Best Cafes in Melbury Abbas, Dorset, United Kingdom (2025) - Top 10 Rated!

Rating: 5 / 5

Excellent coffee and delicious home produced food of exceptional quality. This place is a real gem and well worth a detour for lunch.

Rating: 4 / 5

Great food, lovely staff. Gluten free options. Just not set up for less mobile people. Rough gravel that made wheeled walkers v difficult to push, steep ramp up. Hazardous. I watched 3 people struggle in. The food must be good! No disabled loo despite lots of space for it. Loos 50 yards away over same gravel. Can drive to them. C'mon people put a paved path to the entrance, get a more gently inclined ramp and put a couple of collapsible bars on the wall behind the loo to aid standing. Lots of customers aren't that young anymore.

Rating: 5 / 5

Attended a wake for an old friend's wife with maybe 150 people present on a Sunday. An extraordinary experience with impeccable food, drink and service. The food had obviously been carefully thought out to provide excellence in taste, quality and presentation. Despite a sudden torrential downpour the well trained and unobtrusive staff coped immaculately. Though the occasion could have been sombre Compton MacRae carried it off superbly and perfectly set the tone. Very well done: you deserve all the success that is coming to you.

Rating: 4 / 5

Love the food and the and attentive servicing. Atmosphere was nice as well

Rating: 5 / 5

Absolutely LOVED our vegan brunch!! And the fried bread - my goodness, what a treat!! If we lived closer, we would be here every weekend. Love that our doggy was catered for too, thank you!

Rating: 5 / 5

A great place for breakfast, tucked away in a quiet corner off Shaftesbury High Street. Check out the amazing mural of old Shaftesbury on the wall at the back of the covered terrace. It seems to be a popular meeting spot for locals and the staff are very welcoming to visitors too.

Rating: 5 / 5

A beautiful place,nice food and we bought a whole cake to take home. Excellent view

Rating: 5 / 5

Great food, service and prices. Excellent view too.

Rating: 5 / 5

This place is located at the top of Gold Hill with beautiful views over the valley. It was a beautiful day so we sat on the benches outside to soak in the beautiful views. The staff were friendly and the service was quick. The menu had plenty of of options and the food was really tasty. If you’re a tourist looking for the feel of England, then definitely come here!

Rating: 5 / 5

My wife and I, Visited Shaftesbury on Saturday. To do some shopping and check out Gold Hill (Featured in the Hovis advert from the 70's) when we got to the top of Gold Hill we came apon this lovely restaurant. All the staff were lovely. So lovely my wife and I cried. Xx. We have had a lot going on recently. Jo was very kind. The food was amazing. We went for the tuna ciabatta. Lovely.. And then there's the view. Amazing.. Well worth a visit and popping in for something to eat. Xx. Thank you again xxx yours sincerely Steve and Annie and Luna xx

Rating: 5 / 5

What a surprise. La Fleur de Lys deserves its good reputation. Food was of a very high standard and the service was discreet and professional. The chef came to the table to check all were satisfied and we were. I wasn't expecting such a treat.

Rating: 5 / 5

Our first time at The Fleur De Lys for dinner. From the moment we set foot in this small hotel, all was perfect. We were shown to the bar where we had aperitifs, then to our table . We all had different starters and mains; all were absolutely delicious and beautifully presented! The service and atmosphere was low key yet excellent. This was our first time at The Fleur De Lys and certainly not the last! well done!

Rating: 5 / 5

Lovely traditional setting, attentive staff, delicious food. Would recommend.

Rating: 5 / 5

Perfection on 4 plates! Our second visit to this excellent restaurant. The food, once again was a delight as much for the eyes as for the taste! The 4 of us had different starters and main courses , and each were delicious. The service was perfect, so was the atmosphere. Pleasant environment, staff and owners.

Rating: 5 / 5

Picked the cafe for a meeting point with my family. A great choice. Lovely friendly service straightforward foods and drink. Very pleasant. Recommended as a great meet point for a good breakfast. . .

Rating: 5 / 5

Great cafe, brilliant food and a vast menu, first class clean and freshly made to order. Staff are great.

Rating: 5 / 5

Lovely hot breakfast. Great value. Highly recommended

Rating: 5 / 5

Excellent fry up, just what we needed after our weekend at a festival. Friendly staff.

Rating: 5 / 5

We had a lovely 3 nights in the newly restored Showman's wagon. It was very relaxing, the little wood burner in the living area was great, we didn't use the one in the kitchen as we cooked our food on the fire pit outside or on our own camping stove. Easy access to Shaftesbury for food supplies. It was very quiet and peaceful, just what we needed. We would go again.

