The Merchant's Cellar in Poole

I had a wonderful experience at The Fisherman's Cafe in Poole Old Town! The food was absolutely delicious, beautifully cooked and presented with care. The breakfast menu offers a traditional variety of options. Every bite was delightful! The staff were incredibly lovely, kind, attentive, and always willing to help, which made the experience even better. Noticed signs dotted about saying dogs are welcome which is great for both locals and those visiting the area with pets in holiday. The owners thoughtfulness really stood out! Overall, The Fisherman's Cafe is a gem in Old Town Poole! Great food, excellent service, and a friendly and fab atmosphere. Definitely worth a visit and especially when visiting Poole Quay. The butcher quality sausages alone are worth coming back for. Highly recommended! Plus… They also have vegetarian options.

Food was excellent as always. TJ was our waitress and she was excellent and very attentive, couldn’t have been more helpful. Thank you.

Bit hit and miss. I’ve had some good fish and chips but sometimes the batter isn’t cooked enough.

We have visited the restaurant last night for dinner. Our table was booked for 17:30 as it was the only slot available, for 3 people. We were there for a special birthday so we somehow had high expectations. Unfortunately we arrived about 20 minutes late to the restaurant and the first thing we were made aware of was that the table has to be free by 20:00 for another booking. We were then seated at a great table, towards the back of the restaurant, with a sea view. Despite having limited time for our dinner the order wasn't taken untill around 20 minutes from being seated. We have then ordered a stir-fried salt and pepper squid, a seafood gnocchi and garlic prawns with soft polenta for starters, crab linguine and 2 seafood curry for mains. The food arrived late, the squid was more of a salad than a stir-fry, the prawns were delicious , however they were served with bread instead of polenta, the linguine was way overcooked, the seafood gnocchi was ok and the curry was delicious. We have also ordered desert and we had 2 bottles of wine which was very nice. I must say that it was a rather disappointing experience as it was reasonably pricey. Our high expectations were definitely not met, the service was slow and was lacking attention, I had dropped my fork and I had to ask 3 times to be brought another one, the main course plates drips of probably dried sauces under the rim, the prawn starter did not match the description on the menu. There were people that have arrived after us and received their food long before us.

This is one of best fish and chips in the area. The cod is superior, perfectly cooked and a fresh, light, crispy batter. There are 2 other places nearer to me, Liliput and Penn Hill but this place is so much better and doesn’t have the long wait times like the others.