend a trip here

Good food but the place was almost deserted last Friday evening. We were very put out that after we had paid the bill we noticed a 10% surcharge had been added because we were a table of 4. presumably 2 tables of 2 would not carry this charge so why. This may be why there were only 2 other occupied tables.

Had our Christmas meal here, such lovely staff and the food was excellent and really good value. It's easy to find with plenty of parking. Highly recommend and will certainly be returning. Thanks for a great evening.

Celebrated a milestone birthday at the kings arms yesterday and they nailed it. I had a list of requests and they were all carried out perfectly. All my guests complimented the food and a good time was had by all.

Really spacious and nicely located pub. Would go back. Good food

Super choice of menu, tasty well presented food, efficient friendly staff. One problem I was told they have disabled toilets but they have no hand rails or pull down handles either side of the toilet and an extremely low toilet making it virtually impossible for someone like myself with paralysis I had to be aided by my husband otherwise it would have been impossible for me to go.

Had a fantastic roast, whilst visiting with family. Great friendly atmosphere. It was really busy, but it didnt slow the service. Would recommend.

So I came here for a private event, the room was lovely and private and the carvery was lovely. The downside to this is we had booked the room from 4 onwards and guests were arriving for half 4/5. Food to start coming out like half 4. But we had been delayed and asked our guests to wait outside as prior to this there was still people sat in the room eating their food which made setting up for us a bit more delayed. One of the waiters was so rude and shouting. Another staff member pushed our guests wheelchair out the way (wasn’t in the way it was tucked in the corner) pushed our mirror sign out the way, barging through without saying excuse me. We had 30 guests we all spent a lot of money there which made some of the guests really angry to be treated like this. Every-time guests went to the bar the staff were being rude. The staff were talking about us when we was literally stood there right in front of us. But a few of us had noticed they had sent us a private menu prior to this regarding food. That was fine. But it was advertised for a different price on our menu. Got to the bar and guests were being charged more than they should off. In a way this had ruined our experience here. Everything felt so rushed and it had ruined the celebration for the guests. The communication wasn’t that great either, we had emailed them and in the end had to phone up as we felt we were being ignored. This is why we didn’t give a tip

Went to a baby shower and we hired a room for a private event. The service was very poor. Didn't appreciate the front of house staff talking about us when we was standing right there. The lady with the purple hair kept coming in shouting at us because a few people was a little late arriving. But their wasn't a need to be so rude. We was also over charged on alot of the meals and it wasn't sorted. Won't be coming here again

Lovely food, fab service, polite and helpful staff, best carvery for miles

Had a lovely dinner here. We arrived about 10mins before end of the dinner food service, but all the staff were very friendly and amenable and said we could order with no problem. The food was very good and tasty. We were very pleased with everything.

Came last night with the family and two dogs. Had a lovely meal, the admiral pie (fish pie) went down really well with the group. My ribeye steak was a little over cooked for my taste but the other persons was cooked Fine. Came with a big tomato stuffed with pulled pork which was really nice but unusual. Staff were really friendly and helpful. Portion sizes were really good and so we couldn’t manage a desert.

A great pub restaurant, excellent quality food

Quite nice, I had vegetarian risotto for main; the rice was a little undercooked, but otherwise pleasant. Lovely starter and dessert.

I came for lunch with 7 children, a baby and a total of 10 adults and the team at King's Arms couldn't have been more accommodating. Lovely service, well cooked pub food and a very friendly atmosphere. I have not experienced the pun with just another adult and so I can't comment on that, but I would highly recommend it for a family lunch.

Food ok, Carvery very good, a la carte less so.

Great dog friendly place for food and drinks

What a dissapointing Sunday lunch. Very busy, but full of OAP's. Veg option was a nut roast, over cooked potatoes, the Yorkshire where drier than a cremated body, the parsnips brown and tough. Overall very dissatisfied indeed and won't be returning

Only stopped for a quick drink so difficult to fully rate but service was very good and everything was pleasant.

