Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Gloucester
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Gloucester restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 18 restaurants in Gloucester and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Gloucester restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Gloucester Restaurants
2. The Wye Inn including Upstairs at The Wye
restaurant in Dymock
2 Broad Street - GL18
A traditional pub with a twist, The Wye Inn serves up nostalgic pub classics from award-winning chef Andrew Sheridan and his team. The Wye Inn has four unique dining areas including an outdoor Terrace with wood-fired pizza menu, and Upstairs @ The Wye Inn, a fine-dining offering serving an elegant tasting menu.
3. Corse Lawn Hotel
British, Traditional restaurant in Corse Lawn
2023 Review: In July 2022, Baba Hine put this long-established hotel (which she started with her late husband 40 years ago, and ran by herself for 17 years) on the market, having decided it’s time to retire. Incorporating a 40-cover restaurant and similar-sized bistro, it’s too soon as yet to predict the next chapter for this well-known establishment, hence for the time being it’s unrated.
4. Severn & Wye Smokery
Fish & seafood restaurant in Westbury-on-Severn
Chaxhill - GL14
2023 Review: “Fabulous fish and seafood dishes” led by “smoked platters and whole fish of the day” are on the menu at this “small restaurant” in an “interesting setting” – above Richard & Shirley Cook’s long-established smokery on the Severn estuary. “Everything is yummy – including the wonderful desserts.” There’s also a more conventional café in the yard, the Barn.
5. Bhoomi
Indian restaurant in Cheltenham
52 Suffolk Rd - GL50
“Stylish decor, food bursting with flavour and charming staff” win consistently high ratings across the board for local restaurateur Michael Raphel’s venue, inspired by the flavours his chef-grandfather brought to the UK from South India. Fans feel “it’s less ambitious than Prithvi (same ownership) but in some ways nicer”. Top Tip – “lunchtime thali is a delightful bargain, with great tastes for a snip”.
6. The Woolpack Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Slad
Slad Road - GL6
2023 Review: In Gloucestershire’s lovely Slad valley, “Laurie Lee’s local has just gone from strength to strength over the years – although it’s not clear what Laurie Lee would think about it now, as while it’s still all scrubbed tables and good cider, it now also has a talented chef producing high-end pub grub”. “Sometimes the food is exceptional” (it was on Giles Coren’s June 2022 visit) – “service has been varied, but everywhere is struggling with staff… but on the right day, a visit here is magical”.
7. Le Champignon Sauvage
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
24-28 Suffolk Rd - GL50
“The yardstick against which we compare everything and few, if any, can compete with the quality and value” – an oft-repeated compliment for David & Helen Everitt-Matthias’s long-established temple of foodie pilgrimage (“it is lucky we live 2.5 hours away as if it was closer I doubt we would go anywhere else”). David’s cuisine is “always original, seasonal and well judged and – though carefully presented – avoids the irritating Instagrammability sometimes found elsewhere”. “Helen presides over the room and also the wine with grace” in a manner that’s both “friendly and professional” and the “very good list” is an attraction in itself with “the ample selection of half bottles being a bonus”; and “the cheese basket is a tour de force”. Even devotees concede that “some might find the atmosphere sedate” – a more critical view is that “excellent food and wine is let down by an overly formal approach and lack of ambience” (“the reverential tone is not where we are in 2023!”). Overall, though, the verdict is of a stalwart that’s “serene, calm, well-spaced and good humoured… if there’s a better place to enjoy terrific cooking whilst having a good conversation, I’d like to know about it!”
8. The Butcher’s Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Eldersfield
Lime St - GL19
2021 Review: It’s still early days for Grain Store chef, Mark Block, who took over this celebrated county inn in January 2018. While there’s the odd complaint – of food that’s “competent but has no zing” – the general sense is that, despite the former regime being “quite a tough act to follow, it’s doing nicely under the new ownership”: no longer chasing Michelin stars, but “very much a rural pub with good food”.
9. No 131
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
131 Promenade - GL50
2022 Review: In a prime town-centre location, this luxurious hotel (ultimately owned by Superdry founder Julian Dunkerton) is converted from a trio of Georgian townhouses. On limited feedback in this survey, the themes here are the same as in previous years: “attractive setting and good food… but all at a high price”.
