The Cock and Bottle in Purbeck

Lovely meal. Lovely staff. We had a great relaxing evening. Thank you to the chef and all staff. Well done. We hope all the community support you.

We came here for a family meal as had seen the pub had recently reopened. We all opted for a Sunday roast which was certainly the smallest portion I’ve ever had roast wise! The chicken was extremely small and potatoes even smaller. The dishes do come with cheesy leeks & Yorkshire pudding which were nice but we had to ask for more given the size of the mains. The service was extremely slow. We waited over 30 mins for pudding and had to ask for more drinks as staff were not attentive.

We came for a birthday dinner celebration. We were swiftly shown to our table and waited 15 mins for a drinks order to be taken. We later waited 30 minutes for starters and 50 minutes for mains after our starter plates were cleared. The food was diabolical. Two of us had prawns for starters, which were £8.50 for 6 small prawns with no garnish. The mains were very dry and cold. We paid an extra £1.50 for bacon in the burgers which genuinely looked and tasted like cardboard. The halloumi in the burger were non-existent. No apology for the wait and we were offered a bowl of chips in replacement for the whole halloumi burger meal (as it was taken back to the kitchen). The birthday girl left without eating a main due to the incompetence of staff at this pub. Avoid at all costs.

I took my wife for an evening meal at The Cock and Bottle, after hearing it had reopened. It has been refurbished sympathetically, keeping its proper pub charm. The welcome by Lucy was warm. We chose sea food chowder and ham hock pot, (like chowder) both of which we enjoyed very much. For the mains, I chose the fillet steak, while my wife went for sea bass. They were wonderful. We were not going to have a desert but when we saw the board, I could not resist the apple and beer soaked sultana crumble. Thanks charming old pub with excellent food and great service to match, we will return.

Friendly staff, big car park, pretty fairy lights (always a nice touch), quiet - in a good way! Lovely food - the best burger in the area according to my expert burger eater of a husband. Glad it has reopened - we will be back!

Like a Phoenix, rising from the ashes..... Selling good, local (Palmers) beer. ( Not a trace of Tribute!!!) Oh, & some interesting spirits, like Thai Rum !

What a fantastic place! We were here on Friday (9th August, 4 of us) and had the best the best meal we've had in a long time! We had starters of holumi, ham hock and mixed olives which were all beautifully presented and flavoursome. Our mains were, Burgers for 3 of us and the fish and chips. The burgers were succulent and delicious and my husbands fish was in a gorgeous light, crispy batter with fat chips, peas and mini onions which he demolished in minutes 😋 The service was perfect and we finished off our evening, sitting outside with our drinks under the trees lite with fairy lights. A perfect ending to a lovely evening 😊 I would highly recommend you go for a meal here but book ahead as they are very popular and with good reason!! We will definitely be back again xx

We booked a table for 4 and we were warmly welcomed and seated straight away . We chose to select a starter to share as we were saving ourselves for the main course . It was a mistake however. The buffalo sauced wings consisted of x1 whole chicken wing and x1 flat wing/tip!!! Not impressed. We had drinks at the table , as you do, and when ordering drinks again I said to the lady serving us that the first pint was a little flat and the response was not what I was expecting which was very defensive. I ordered an alternative brand without an apology . The main courses we all had were very well presented and were all very tasty. Compliments to the kitchen “brigade”. The restaurant and bar and rest rooms were extremely clean and nicely presented. The outside space looked very inviting too.

We had a superb Sunday roast, our first visit to the pub since the new owners took over earlier this year. The staff were lovely and we highly recommend.

Recently re-opened - fantastic family get together - a table of 8 - ages from 1 to 80 - Sunday lunch was amazing - between us we tried every option - and there were zero complaints - great friendly staff and attentive service - great for family occasions - highly recommend

It was closed so we could not eat, we had really looked forward to the experience.

Very good and varied menu good value let down by the lack of ambience in the pub. It gave the impression of a business about to die a great shame as it has great potential.

Booked at 6pm on a Wednesday. All closed up on arrival. Eventually someone came and let us in. Initially only people in the place. Still only 6 others there when we left. On walking in you are hit with a smell resembling greasy chip fat. Limited menu despite website photos. Food arrived quickly but the carrots looked as though they had been around for a long time. Wrinkly and under cooked. Ordered suet meat pudding, big mistake. Chips were bitty and greasy. To be fair my wife enjoyed her trio of fish, but overall sorry we went.

We had very good food and the service was second to none- well done!!

Food was very bad needs to change chip fat for a start.everything was a little bit grubby felt unclean.not a nice experience

Sadly, restricted opening hours. Restaurant ambiance was good as last visit, the menu was limited. The portions were overly generous and more than we could eat. Not a good thing. The toilets and the entrance were scruffy lacking proper cleaning. Probably won’t revisit.

