The Bull Inn in South Somerset

Can I just say my experience at the bull is always pleasant unless the owner Lucy is there she is rude. & shouldn't be running a pub. Me and my family were at a table having a laugh and a drunk she come over and told us to shutup we were being to loud the juke box was louder than us we could hardly hear our conversations. I mentioned it to someone who was working behind the bar & a few of them said she's always rude to people and to them.. Not the sort of person to run a pub if you ask me sorry!

Very friendly staff but rude people in there. Went to play pool with my dad and a rude weird women and a guy who sniffed coke 3 min earlier came to us and were very aggressive because we played pool on „her“ table. Even threatened us to „hit us in the face“. The bartender even said it’s fine and they could literally play on the other one but they wanted to play where we did. Do not recommend to go alone there because you might end up in hospital. The staff are still the best tho.

Only played some skittles and had a great time. Also now played pool league match, friendly staff and reasonably priced great atmosphere, parking out side, access good.

Can’t believe how many times we have passed this pub and not called in. It’s great, a traditional drinking establishment with a great friendly barman. Friendly locals. Will call in again, wish we had somewhere similar in Street!

A great night with family and friends lovely pub.

Very busy ,service was slow Very expensive

Welcoming and friendly. Good atmosphere, had a good time watching the rugby.

Popped in for hubby to use toilet, as travelled back from Swanage. I kindly asked a nice woman staff, ok for hubby to use the facilities? She seemed kind enough. I went to order Chinese pancake roll and prawn crackers for hubby, then popped back to see if hubby was ok? He came out and said we'll have a drink, but I said let's eat yr Chinese first, then have a drink. The kind staff said it was ok to bring his foods in. I said to her, that I didn't think we were allowed to bring foods in? What I didn't know, was that the pub don't serve foods anymore, only snacks. The couple across told us that, and said since Covid, they shut the kitchen and hadn't start serving foods again. Anyway, it was a pleasant evening and kind of the woman staff to let hubby eat his foods. Also, we hadn't played pool table before, and cldn"t feed 50p through the slot, tried it a few times, and said to the woman staff. There was a green button hadn't been pressed to release the balls, and we had a free game. Again, the kind woman was lovely, to let us play a free game. Definitely will return soon. Thanks for being kind and helpful.

1st time visitor but really liked the vibe there will return

Nice venue friendly service and great price especially during happy hour 😀

Awful, awful land lady accusing regulars of crap they didn’t do. Yet let’s people do drug's in her toilets. I wouldn’t spend another penny in this awful place DO NOT VISIT

Pies are wonderful, good service.

Lovely pub get gets busy or Friday night

Played skittles there last night, what an amazing pub, great atmosphere and friendly staff.

Went in fine, the following day my head was pounding!!! 🤣

Always a pleasure seeing the wonderful staff in the Bull Inn

The bull-Inn has got better in the past couple months since the new bartender Wells joined making amazing cocktails and making sure all the customers are well kept for. Have a great time coming here for a drink and the bit of pub grab food is always good.

If your looking for a great time at a local friendly pub the bull is the one for yo👌👌 Shout out to Wells class service from him.

Slightly above average pub with a nice feel. Ideal for watching sports or hanging out with mates. Outside area is nice on a sunny day.

Proper pub and decent lager on tap

Not as good as the dolphin but they're getting there!

I will be seeking legal advice as to the woman on the front door who was totally unprofessional and acted with how the local community acted just to seek their appraisal, who spoke to me in such a manner of digust. I will not come again and tell anyone not to approach due to her professionism and treatment of people. Utter degust, you should be ashamed of yourselves

This was the first pub we had been to since their reopening. Luckily it was a beautiful afternoon and they have a lot of outdoor seating so we didn't feel claustrophobic. They also had a lovely IPA on which was so good it reminded me of what I'd been missing so much! Perfect

Staying in the area for business and ate at the Bull. Very friendly! I can reccomend any of the burgers and spicy fries!

Nice place, good vib, decent food. Not bad at all.

Cheap drinks, great atmosphere. Not tried food but heard it's good. Thanks :)

Whilst visiting the area called to this pub for a bite to eat .. not bad lovely hot food if your needing basic pub grub..uncomfortable chairs though!!

Good food, reasonable prices, some quirky decor 👌

Great food and friendly staff. Will definitely go back again next time I'm passing through the area.

Lovely pub, great service and lovely food.

Busy popular village pub. Quirky and unusual. Has table tennis and other table games I. The courtyard. Friendly helpful staff and the food was good. Navel base not far away and is a local for the guys there. Always busy with something going on there. Have a band on Saturday evenings.