Rating: 4 / 5

A lovely, simple, campsite. This campsite is relatively basic but with all you need. Warm showers, nice toilets and a very chilled and trusting feel from the owner Glynn, who's a very personable guy and was extremely helpful and kindly allowed the 6 of us to camp up in the woods as we were looking for a bit more of a nature camp. . We had to chop a bit of long grass, to prepare the area but it was well worth it. It was such a lovely secluded spot and we had a fine time around the camp fire under a beautiful starry sky. We certainly plan to do it again next year! Cheers Glynn

Rating: 5 / 5

Great little place, basics Of camping in a lovely setting, Hot Showers, outdoor fire pit. The owner is a bend over backwards to help kind guy. Nice walks near by. No shop close, but only 4 minutes away & local farms have basics for sale ie milk, eggs, etc. Very friendly place, beautiful setting..

Rating: 5 / 5

Our first time visit to Shaftesbury and the Grosvenor Arms hotel. Very impressed with both – for the same reasons …... relaxed, welcoming and informal. In the hotel specifically it seemed that the staff were always wanting to “go the extra mile” to make sure we felt at home. The furnishings – and the bedrooms – are all comfortable, well chosen and empathetic to the age of the building. The only meals we had were breakfasts – and these were excellent. Our one concern before arrival – its location right in the centre of a potentially-noisy town – was completely unnecessary. We had a room overlooking the street and it was sufficiently quiet for us to have the window open at night. So, thank you Grosvenor Arms – and Shaftesbury! A great visit.

Rating: 5 / 5

Absolutely perfect! There for my wife’s 50th birthday. Fantastic room, fantastic service and fantastic food. Great central location.

Rating: 5 / 5

Lovely scenic spot that's well worth the visit. Very relaxing and pretty. Nice place for family, kids, dogs or just pleasant walk round on your own. Cheerful, friendly and helpful guy in ticket office and pleasant staff in cafe. Thoroughly enjoyed the place. Nice little plant shop, Ice cream shop and gift shop. Easy access loos. Highly recommend if you're in the area.

Rating: 5 / 5

Beautiful place to go for a stroll with much of the area covered by a forest canopy. Lovely little café which was reasonably priced with an amazing outlook onto the lake. Took a pram with my newborn with a fairly accessible route around the Blue Poole. Many of the other trails have steps to access so will use a baby carrier next time.

Rating: 5 / 5

Lovely place for a day out. Walks were clear and easy to stroll. The rope bridge was great fun. The views across the pool are stunning in a number of viewpoints. I guess when the azaleas are flowering it is absolutely beautiful. There's a nice cafe and lovely gift shop. I only wish we had visited before but will be back again before long

Rating: 5 / 5

Everyone in their is friendly and I have come to make a regular of myself there always chatting to the guys behind the counter it's me and girlfriends favourite coffee shop especially this one luckily in our town best customer service best food

Rating: 4 / 5

Lovely place set in a very lovely town steaped in history just across the road is the famous hovisc hill yes the one.from the advert how ever just like all chain branded coffee shops very over priced over 6 quid for 2 coffees is ridiculous But aside from that it is a decent place

Rating: 5 / 5

Came here today, after walking from our campsite at Graston Copse through Burton Bradstock village. A warm welcome by a member of staff & shown to our outside table for 4 with 3 dogs. Our waitress took our drinks order & returned after a few minutes to take our food order. She was very friendly and attentive, giving time for a chat despite being extremely busy. Wait for our food was minimal and when it arrived it was hot, tasty & well presented. Back ground music was pleasant, giving the Mediterranean feeling due to the sunshine. Wouldn't hesitate in returning if we are in the area again .... thank you.

Rating: 5 / 5

Camping at Freshwater holiday park, a 20 minute walk to visit this gem of a place. Busy and bustling restaurant, great menu, food was outstanding and the service was great too. Dog friendly aswell, all in all, will definitely be returning soon.

Rating: 5 / 5

We arrived at 11.20, just in time to order breakfast. We were lucky to get the table on the edge of the 'tent' overlooking the beach. Despite being quite busy we received very efficient service. The food arrived within 15- 20 min, then our hot drinks. We had 3 x full English and egg Benedict on muffin with bacon. Everyone enjoyed it. The only nuisance were a few wasps but not a lot to spoil our experience.

Rating: 5 / 5

This is a well loved beach cafe which has beautiful scenic views, it is very popular and rightly so. The menu is mainly fish and seafood dishes. However, they do a smashing full English breakfast up to 11.30 am. I will post pics. This dog friendly beach cafe has a carpark close by, but if you choose to walk along the cliff top path or the lower paths, you will walk within the most beautiful scenery. This is a totally table service venue, so once you are seated, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the view. Prices are reasonable.