As usual cannot fault this place or the food. Absolutely brilliant as expected

Lovely food and service. Light music would have made it perfect .

A very enjoyable if quiet experience, the food and service was superb but as it's so quiet in there you can hear everyone else's conversations

The service from the staff was excellent was welcomed by the landlord on arrival The food on the menu offered a great choice at at reasonable cost will book again great place

Lovely warm welcome and great traditional old world pub. My husband had steak pie & said it was the best he’d ever had - bursting with tender beef.

Fantastic food but menu was a bit restricted as they are finding things a bit quiet at the moment.

beautifull property. hosts friendly helpful, good value

As a party of 4, we hadn't been to the Cock & Bottle for a few months. We enjoyed excellent service, great food and in a super environment. certainly worth a 5 star review. As good as we remembered!

Excellent food freshly cooked and a lovely waitress. My only criticism is the restaurant was a little chilly so an 8 otherwise scores would all be 10

The food was superb and beautifully presented . Excellent service by Sandra and extremely helpful. We highly recommended this place for all occasions. Well done Sandra and Paul Theresa and Jawad

Great service when the pub was very full. The roast dinners on Sunday were very good (Turkey and beef) with tasty vegetables, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. The portions were generous. Everyone there was very friendly and helpful.

Visited again for our anniversary. Attentive, friendly staff and placed overlooking the garden. As usual, the food is excellent and not just the usual run of the mill pub food. I had faggots which were tasty, beautifully presented and a good sized portion. Dessert was sticky toffee pudding and ice cream on a plate on which they had thoughtfully written Happy Anniversary! Nice personal touch. Have visited many times over the years and never disappointed.

As always, a beautiful meal in pleasant, friendly surroundings. Good food, good service and value for money.

Amazing food, staff very friendly overall superb place to go will be back soon

Ive not passed that way for ages and it was lovely food , as it always used to be.

Lovely food well presented. Great service and delightfully quiet and relaxed. "Even better if" there was a seasonal badger beer on tap.

Lovely food , attentive service . Was quiet which was nice .

The food was of good quality although some of the menu wsa not available.

First time visit,was easy to find eventually no thanks to sat nav. Service was very good and food was good. Plenty to choose from on menu . We all had different meals and even one was happy with their chooses. Would visit again.

Food is always excellent. Staff are friendly and helpful.

Usual friendly greeting when we arrived and as expected excellent food

Excellent in every way as always - thank you to all the staff

Food was, as usual, excellent. Service excellent. Very quiet but probably due to time of year.

Lovely Mother’s Day lunch. Good portion sizes and tasty dishes.

Delicious food and excellent friendly service! Highly recommend.

Excellent food as always and a wonderful venue to meet up with friends. Well recommended.

We went on a quiet night but food and service excellent

This first pitfall of this pub is that there is no baby changing. I had to change my 6 month old on the sink counter in the ladies toilet. My husband had tried to go change the baby but the men’s toilet doesn’t even have a sink counter to use… so that was rubbish. Any pubs wanting to cater to families should have baby changing. Then onto the food. It wasn’t great and definitely over-hyped on Tripadvisor in our opinion. We had the prawns and bruschetta to start, the prawns were dry and the bruschetta was mostly tomato’s on tiny pieces of bread. Mains we had the chicken supreme which was ok but nothing special and the chorizo sea bass which had far too much chorizo on it that it just became one big oily mess. We didn’t bother with desert as the selection wasn’t great. The waitress we had also seemed to have no clue what was going on. To improve this pub, they should add a baby changing pull down table into both the ladies and men’s loos. You can the pull down ones that fix onto the wall for about £150 online so there’s no excuse not to have one in the toilets - there was space on the wall! They could also add more popular desert choices to their menu, such as a brownie / chocolate fudge cake or perhaps a sticky toffee pudding or apple pie. Just something generic that everyone likes. We wouldn’t come back here as the pub doesn’t meet our needs due to lack of baby change or our tastes with the menu choices not being cooked to our liking.

Very friendly staff, food was really good and very good value for money.

Great food as usual! Very good homecooked selection.

Good food, convivial atmosphere. Just as we have come to expect over many years.

