The Best Restaurants in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, United Kingdom (2025)

Loved the food and the service the vegetarian breakfast is awesome and my friends enjoyed the quiche!

Our office buys bacon sandwiches from here every Friday and they're always sensational! Highly recommend. We initially tried all the local cafes in the area and decided Poets Corner was the best.

Whether your starting or completing a local walk or Cycle or Just visiting the town I can recommend The Poets cafe as a great cafe for Tea, Coffee or good english Breakfast. The cafe is named for its proximity to the former homes of Thomas Hardy and William Barnes among others and its current poet in Residence David Caddy. You will be hosted by Yasser who has owned the cafe for many years and is happy to answer any questions about touring or visiting the area. Ask him about the local wines... Well worth a visit,

Been going there for years like gap when they all had a heart attack but he's back now and on the good days you can get the baklava with an Espresso and things are good friendly atmosphere and lots of Regular customers

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! 😁

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.

We stopped in to while visiting from out of town. We spent a pleasant evening in the outdoor space in the back. We were there on Tuesday so no food was available. The bartender was very friendly. I had a beer and a gin and tonic. The gin and tonic was very nicely made. We enjoyed our time here.

During these Covid times, this has been very worrying for a shielder, but this pub has done everything great, we were sat outside under a marquee and I thought I’d be cold, but a gas heater was out by us, which was very warm and lovely, we had a drink and food, which all was delicious, it was so nice and warm, I was able to take my chunky cardigan off, due to being nice and toastie. The service was great, very polite and friendly, there is an outside bar and the beers were on tap, they do Earl Grey Tea, which I don’t like, so I had water, the good was presented well and was really nice, the atmosphere was great to, not many people and we all had our own table, I was able to be calm and not worry at all. It’s definitely a nice pub and the dogs made it for me, being a dog lover, very friendly and enjoyed a good cuddle.

Great place 😀 really enjoyed it and the food was excellent 👌 and the cocktails were just outstanding:D a must place to go :) 10/10 Also a dog friendly place :)

Brilliant pub with a great range of drinks, unfortunately on our last visit there was not enough staff behind the bar and possibly due to this they could not switch lighting on outside. As a group of 6 there was nowhere to sit inside which meant we didn't stay as long as we had planned. We look forward to visiting again in the future as the atmosphere is the best in town.

Amazing food!! very reasonably priced, very polite and attentive staff, would highly recommend to anyone! :) I Don't understand any of the negative reviews on here at all...there a load of rubbish because the food is top notch 👌

My new go to curry house. Long may you continue with your great service and tasty food. The one in Stur is awful, since they changed hands.

We recently stayed in Stalbridge in a great Air Bnb and decided to have a takeaway from Saffron.What a great decision.The food was definitely one of the best Indian takeaways we have eaten for a long time.The food was excellent,perfectly cooked & Hot.It was accompanied by a generous,Fresh & Crisp Salad.Sadly not something you would usually get from an Indian Takeaway.Highly recommended and would definitely order again when we are next in the area.Do not be put off by the negative reviews or the appearance of the outside of the building.

Just had the best curry of my life..... the freshest of ingredients full of flavour and the Garlic naan was out of this world. The service was fast and friendly and very very reasonably priced.... would recommend this restaurant to everyone and can't wait to visit again very soon. Thank you very much.

Beautiful location. Staff were efficient friendly and helpful. Rooms were great everything worked as it should. The building is quite old so if your looking for chic this isn't it. The rooms were comfortable and warm with quality mattress and bed linen. Foid here was good and the service was great. Everyone was friendly. The area is pretty. The Swan is somewhere I would definitely go to again

Lovely room with very comfy bed. We were in the area for a wedding and the staff were very helpful in organising transport to/from the venue for us, thank you!

Came for a Sunday roast and it was amazing! Food beautifully prepared and the waitress was very pleasant and attentive. Will be returning and look forward to trying the nut roast next time 😊

After many days drinking and not eating. A feed was needed... Im an out of towner i was a hit an miss situation.... It all ended well... The mixed doner was excellent fresh salardo and tasty accompanying sauses. The chicken sandwich was tasty The cheese and chips was cheesy The doner pizza ticked all my box's The establishment was clean and with friendly staff with smiles I ordered more than my belly could handle and im reheating some now An thanks for the free gralic bread gentleman I will visit again when passing.

Ordered online total £17.50 delivery person charged me £18. Chips could have been better, a little limp. Ordered garlic sauce, none delivered. Overall not too bad but could have been better for sure

Absolutely loved it sauces in all meals where amazing portion size were great will definitely be returning 100% recommended

Ordered a large selection from the menu and we all thoroughly enjoyed the dishes. Friendly staff who packed our takeaway into a cardboard box and added free prawn crackers and coke. We found all the dishes delicious.

Food is always good from here, always ready at our chosen time. Perfect 👌

Best fish and chips we've had in a long time. Fish was very tasty and cooked to perfection. Chips well cooked and crispy. Whole meal piping hot!

Excellent fish (cooked to order), not greasy at all and portion sizes are so large myself and my wife shared one order of large cod and medium chips so also made it very cost effective

Called here today with my family from all over UK,food was good,, service was relaxed, and place was sublime...a true pub. If you want a relaxing drink and food.

An adorable pub in the heart of the beautiful Dorset countryside. Lovely host, fabulous food, great local beer.

This is a classic country pub. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are available. As a Hall and Woodhouse owned pub, the real ales are great and served in good condition. The staff are just wonderful and make the visit that all more special. The venue is cosy in the winter with numerous fire places to keep you warm.

We sat outside in the garden on Sunday.I ate the Tavern stack which was all home made ,absolutely Delicious. My wife had Home made Vegetable Lasagne which was also Terrific .For pudding I had a piece of Tiffen with cream which was also to die for.All of which was expertly cooked and reasonably priced.The Service is incredible at all times even though they were short staffed at the time. We had no long waiting time as I expected because of the short staff problem.The Bull Tavern is a Family Run pub and other larger concerns could learn a lot from them.Welk Done Bull Tavern .The very next day we tried 1 of their charcuterie boards ,very very good.Also fantastic value for money