The best restaurants in North Dorset South West

I always like Costa coffee my preferred hot drink even though it's quite expensive now

Was abit disappointed I had a special curry but it was tasteless and watery won’t be returning

First time I have visited since the refurb, fantastic job. Food was great, staff attentive, well worth a visit. 2 of us had steaks, very well cooked, others had fish with and without batter both lovely.

The Udder Coffee shop is attached to the farm shop. Good views over the fields. Good selection of food but you certainly pay for it. It’s not a cheap cafe.

Average hotel. We didn't sleep well due to noise after midnight. Only positive point is the location close to the city center.

Really tasty and well presented dishes. Welcoming and very friendly - even the dog is friendly and welcoming! Overall, a great experience on a damp day.

I am sending this review in an email as it is so scathing, I couldn’t bring myself to post i as a public review via the link in the email sent to me following our “meal” with The Museum in Farnham on Sunday 2nd Feb 2025 @ 1400. Me and my partner visited you in the summer and had a very nice evening. We only live in Blandford so thought we’d come across for a roast. When we arrived it was quite busy and we were told there was a 20/30 minute wait on food - not a problem. Staff were nice but a little confused despite me booking and initial reaction for us was that we’d walked into fair bit of chaos. We were seated despite offering to have a drink at the bar and they eventually decided on a table to for us. The young girl serving us was lovely but very nervous and clearly stressed. We told her we were in no particular rush and to relax and we’d just enjoy a drink while they got things sorted. We ordered 2 x beef roast. We are both gluten intolerant (me extremely so these days) so we asked if the gravy was GF and IF there wasn’t any GF Yorkshire’s, just to leave them off the plate. This in itself seemed to cause a severe amount of confusion and instigated another 2 or 3 return trips to our table. After around 45 minutes we were told that the two cauliflower cheese sides we had ordered (we had actually only ordered one) had run out but they’d kindly take them off our bill - very bizarre. I won’t even go into the fact that a £7 cauliflower cheese should (in my opinion), be included in a £23 roast. We were told our food was being plated up…. This tuned out to be a lie. 30 minutes later (1hr 15 total from sitting down, and on my third pint) our food came out - annoyingly with Yorkshire puddings on. I just shook my head and chucked mine on a serviette. The food obviously made its way to the wrong table before eventually coming to ours. I was starting to lose my composure at this point and the pathetic portion size didn’t help. I had one slice of cremated beef and another of chewy beef. Underneath was a couple of overcooked potatoes and a tiny amount of veg. Neither of us had eaten so I just shook my head at how embarrassing this had become and ate some of mine. My partner put her knife and fork down and said it was cold - that was it then. It was so bad we were actually laughing. For context we have never sent a meal back ANYWHERE, and we’ve had a few poor meals. We called the young girl over and politely explained that would like the food taken off the bill, we wanted to settle the drinks and leave. We did ask if they could break the habit of a lifetime and do it quickly as we had to rush the 15 minute drive home to get to our local before the kitchen closed at 1600. We got to you at 1400. We paid for our drinks and left our last ones - I probably could have asked for them to be taken off the bill too didn’t imagine that would speed up proceedings. To be clear, the whole time be kept out cool and was as polite to this poor young girl. I did say to her “this has been a disaster hasn’t it?” She kept apologising, to which I pointed out that the blame lay solely at the door of her greedy employer who is charging top money, but employing cheap staff, and a chef who takes 1hr 15 to muster up two overpriced, overcooked, undersized, tepid roast dinners. So shame on whoever is running the established for putting her in that position. We flew back to Nelson’s, our local, and had a roast there. It’s was £10 less per head, piping hot, big potions and had trimmings included - not charged as extortionate extras. The following days I was extremely ill. I’m somewhat loathed to blame this on you guys, but I did say 2/3 times to not put a Yorkshire on my plate and we never got an answer about the gravy. All in all, an absolute horror-show from start to finish. Sadly from speaking to people since our visit, most were not surprised. Genuinely the most embarrassing dining experience I can’t think of. I’m 38. I look forward to any response you may have with regard to my feedback.

I visited The Fiddleford Inn twice in the same week, which is unusual. The first was with family, and the second was with my husband. On both occasions the food was excellent. The pork belly was amazing and my Mediterranean Tart was really nice. The children's meals were excellent. They really enjoyed their food. When I came on Good Friday our meals were just as excellent. The burger was great and so was my fish and chips.

Located in a prominent position in the centre of Blanford Forum is the Crown. It has indoor and outdoor seating. The dining area was large but not very friendly. The staff were not warm and welcoming. That said, the taking of our order and the serving of food were both very prompt. The food was wholsome and nice. A large car park which was very full but we managed to get a space.

Fab-u-lous Had a wonderful meal here tonight with my gorgeous husband. Food was excellent - really really tasty and lots of it. Service was warm and friendly. Lovely family atmosphere - which made our evening! Would highly recommend and will definitely be back. Thank you so much.

We've had lunch here a few times in summer so decided to have dinner one evening. It was okay but nothing more than that and very expensive for the standard of cooking, especially when compared to nearby similar pubs like The White Horse or The Fiddleford Inn. Everything was as described but the absolute bare bones of it so the sirloin steak was about 30% fat and only came with one smallish mushroom and half a tomato and chips, the fillet was about half the size you would normally get and the fruit crumble amounted to 4 spoonsful for £8, and the price for our puddings was actually £2.50 more than on the online menu. You can get away with small portions if the food is imaginative and cooked to a high standard but this wasn't and we could have made the whole meal to a similar standard at home for a fifth of the price.

Although everyone else’s food was fab , as the only vegan I was very disappointed. I chose the vegan burger with chips and salad which were both lovely , but ….the burger ? Dry , tasteless , nothing else except the burger itself in a white pappy bun. Would’ve been much better with some fried mushrooms or onions or relish . Tasted like a cheap frozen veggie burger , and nothing else ! Not good at all ! Need to up their game !

Takeaway used ordered and collected in person. Not sure what’s happened as I have had good meals from here before, however both curries were tasteless. Naan bread ok. Not cheap £25! I wasn’t sure about the state of the building either quite a bit of repair needed, including a bucket on the floor for leaks! Staff friendly. Not recommended.

Fantastic night and great music.

Very cold sat in coats no fire on heating not on my husband went to toilet radiator turned down to 1 waited about 30 mins for meal choose beetroot wellington was a flat bit of pastry filled with tomatoe a few strips of beetroot and a plate of potatoes and a couple of carrots not taste wellington looked like something that had been sitting in a hot cabinet for a few hours