*AVOID. OWNERS DON'T LIKE CRITICISM* visited while staying nearby. Was greated warmly and seated very quickly. We had a mixture of food but most starters we had went down well (soup, halloumi & wings). Although one party did say the soup was a little watery & the wings are very spicy so beware! Mains did not go down very well at all unfortunately. My bacon on my burger was a bit crispy & was very dry. Others had steak, mac n cheese & lasagne. the mac n cheese lacked any flavour at all & the steak was inedible, supet chewy. Lasagne was bad aswell. Overall, not great and wont be back. Reduce to 1 star after owners snotty reply below, this is how they deal with criticism.

Well, I just had a meal here. Over priced, drinks. £9.00 for a glass of wine. Food OK but nothing special. I suppose as they charge so much for the wine I would expect the car park will be resurfaced before someone trips over on the uneven surface. Just want to say I'm not your mate and if you can't take constructive criticism. I understand you have overheads. But I think you are over priced. How is the trade. You don't look as busy as the place used to be. Maybe that's the prices or even the service. Who knows. I wish you well.

Im a musician . Needed a place to stay over night . The location was great . Price was brilliant especially for Saturday rates . The room was clean , Cosy and quiet and I slept like a log . Kieran the landlord was super helpful and flexible about me collecting a key and had me a full English veggie breakfast prepared in the morning . I would definitely stay here again 👍

A really lovely pub, very nice interior and the food was fabulous. My neighbour was there this weekend and said the carvery was really good. Very nice friendly welcoming people. Plenty of carparking space.

Revisited after several years since the last visit and can't understand why it wasn't busier. Good menu and excellent cooking. Set course lunch for £14 Monday to Saturday. Good value for money. Would return

Not impressed with the food. The chicken wing, to be honest was expecting wings, was tasty but not an awful lot of meat on. The smell of burnt oil that filled the room explained the overcooked, blown, full of oil chips and over cooked batter on the fish. Would not recommend. Not even 5 minutes between courses.

Food was wasn’t bad, it was a birthday meal for my mum, service was good although there didn’t seem a lot of atmosphere for a Saturday night but overall an enjoyable evening.

We went to the kings arms today and all I can say is WOW, drinks were fantastic, we had a cocktail and a pt of Guinness (which was poured to perfection). We had starters and mains and didn’t have room for desserts because the portions were incredible. My boyfriend had a steak which was a perfect medium rare as well as the braised onion which was delicious, I had the flatbread which was perfect balance of sweet, savoury and spice, the cucumber adding a lovely crunch. Staff were friendly and swift with our food, all around it was perfect. Cheers

Glad Kieran is dog friendly as my big boy tyson has taken him self to meet the customers on his own before now! He must be able to smell the great food!😁

Eine Woche Dorset@Kings Arms Inn war super. Unser Zimmer war mit allem ausgestattet was man braucht. Die Kinder wurden super aufgenommen. Die Gastgeber sind sehr entspannt. Der Garten hinter dem Pub ist enorm und perfekt zum toben. Essen und Service waren immer Top und auf den Punkt. Der Sunday Roast ist ein Erlebnis, früh genug einen Tisch reservieren!!! Für B&B: Montags und Dienstag ist Ruhetag und es gib keine Bewirtung. Kleine Farms mit Hofladen und Streichelzoo, Freizeitparks, Stonehenge sind gut und schnell zu erreichen. Kings Arms Inn: Sehr zu empfehlen.

The food wasn't great, and macaroni cheese isn't difficult to make. The macaroni cheese was on the light bites and came with garlic bread, yet i was charged for this as a mains. The service was slow. The plates were not cleared for at least 15 - 20 mins after we finished. I would not bother to go back

This has become our go to place for a Sunday Carvery. Food is amazing and the staff are friendly and accommodating and they're dog friendly. Would definitely recommend the Kings arms inn.

Didnt stay just had a meal and it was SUPERB.

