The Square Bistro in West Dorset

Really pleased to have found the bistro, stopped off for a lunch with some friends and discovered the set price two or three course lunch menu. Everything was excellent, the service was great (friendly, efficient and helpful) the menu choices varied, interesting and creative. The quality of the food was superb, nicely presented and prepared beautifully. The set price menu was extremely good value and drinks priced fairly. I can recommend The Square Bistro without reservation and I will visit again whenever I can.

We came here for Sunday lunch and were hugely impressed. Leigh Picton in the kitchen cooked a fabulous traditional roast beef dinner for my wife whilst I had a shortcrust pastry haggis pie. Both were perfect. Beautiful rare beef on horseradish emulsion, shredded brisket, a wonderful Yorkshire pub, root vegetables and rich tasty gravy accompanied by the best roast potatoes outside of my wife's kitchen! The haggis pie was wonderful, packed to the lid. Somehow we managed to fit in a raspberry and white chocolate brioche pudding with creme anglaise which was superb! The young waiting staff were first class and the atmosphere in this lovely little busy restaurant was wonderful. This was a great find for us. I can't recommend it highly enough and we'll be back!

Excellent food!!! Very attentive Staff! Love, love and all thumbs up to using local produce! Lovely Purbeck made Cider too.

Had a lovely Christmas Lunch celebrating Dad's birthday, everything was excellent - food, service, environment - highly recommended but small number of covers available so advance booking essential

Great customer service from point of booking to the evening itself, Leigh was really helpful. The food was excellent, best creme brulee I've had! Attentive waiting staff and a nice atmosphere in the restaurant. Definitely recommend and looking forward to returning soon!

Food and service always excellent. Thank you

Our group of 6 enjoyed the best of dining here, Sunday lunch menu was full of delicious offerings all brought to table by exceptional waiting staff. Starters mains and desserts...not a single issue...drinks reasonable prices and good wine list too.

Very noisy. All round hard surfaces that didn't absorb any noise coupled with large party of 8 - hence lots of noise.

What a great small independent restaurant. We'll worth the effort to find it in Poundbury. Food outstanding, service good, and great value for money. Thoroughly recommend it.

Lovely dinner really nice and a friendly service, so tasty and lovely presentation, very reasonable price and affordable

Six of us had a delicious meal on Tuesday evening. We all had 3 courses and we ate everything. The food was fresh and well presented. Good choice of local wines and nice cocktails. Great service in a lovely little restaurant. Parking outside. All my family are chefs and we would highly recommend!

This place serves delicious, carefully thought-through food at a price that is incredibly good value, considering the high quality. Every ingredient to a course is special - from the artisan bread to go with olive oil & balsamic vinegar, to the pleasingly doughy homemade "biscotti" served with the affogato. (Not the brittle stuff that can break your teeth.) Our table had perfect hake, monkfish and filo pie. And, we're so glad we made room for the puddings - rose-flavoured crème brulé, and raspberry panna cotta. The family loves good food, and we often play a silly 'food-envy game', sharing a taste of our dishes to decide who wins the best meal award. 14 year-old son noted that this was the first place where all 4 of us would all be convinced that we were each the winner. He was right. Wish The Square Bistro wasn't so far out of our way, so that we could go back more frequently.

We were delighted by the quiet, accurate service and efficiency. Manager Chris was well informed and helped us throughout our visit. His knowledge of drinks was great. Food was cooked to order and tasted very fresh. Our bill was quite modest considering the quality of everything. People had recommended it to us and now we will recommend it to others. The whole place was spotlessly clean.

A superb little bistro nestled within the centre of Poundbury. Fabulous fresh and local ingredients cooked to perfection. Try the Chicken Ballantine its delicious. Reasonably priced - 2 people, 2 courses each + wine was £65. This restaurant is going to top the Dorset food charts.

Excellent food. So pleased we can walk here. Another great evening with friends.

