The best restaurants in Stour Valley North Dorset South West

I have written reviews before for TaT when at the last location,and when they moved into the new location,we were first customer back in July this year. So Friday of this week was my second visit,and now really upto steam,and on the tracks for a new year. In prevysite,I loved the extremely large breakfast choice. Margot in new place,has reduced the range, quality is just as good,but less complicated and labour intensive,as it has to trade in today's climate. So we went for lunch... And as to be expected everything was top notch. Margot has years of catering experience and thinks up new ways to present her food. I had macaroni cheese,with topping of melted brie..served with pigs in blankets,slaw and salad. Two others had panini type pizza,and minced beef pie...all with the Margot twist. I have not made comment about the cakes....all made in the kitchen,all delicious and we always come away with cake for later. Thankfully I live about 159+ miles away,otherwise I would be a more regular visitor,and would need to lose more weight than now. I really like and rate TaT.

More than just a leading Tea House, Comins Sturminster Newton is a very coeliac friendly café.  Full 5* review at CoeliacwellNES.com.  They have soft doughy GF gyoza, gluten free sweet treats and obviously phenomenal tea.  A lovely place to watch all the comins and goings, will try out the Bath branch soon!

Arrived in Sturminster Newton on a Monday to find many eateries were closed! Luckily Joshua's was open and the food really good and service excellent. The coffee was exceptional!

The food and service is always perfect. Highly recommended, the best pub in the area. The cask ales are always in good condition.

Nice breakfast at reasonable price and very friendly staff.

Nice little place, good English breakfast with proper bacon and sausages. Huge hot chocolates. Will be back for more!

I am going to struggle to articulate how poor this is. But here goes. We were visited by all the kids for the first time in ages so a Sunday lunch together seemed appropriate. We ate here 2 years ago and it was lovely. Its now under new management and I appreciate things take time to settle but really, the food was awful. There is no way ... and I mean, no way, this food was fresh. It was 'at best' cooked from frozen. The plate was swimming in liquid from the food. Tasteless. Just, really, really bad. So, disappointed.

29 12 24 ,Sunday lunch for 5 . Great food , great atmosphere and all staff very friendly, highly recommended. Derek.

Really nice meal and lots of it, we had Brie bites and pate to start then decided on a sharer roast for two. It was really well cooked, the staff were attentive and friendly and the sharer was huge.unfortunately we didn’t take any pictures as we were too busy enjoying it. We would highly recommend it, thank you Matt and staff a lovely visit on a horrible wet and windy day x

Although we are local first time in the Olives et Al shop. Good choice of olives either in jars or loose to buy in plastic containers. Nice selection of local made treats eg cheese etc. Some "different" food ideas. Great place would visit again. No cafe available at the moment.

Another great visit to Hart’s, both for shopping and lunch! Good parking, a lift to the cafe upstairs and a lovely lunch. The food always tastes good quality but the plated food presentation is not professional. Just a small point but important when prices are rising steadily.

Fabulous extensive menu. Lovely friendly staff. Prices very reasonable. Visited here twice when stopping in Sturminster Newton. Food came piping hot and delicious. Would recommend it most highly.

Friendly enough but pub is outdated

Fantastic Christmas meal with friends. 7 people. Food was fantastic as was the service. The landlord was also very attentive checking a few times that everything was ok. Will definitely be back.

Called in as liked the traditional old school look of this Fish and Chip shop but we're very disappointed with the poor service. Myself and my wife just fancied a portion of chips so decided to order one large portion and share it so politely asked if our food could be split into two separate bags so we could eat it more easily. This request was met with blank looks , a conference between the three young girls working front of house and the comment " I think I can do that but can't guarantee it ". Honestly it is not difficult to split a large portion into two. Next despite the shop being pretty quiet we had to wait fifteen minutes for our chips . We don't mind waiting when ordering fish etc as its always nice to have freshly cooked food but fifteen minutes for a portion of chips is ridiculous. The owners seemed more interested in chatting to another customer about some lady's bad leg and giving the man some type of medicine over the counter along with his food than cooking other people's food. To be fair the chips were very nice but the inept and rude service spoiled the experience.