We have visited here over the last couple of years but our recent visits were in November 2022 for Sunday lunch and then for a mid week lunch in December 2022. Both times we found the gentleman who looked after us very friendly and the food and service excellent. On our visit for Sunday lunch we shared two of the crispy prawn starters which was delicious and then we all had roasts for main course. The food was great, portions generous and everything was piping hot. There was an excellent choice with I think 3 meats on the Sunday lunch menu as well as a fish choice and a veggie option. We didn't even look at desserts as we were all rather full but seeing what was coming out of the kitchen, they did look tempting. We then visited mid week. It was nice to find classics such as fish and chips and scampi and chips etc with more rare finds such as a proper suet steak and kidney pudding. We started with two portions of whitebait to share, that was tasty with a good tartare sauce. The fish and chips were really good, the batter was almost like a tempura and two really generous pieces of perfectly cooked fish, something not easy to achieve. The aforementioned steak and kidney pudding was seriously delicious, I think we will be heading back soon just so one member of our family can enjoy that again! Other mains enjoyed were a fish stew with saffron potatoes, really tasty sauce and light with plenty of pieces of fish, a few mussels and prawns. A salad with chicken and bacon, which was done really well, not in the least boring as some similar salads can be. There was plenty of chicken, bacon, cucumber, pepper, fresh salad leaves and a good dressing and ordered with a portion of chips! Again, we didn't manage puddings, but the offerings did sound delicious. I think this is also good value as all our main courses were under £20, which now seems to be something of a rarity. They also don't automatically add service charge to the bill, again quite a rarity now. Hope to return soon.

Great menu choice. Food well presented and we didn’t wait long. 6 of us and we had different dishes, so congrats to chef as they all arrived within minutes of each other, something other places we have visited havnt got right. Only negatives hot food was served on cold plates and tomato and basil soup much too thick for my taste.

Amazing food yet again Very impressive with the cock and bottle

Food & service were excellent . Only downside was we were the only couple in the restaurant for the first hour, but otherwise good

Went for Sunday lunch for a birthday treat. Friendly, efficient service and lovely warm & rustic atmosphere. I chose the roast lamb, and it was gorgeous. Very tender meat, tasty potatoes. The other veg were bit al-dente for my liking, so struggled a bit with those, but still OK. Would certainly recommend and return.

Wasn’t keen on the music but otherwise had a lovely meal friendly and overall lovely- will go again

Arrived at the Cock and Bottle just before 2pm on New Year’s Eve. It was not a planned visit, but we stopped at the pub as we had detoured from our planned route and we wanted a light lunch/drink. We had never been there before, so we had no idea about the menu. On arrival, we were informed that they were about to stop serving food, so if we wanted to eat, we had 10 minutes to order.

The food is delicious and plentiful. Value for money is excellent - you can pay the same in a chain restaurant and it won’t be a patch on the food here.

The special Venison Wellington was exceptional and the chicken was moist and tasty

Lovely quiet meal to break up a long journey. Very friendly, great food (I have an exceptionally well-cooked steak, and my husband's suet pudding was great too) and a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

We usually meet up in this pub once a year around Christmas time to meet up with friends.(we travelled from Lymington) The pub itself is a lovely country pub and in the past we have enjoyed meeting up here. I had booked a table for 6 and was under the impression that the pub was dog friendly and that we could bring our dogs in with us. However when we arrived we were told that the dogs would not be able to sit with us while we ate, which was disappointing. The food was good and a fair price but we were slightly disappointed with the menu as in previous years there was a specials board with various game dishes, which we were keen to order. Having said that we enjoyed the meal together and would go back if we were in the area.

Our anniversary lunch was as always perfect. We were welcomed, had great service and excellent food. Thank you.

Good food and good service. We have been before and it lived up to expectations.

Excellent good food rather pub food. Love going there.

Amazing lamb roast dinner. One of the best Sunday roasts I’ve had in a while. Lovely welcome and warm atmosphere with the pub packed with Christmas diners. Friendly and helpful service. Will be sorry to see the place close.

Lovely meal and great hosts. Was very busy but still very good service.

Just wanted to say, Truly Excellent Food & Service. Great Menu, already recommended to Friends, a Jewel in the Crown, one of the very few Pubs for miles offering how it should be Food , Atmosphere and Lovely Friendly , professional Service

Dinning area was a little chilly Service and food excellent

Food was excellent and the service was very good too. We will come again!

Quality of the food and its presentation was outstanding.

Fabulous food Friendly, helpful staff. Cosy traditional pub

Brilliant as always! A must visit if you have not been there.

Lovely meal, great staff. Def need to go back. Do not think you will be disappointed to try this place.

Nice place to enjoy lunch with a lovely country pub atmosphere. Roaring fire, and old beams, adds to the ambiance! Good home cooked food, and lovely desserts, which were very well presented! A nice experience.

A very pleasant lunch with our friends service was excellent and my gluten free and vegetarian free friend's meal of sea bass with lentils was cooked to perfection. A big thank you for an excellent couple of hours. Look forward to seeing you on the 30th.

