The Best Restaurants in Ashmore, Dorset, United Kingdom (2025)

I'm from Australia and visited with local friends when passing through this part of England. I believe the restaurant is relatively new but it didn't matter as the service was first right and the food and beverage offerings were really impressive. A wide range of offerings on the menu and you won't be disappointed if you come here after authentic delicious Italian food.

Greeted with a warm welcome, then we were taken to our table. Beautiful decor with a lovely atmosphere. Very spacious inside!! Food portions generous and everyone in my party enjoyed their meal. Lovely waiting staff who were friendly and smiled!! Yes, smiled! Customer service was excellent and overall a lovely dining experience.

Highly recommend a visit here. Wonderful restaurant with a lovely ambiance. Staff are polite, professional and helpful. Food is absolutely gorgeous. Rich opulent flavours that deliver absolute joy on a plate. Fantastic place if you're on your own, having a date or meeting up with a friend or group to celebrate a special occasion. I always check out the toilets in restaurants because it says a lot about the hygiene of the place. I found them to be clean and tidy. I will be visiting again for some truly unforgettable pasta! Thanks team La Vita.

Absolutely gorgeous little local Italian restaurant. The staff are friendly and know how to deliver excellent service. The food was simply divine. This restaurant has luxury tasting food for a good price. I cannot recommend enough, we will definitely be back x

The pub itself is a historic building, beautiful area and fantastic food and drink. Some might say it's expensive, but when you learn where the ingredients come from and the owners care and devotion it's a whole experience. I can't comment on the rooms as I've never used them.

We didn't stay here in accomodation as we stayed about a 5min walk away. The staff we excellent and the food was amazing. Although they run out of white bait as a starter the chef offered a mix of calamari and what white bait was left. Can't fault the food and the staff. As a table of 11 it was amazing and they were hosting a party also. Well done to all staff on Saturday night. Oh if you visit, I would recommend the scotch egg starter, stunning. Well done

We booked a last minute room last night as we were meant to stay at the Royal Oak but they messed up and sold our room to someone else. So we were panicking as we were 4hours away from home at 18:30pm. I found the Langton arms on booking.com and immediately booked it. We had a warm welcome and the staff went above and beyond to make our stay lovely. The food was amazing and the rooms are spacious and comfortable. Thank you to everyone at the Langton arms for making what was stressed and sad night to a one that we will never forget. And we are truly hoping to be back in the future!

Wonderful place to eat. My husband and I visited the area and we must say that we really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. The wonderful staff was helpful and lovely.

We ate here for my wife’s birthday and had a fantastic meal, which included flowers and candles! Heather and Dan are amazing hosts and the food is always top class. With children the early bird menu is ideal and the pub has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Thursday’s steak night is always good too.

We stayed at the Grove Arms for two nights in June of 2024 and have nothing but good things to say about the place. Management was friendly, and bent over backwards to make our stay amazing. Including letting us stash our luggage there well after checkout. Our room was clean, comfortable, and decorated with a canine theme. The food was great, and the breakfast was better than we could have hoped. The dinner menu consists of classic English pub fare, including fish and chips and steak and ale pie. The pub is bright and inviting, and the locals that hang out there made our stay fantastic. If you want information about local walking paths, Phil is your man. His directions got us all the way to Shaftesbury and Gold Hill and back on foot without incident. Thanks to Daren, Andy, Simon and the rest of the local crew for making our time in Ludwell so memorable. We cannot recommend the Grove Arms strongly enough.

Fantastic place to stay x really welcoming and clean x all staff were super friendly and looked after us so well X the new lass behind the bar x Lisa I think she's called X made us laugh so much and Nigel the chef fed us really well X almost too well 😄😄😄😄 but thankyou to you all for making our stay really lovely ❤️❤️❤️

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.

Went in for food at the bar, and we really enjoyed it!!! The food was simple but delicious and we will 100% be going back. The waitress was also very knowledgeable with information regarding what could be eaten by a celiac in our group. It also had an amazing country pub feel that felt so welcoming and cozy x ❤️

What a magical place to spend a few hours on a warm day. Lovely countryside views, plent of outdoor seating including loads of picnic tables alongside the low fence separating you from the active airfield. You really feel like you're right in the middle of the action. Their outdoor catering is unique with a large rustic style outside bar and food hut. The aircraft activity was constant with a variety of aircraft from Spitfire and biplanes to microlights and gyrocopters. I didn't sample the food but it looked good!

Very good venue to see planes flying and close up.reasonable prices for fling in Tiger Moth or Spitfire and Harrvard. Good day out. Everyone friendly plenty car parking. Good food.

Linda genuinely welcomed us with great service and assistance (we were 3 with 3 dogs). Food served by Dan was wanderful. Loved the cocoa silhouette of the ww2 bomber sprinkled on the froth!

