Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Ludlow
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Ludlow restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 13 restaurants in Ludlow and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Ludlow restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Ludlow Restaurants
1. The Clive Restaurant with Rooms
British, Modern restaurant in Ludlow
Bromfield - SY8
Limited but positive feedback on the eating possibilities afforded by this 17-room B&B in a Georgian House a short drive from Ludlow. It offers a straightforward menu majoring in steaks, burgers and cuts of venison.
2. The Charlton Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Ludlow
Ludford Bridge - SY8
“The view from the dining room over the river is one of the best in the county” at Cedric (brother of Claude) Bosi and wife Amy’s well-established inn, on the Ludford Bridge (and also with outside seating), where the food – relatively traditional and posher than pub grub – “continues to be of high quality”.
3. The French Pantry
French restaurant in Ludlow
15 Tower St - SY8
This “great little French brasserie serves all the classics in an unpretentious, enjoyable and charming way”, close to the centre of this historic market town. In summer 2023, proprietors Olivier & Lynette Bossut took over the shop next door, launching it as a café and deli called Marmalade, with their son Ryan in charge.
4. Mortimers
British, Modern restaurant in Ludlow
17 Corve St - SY8
“This lovely Ludlow restaurant” makes a suitable setting for “old-fashioned high-end dining” that showcases “top-notch” cooking from well-travelled chef Wayne Smith, who has worked for luminaries including Pierre Koffmann, Richard Corrigan, Tom Aikens and Claude Busi – the latter having put this address on the gastronomic map as Hibiscus. The venue “has been a little inconsistent over the years”, going bust as La Bécasse, but Wayne has brought stability since 2015, and “recent meals eaten there have been excellent, each course finely prepared and very tasty”.
5. CSONS at The Green Cafe
British, Modern restaurant in Ludlow
Dinham Millennium Green - SY8
“Interesting and well-prepared local food” – “now with a Middle Eastern influence” – is on the menu at this idyllic spot from the four Crouch brothers, aka the CSONS. “The pleasure of dining here is derived not just from the good food but also the location at Dirham Weir, beside the River Teme, with wildlife to watch and even the chance of spotting an otter”.
6. The Cliffe at Dinham
restaurant in Ludlow
6 Halton Lane - SY8
2021 Review: Just across the River Teme from Ludlow Castle, a short walk from Dinham Bridge, this small hotel incorporates a conservatory restaurant extension with garden views, and terrace for the summer. Reviews of Ian Pugh’s modernised but relatively traditional cooking are very positive: “consistently delivering a good quality dining experience, with an imaginatively presented, seasonal menu”.
7. Fishmore Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Ludlow
Fishmore Rd - SY8
A “lovely restaurant with a view of distant Clee Hill, and situated in a pretty conservatory on one side of the gorgeously restored Fishmore Hall hotel” (replete with fancy spa since 2016). Chef Phil Kerry worked his way up from sous chef, and turns out “superb” tasting menus and à la carte dishes that are “really innovative”. The venue also hosts a more casual bistro.
8. Old Downton Lodge
British, Traditional restaurant in Ludlow
Downton on the Rock - SY8
Ideal for a “hideaway date night in the shires”, with a “combination of discrete modern features melded into an ancient, beautiful and comfortable building” (whose stone dining room was built at the time of the Norman Conquest) – Pippa & Willem Vlok’s country-house guarantees a “really great experience”. “Truly remarkable staff” include head chef Nick Bennett, whose “highly skilled cooking” produces meals to savour.
9. The Stockton Cross
British, Modern restaurant in Leominster
Kimbolton - HR6
2021 Review: Between Ludlow and Leominster, this sixteenth-century, black and white pub was taken over and revamped in spring 2018. Feedback on the new regime is too limited as yet for a full rating, but all of it is upbeat.
10. Pensons at Netherwood Estate
British, Modern restaurant in Stoke Bliss
Netherwood Estate, Pensons Yard - WR15
“Brilliant flavours in a sublime setting” have helped win renown for this “lovely” converted barn on owner Peta Darnley’s 1,200 acre family estate, where head chef Chris Simpson helped it carry off Visit England’s ‘Taste of England’ award as best restaurant in 2023. On the downside, its ratings took a slight knock this year, with a few diners being “a bit underwhelmed given the hype”: they query, “has it all gone to their heads?” and discern “a slight preciousness” in the overall approach. Most accounts, though, continue to applaud its “exceptional” overall standards.
11. The Baiting House at Upper Sapey
British, Modern restaurant in Upper Sapey
Stourport Road - WR6
2022 Review: Rescued by local regulars from the threat of demolition six years ago, this 200-year-old former drovers’ pub (‘bait’ as in ‘bite’ or ‘snack’) is now an upmarket pub-with-rooms on the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border, serving food of a “consistently high standard”. “The lamb dishes are particularly delicious” (Kate Lane, one of the co-owners, farms sheep). Building on their success here, Kate and her lawyer husband Andrew Cornthwaite now have a growing collection of reinvigorated village pubs.
12. Stagg Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Titley
This well-known border-country inn is “still one of the best places to eat in the area”, with “well prepared and flavoursome food”. Long-time regulars miss Steve & Nicola Reynolds, who retired a couple of years ago, but the new management team of chef Tom Tudor and his partner Vittoria Turolla, FOH, have settled in well and the place is now “performing better again”.
13. Native at Pensons
restaurant in Tenbury Wells
The Netherwood Estate, Pensons Yard - WR15
Opening in May 2024 on the Netherwood Estate, replacing Pensons, which closed at Christmas 2023 after five years. It should make a perfect setting for Native, a zero-waste and foraging specialist that has earned accolades for its creative cuisine at venues in London and Essex.
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