Lovely food great stuffing friendly staff and a awesome welcome

Would not recommend for those with allergies or vegans. Whilst we understood that the menu online was a sample menu, we chose this pub as it boasted a variety of vegan options (we had 2 dairy and egg allergy suffers in our party of 6). Upon arrival, we were disappointed to find out there was only 2 options (one starter and one main). The staff were very attentive and happy to answer our questions about allergens. The vegan option that we chose stated that it came with rustic bread. The dishes arrived and 10 minutes later we had to go and ask for the bread. The staff kindly obliged and we were shocked when we were brought what appeared to be half a burger bun… When we raised this issue the staff did agree that a burger bun was not good enough to accompany the only vegan option - a bowl of roasted veg. Our bill was kindly discounted and aside from the disappointing experience our allergy suffers had, the other meals (fish pie) and the drinks were excellent. Just a word of warning to other vegans/allergy sufferers that this might not be the best option in Shaftesbury.

I haven’t actually visited the pub (yet) but I rang enquiring whether they had availability for a room. They didn’t, but Kieron said he would contact a local B&B to see if they could help. He rang me back straight away to say the B&B could help. He gave me the contact details and I was able to book a room there and it was all sorted in 20 minutes. I think that’s great service-thank you Kieron. Hopefully I’ll get chance to pop in for a drink when I visit.

Sunday visit for a carvery dinner. Very good, tasty food, reasonably priced. Service was good aswell, lovely pub, will be returning again soon 😀

We went for a works meal, absolutely fantastic, great food and great service. Very attentive staff with nothing being too much trouble. The carvery was excellent with a great choice available. Will definitely be going back.

Fantastic food and service.would recommended to everyone.

A delicious Sunday Roast, we were able to have a small one which was much preferred. Yummy.

Table for 2 fitted in at last minute absolutely fantastic, fresh, hot, choice of meats and vegetables. Super caring staff. Thank you

Lovely place to relax and have a massive plate of food. Over flow car park is surprisingly bigger than I first thought. Owner of the pub is a real gent. Took my very picky eater step mother in law there today after choosing her favourite fish pie she felt unable to eat the meal. Not a problem for the owner he boxed up the meal including his own dish for her to take home (she promised to return the dish as she is a local) her food was perfect but as she is the size of a fragile sparrow she felt overwhelmed by how much food she had. My food was lovely and so was my husbands. Nice and spicy vegetable curry as I don't eat meat ...and this was perfect for the bloody vegans also 😄.Hubby had pork which he loved .Pub was busy but service was good and the lovely staff did not take offence when said step mother in law got impatient after 15 mins from sitting down demanding her dinner. I tried to explain that a good meal takes a bit longer to cook but she was hangery 🤣....food appeared in what I would say was a perfect time . The staff really were so friendly we could not fault them. Defo need to return with out hangery family member 🤣

Really lovely pub with excellent food, looking forward to our next visit

Excellent Christmas party meal. Great vegetarian and vegan options, brilliant value . Lovely staff. Can't recommend highly enough. Thank you very much.

Great meal with friendly staff

Fantastic place! Food is amazing, staff are so welcoming and friendly, lovely atmosphere and great value!

Absolutely lovely carvery, couldn't fault it in anyway!! Will be returning very soon xx

Just moved to the area and tried the kings Arms for Sunday dinner. Food was very nice but the service was a bit slow. Only a couple of staff on and had to wait a long time for drinks and next course. Will try it again during the week and hopefully service will improve.

Wonderful welcoming pub with attentive staff and absolutely delicious food! Perfectly kept, tasty ales. Spacious car park. Excellent! Really looking forward to our next visit! Full marks! *****

Great value lunch menu, recommend the Thai curry!

Lovely home cooked meal of a very high standard

Absolutely amazing food and brilliant service, right from phoning to book a table, through to very attentive service during our visit! Had the roast dinner and it was amazing, beautifully cooked food that was cooked with care! All fresh and very tasty no complaints here at all, will definitely be returning to try the rest of the menu! Fantastic staff and very welcoming!