Warm, cosy /!; excellent t value.

Superb food, attentive friendly staff and a lovely atmosphere

Cock and bottle Tarleton, I had lamb cooked how I like it hubby had turkey, the staff make sure your happy , fantastic portion size great prices well worth the money. Lovely surroundings, we would highly recommend, Sunday dinner cooked how you expect 4 veg ,mash,roast potatoes Yorkshire pudding and gravy, we have travelled all over to get a proper roast dinner with lamb. Brilliant place .

Excellent food and well presented. Service great. The ceasar salad was exceptional.

Such a lovely traditional pub, food consistently delicious and fresh. Staff friendly and attentive. Deserves a visit if you haven’t been before.

Always a pleasure coming here. Food outstanding. Lovely friendly staff. Quiet atmosphere and open fire really do make for a wonderful evening. It is our all time favourite place and come as often as we can.

We had an excellent Birthday meal at The Cock and Bottle. Service was brilliant and it was nice to go for a meal where we were not rushed. Menu selection is varied and spoilt for choice with fresh ingredients. We will be back, thank you

The food was great and the price excellent the only downside was it was a little cold in the dining room. If I wanted to be a little critical my wife tells me the lady's toilet was a little scruffy and needed a good clean other than that a great experience.

Food was absolutely lovely. Staff friendly and helpful.

Super food, beautifully presented. 5 star very good.

The meal all four of us had was lovely. The service was great. Very friendly place to visit.

Good food and friendly service, we enjoyed it, short on staff same as most places. Be patient as you will enjoy the food.

Excellent service and food My first time at the cock and bottle but believe it won’t be our last as family in poole and Wareham so prefect meeting point Service was brilliant, hard to find good service nowadays And the food was very good Great atmosphere Very enjoyable family lunch

Really delicious food, served with very tasty vegetables, it looked good and it tasted even better. Service was excellent. we will go back as soon as possible. As an aside, we were really happy not to have intrusive music.

The food was excellent, the service was outstanding and the atmosphere very relaxed and welcoming. We will definitely return. Our dog was made welcome too.

Excellent food and service. Shame they are not open all day as felt a bit rushed.

Anniversary lunch . Excellent service; friendly and helpful

They need to have background music, it’s a dire atmosphere. The food is lovely, the service is great if they had back ground music it would be top marks all round. Please stop the awkwardness and play some music!

I read the reviews before booking and was a little surprised when we arrived as the pub itself just looked like it needed a bit of a deep clean and was a little rough around the edges, however the staff were very helpful and accommodating and when our food arrived it was way above and beyond any average’pub’ food I’ve ever eaten, this was a really well designed menu, freshly cooked by a very skilled chef, more like a high end restaurant….I would definitely eat here again and would recommend it to friends and family, just a shame that the attention to detail and care taken with the food didn’t carry through to the pub itself.

Although very busy & short-staffed the managers/owners made us very welcome and served us pretty quickly. The meals were nicely set laid out and tasty and good value in the current climate. All in all a very pleasant experience which we shall repeat, as we've done before.

We all knew what we were having as we had studied the menu on-line. I deliberately did not have any breakfast that morning because the steak & kidney suet pudding is exceptionally large but far too good not to finish! My wife (it was her birthday) was a bit disappointed when told the smoke haddock risotto was unavailable but she found the smoked mackerel risotto was just as good. My step-son was really pleased with the guinea fowl. His partner had the same as I and was very happy. We finished off with desserts that we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Stumbled across this place online looking for somewhere fairly local to my new house. I literally cannot praise it enough. The food is amazing - I’ve eaten in Michelin restaurants that aren’t as good. Service fantastic. Take a visit here - you won’t be disappointed. Had the following Scallops Guinea fowl Milk tart Mushrooms Bream Eton mess sundae

Met with friends after 3 years and was quiet enough for chattering but with other tables in use so a good atmosphere. Staff warned us they were busy and could be some delays but the service was excellent with no delays. Food and choices good suitable for all tastes. Great meals and happy few hours spent there.

Incredible food, good value and pleasant service and surroundings. Will definitely be back! Thank-you :)

The Cock and Bottle is within 5miles of our house and a regular haunt for excellent food. I highly recommend the steak and kidney pudding.

6 people with very different tastes, excellent choice of menu, excellent quality food, friendly atmosphere. … 6 Happy diners, thank you.

Absolutely amazing food will find a table suitable if you have dogs You will find it hard to beat for amazing food and price in Dorset Look forward to going every year when we come down

Delicious well presented meals. Can't wait to visit again