The Ilchester Arms - West Dorset

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.

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 mess.. dead flowers in rotten wooden planters, dead trees, broken umbrellas, no staff clearing up.. so disappointing, what could be a beautiful country pub in an idyllic village has been left to slowly rot away with management who obviously don’t care about the pub or their customers.. absolutely shameful

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.

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.

Friendly staff, clean room and great food, a very enjoyable stay. We had a wonderful stay and would definitely return. The food was so good especially the home made burger with relish to die for!