The Best Restaurants in Compton Abbas, Dorset, United Kingdom (2025)

Stayed in Marnhul for a midweek break, this the local pub. A great social hub. Locals friendly and welcoming. Landlord and staff were great. A special thanks to Mark for looking after us and the dog. It's not very often you get a really good and varied menu nowadays in a pub. This was both. We ate every night and the quality was outstanding. We had a great time.Thanks very much

Had a meal for 2 here. The food was lovely and there were good gluten free options, including calamari. I also had the cheeseboard without crackers and it was huge and delicious.

Recommended by some friends who live locally. Extensive menu, although it was pizza night so we chose off that menu. Very tasty, and the side portions (chips, onion rings, garlic bread) were HUGE! Great selection of drinks as well. Does seem to be busy, so may be an idea to book ahead. Planning a return visit for a Sunday Roast! 😁

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!

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.

Great food and staff. Toilets available. Seating in or out. Wheel chair access made at home. Rainbow 🌈 cake a must . Cheese scone and chutney divine xx

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!!.

Third time we've stayed on route from Suffolk to Cornwall. Lovely location. Dog friendly. Excellent service. Super rooms... very comfortable. Wonderful service and great breakfast.

We had a family Sunday roast here the weekend before last. The staff were perfect! Attentive but not too much, the food was lovely by far the best roast we have had put in a long time and we eat out most Sundays.

We had a wonderful day for our wedding and reception in September 2023. The venue, marquee, staff, food and service were amazing, they couldn't do enough for us. So many of our guests have commented on the lovely location and marvellous food. Thank you all for such a special day with a loud shout out for Michael who was brilliant!! We would not hesitate to recommend heart ♥️

Had Sunday lunch with two girlfriends. Superb Sunday roast with tasteful food, cooked and presented to a high standard. Excellent portions. Wonderful, freshly baked dessert. Highly recommended. Friendly and welcoming staff.

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.

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

We didn't eat today so can't rate the food. Richie Beer excellent. The coffee from the outside cabin, pretty awful, we poured ours away. McDonalds coffee better... hopefully the coffee in the main restaurant was properly prepared and significantly better. Great day for Spitfire action.

I went with a large group who arrived at varying times so service was difficult to judge. However, the young lady who took our orders was charming, good humoured and helpful. Food was excellent, only choice for veggie or vegan was jackfruit. The meat, pork or beef was excellent, as was the Ritchie beer,but as that remains a personal choice you'll have to try it to see. Yes I will go again.

Popular breakfast spot. Unfortunately the service is haphazard and range of options extremely limited. My friend ordered a bacon and sausage roll and was served a bacon and egg roll. He sent it back and was then served a sausage and egg roll. In frustration he ate it because we were short of time.

Lovely little place for plane spotting. We went while it was quite overcast, but the clouds cleared and off went the spitfire! Food was absolutely delicious and the staff were lovely. They allowed us to shelter inside on our table for 45 minutes before our booking was due to start. Will be visiting again when the weather is a little warmer to enjoy a crispy pint while watching the planes!

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

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.

Led a motorcycle group ride from Solent area to Somerset / Dorset, with a Sunday lunch stop at the Half Moon, Shaftesbury. 11 of us for lunch and we'd booked ahead so we had tables put together ready for us. Arriving about 1pm, the place was busy. We were fortunate to be served by a lovely young lady, Alyssa. Excellent customer service. She was charming - with an Essex-meets-Somerset type of accent - and confident; and nothing seemed to phase her, not even the items that weren't available on the menu or the pace of the kitchen. Clearly best to go for the carvery, but not everyone who has an evening meal planned wants that at lunchtime.