The Ilchester Arms - Carta

Shockingly awful place with rude staff and owners, plus the locals are openly racist and all taking hard drugs. This has been run by the same family for years and it is a local's pub who don't care about their food nor about providing good service, really crass and common people on both sides of the bar.

We were staying in the beautiful Abbotsbury and looked to book for a meal in this place. Despite ringing several times, they didn't answer so we had to walk down the road to make the reservation in person despite it being very quiet when we arrived. The service was a bit hit and miss when we were there later on too but the food was delicious.

We stopped by this restaurant for a quick drink and were disappointed to find only one type of lager, cider, and Guinness available. There was no draught beer on tap and the bars looked rundown and in need of cleaning and decorating. The only positive aspect is that the pub is conveniently located for a walk up the hill to the ancient chapel and offers a great view. Ver carta

Lovely location and the beer garden is nice. But £11.25 for a pint of ale and a medium glass of wine is simply not ok. We were going to stay for a bite to eat and a couple more drinks but based on the price of the drinks we felt this was out of the question. The ale was nice but not local and obscenely priced. The pub was not very busy for a Friday night. I’m not surprised. We certainly won’t be back despite being a regular visitor to Abbotsbury.

We ate at the Ilchester Arms Restaurant two nights running sampling different aspects of the menu each evening. The best parts were the beers and our starters. Overall my assessment of the food was that the menu was substantially under developed tasting like the efforts of a first year catering student not a professional national chain. The cheaper ingredients were in abundance but with no seasoning or sauces or other tasty treats bland and too expensive for what was served up to us.

We waited 45 minutes for our lunch order without any apology. The smoked salmon salad arrived without lemon and the waitress was nowhere to be found. There was no check-in to see if everything was okay. My husband had to go into the kitchen to request a lemon. The salad was very basic, just a mix of bagged leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, and onion. Despite the lackluster meal, we were charged £15.95. The conservatory and bowls were nice, but overall we were not impressed and would not return or recommend this restaurant. Ver carta

four of us went for dinner a few evenings ago and they needed to check whether chef could provide food even though very few were in the pub and it was only 7.30pm! Food and service was very average with vegetables barely cooked. Table was sticky and whole interior needs some love and attention. Very disappointing. Have been living in Dorset for 8 months and regularly visiting country pubs for a bite to eat and this is definitely the worst yet. Wouldn't recommend a visit. There are plenty of better options nearby. Won't be returning.

I only stayed at this restaurant for one night and couldn't wait to leave. It desperately needs the magic touch of Alex Polizzi because guests should not have to endure these conditions. The bathroom was run-down, with moldy shower and tiles, an old towel left by a previous guest in the chest of drawers, a smelly wardrobe, a dirty drain, and someone else's hair stuck to the back of the TV!!! I had to specifically request tea and toast at breakfast, while a staff member casually walked through the breakfast room with a bag of toilet paper. Come on, you can do much better than this!!! This location has the potential to offer quality, clean rooms, and excellent pub food.

Awful… avoid, don’t waste your money! Visited the pub to sit in the pub garden to view the chapel but we’re greeted instead with a poor badly neglected area they called a terrace/garden. Nothing like the photos we saw on TA which were from 2014, obviously under different management who have let it deteriorate to a shocking level of disrepair. The outdoor wooden furniture was rotten, falling apart, nails protruding on benches, an absolute H&S nightmare. Disused equipment, dumpsters, old petrol cans, shopping baskets, rubbish strewn around making it uncomfortable to sit in and to look at. We found a table, rotten with used cigarette butts and to our left a dead mouse, our right a pile of dog m... Ver carta