The best restaurants serving British food in West Dorset South West

Change is never good. Apparently they are doing a trial of no steaks on the menu….. Take too long to cook!!! It’s a pub! Apparently lots of complaints from patrons. I’ll add to it. The steaks here are good. Well cooked and usually not tough. Bearing in mind it is a trial they have new menus….. so I doubt we will see those again. I’ll not be visiting nearly as often as this is my go to

Meant to be a dog friendly pub. We attended with our friends and dog which was on his lead the entire time. We brought with us dog treats and a dog toy as any responsible dog owner would-to keep our dog entertained. A man was there playing pool, he had two dogs with him. We sat the other side of the pub. Because he was not a responsible dog owner and didn’t have dog toys, he moaned to the bar staff that our dog’s toy was upsetting his dogs…..so the barman came over to us and asked us to stop playing with the dog toy….wtf??? Trying to entertain our dog?? We were only there for one drink, and won’t be returning. We have been there once before when a dog NOT on a lead, came over to our dog, and tried to intimidate him. It’s clear that if you’re a regular drinker with a dog, you and your dog can do what you want in there….evryone else….not welcome. No thanks, will go elsewhere!!

Popped in here for a bottle of water on a hot afternoon. Thought I had misheard when told it was 1 pound, that's a great price. The ladies were very chatty and explained they tried hard to keep their prices down. Although there were plenty of patrons sat outside it was quiet inside and I had a good chat/laugh with the two ladies. It seems a popular place.

A pretty bad experience. We popped in for a drink and a snack. They was not particular busy but all the tables were dirty with used crockery etc. they appeared to have plenty of staff. We sat at a table and moved the dirty plates to one end to give us room. We grabbed a passing member of staff and asked him if he could clean the dirty table. He returned with a cloth (no spray) and wiped about a third of the table. He then walked away without making any attempt or comment about all the dirty crockery etc. my wife walked up to the counter and asked for a menu, the young lad looked up with a look that could kill and handed her one without a single comment. At this point we decided to leave and go in similar place next door where we was greeted with a smile and served excellently. I don’t do a lot of reviews but as I am in the hospitality business I was appalled by this service. The engine room is a very busy place that does great food and is always busy. Maybe they could talk to thier staff about customer service as they might not always be busy in the future.

An unbelievably poor chain of actions on the part of staff at this café, led me to write this review. I ordered chips from an unsmiling older lady, and was told to wait outside for my order to be called. After about five minutes I went back in to enquire from a young woman how long I my order might take. She told me she didn’t know and turned away from me. I went outside to wait some more. I returned to the same young woman to enquire again. This time, when she said she didn’t know, I asked her to check with someone. As a collective the staff concluded my order might be at a second window that nobody had previously mentioned. That’s where I found my food, left unattended. As I went to take it, there was another staff member complaining someone else had not picked up an order. I said that could be because customers weren’t being told where to collect from. The older lady became affronted and claimed she always told customers to collect from the second window. When I said she hadn’t told me, she contradicted me. So I took my food and left them to it. It would have stayed like that too, but that wasn’t the end. Halfway down my bag of chips I came upon an earwig-like insect. Either someone having a joke, or it crawled in while my food was left unattended at the window. I took the remains back to the café to show them, but didn’t wait for a reply, as didn’t expect anything polite or useful from them. And that is why I’m posting this tale here. Sorry no photo, I was too angry to remember to take one.

Disgusting service from an elderly lady in here. My daughter was rudely approached by the old hag, and told not to eat her sausage roll in the restaurant as she isn’t a customer. I explained that I was going to be eating and buying drinks. We didn’t even have the time to find a seat, as my daughter was collared by her half way in. Now I totally respect that places don’t want you eating food from other eateries. But her manner and approach was completely aggressive, and to approach an 11 year child. I explained that if there is an issue to then speak with me, the parent. Totally rude and ill mannered, and the rest of the staff had an awful attitude. I’ve eaten here before and food has always been mediocre. Just cheap and cheerful. The service is just appalling. AVOID

Always atrocious - given up now. Terrible service (eg my husband waiting five minutes for a bottle of beer to be opened while staff stood around chatting). Kitchen closes without warning and whole cafe does the same. Surly staff. Poor food choices. I’ve never known it any other way and have now promised myself never to return.

Friendly enough staff but low quality over priced food. £9 for a sausage sandwich which would be equal quality to a Morrisons cafe. Would have expected to pay half that for the quality of the ingredients.

Very bad experience with rude/bad attitude from a member of the cafe staff. To myself and another older customer. Would not recommend.

We ate here as we were staying in the hotel (Royal lion) for a couple of nights and had a nice meal. We both opted for fish dishes and whilst the menu is not extensive we were both happy with our food and accompanying wine. The menu is reasonably priced compared to some in Lyme Regis and the service was good. The price of restaurants in Lyme seems to have increased significantly since Covid and availability is sometimes limited (staffing seems to be an issue here as with many places). The hotel restaurant used to be located in a large room on the first floor and had a more inventive menu although the room itself was a bit too formal for my taste

I bought a steak pasty, hot and fresh and perfectly cooked. I've bought their loaves before and those are also brilliant. Everything is a little pricey but you have to pay for good quality handmade bakes which taste fantastic and are served with care and attention, and they can be fun as well

Went there with my family for a drink and ordered fish and chips to be shared as we already had our lunch but still spent around 50 pound .we ask a rude lady for extra cutlery she very aggressive said that you are paying for 2 but feeding 4 mouth and I will have extra washing to do ...never heard anything like that. She even took our plates away while we were still eating avoid avoid avoid.

We walked into west bay bank holiday Monday we live locally so easy enough walk for a few drinks something to eat support the local buisnesss. Anyway attended the pub for a couple of ciders waited at the bar for some time which is fine although pub not busy at all and lots of staff milling about started to be served she then walked off and another gentleman stepped in young fella with curly hair popped the first pint in front of me undefiled so I asked of he would obviously fill up my pint of cider after all that is what I am paying for and his answer was it makes it easy to carry if its not full what!!! I replied its OK ill sup it before I walk with it. Wow talk about saving cider. Anyone falling for that load of cobblers anyway never to say the least we drank our full pints and left to go elsewhere. Thing is it was nearly 14 quid for 2 pints of cider so certainly wasn't the cheapest for exact same cider in a nicer place with better staff.