Listening to the grumpy blonde barmaid having an in depth conversation about having a romance with a customer whilst on break from her boyfriend was not what my wife and I wanted to listen to whilst eating our mediocre burger and chips. She was also very unpleasant when we went to pay. Would not return. Although we did enjoy her very Somerset accent.

Friendly staff, cosy pub, good beer and a lovely meal! We recommend the Tagliatelle special!

We stopped at the Bull on our way home from holiday, it's in an ideal location on the main road. Staff were friendly upon arrival and we were able to sit where we wanted. Starters and mains were both very tasty, especially the tagliatelle special that we both had, lots of flavour! A very traditional village pub, felt like home. Would recommend.

Brilliant!!! :) Delicious food!!! :) Best choccy cookie desert!!! :) Excellent Service too!!! :) & Friendly Staff!!! :)

Excellent steak and the peppercorn sauce was delicious. And not a bad drop of Samuel Adam aswell.

Nice beer and a garden area although the garden was slightly shabby and more concrete than natural

Good food, beers and service. One of the only places left around here where you can guarantee you will see friends in if go on a Friday. The bull is where it's at!

It for Shure warrants the five 🌟 rating awesome stay room 5 ,🌟food 5⭐ staff 5⭐. Over all 5⭐ we will from drive from Somerset and stay again the breakfast is A1⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Five of us went for a pub meal and to watch the football, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of service and food, as well as how reasonable it was! Even the steaks were well priced, especially for that area. The staff were very friendly, and more than happy for us to open a tab for the evening.

The Wednesday steak special was exceptional, great flavor and great value.

We call in here every few months as a treat for my family and love coming back every time. This time I had my old favourite fajitas and my wife had the veggie ones washed down with Atlantic ale and a cool cider, lovely! My kids had the burger and fries as it's their favourite and always hits the spot, three scoops of ice cream to finish means smiles all around. We chilled out in the beer garden watching the sun go over and a small birds nest feeding its young (much entertainment for my nippers!) Keep it up the Bull see you soon!

I have come to the bull a few times now and have never had a bad experience the staff are so friendly and helpful they really do give a 10/10 service! Very friendly, helpful and approachable!! Would definitely recommend coming here!

After recently moving to Ilchester, me and my friends decided to try out the local businesses and the Bull Inn was our first stop. After first walking through the door, the pub seemed nice and lively and we were originally served by a lovely barmaid who accommodated to us straight away. This was extremely deceiving for what the rest of the staff are like. Our barmaid made time to not only serve us at the bar alongside seating us and taking our food order promptly before she was rudely interrupted by an unprofessional other member of staff who trotted over from what I presume is the kitchen, still chewing and interrupted our impeccable service with I quote, 'one of us has got to know what we are doing'. Well young lady, only thing you know what to do is ruin an evening and treat your colleagues like dirt and take up more space you can fit in. This left us startled and my friends completely forgot what they wanted to order. Somehow our barmaid remained calm and continued to take our order and saved our evening but I must say if this barmaid wasn't here neither would we as we don't want to be served by the reject of the ugly step sisters from Cinderella.

The bull inn is the perfect place to go if you're looking for an unproffessionally managed working environment domieered by a tastelessly indecent land lady with a somewhat childish demeanor.

Great staff and friendly atmosphere

Fun pub, great staff, a good time

I visited The Bull on a Tuesday evening to meet up with an old friend, we wanted to have a couple of beers and food without it costing the earth and to watch some football. The parking was not too bad out the front, ideal. The interior is just well worn - it desperately needs a revamp. The gents toilets are horrendous, writing on the wall and just in a shocking state of repair (see pic). The drinks prices are quite expensive compared to other places (the pub round the corner is 50p cheaper a pint and tastes better). We ordered food which was decent value for money, but wasn’t a great meal to be honest. The staff were nice though, and the meal came very quickly. When family come down we actively avoid coming here, I believe the owners have the Ilchester Arms too and it looks like they’re putting their efforts into that and letting The Bull be used and abused. We were watching the Champions League game and they had music playing over the TV.. I have ate and drank here a few times now and this is the last time I will venture in there. Only positives were some of the staff and a fair selection of beers.

Burgers and pints. What more could a growing boy ask for 😃

We had a family meal early on Friday night, it was happy hour so the beer was cheap and well kept, I had fajitas and the steak was excellent and plenty of it, everyone including the kids ate everything and everyone gave it the thumbs up, staff were really friendly, if I’m ever that way again I would call in.

