West Dorset
Bramble Cafe Deli

Bramble Cafe Deli

17 Buttermarket, West Dorset, United Kingdom

Cafe • British • Breakfast • Vegetarian


"Two weeks ago I had a very disappointing evening at the Bramble Cafe on a Make your own gin' experience. I did not want to publicly review this without giving time for Mat Follas Masterchef winner a chance to give an explanation so I...wrote an email to him. After hearing nothing for a week I telephoned to check if my email had been received. Mat answered the phone and very brusquely said he didn't know if my email had been received and without asking for my name said he would check and put the phone down on me. I can only surmise from his manner that my email had arrived but had not been well received. I allowed another week for a response but unsurprisingly have not received a reply. I would not recommend either the gin experience' or the food. It was terrible value for money and the total lack of customer care is lamentable. I find it very hard to believe the food we were served was cooked by a winner of Masterchef, he would struggle to win Come Dine With Me with this menu. My email to Mat is below: Dear Mat I attended the ‘make your own gin’ evening on August with great expectations as I thought it was a great idea. I had also heard good things about you from friends who had been foraging with you. Two of us attended the course with a view to returning on another date as a party of six as a birthday celebration for a friend. Having had a less than great experience I thought I would let you know and would be grateful if you could give me your views on the evening. The experience was meant to be demonstration based but with participants taking home a drink they had made themselves. It also promised a course mouth-watering meal. I didn’t in fact get to make any gin myself. However you gave a very interesting and informative talk about gin and I learned some things I didn’t already know. The food was not mouth-watering and certainly not what I would have expected from a chef of your calibre. I didn’t expect large portions but I did expect exciting flavours and finishing touches. Instead I received a series of dishes which I could easily have cooked at home. It started off well, the smoky tomato soup was lovely and the chilli gin complemented it well. The macaroni cheese was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary and seemed at odds with the bramble gin and Prosecco that was served with it. After that things went downhill. A single tiny chicken wing on a plate does not constitute a course of a meal. There was nothing served with it, no garnish, sauce or anything. It was certainly not a dish I would expect from a chef with your skills. The mussel ramen was the real lowlight of the meal. I have eaten ramen many times but never one quite like yours. The ramen I have had before comprised of noodles in a broth. The dish I was served on Friday was mussels in a dark brown liquid which looked and smelled unappealing. I ate the mussels because I was hungry but they were lukewarm and didn’t taste like fresh mussels. I had a taste of the liquid but I couldn’t eat it. It didn’t seem as though there were many clean plates going back to the kitchen so I don’t think I was the only one who found this unappetising. The pork was as disappointing as the chicken. Again it was served without any vegetables or jus, it was dry and the crackling was extremely salty. Again I ate it because I was hungry. The drinks service slowed down over the evening which didn’t help matters. The desserts were pleasant enough but a sharing platter usually consists of enough food for the number of guests and the portion served was only sufficient for one person. Similarly we had been promised bramble liqueur and limoncello for the end of the meal but a tiny amount of each between two people is not acceptable. I would be interested to know if this is your normal standard or if things went awry on Friday. Perhaps coming straight from a festival, cooking for other guests in the restaurant and also for the people upstairs meant your time and skills were compromised? I certainly felt cheated on the food front knowing that whilst I was eating tiny portions of uninspiring food you had cooked Beef Wellington for the people upstairs and the guests in the restaurant who weren’t on the gin course were being served generous portions of superior food. The evening felt very unplanned. From the information I was given regarding drivers being able to join at a later time I was led to believe the evening would start with some gin making by the course attendees. I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to make gin myself. Whilst you are a very nice man and i enjoyed listening to you, watching you put a few ingredients in a bottle for us to take home and eating a below average meal does not justify the high cost of the evening. I look forward to hearing from you."

The Pymore Inn

The Pymore Inn

Pymore, West Dorset, United Kingdom

Steak • Pizza • Pasta • Cheese


"As locals who haven't dined at this pub in years, we decided to book a table for 9 to celebrate my nan's birthday, based on positive reviews we'd seen on Facebook. Unfortunately, our experience fell short of expectations. Upon arrival, we waited a considerable amount of time for our drinks to be taken, and there weren't enough menus for everyone. Although several specials were out of stock, we understood that this time of year can be busy. When the waitress took our order, my nan (who is very elderly) chose ham, egg, and chips. Shortly after, we were informed that the pork apricot was unavailable, so we changed the order to fish. We waited quite a while for our food, and when it arrived, my nan's meal was missing, along with a portion of potatoes and a side salad. Despite waiting, we had to start eating, as my nan's food took so long to arrive that we were nearly finished with our meals by the time it did. The manager assured us her meal would be removed from the bill. However, the salad and potatoes were still missing, and when they finally came, we had already finished eating. The manager promised to remove the potatoes from the bill as well. Throughout the entire meal, we were not asked if we wanted any additional drinks or water, which was disappointing. The burgers, priced at £18, were mediocre and looked like they came from a burger van. The chicken Kiev, though tasty, was just a chicken breast on a salad, with no fries, additional potatoes, or vegetables, which felt so overpriced. After we finished, the gentleman offered my nan a free pudding and provided two brownies for the table to share. Unfortunately, the brownies were dry, and the accompanying ice cream was melted. My nan’s Eton mess was topped with what appeared to be watercress, which turned out to be fruit leaves, but their peppery taste overwhelmed the dessert. The bill totaled nearly £200 for two pizzas, three burgers, fish and chips, chicken breast on salad, and two pizzas shared by two couples. My gin and lemonade cost £9.50, which felt excessive. While we appreciated the gestures of removing my nan's meal and offering the three desserts, the overall experience was very disappointing, and we will not be returning. The evening was such a shame we were so looking forward to finally coming to this pub and for such a special occasion it was such a let down. I would recommend Rise in Westbay to other people thinking of dining here, although the same in price the quality is night and day compared to our experience tonight."

Nando's

Nando's

2 Dray Horse Yard, DT1 1GT, West Dorset, United Kingdom

Yogurt • European • Portuguese • Accepts American Express


"Visited Dorchester Nando’s on 25/08/21 at 12:25 We were ignored upon arrival despite only two tables with guest inside and staff standing in front of us chatting and giggling. After sitting down we were told that we have to order and pay through the app and the new policy that Nando’s has in place. We asked if we could pay by card as my phone had a very low battery. We were answered with another question why we don’t want to order and pay through the app. She seemed and indicated that she wasn’t very happy that we wanted to pay with card. Her body language was very unprofessional which made us feel a bit uncomfortable. I told her that we will think about it but as soon as she left, my 7 years old daughter insisted that it felt as if we weren’t welcomed in this specific branch on this occasion and she ask if we could just go and find another restaurant to eat of which we thought it was a very good idea so we left without eating and very unhappy. This was meant to be a double birthday celebration as both me and my wife celebrate our birthday together and it turned out to be one of the worse visits we’ve ever encounter in Nando’s. Being turned away because we couldn’t pay on app even though when we had a card.Ps we sent a feedback to Nando’s as to why they implemented only one payment method despite having guest of all ages, no response was received at all. How can a big company like Nando’s not thought of payment method instead just put for their customers? Something that Nando’s as a company should think off"