The Best Cafes in West Compton, Dorset, United Kingdom (2025)

Found by chance when perusing the menu of a more expensive establishment. Inside was too busy for nine of us but in the small yet quaint courtyard we managed to shuffle a few tables together to accommodate our needs. The food was delicious and reasonably priced... the pot of tea was enormous and required a strong arm to lift and pour! The staff were very friendly especially one gentleman in particular who instigated much banter. Would definitely visit again... highly recommended.

excellent venue , clean and well presented . i always check the toilet , spotless. the food is great and the atmosphere is fantastic. we have booked for christmas . thank you for going out your ti help us mike. see you all soon

Just had another fabulous breakfast with my husband. Salmon and scrambled eggs were superb! Staff friendly and welcoming as always, making a point of chatting to every customer...... even the teenage lad serving today. We'll definitely visit again. If you're ever in the vicinity you must give them a try.... but be prepared to wait for a table.

On a recent trip to Bridport we were introduced to the Green Yard. Great coffee, fabulous food (generous portions) and wonderful friendly service. We went back 3 times! Highly recommended!

A lovely lunch, luckily we found this one for lunch, only looked for it as I noticed the Sign a bit further down the road. Really good food. It was lovely and quiet for us, but I guess on a busy day would be just as nice as the food is good so this is what matters. Thank you so much. We were passing through Dorchester a few days ago and will certainly visit again.

Had the best Greek salad outside of Greece and my husband had the best Dorset Ploughman's lunch. Really delicious and well-presented food in a small, friendly café. Generous portion sizes too. You can't see the huge chunk of cheddar in the pic as it was behind the huge hunk of wholemeal bread! Highly recommended.

A fantastic cafe, serving delicious, well priced food. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed sandwiches, soup of the day, and the crab bisque, followed by treacle and ginger tart and Bakewell tart. All of this was homemade and the portions were excellent. This cafe is not to be missed!

Lovely little place. Actually more space in there than you might think. Very nice & friendly staff. Didn't have to wait too long for service & food. Very tasty meals, & excellent sized portions at a very reasonable price. Will certainly visit them again next time I'm in Dorchester.

Not the cheapest venue for morning tea, a snack or meal, but a very pleasant spot with delicious food and friendly service.

We had a pleasant meal here, on a lovely day outside. The soufflé was delicious, although we would've preferred homemade chips. Minor thing really. Would recommend stopping.

Ok, it's great tasting food for sure, but can get a bit noisy when busy due to the wooden decorated design inside. But it gets busy because it's good. Always best to book. Cater for parties.

Fantastic Saturday lunch in Dorset. Excellent food ( Goats cheese soufflé and beef with horseradish mash ) good red wine and a divine panacotta with hand made turkish delight... bookings a must, very recommended.

Excellent food and service and the owner went above and beyond. Soulshine was recommended to us for a great place to have lunch. They had a great selection on the menu but at the time, I was unable to eat any carbs or sugar(nightmare customer, I know) due to a current health problem. The owner who was also serving us, recommended the salad but I was tempted by the meatballs, which unfortunately came with potatoes. So I opted for the salad as suggested. All of a sudden the owner came back to our table and said "would you like me to add a couple of meatballs to your salad" to which I was over the moon. The food came out promptly and it was delicious!! He didn't have to do that for me so it was very kind of him to go out of his way and to accommodate me. My mum and her partner had marmalade on sourdough which they said was very nice too and the coffees were excellent. Next time we are back in Bridport, we will definitely be back. Highly recommended for a chilled out atmosphere and rustic homemade style food. Thank you.

The most wonderful of places, discovered by chance as we travelled through Dorset. Desperate for a decent cup of coffee, we were not disappointed. One of the best I've had in a long time, clearly made with love by a talented barista. So good we stayed for lunch, and, again we're blown away with the quality of the food and the attentive team. We will be back, it's too good to pass by! Absolute gem of an eatery in a sea of mediocrity. Thanks for making our long journey special, with some joyous memories of Bridport!

I'd earmarked this place for our visit to Bridport and on the day we went it was tipping it down with rain and it was packed. There was a queuing system for lunch tables, so we waited in line and watched with interested as the chefs plated up in the open kitchen. Service was efficient, friendly, and the menu is full of interesting options, plus loads for vegans (which we both are). We opted for the split pea hummus, soup, and chocolate & hazelnut buckwheat slice. All were absolutely divine. There is a little shop at the front selling coffee beans, cakes, jarred bits etc. Wish this place was closer to where we lived, I'd be in there all the time.

Excellent brunch! We stopped by on a long drive from Cornwall to Brighton for brunch and loved this cafe. A great space with more room at the back so bigger than you initially think. Good coffee and great brunch options - plenty of vegetarian ones too. Service was very friendly. A super convenient stopping point too as only 3 mins off of the A road and with a car park just across the road.