Great atmosphere, decent food, can get loud on the weekend.

Me and a couple of friends went to the Bull Inn for some food recently and had a lovely evening! I had a burger which was delicious and filling, along with a tasty pint of cider which was very reasonably priced. Lovely atmosphere and the staff were very nice and professional, would highly recommend to everyone, including families! Had a very spacious beer garden which was nice to have a drink in.

Lovely little pub right in the center of illchester village. Lovely pint of Guinness and thatchers. Good pool table and tv's.

BIG FOOTY FAN. Best place in the local area to watch sports (multi screen pub with all the channels). Great beer selection featuring craft beers (id recommend the sharps IPA) great reasonably priced food and lovely staff

We went to The Bull saturday night as there was some entertainment that we wanted to see. I asked for a table in the vicinity of the area they were playing. We ordered food thinking we were going to have a great night. Our main meals arrived. I mentioned to the girl serving, "I presume we won't be getting our starter then?" "ah yes" she said, "It's just coming now." I didn't fancy having Nachos with fish & chips, so told her not to bring them. Not a great start. After finishing our meal, I then heard the band playing in another area of the pub. Which was a shame as there was plenty of empty space where we were. We then went to where they were playing. They were in direct competition with the TV showing the football with the volume on loud. After trying to listen to a couple of songs, we decided to leave as it was not really an enjoyable experience.

lovely food! All fresh and delicious. lovely staff very accommodating. Not a long wait at all, would definitely recommend

We decided to visit The Bull Inn with friends to watch the rugby. Half time of the England game I went to the bar to order our food. An hour later we were still waiting, it turned out that they had mistakingly given our food to the table next to us,even after the lady had checked whether or not it was their food as the child they were with had an adults portion and waitress staff confirmed it was theirs! staff apologised and said they were going to cook our food for us so we would have to wait a bit longer, a little annoying but we were in good company so this was fine. We waited... And waited... And waited some more! My husband has a medical condition which means he cannot eat late in the evening (past 6 ideally) as he is ill all night and in excruciating pain due to a hiatus hernia. When we originally ordered the timings would have been fine but as we were waiting so long it was becoming dubious as to whether it was worth eating or not, although having been at work all day for an emergency he hasn't actually eaten all day so was looking forward to his food! So after we waited some more and the party we were with, who had ordered after us, had nearly finished their meal, my husband asked the owner, who had now appeared and whom we have knows for a long time, where our food was... She shrugged her shoulders and said 'alright' with an attitude and stormed off to the kitchen. She swiftly returned and said it was coming out now, and when my husband continued to talk to her, politely I might add, about how we had waited so long and he wasn't impressed, she completely ignored him and continued walking around collecting glasses! So we waited another 15 minutes and at this point my husband decided he didnt want to eat anymore as it was too late so I told him to cancel the order as spending £16 on a mixed grill he now wouldn't be able to eat was a waste of money! The bar staff didn't question his request and instantly gave him a refund for both meals, to which the owner stormed out of the kitchen and said in a rude manor ' oh just give them a refund as they aren't having their meals now anyway' (refusing us service basically before she even knew we were going to cancel them). I know things don't always go to plan but when your spending money on a meal and this happens it is not good enough to be spoken to management like that! This place has gone down hill, there is a limited menu, poor service and the rudeness of the owner is just the icing on the cake! We will now be avoiding this place after several previous issues and are very sad to see the demise of a once lovely establishment! Let's hope they learn from their mistakes, seeing as the village has a lot of other friendly and attentive establishments to use! A very sad day for The Bull Inn in ilchester!!

Couldn’t be happier with my meal in The Bull! Absolutely love the food and the atmosphere in there! Great selection of comfort food on the menu and never had a bad meal! Atmosphere is cosy and staff are extremely friendly! What a great local pub we have! The owner is friendly and a great laugh, always stops for a chat whenever we are in!

The last time I visited The Bull prior to this was rememberence Sunday 2018... I allowed all the device personnel to go ahead of me at the bar as a small sign of respect. 25 minutes later the owner came out to serve and asked who was next, I swiftly said yes please as everyone else had been served and she assumed I was jumping the questions. When I explained I wasn't she told me to hurry up as she didn't have all day! Shocking to say the least! I didn't review this at the time as I live in the village and don't like to cause a fuss. This leads me to last evening...

Visited The Bull Inn twice during our stay in the West Country once with our family and second with the grandparents. Food was lovely and staff were very accommodating. Friendly pub with great pub food.