An absolutely brilliant restaurant offering a lovely range of delicious meals, with focus on local Dorset ingredients. The three course set menu is definitely worth the money, and I found each course to be very delicious! Even though this is described as a “bistro”, the dishes do come off as quite complex and the restaurant certainly offers fine dining. The drinks on offer were also very lovely, and the servers were helpful and friendly. Overall, our meal was an entirely positive experience and this restaurant is definitely worth a visit.

Amazing food. We’ve visited 3 times recently with different guests and they’ve all been hugely impressed!

Lovely place, wonderful staff and delicious food!

Amazing little place. Fantastic food, great and sober service, nice menu, great atmosphere!

Excellent Sunday lunch. Very good food at a reasonable price. Good service. Need to book in advance. And, ps, the beer is very good as is the wine.

A very cosy, clean environment. Amazing food and service and not pretentious at all. Lovely family lunch.

A cosy bistro restaurant, ideal for that personal dining experience. The limited covers ensure a good customer focus from the friendly staff. An ample selection on the menu to suit all tastes. It's tucked away within the depths of poundbury and has a mainly local clientele. Booking in advance would be beneficial. My visit cost around £130 (2 persons, 3 courses, predrinks and a bottle of wine). To improve this bistro to 5 stars would be simple, change the kitchen cook timer alarm to something more subtle and ensure serving staff avoid wearing tatty trainers. I'd definitely return to this place.

We had a lovely meal on Wednesday which turned out to be "pie day". Superb food, pleasant atmosphere and attentive staff.

So much thought and love has gone into this place. The food, wine and service are excellent.

I booked an evening meal to celebrate my partner's 50th birthday, and was so glad I did! Off the main street but easy to walk to, this cosy bistro has a relaxed ambience, fantastic food which is reasonably priced and friendly, knowledgeable staff. We had a wonderful meal and do not hesitate to recommend.

Fabulous meal, relaxed atmosphere Nice friendly owner & staff We had a lovely meal and our choices were tweaked as we wished. Shall be visiting again !

Without doubt one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I can highly recommend the steak, and the gnocchi. Serving local food & drink is a great feature, and the quality was outstanding. We will definitely return in the near future. Thank you!

Amazing food and service. Highly recommend. Thank you to Leigh and Chris for a truly warm welcome and truly scrumptious dining experience

Fantastic. I could have chosen anything from the menu and not been disappointed. Great quality food, unpretentious but with great depths of flavour. Super portion sizes. Lovely venue, lovely host. Book me in again! This is my new favourite place.

Excellent service. An intimate, pretty, little corner bistro in Poundbury. I had the set menu which was very reasonably priced for such good food. I will certainly be returning for more in the future!

Brilliant ....just a marvelous experience. I cannot recommend it high enough! 😉

One of the best Sunday lunches I've ever had. We will definitely be eating here again and again and again.

Had an amazing lunch today! As always Leigh produced fantastic food, the roast beef was excellent and the garnish of a Yorkshire pudding with braised brisket inside was delicious. 5/5

A little gem and well worth it's five stars. Ate there on a Sunday, we had roast beef, cajun cod and sea bass mains, all were beautifully cooked and well presented without being pretentious. Great selection of starters including Bournemouth snails! Yes that's correct and they were as good as any you'll have in France. Good pud choices and very decent coffee. Staff were were very friendly and efficient. It is a must to visit this cracking place.

Had an amazing time here. Staff very helpful and friendly, the food was really wonderful and good value, we had the set menu. The drinks menu is very good as well. It's five stars because I seriously cannot fault the experience and very much look forward to coming back!

Stunning ingredients perfectly executed with lovely professional friendly service. We were driving through the area and found via Google Maps. What a find and a treat. We will definitely go back there. Thank you

Cosy, bistro feel with French and Spanish influences on an appetising menu. The locally sourced meat and fish were excellent with even snails from Bournemouth!! A pleasant banter with the patron.