Such a great pub! Awesome food with plenty of seasonal options that change regularly. Good Veggie and Vegan options that are imagiinative. Great choices of gin and beer! Fish pie is fab and was no issue to change sides from chips to veg. Really worth going to the Sunday carvery .you'll always feel welcome here. 10/10 🥰

Marvellous place fab food good portion's !

We went for Sunday lunch. So happy it was a carvery too. Fantastic food and lovely fresh vegetables. I especially loved the swede which was so tasty and smooth.

Beautiful pub. Lovely clean spacious rooms. Not noisy at night despite staying a Friday and Saturday night I'd expect some pub noise but I didn't notice any at all Highly recommended.

Excellent food and service. Good value. Highly recommend this place.

Best roast, best service, best EVERYTHING! Highly recommend, food is very good quality and fantastic chefs. Service is amazing too! Been going here since I was about 15 and still never found a better carvery. Very professional.

Absolutely fantastic carvery with everything fresh when we arrived at 5pm. Great staff who accommodated our needs with a ten month old in tow. Desserts are worth saving room for. Belgian waffles a particular highlight.

Today we visited with my 10 month old granddaughter. They made us very welcome with the high chair ready at the table. They supplied hot water to heat her food and ensured we knew where there were baby changing facilities. We all had the carvery which was excellent. Good choice of fresh vegetables to accompany which were cooked to perfection. Deserts were homemade and well presented. Service was excellent. Highly recommend a visit x

This is a great place to eat the menu is varied and they have vegetarian and vegan options there is a large garden to the rear of the pub plus plenty of parking just sitting on the A30 near East Stour it is not that far from Shaftsbury and Gillingham.

Really good food. Highly recommended

Lovely evening out,food was extremely generous in portions,very reasonable price.

Extremely welcoming with super staff and fabulous chef! We pre booked as we are staying locally and were 17 adults and 4 children under 7. The kings Arms accommodated my mothers gluten free meal ( gf gravy, Yorkshire pudding and cheesy cauliflower and leek) plus she had the standard carvery meat and all the accompanyments, again pre booked. The food is superb in a lovely setting with a large garden at the back ideal for young children. The Cavery is very much “home cooked” and certainly I would recommend the beef. All the vegetables were delicious and a great selection. I would definitely recommend!

Great food, amazing carvery, friendly service. Tastes like home cooking. Definitely recommend!

Such a beautiful place to eat, kind and friendly staff (Debbie and Kieron in particular) and AMAZING food. You must try the steak and kidney pudding! We ate here twice during our camping holiday and would go back again anytime we are near by. Thank you for such wonderful food and service.

Excellent roast lunch, very reasonable price. Great service, and they even tried to charge me too little but I was honest!! Thank folks, good show!

Staff were friendly and welcoming. Delicious food. Homemade curry was tasty and the chicken was tender. Chips were cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy in the middle. Visited with a party of 10 and everyone commented on how good the food was. 2 courses for £13 at lunch is a bargain. Lost a star as we had to sit outside in the garden with the dogs and most tables were rickety. Also the beer on tap was questionable and we had to take 2 pints back that were off.

Amazing beer garden at rear. Food was cooked to perfection. And kieron is a great host. Braised beef and espresso martini cocktail was best I've ever had.

We so enjoy the very delicious Sunday roast and other dishes on their menu. The owners and staff are lovely and welcoming, their prices are very reasonable and such good value. It's the best, can't recommend it too highly!

Lovely place to stop the night, staff very friendly, restaurant area was very nice indeed and the food was spot on very generous portions, comfortable room and clean with fresh towels, faultless. Thank you king's arms.

Food is good but the service so so. Got told Doombar was off after 1 pint but it turned out they had more but didn’t fancy putting on a new barrel. Disappointed to say the least.