Just had a rump steak for £10 Excellent steak really enjoyed it service good too. Well worth a visit on Wednesday evening.

When I read reviews I’m often staggered by the difference in the experiences people have of the same place. We visited The Bull on Saturday night with some trepidation after reading a couple of the one star comments. We were greeted warmly and enthusiastically by the bar staff and helped with our choice of drinks. We decided to have a meal. We started by sharing the most delicious creamy garlic mushrooms served on garlic bread fingers. For our main courses I chose the Scampi and my wife decided on the battered fish. Both meals were served with very tasty skin on chips as well as peas and the best home made tartar sauce I have ever had. The service was quick, efficient and friendly and we had a really enjoyable time. I hope that your experience is as good as ours was if you decide to visit this excellent pub.

Went without a booking on Valentine's evening, as we were quite early we got a table, not sure if we would have done later on. Chose fajitas, very tasty, they came with all the usual extras (guacamole, salsa, sour cream, grated cheese) and the meats (one person had steak the other chicken) were generous amounts, tender and in a good chilli sauce. Waitress forgot to give us paper napkins and I did have to go and get some as fajitas are pretty messy eating! Ice cream in desserts was lovely (wonder what supplier is being used?), but the chocolate brownies had been microwaved to heat and as they cooled they went pretty hard as the recooked sugar set!

Friendly staff, nice cappuccino.....you'll have to excuse the majority of the clientele though !

In a group of 5, I ordered a vege burger with bean chiili as per the menu. The burger arrived with out the chilli....upon asking where it was I was told they didn't do that anymore and it was a mistake on the menu. It's third menu and you would expect the bar staff to know whats on the menu right? Poor show, don't come if you don't eat meat.

Lovely pint in here and the bar staff are really nice

As my local pub the Bull is always a popular choice, always busy, especially on weekends which is not a bad thing at all as the atmosphere is always really good. Waits at the bar are short as the staff are always on the ball.

We were waiting for our taxi and decided to nip in for a quick pint, look's good inside, with a fun atmosphere and good service. Will go again

Excellent food with plenty of vegetarian options

It's a great local pub, the food is fairly good, but no airs and graces required here, pool table, sport on the telly, typical lads pub.

The staff are lovely and the food is delicious and quick to come out. Totally recommend

A really lovely pub, great food and service with a smile. A friendly atmosphere everytime I visit. Highly recommend.

Good lively atmosphere. Sports bar, football on a lot. Pool table, free table football outside. Food good and friendly staff. Good sized outside seating area and good sized eating side of the pub. Could do with a wider selection of ales, but on the whole a good place to go.

Had a great time with my partner, the food was Amazing quality and served quickly - all home cooked to a very high standard and served by lovely friendly staff - hopefully be able to return soon

Amazing! booked the skittle alley/room for my sons 18th ... ordered his fave sausage and chips and curry sauce and mushy peas with vegan and gluten free options ... food was hot plentiful and so good!!! really good quality and an excellent price for 20 people! The Room was great and the staff were amazing ... even more so as they also had a halloween event on with a full pub and band!!! thank you to the Bull team of staff for making the evening special. One to highly recommend!

Went for drinks and a meal with friends at The Bull. Was surprised by how good the food was, all fresh and large portions. The pub also offers a good range of interesting beers. Would recommend the fajitas.

Nice quiet little pub in ilchester. Tastefully decorated and nkt too over crowded with tables. Would have awarded 4 stars however it took a very long time for my groups order to come out and the cover for the plumbing in the gents was missing revealing rotten wood and dirt. Staff are friendly and happy which is great to see in a pub. The burgers are quite nice. However the meat quality could be better for the price considering sides are extra. Otherwise a pleasent experisnce in a nice cosy pub. With suitability for couples or large groups to dine. Parking avaliability is poor to the front however so be prepared to walk in. Or get a taxi.

A group of us had the illchester burger, it tasted like rubber. Clearly frozen and not fresh. I've had better from the bins of a burger van. Beers and cheesy chips were good.

Went in for a quick pint, it was as a pint should be cold fizzy and tasty, will pop in again, highly recommend to all

Had a great time here. Food was lovely and a great price.

We had been there, 5 persons, 4 dogs, and everything was in best order. Delicious food, friendly service. We will come again next year.

Smashing pub, went there before and after the Yeovil v Villa game they opened up the kitchen after the match and fed us, best burger&chips I've ever had ,the staff were great considering a couple of villa coaches turned up, I was on one of them great pub and fabulous g&ts ooooh my head lol,.