Lovely lovely lovely! Went with a friend for lunch on Wednesday 24th Really nice set lunch , good value, fresh and very delicious. Great staff , the waitress was engaging and professional and happy, and so was mum , great cooking by her son, I would take the two hour train journey, every day to go back . Beautiful potted mackerel, pichana steak succulent, and a cheeky panna cota, with honeycomb. To all involved be very proud of what you have 6⭐️

Cosy restaurant in Poundbury. The Sunday Roast was delicious, the best we have had, with a scrumptious Yorkshire pudding and a matchless sauce. A generous portion of perfectly seasoned vegetables and roast potatoes on the side was beautifully presented. To top it off , the desert of Creme Brulee with biscotti was just perfect! We loved it and hope to be back to savour more of the dishes on the menu. Thank you!

Best dinner in Dorset. Delicious food, excellent wine, great service. Also reasonably priced.

Absolutely delicious food well presented lovely atmosphere Such an enjoyable experience excellent service too

Friendly, intimate restaurant. Good value set menu with great tasting food full of flavour and textures. Good range of drinks and we appreciated the ready supply of cooled water. We left feeling very satisfied and well fed.

We have eaten at the Square Bistro 3 times now and each time the food has been superb. It is a real gem, such a pleasure to have this dinning experience so near to home. Keep up the good work. 👌👌

What a joy to find a small bistro that cooks food with a!Great service highly recommended will go again

Really nice evening. Great food. Great staff nice wine. Goats cheese starter was amazing. Home baked bread was lovely. They change these.. but we had blue cheese and truffle.... fish cake was a little salty but nice. Chicken main was voted the best.

A little gem! Went for the Wednesday pie night (home made) and wasn’t disappointed. Simple food, well cooked & presented, good service - what’s not to like. Note they source locally - even the wine (very tasty) and the owner is the chef.

First visit bit will definitely return .Delicious Sunday lunch, with imaginative menu. Thank you

Small and cosy with friendly staff and really good food. My wife and I both had the ribeye steak which were cooked exactly as we like. Will absolutely be back and definitely recommend to anyone. Small and perfect little bistro 👍

What a great place. The food was excellent with a good choice for gluten free. The £20 fixed price 3 course menu was superb value and very tasty. Lovely staff - great evening. Thanks

Fabulous little bistro tucked away in Poundbury, Dorchester. Food and service was amazing. Highly recommended.

Could not fault this as a weekend lunch venue: warm welcome, cosy corner table with the sun pouring in on a chilly February day and stylish dark blue decor. We chose from the incredible value fixed price menu; if we were eating on price alone it would be a bargain but to have really delicious food as well warrants 5*. Think good home cooking - and then some. A lovely relaxed meal, just how a bistro should be.

Lovely food in an intimate setting

The first visit to the new restaurant. Food excellent,good friendly service in a nice relaxed atmosphere. Definitely going back soon

Fantastic NYE party, superb food and great choice of wines, staff excellent

Couldn't recommend this place more, food & service were both excellent and the set menu was also great 🙂

First time visiting The Square Bistro yesterday but we'll definitely be back. Lovely restaurant, delicious food and a set menu that's really good value. Lovely wine too, and a very friendly waitress. We had a very enjoyable evening, thank you!

Intimate little restaurant, great service and fabulous food. Just what all bistros should be

great food with good staff and service

Super find….excellent service, excellent food! Can’t recommend highly enough!

Fantastic food, great service and lovely atmosphere. We will definitely be back.

Most enjoyable evening . Menu choice was excellent & beautifully cooked . Waiting staff friendly & welcoming . Well done all - we will certainly return soon .

What a fantastic little restaurant this is. A small but excellently curated menu offers up some real gems. Fast and efficient service with a smile. Excellent drinks menu as well really championing local produce.

The food was so good and local! Comparable to Michelin Star food! Leigh is an amazing Chief and lovely to chat to. Such a lovely warm atmosphere and a brilliant evening. Would highly recommend to anyone. Can’t wait to go back again.

Fabulous find. Delicious food. Friendly service. Highly recommended.