The Poet Laureate — Restaurant in England

Visited with family for Sunday lunch. One guest required Gluten free , another poultry free...both extremely well looked after with menu advice and one off portions of suitable gravy provided for them. The waiters were very welcoming and helpful, & chef Simon was happy to answer questions about the food & offer helpful tips re gf menu choices (and how to cook roast beef and pork at home to achieve something approaching their own delicious standards!). I can highly recommend the carvery where roast beef, pork&crackling or turkey breast basted with bacon strips were generously carved to your liking and which were soft, and full of flavour. I particularly enjoyed the roast beef.. slow cooked to be pinkudh and tender (not bloody & chewy like do many). There was a good range of vegetables,roast parsnips & roast potatoes, stuffing balls and Yorkshire puddings & condiments which were then self served. Sadly no gf version of the latter two were available,( torture -as they both looked really great and I was told they tasted as delicious !). However, apparently with advance warning / request a gf cauliflower cheese portion can be made. This was another delicious looking option I had to avoid but that other guests very much enjoyed... (but that dish could easily be made in a naturally gf version if chef swapped from using wheat flour as a sauce thickener to using equally effective cornflour instead & I do hope my suggestion they could try that might be taken on board). The menu choices also looked good with other guests recommending the vegetarian pasta arrabiata dish and the steak & chips. The steak was much enjoyed by the guest and was of a good enough size given the price charged..not always the case elsewhere. However, the 'rare to medium rare' cooking request was actually nearer to 'medium' when the steak was presented..but this is always difficult to judge and the steak was lean and succulent so that was not a problem to the diner concerned. The food was all very well presented and of generous portions. We didn't order starters or deserts but the menu showed a good range of delicious options. One guest gave good reports if the conveniences. The restaurant has a pleasant atmosphere in a lovely square in Poundbury. Parking beside the restaurant wasn't a...

We turned up, a group of four, in the middle of an icy hailstorm in late April, and were immediately met with a warm welcome and a warm atmosphere at the Poet Laureate. What a pub. The food was exquisite, the drink was excellent, and the service was professional and attentive yet friendly and personal. After we had eaten we were surprised, yet delighted, to be asked by the waitress what one of our party had thought of the haddock, as it was a new item on the menu and the first night it had been served, and the chef wanted our honest feedback. Very brave to so publicly ask such a question, but shows how much they want everything to be right. And it was. In spades! A good variety on the menu, with some pub classics (albeit done with a twist, a little bit better) mixed in with some more original dishes. After three courses, and many drinks, it was a pleasure to pay the bill that was extremely good value for the wonderful evening that we had...

Went to this place 2 years ago, was very good, sadly today we went back, under new management, and extremely disappointed, we ordered a fish finger sandwich, prawn cocktail sandwich, and a children’s sausage, mash and peas. The sandwich of prawns, the bread was dry, the prawns lacked the sauce or any flavour, and only half the sandwich had prawns, sausage mash and peas, was mediocre, the only good thing was the fish finger sandwich. The pub lacked any atmosphere, and food came out very slowly, looked like only one in the kitchen, and one in the bar. Never saw the chef with his whites on, not a good look. However I have given 3 stars as the fish finger sandwich, was very tasty and my partner...