10. The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
Rotunda Terrace, Montpellier Street - GL50
“The rotunda is wonderful”, and “can make a visit stand out” at this branch of the ubiquitous chain, which otherwise conforms to type with “food and service that are professional, reliable and entirely anonymous” – “one could eat the same dish every day and find it unvarying, while being treated politely but distantly by the staff”.
11. No. 3 Restaurants
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
12 Royal Crescent - GL50
2022 Review: Rugby World Cup AND Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery has opened his own restaurant, with his wife Jules and chef Tom Rains, after a year of running a delivery service, No.3 at Home.
12. Lumière
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
Clarence Parade - GL50
“At last! A well-deserved Michelin star” for John and (FOH) Helen Howe’s “small, intimate and sophisticated modern British venture” and its considerable fan club is “absolutely delighted” that it is “finally getting the recognition it deserves” (although, to be fair, the question is what took them so long, as we’ve been raving about this place for many years). “Every element is perfectly crafted” to deliver “sublime cooking and stunning presentation” (with much of the produce sourced from a relative’s farm) all “delightfully served”, combining to make Lumière “as good as it gets” – “just what a perfect restaurant should be”.
13. Kibou Cheltenham
Japanese restaurant in Cheltenham
Regent Arcade, Regent Street - GL50
2023 Review: “What a wonderful experience” – this original of what is now a national chain (branches in Bristol, London and Solihull) serves “wonderful sushi” and other Japanese dishes that are “as good if not better since it moved to larger premises” – “the most stressful part of visiting is choosing from the menu!”. Top Tip – “the aptly named volcano roll”.
14. Purslane
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
16 Rodney Rd - GL50
Chef-patron Gareth Fulford’s small indie is a “friendly” location in which to dine upon sustainable seafood and Cotswolds produce – either from the “great set-price lunch”, which changes weekly, or the bi-monthly-changing à la carte. It doesn’t inspire a huge volume of feedback, but fans say it’s an “underrated” restaurant that outperforms the local competition.
15. Prithvi
Indian restaurant in Cheltenham
37 Bath Road - GL53
“Outstanding and imaginative cooking with an Indian twist” is key to the success of this “elegant and evolved restaurant” over the past dozen years. Locally born founder Jay Rahman worked at top-ranked Birmingham venues Lasan and Purnell’s before taking over and transforming his uncle’s traditional curry house, fka Hassan’s. In line with its evolution, “the sommelier suggests some interesting and well-thought-out wine pairings”.
16. The Coconut Tree
International restaurant in Cheltenham
59 Saint Paul's Road - GL50
2022 Review: Part of a now eight-strong chain, this youthfully spirited Sri Lankan street-food venture is a laid-back and “homely” (mostly bar stool seating) spot to indulge in some “delicious” sharing plates and wacky “cocktails” – the latter sometimes on fire; best bit – it's “not pricey”, either.
17. Tivoli
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
36 Andover Road - GL50
From Tom Noest and Peter Creed – the owners of Sherborne Arms and the Bell Inn at Langford – this newcomer is situated on Andover Road in the heart of Cheltenham. The space includes a large bar area, two floors for dining, and two private rooms for parties or events. A walled terrace allows for outdoor dining. The menu makes a nod to local produce and nose-to-tail philosophy. Dishes include Devilled Kidneys on Toast, Pigs Head Scrumpet & Salad Lyonnaise, and Iberico Pork Bavette. Local beers, including those from Cheltenham-based Deya Brewery, are available, along with daily lunch specials, pub snacks, and regular chicken and steak nights. The venue also features live music nights.
18. Muse Brasserie
Fusion restaurant in Cheltenham
60 St George's Place - GL50
A “fabulous selection of French/Indian cuisine, full of flavour and beautifully presented”, is thanks to an unusual collaboration between two chefs from very different traditions – Frenchman Franck Grillet, a graduate of the Parisian ‘bistronomie’ movement, and Indian Pramod Tirunagari. The success of the combination has led to the opening of a second branch in Bristol.
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