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

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

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

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.

I attended both days of the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show. They couldn't control the weather but everything else was good, especially the livestock, traction engines and camel-racing.

We went to the Gillingham and Shaftesbury show, which was a nice day out with plenty to see and do, it is nice to be able to take our dog as not all shows allow it

A fantastic showground where events can be held. Could do with more toilets and showers based on the size of the fields but in my case, being a small event, this site is perfect! Would like to work with Turnpike to make it work better but we shall see 👍

Show well done in the circumstances. Pre booking on line restricted crowds but still plenty of people. Spread over 2 days. Lots to see although limited in some livestock classes

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.

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 ❤️❤️❤️

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.

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 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 ♥️

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.

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 liked the food. Service was okay. Vibes were good. Just one hiccup - we reserved a table for dinner way in advance and were cramped in a small corner while the next table had a bigger group (around 7 persons seated at a 4-person table) just having drinks. Not surprisingly, they were pretty loud in conversing. We were not comfortable with this setting and after a short while, requested to switch to another table. The staff was courteous and helped us look into that. Fortunately there was one spare and more spacious table available in another section of the pub and we were able to better enjoy our dinner eventually. I wish they could be more thoughtful when they were assigning table for guests.

Wednesday night is burger night! I haven’t been to the brewers in ages, but certainly was not disappointed. 2x Quality burgers and chips for the ridiculous price of £18. Lovely burger and the chips were great. Friendly staff, good service, decent real ale, we will definitely be back.

We had a wonderful meal here last night! The pie night was a hit, gluten free Brie and cranberry was one of the best pieces of food I’ve tasted! Really cosy atmosphere and all round great pub! The steak and Guinness was also great! Lovely and friendly staff. Clearly marked gluten free food so felt safe to eat here.

Had lunch here whilst visiting the famous Gold Hill. Had a lovely lunch with large portions. The condiments were in huge portions too although we didn't partake. The ploughman's was especially large and extremely good value. Apparently the beer selection was good too. I stuck to cider which was standard keg stuff.

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.

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 🙂