The best restaurants serving British food in North Dorset South West

Great place for extra special pub food

Sadly the place is between managers/owners and rather neglected. Needs pulling up.

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.

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.

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.

Family birthday meal for 5, food was amazing, hot, very reasonably priced. Best meal I have eaten for a long time. Staff were amazing, great service.

Fantastic night and great music.

Nice typical English pub, We enjoyed dinner and a beer and were served by an very kind waitress. The fiid was very English and good. it was not an authentic cozy old atmospheric pub, but well for just tonight.

Decided to try this as it’s under new ownership and within walking distance. I booked ahead for Sunday lunch at 1pm thinking it may be busy but the main bar was was completely empty. The staff greeted us warmly and were offered drinks which we decided to have at the table in the the restaurant away from the loud music. Obviously the staff were playing what they wanted rather than something suitable for the clientele. The restaurant only had one other couple dining, it was completely empty apart from us. The waitresses were very young, sweet and polite. After a considerable wait we were served our food. What a disappointment! The lamb wellington consisted of 3 slices of lamb with a thin layer of pastry around the outside, my Mothers 3 slices of pork looked nice and I have 2 slices of overcooked roast beef. The vegetables looked ok but were barely warm and and roast potatoes were yesterday’s and had chewy skins. Very disappointing which we pointed out to the waitress when she asked how our meal was when she cleared the table. I could hear the same comments from the other couple when they were asked the same question. We decided that we’d go home for our pudding rather than chance a repeat reheat of yesterday’s. Such a shame, we weren’t offered any explanation, but one only had to look around to see why the place was empty. My husband who doesn’t cook could have produced a better meal. It cost us £56 in total. We shan’t be returning and I don’t suppose the other diners will either. I took the meat home and there were no complaints from the dogs!

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.

Really dissapointed , food all pre cooked kept warm somewhere, poached eggs very hard, Avacado tasted strongly of lemon, food barely warm, tasteless waste of. Money . Not to the expected m&s standards won’t be visiting again 🥲

Excellent tasty food and very good value for money. Totally unpretentious and a lot cheaper than most greedy pubs in this area. Highly recommend this pub. Very friendly landlord, landlady and staff.

Had a great evening with friends at this lovely pub and restaurant. The landlord made us all feel welcome and the menu was very interesting with something for everyone. The pub was warm and cosy whilst being spacious at the same time. The food was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. A couple of our group had the Katsu Chicken, another had the Chowder which looked fabulous. I had the soup which was so tasty with some delicious fresh bread, the desserts were all just as popular. All in all a relaxing and enjoyable evening in a, welcoming atmosphere with lovely staff, and a great chef!