Lovely location, staff and food at very reasonable prices. It's also a family-friendly place. It was so nice to be able to get close to the aircraft and talk to pilots.

What a Great Place, to Have Sunday Lunch. With Such a Fabulous View, over the Down’s. While you Eat!!. This place is Certainly, worth a Visit!!.

Stayed with friends at the Hotel for two nights. It was our first visit but on leaving hope it will not be the last! We soon felt very much at home due to the friendly service of the staff. The chef even made me a special Gluten Free Apple Crumble, showing their aim to please. Can highly recommend both the Restaurant and the Hotel

Cosy, local village pub with overnight accommodation. Received a very friendly welcome, overnight rooms were to a high standard. Had a small issue at breakfast, poor chap was rushed off his feet and a few options not available, but would definitely return. Pub food was also very good!

Having decided to spend Christmas away from home, we found the King John Inn which fulfilled our criteria: a comfortable room for four nights, dog friendly, and a good Christmas lunch. Just before we left home we received a welcome call. On arrival, we received a very warm welcome, including a treat for our dog. We were shown to a lovely big room with huge bathroom, which proved to be extremely comfortable - including the supersize bed. Facilities included ground coffee for a cafetière and specialist black tea and a small thermos of fresh milk. Brilliant. We dined in on our first evening. We chose only starters but added truffle and pecorino fries. Delicious. The fries were the best I’ve had anywhere. Next day we joined for breakfast. The most creative menu I’ve seen anywhere. Again, our terrier was greeted with a treat - a tasty cut up sausage. Our room was serviced whilst we were out and on return, we found a lovely big dog bed had been added to our room. On to Christmas Day lunch at the King John which was indistinguishable from a perfectly home-cooked lunch. Impressive. My only niggle was that my Christmas pud was badly burnt and too hard to cut into. I could have asked for another but I’d had consumed more than enough to eat so to complain was unnecessary on a day when all staff were very busy. So, to sum up. A delightful Christmas break in an extremely comfortable Inn with exceptional service. They definitely go above and beyond to ensure their guests have a great experience. A huge thank you to every member of staff we met and those behind the scenes. We can’t wait to return.

A beautiful building in a lovely setting. An extremely warm welcome, the staff were friendly and very helpful: they resolved all our requests. No problem was too difficult for them. The food was delicious and the menu offered an interesting choice. Worth going out of your way to stay here.

Every single member of the team at The Crown Blandford have gone out of their way to accommodate our large family group. The food has been exceptional as are the rooms which are beautiful and spotless. The food at every meal has been amazing. At dinner, every single plate for our large group came out at the same time and was piping hot and delicious. We were well looked after and checked in on regularly. The welcome is warm and friendly and every part of our requests were accommodated including providing an accessible room for a family member needing a lift and a room with support. Reception did a great job of coordinating our group and helping with all of our requests. The bar staff also did really well to help us as we ordered drinks throughout the day. Thank you so much to everyone at The Crown ! We are very grateful and can’t wait to bring our family group back to see you !

A very nice hotel. The rooms had lots of charm with antiques adding to the atmosphere. In particular, the breakfast was lovely and had many things to choose from. The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating.

Me and my husband got married here in April and it was honestly the most perfect day we could have possibly imagined! Laura (best wedding planner ever) went above and beyond to make sure it was perfect, nothing was too much to ask. Would highly recommend to anyone looking for a wedding venue 🤍

My wife and I booked for one night's stay at the Crown Hotel recently, as it looked very nice and the price was more competitive than other hotels within this region. It's a beautifully maintained Georgian building in nice location, offering us easy access to numerous locations we wanted to visit in Dorset. We needed a second night's stay added, which was sorted out very easily and all prices, including our breakfast were clarified at reception. The staff were all pleasantly professional and the food choice was very good and of high quality. The room was clean, with a touch of character in line with age of building and had everything to make our stay comfortable. We were disturbed on second night by another guest's barking dog, although this was brief. Parking space is abundant and easy to access. There's also a very big beer garden outside hotel, which looked a popular feature in the sunny weather. Overall, generally pleased with our stay at the Crown and would recommend to others.

Lovely pub rustic inside lovely setting staff very friendly and the food was lovely Easy to get to.and plenty of parking

Booked a table for Mothering Sunday 19/03/2023. Arrived 10 minutes before reservation, friendly waitress showed us our table. Drinks arrived within a few minutes following by starters and then freshly cooked mains. Meals are very tasty, staff very attentive and helpful. Happy to return here and recommend it! Thank you 🙂

We had a family Xmas dinner and it was absolutely perfect. The staff are fun and attentive, every course was perfect on every meal. Thank you very much for a lovely time and food.