The Parlour Café & Restaurant | Italian Pizzeria | Italian food | Sunday Roasts | Bar & Grill — Restaurant in England

Superb location on a farm deep in the bucoliic Bride Valley. The owners have done a good job on the design of the restaurant (and there is a good terrace area) - very comfortable, relaxed, welcoming friendly atmosphere with good service however some improvements could be made to the food.

£15 for a sunday roast (price has increased from £12) - which is at the top end of what you might expect for a sunday roast. Thought the greens were slightly undercooked and roast potatoes over-cooked. I've also had much better pork belly before - this was quite average. I also thought that the food took slightly too long to arrive - 30 minutes - as it was a sunday roast and the most of the components of the roast more or less ready to serve. Beef wasn't on the menu the weekend I visited which I thought perhaps a little odd considering the number of local farms in the area that specialise in high quality beef.

The wine I had was good quality - and by the glass I think there were at least a couple of choices. Didn't see what choices there were by the bottle but again i expect a good quality choice - at reasonable prices.

Also bear in mind that there is a 10% service charge automatically added to your bill.

In regards to the design of the dining room - (Italian inspired/influenced?) which i've said was quite comfortable, I think they could improve some of the 'props' used and/or interior decoration - sure keep it simple but for example, the Pompeian prints - are a good choice but it's a shame that they are so faded. That is not what these paintings really look like and hardly likely to impress anyone nor really catch somebody's eye, nor do they really add anything to the space. For the amount of money invested in this design of this venue I would expect perhaps a little more effort and outlay spent on things like this rather than a few quid spent at a local charity store. £20-30 would get you a high quailty print. Same goes for some of the patterned ceramic tiling used - although it's a good idea - they look a little worse for wear and again more thought (and money) could have been spent on this, especially for a dining venue such as this.

Also, just to bear in mind for those who have hearing issues, due to the high ceiling, the acoustics are really bad and if the dining room is full, there will be lot of noise bouncing around and it could create some problems being able to hear easily what's being said with your fellow diners. I was sat in the centre of the room, so perhaps it's worse here than next to the windows. The point is, if you do suffer from hearing issues and you're on a table fo 4 or 6, this kind of thing can really spoil your dining experience. The Duchess of Cornwall in Poundbury suffers from the same problem (if you're sat downstairs).

These criticisms aside, I would still be interested in returning and recommending - and trying their al carte menu and will expect their Italian dishes to be of a high standard exceeding anything that anything that the so-called 'italian' chain restaurants can come up with. Very impressed with their Pizza oven and will be interested to try one - again for £14 a pizza, I expect something top quality/high quality ingredients and authentically neopolitan. So far the only authentic neopolitan pizza I've had in Dorset is from Basilico...

Honestly, after seeing the stars you might be wondering why this review for the main stars is so low, and this is due to the horrific service we received upon our visit. We were first sat down, and everything was perfectly okay, the service was fine, and we got our drinks within 5 minutes of sitting down. After having collected our order, we waited a further 10-15 minutes on getting them, until being approached by the same waitress saying she was unsure how to make the respirated drink on the menu. She was very kind and genuine, and so there was no issue with this whatsoever. We were forced to wait a considerate amount of time before our dinner order was even taken in, taling around 15-20 minutes after having ordered drinks. After the order was taken, we waited a further extremely long wait for our food, while having had to order a 2nd and a half round of drinks for everyone, once the food arrived, one item was incorrect, and there was no apology for the pure length it took and no reasoning after. Everything was fine, the food was not bad, average, maybe slightly over, however nothing special. This was okay until we saw WHY our order, our drinks, everything had taken so long!

The waiter (young M) was consistently making out with another waitress in the kitchen (which was visible from our seat) constantly back and forth, taking hours to get anything done. This was the reason it was taking so long. We continued to eat and finish our moderately average meals, before after still being thirsty and hungry and ordering a desert(single desert) and other warmer sweeter drinks. When this had arrived (which was normal/decent timing), we noticed there was ANOTHER thing wrong, and we didn’t have the right amount of drinks, one too little. Our experience at the Parlor was anything but luxury, and during our time there we felt like we were not being valued as customers, and more as just people who were being exploited for their money. We had no feeling of priority or value, and it just felt like unlike most other places where customers are out before anything, we...

We booked for a Sunday lunch. We had booked the only slot we could get - 12.30 - and turned up early so we weren’t rushed as we’d been told several times that we only had a 1.5 hour sitting. Kids enjoyed saying hi to a couple of friendly bulls in the yard before we made our way to the restaurant. Alarm bells started ringing when the guy who welcomed us looked harassed even before service had started! Only roasts on a Sunday he reminded us (and some stew I recall - menus hasn’t printed so waitress read them from a clipboard). The roast was bad. Pork so fatty I probably only got a couple of mouthfuls of actual meat, watery tasteless gravy, rubbery potatoes. Green veg was a highlight but...it’s green veg. Daughters had kids’ roasts - one got breast, the other a sorry looking drumstick. They were happy with the chicken but left the rest. Just very little to commend this meal - it’s a really shame as I left feel thoroughly ripped off - 80 quid for a family of four with no booze or puds. We skipped off as fast as we could to enjoy an ice cream elsewhere. This place could be so good if the food was top drawer but even the decor is half-arsed shabby (minus the chic). Gutted! Had high hopes when we pulled up. Maybe they should stick to pizza or at least offer it on Sundays if they can’t cook roasts. Maybe they should skip the roasts altogether but I guess it’s a high margin crowd pleaser. To be fair to the staff, they asked if we had enjoyed the meal and were very apologetic when I said we hadn’t - so fair play to them for taking it...