The best restaurants serving British food in North Dorset South West

Great breakfast! Highly recommended

Very friendly service, always a great breakfast. Can’t fault

Definitely the best roast I've eaten in a long time. The meat was succulent and the vegetables were fresh and well cooked, nothing soggy or sad looking on offer. The pub is always busy on a Sunday, a sign that others share my opinion but service is generally pretty efficient and if you do have to wait then I'd say it's worth it.

From the delicious nibbles in the bar, through the outstanding scallops and celeriac purée with chorizo to the stunning beef wellington with pommes boulangères and spring veg, this was one of the best restaurant meals I have had in a long time. Traditional in all the right ways, this restaurant serves the kind of food I love. Wines are great too. Highly recommended.

Scruples is a little gem. Unpretentious, homely, welcoming, with a real community spirit. So much so that we regularly make the 30 mile round trip from where we live to have lunch there. The food is always freshly prepared and delicious. The service is attentive without being overwhelming.

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.

Just used as a pub for drinks, haven't stayed. Reasonable price per pint cider

Lovely food and staff friendly. Reason for low star was waited quite some time to order food, resulting in past hungry otherwise service was good.

A beautiful pub! I had roast pork belly (which was the best I’ve ever tasted), my brother had roast chicken and my mother had sausages and potato (the potatoes are something I want to be able to replicate at home as they were amazing!) We sat outside in the beautiful garden, such a relaxed atmosphere, some lovely music in the background, could hear the birds, people chatting and the kids playing in the playground - such a rare find nowadays for a pub to have one. The staff were amazing, very friendly and attentive. Definitely coming back and recommending to family and friends.

We visited with two children aged 5, they loved the park outside and one of the people who worked there was kind enough to fetch the boys a ball, which was very kind considering no one asked for it. I definitely feel like this place goes out of their way to make people feel comfortable which is very welcoming and far from the standard chain pub meals. The food was lovely, kids enjoyed their food as well! We had a few cocktails as well which went down a treat! Will definitely be returning!

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: oh dear… Everything about this place now screams: ‘lack of enthusiasm and care’. First off, in this day and age to serve soft drinks from a big bottle is unbelievable. Flat soft drinks from a pub is just not acceptable. Secondly, the Sunday roast is maybe the worst I’ve ever had. School dinners are better than this. Rock solid veg, water disguised as gravy, thrice reheated potatoes… actually impossible to say anything positive about the roast. And I’ve now seen the pictures of the roast dinners served here in 2023 before the new management came in and they looked fantastic. Several steps back. Also we were sat in a cold, echoey barn conversion which doesn’t feel fully converted. All of which is a massive shame as it looks great from the outside and the main little pub building is full of character.

Lovely country pub! Food was fantastic. Just a shame half the menu was unavailable. We were in Dorset for a stag weekend and 7 of us just wanted some food. Was full of locals which is nice to see.

Arrived and sat down on a comfy couch . After being ignored for several minutes managed to make eye contact with the waitress......the xtra large Eastern European one with bleached blond hair. I asked would it be possible to order and she abruptly replied " you order from the bar " turned her back and walked off . There is no signage to inform customers this is the protocol? So I walked up to the bar and she disappears knowing full well I wanted to order food ......bizarre/ unbelievable! After couple of minutes the other waitress took my order . Pleasant young girl with glasses. I ordered bacon & egg sandwich & coffee ......a few minutes later the sandwich arrived minus the fried egg . Few minutes later ( no problem mistakes happen ) the correct sandwich arrived with a request for me to go to the till after I finished to pay for the egg ! I have never ( I'm 64yo) experienced such rude ignorant behaviour in a restaurant. Hall & Woodhouse .......you should be ashamed employing such incompetent rude ignorant staff that can barely understand English and do not understand the meaning of the word service . The food was EXCELLENT but will not return .

I popped in for a coffee and was pleasantly surprised by the service and great coffee. Would definitely go back.

Ok we used The Anvil while traveling to Bovington Tank Museum. For that reason, The Anvil was a great choice. Food was excellent, service also was great. The room was great, considering it a very old building. Would we stay here again, indeed.