The best restaurants in Shaftesbury Central North Dorset South West

Russ and the team at Gusto are fantastic and the food is excellent every time. Baked spuds, paninis, roll, cakes and a great coffee. Can’t recommend this cafe highly enough

The best cheese toasty, we were looked after so well and they were happy with two large dogs under the table (mostly ). Great service and all round recommendation.

Great little addition to Shaftesbury high street. They are dog friendly too! Lovely food and pastries. Staff are very friendly and welcoming.

They sell themselves as "A restaurant with rooms" and that gives a mere hint of what they're REALLY about here, firstly, the rooms are beautiful, clean, & well maintained, their location literally couldn't be any better, just on the edge of the very lovely hill-top medieval town of Shaftesbury, it's a two minute walk into town and we'll worth a visit in itself, now then, the nitty-gritty, the food, OMG! I'm based in Leicestershire, and now I know how good the food is here, I can tell you that I would drive the 161 miles straight there for a feed here, no exaggerating, all three courses of my evening meal were absolutely stunning, the aromas, the textures, the sheer depth of flavours, I'm not gushing am I ? LoL Anyway, Don't take my word for it, get booking! You won't regret it

Veggie sausage in a roll was a bit meagre but However, the carrot cake was very good, as was the long black coffee...also the service was excellent! Ambience cosy, a real locals cafe plus welcoming for tourists like us. Highly recommend

We were warmly welcomed and well looked after, the staff were very friendly. Our paninis were excellent and well presented. The views are an added bonus. Would recommend

Staff brilliant and food excellent

We had a lovely breakfast 😋 Good service 👍

Absolutely love the food. Best fish around. Right nice gravy. Staff are great too.

Drinks low alcohol not great, paid extra still not great. Probably helps if you’re a female at this place.coyote ugly..

This cafe is fabulous, the all day breakfast is so good and the ladies serving can’t be more friendly, they make you so welcome and are fun and happy even on Easter Sunday. It’s become our go to cafe as you just can’t beat it. Thank you ladies for being so welcoming and such fun.

I have been for sit down meals before and they've been very good, unfortunately this is the second time I've have had a takeaway delivery and both times have been below average. Mixed grill starter was very oily, I'm not a expert but the meat seemed fried to me. Naan bread was also very oily. Disappointed when you pay for a expensive meal you expect excellence not a below average meal. Chicken Bhuna Tikka was good but let down by everything else.

Excellent food in here. Tucked away in Shaftesbury. Very interesting menu with plenty of choice and generous portions. I had the pulled pork balls and he had the Korean beef taco to start and then I had the cauliflower shawarma and he had the belly pork with butter beans and lots of tasty things. We ordered sides. The courgette dish the spinach dish and then on a whim, the fries. We really didn’t need the sides though they were delicious! The service was very good but the kitchen were a bit slow. However the quality of the food far outweighs any delay we may have had. The restaurant is small so best to book but there is outside seating just in case we get a balmy evening ever again! They also do takeaways. This is a great addition to Shaftesbury and we are very pleased we went.

The cafe definitely feels like it’s in an institution - it has a feel of a church/hospital/AgeConcern cafe. It’s in a multi-functional building that houses the prison’s learning centre, on the second floor. It was originally opened to serve prison staff and visitors, but is also open to the general public 10-3 (kitchen closes at 2). It’s simple food - jackets, baguettes etc and is fine. We were served by two very hard working ladies - no sign of any inmates and no “HMP” stencil anymore on the cappuccino (as was shown in someone’s post). You could forget you were in a prison, the few reminders being bags, mugs, aprons etc with the Jailhouse logo on. It’s a great cause (rehabilitating prisoners) and worth supporting if in the area and in need of a simple lunch.