Absolutely adorable little cafe with the sweetest service, great prices and really yummy food! Forgot to take a picture of my BLT but my partner had mushrooms, eggs and avocado on toast and we both loved every bite! Will definitely be back :)

Great place for breakfast, reasonable prices and really good quality ingredients. The service was really friendly too so had a great time.

Friendly accommodating staff were good about my girlfriend's allergies and swapping ingredients round. The food was also good and tasty. Only gripe was the full breakfast coming with only one slice of toast which wasn't anywhere near enough to soak up all the breakfast goodies - surely 2 slices a minimum! Offering breakfast with a hot drink like some places do would have definitely got 5 stars. Would go again.

This is easily becoming my favourite cafe in Weymouth. The location is great, just moments from the harbour side in the bustling brewers quay area. They have a sizeable outside seating area for those dry days and a cosy dining area inside. The staff are wonderfully accommodating and lovely with our children, they are always offered colouring books and numerous high chairs are available. Now the food...it is lovely. It is all vegetarian or vegan, but even as a meat lover I always find something to eat. A personal favourite is the poutine, fries with melted cheese covered in the most delicious mushroom gravy - it is gorgeous! The extensive waffle menu is a firm hit with all ages, with choices to suit all. From waffles doused in chocolate to lovely fruit toppings. If you are in the area, I would wholeheartedly suggest you pop by for lunch.

Hoestly GOATED experience. Best cafe in dorch fr fr. service was lovely and the person I was with had the special which I believe if I recall was the mushroom and butter bean burger and they LOVED IT. 11/10!!!

What a wonderful little cafe. Lovely, polite and attentive staff, superb food, great atmosphere and dog friendly. Would highly recommend.

Incredible in every way. The building is stunning, the cafe staff are a delight from the welcome through to service and the food is second to none in Sherborne. The cocktail nights are also really fun, I can't recommend this venue enough.

Delightful food and lovely atmosphere in this lovely old building. The Harissa chickpea salad bowl was tasty and well presented.

What an interesting find. Antiques and other items displayed without the creepy feeling you get in some antique marts. The cafe is a real treasure - situate in this lovely old building. Good coffee, cakes and friendly, efficient service.

Such a lovely breakfast. Cooked how I requested my eggs. Great flat white. Friendly and efficient service. Chilled atmosphere, decor plain but nothing fancy needed. Great value for money. Thank you

Had a delicious lunch sitting outside with friends... super attentive and charming team, good choice, easy going atmosphere and good coffee (smooth not citrus). Checked out the others nearby, except the usual high street brands and this is a great spot, location and so chose it. Recommended.

The Fontana café (Kafe ☺️) has a lovely atmosphere perfectly good food and great service. It's both good enough to make it worthwhile visiting from out of town and obviously a hit with the regular local people as well. Whenever you pass here you can tell it's popular because it's always busy and lively with a great atmosphere. A friend of mine and I are returning again very soon.

Nice little cafe serving excellent food and very friendly staff. The tables are very close to each other, so be mindful of that. Food was served quickly, and it appears to be a local favourite.

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

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.

We came here for a lunch and the food was lovely. We ordered two double charcuterie and cheese boards, and these came with a decent amount of food on them. A special mention to the butternut squash and miso soup, it was delicious. Dogs are welcome as long as they stay in the restaurant. The service was a bit slow and our order was messed up but corrected by staff. The atmosphere was nice under the marque and it was warm. There were plates left out on numerous tables, and the staff rushed around and appeared a bit over worked!

Great food, service and prices. Excellent view too.

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

My recent visit to Shaftesbury was partly inspired by the Bill Hicks routine from his album “Arizona Bay,” specifically the track “Hooligans,” so I kept repeating in my head as I walked around: “No one knows what it’s like, to be a dustbin, in Shaftesbury with Hooligans.” I was not aware before I arrived that Ridley Scott, the director of some of my favourite films, had directed a bread ad in Shaftesbury in 1973. I learned that while observing the hill used in the ad, and turned to see a cafe called “The Salt Cellar”, it not only offers an amazing view but also delicious food that enhances the scenic beauty, and allows it to be even more enjoyable. I went with family, so had the pleasure of trying a few of their homemade pies, the risotto, and a sandwich. Each dish was a delight, with the pies standing out due to their fantastic pastry, the risotto being perfectly cooked, and the sandwich was excellent. The side salads with the pies, which seemed unusual at first, turned out to be a delicious surprise combo. The range of food and drink options looks extensive and impressive, it was refreshing to find a place with a stunning view that doesn’t rely solely on the scenery to attract customers—the food here is genuinely worth the visit. The service provided by a young gentleman was great, he had a lovely manner, and our food arrived quickly. The excellent service and food was also great because the bill didn’t sting at the end, The Salt Cellar is great value for money. The view alone is worth the look, but I highly recommend making The Salt Cellar your lunch destination if you’re visiting Shaftesbury.

Good food (pie) and a perfect view down the famous hill from our table. Service took quite some time but it was a full restaurant so it wasn't any surprise. 🤗