Went in and waited an age to be served. Not the selection of beers expected but ther were specials as photo. I would not personally rush to be back but for a group then with the sports tv and outside tables for table tennis, etc then could be a good venue.

Stayed overnight in the Ilchester Arms opposite (sister hotel) but ate here with the family & spent the evening here as well. Really good food - cheaper than opposite. Sky sports TVs, skittle alley, table football, pool table, table tennis - all free. Very friendly staff. Great for families

Nice stop off after FAAM, lovely West Country Rump steak meal for me n Adie and burger for Jasper, locally sourced food, in a local pub we all enjoyed.

Didn’t fancy cooking so took the family to the bull for dinner. Had a great experience! Service was fast and friendly. I had the sizzling chicken fajitas! They were cooked to perfection and the portion size was very generous! Would recommend for a cheap family night out, the kids loved the free bar football and ping pong in the garden.

I always come here when I’m in the area, for lunch or an evening meal with friends, because the food is great and the welcome is friendly. It’s not ‘haute cuisine’, just good tasty food and the portions are a good size. There’s variety on the menu, it’s good value and there’s a good range of beers. It get’s busy at the weekend but that’s definitely good sign! It’s probably a good thing I don’t live closer or I’d probably be a bit fatter than I am!

Had the special and it was lovely

We have not eaten here for a couple of months but decided to try the new menu. We had burgers with fries and my kids had the spaghetti and garlic bread, it was all nice and quick and tasted absolutely lovely. We got chatting to a nice member of staff who showed us the refurbished area at the rear, all impressive stuff!

Went to this pub last Saturday and will not return. No fault of the staff who were working hard, very friendly and very respectful but never meet such a miserable and rude landlady. Publicly having a go at staff, shouting at them in public because things hadn’t been done (there were not enough staff, England v Sweden) but they were serving drinks or food or collecting glasses. She was rude to customers on several occasions and very loudly.

We live near Yeovil and regularly visit the Bull but I fear this may change if the landlady continues to behave as she has on recent visits. The staff in The Bull are fantastic, friendly and often under pressure in a busy pub but I have witnessed on a number of occasions now the most appalling attitude and language from the landlady, directed at the staff in front of customers and at customers themselves. The food is invariably good but the drinks are overpriced and I feel that if she didn’t enjoy the captive audience she has in the village, that the pub would falter under what she displays. A landlady should be warm and welcoming, not bawling and swearing at her staff and being exceptionally rude towards her customers. I hope this review makes her think because, speaking to some of the locals, a number of them are now considering not going there anymore and it all stems from the landlady, her attitude and behaviour.

Went with friends and to be honest; never again. Food was awful. Friend waited over 10 minutes for his side order of chips. Two meals came 10 minutes later than first two; one of them being a salad. Really????

Reaply good service very friendly staff very good food

We went on a Thursday evening and it was fairly busy for a quiet village. Beer selection good and food very reasonably priced and good. Would certainly call here again. This is a pub so not at all a place to dress up for.

We simply called in passing following a visit to the nearby RNAS at Yeovilton. The food was delicious and reasonably priced and the pub, charming and cosy. Staff were excellent and the beer good! The Menu was varied and seemed to cater for all tastes. Prices ranging from £4.50 upwards. , and all excellent value.

We often go to the Bull Inn for food and drinks and the boys had been told about the Texas Platter. It did not disappoint, we shared 2 between 3 of us and I also had a small starter of brie. We all said it was phenomenal All the meat was cook perfectly and the natchos and chilli was a great added side. We have always recieved the best service and top quality food and drink in this pub. Top Chef and staff

Locals pub frequently by navy from nearby yeovilton air base shows sports on bug screen tv serves food

This was our 4th visit to the Bull Inn. Had a lovely meal AGAIN.

It's as nice pub. The food is reasonably priced and tastes good.

We come to the Bull occasionally in our spare time, and the food/drink/service is ALWAYS second to none...however tonight was a different story - food was great, waitressing was great...bar service not that great. We were being left for lengthy amounts of time, with customers arriving after us and being served first, on more than one occasion. On one of these occasions one of the bar staff was busy, with the bar busy too, and the other member of staff (I believe their name is Emma), was merely putting glasses in the dishwasher and giving no one eye contact (We were waiting to be served at this time, along with other customers, for a good 10 minutes), we have never had a bad word to say about The Bull Inn staff before, but tonight made us want to walk out and take our custom elsewhere.