The best restaurants in West Dorset South West

A very welcoming pub!! Very busy even on a cold wet night in February as soon as we walked through the door it felt like a good locals pub and they welcomed dogs !!! We went in not booked and it was valentines!!! But we did manage to have a table super food - we rebooked again for later in the week - the food was outstanding - in fact it seemed like a high end restaurant inside a friendly local pub staff very friendly but were so very busy. I would recommend this place to anyone in charmouth -you will not be disappointed.

After browsing the rip-off cafes, fish+chips £26, along the promenade we finally came to Bell Cliff. We had eaten here some years ago and what a pleasant surprise this visit was as it hadn't changed. I opted for "Gammon & egg with chips etc" while my wife went for "Lasagne with chips etc", absolutely terrific and good value. Nice window table and very doggy friendly with nice welcoming staff, it made our day. You can have a table outside with fine views of the bay but today was too cold for us.

Great food, lovely young staff. Tom served us. He was new to cocktails and recommendations on the menu but he tried his best to accommodate us and did not disappoint, his coworker was also very hospitable and nice. Loved this place. It was very hard to get into with a stroller(pram). Wish there were ramps but the cocktails, coffee, and food were very good. A hidden gem. Definitely want to come back to try the dinner. The bathrooms were very clean and they had a great baby changing station. Hopefully I'll be able to try some spicy dishes if they have any on their dinner menu.

Such a lovely meal as always! Food is consistently delicious, we sat outside for given blankets and the heaters were fab! Staff are wonderful here so polite and smiley, daisy was absolutely amazing so friendly and made our visit!

We recently made several visits to this wonderful Inn. My husband was born and brought up in the area, but due to a family bereavement we needed somewhere close by to stay, during this hard time. We can't give enough praise, the service is exemplary, food is wonderful, freshly cooked and ingredients of the highest quality. We stayed in several different rooms, each one was unique, beautifully decorated, with very comfortable beds, plenty of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, very clean and tidy. Ronnie & Jonathan go above and beyond to help and nothing is too much trouble. We held the wake at The New Inn, again, food was wonderful, and again, nothing was too much trouble. We have already booked to return, and will continue to book in the future.

⸻ I booked and paid for a night’s stay, only to receive a call from the hotel later apologizing that, due to a system error, they were actually fully booked and couldn’t accommodate us. Thankfully, we were able to find an alternative hotel ourselves. However, it’s now been nearly four weeks and I’m still waiting on a refund. The staff have been unhelpful, the situation frustrating, and the lack of resolution unacceptable. Very disappointed in both the hotel and Booking.com.

Perfectly cooked full English. Price included generous cappuccino. Airy and clean cafe. Modern tables and chairs. Friendly efficient staff. Value for money.

Really good customer service and quality food

The venue is underwhelming, it's underground and quite musty. The food can be really good, when they try.

I visited today on my own with my three children, the staff were so lovely and accommodating and the food was delicious and good value. We were made to feel really welcome. The lady that served us was lovely. Kids portions are really generous. We will definitely visit again.

We thought a fish & chip takeaway would be ideal but when we got it home we discovered misshaped fish had been horribly over cooked so that it was bone dry and all coated in a batter that was impenetrable in places. We had to throw the rubbish away. We thought that buying from a fish & chip shop rather than the several pop ups in the area would give us the best but that most definitely was not the case. We made our purchase at 6pm, so you would think that would be a peak time but you get the impression this place works on the principle of they are only selling to tourists so it doesn't matter what junk they give them. Avoid at all costs - there are so m any other outlets in West Bay

The words and opinions expressed here are of my own and are not associated with the Ilchester Arms. Our table had been pre-booked through friends we were visiting, as they had dined at the pub on numerous ocassions. On arrival we were given a warm and friendly welcome, ordered our drinks and were shown to our table. The menu was explained to us and we all placed our orders, we ordered the langoustines to share between threepeople, which we were told would equate to two each. They looked quite disappointing when they arrived, whilst I would not have expected them to look like a small lobster, they looked more like stick insects. They had also been halved down through the length, so when they arrived it just looked like a plate of langoustines that had been involved in an accident, I really would have found more flesh on a cockle than what was inside those. The price for those was knocked off the bill, so that is much appreciated. Moving on to the main I ordered the Sole and my wife ordered the garlic chicken kiev, we were asked if we wanted any chips to go with it and said yes, the meals arrived and mine looked lovely, a samphire dressing and buttery sauce. So there we are sat looking at our food for nearly five minutes, I`m sorry guy`s, but if you cannot put the chips or any other side on the table at the same time as the main then it`s a pretty poor show. I could of totally understood if the place was heaving with customers but it was pretty quiet. The kiev my wife ordered looked pretty lonely sat in the middle of the plate on a sea of broad beans and peas, I did try some and agreed with her that apart from the lack of garlic sauce inside, the chicken itself was pretty dry. The chips were brought over, and just like the langoustines they were visually disappointing. A finger bowl full of very small thin fries with a maximum length of around an inch if that. I could be wrong so accept my apologies if that is the case, but I was told that the chips worked out at £5 a portion, really? Back to the Sole, it tasted great as did the butter sauce, the one thing I did notice was that the croutons were not how i`d expect them to be, which would be crunchy after being fried, toasted or grilled, my only description would be to say they were pretty firm and chewy. I can only finish by saying, that the experience of dining out in any situation, should be a memorable one for all the right reasons. Sadly this was not the case, I would suggest ditching the langoustines, they ain`t doing you any favours. I beleive you guy`s moved over from Bristol in December, my son lives over there and we have eaten in a lot of places in Bristol, but have never experienced the underwhelming quality we did at your place. It`s not a personal attack, but just trying to figure out that whilst you have a great place and hopefully a skilled chef and not just a pub cook dressed in whites to look the part, why it was the way it was. Perhaps only you know the reason.

Disappointing. Fish was dry and like leather . Way below their normal standard . Perhaps they are sourcing their fish from a different supplier

Great service- super friendly and fast, really yummy food, great variety and value for money, I would 100% recommend you visit

Regular Lyme visitors we have always wanted to try Toms. Based on the reviews we booked a table outside as we had our dog with us. First thing was a lady leaving who said don’t have the crab sandwich it’s awful! Undaunted we waited 20 mins until our order was taken, only 2 waiting staff on and very busy. Asparagus salad was nice and the crab croquette ok. Then another 15 min wait for mains. My wife’s aubergine dish was ok my breaded catch of the day with triple cooked chips was not ok. Fish quite dry and no way the chips were triple cooked and could have been frozen. I raised this with the waitress who spoke to the kitchen. They assured her they were not frozen but no mention of triple cooked. Offered to replace which I declined. Because I complained they took 10% off the bill. Shame the dish wasn’t as described