Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Ripon
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Ripon restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 17 restaurants in Ripon and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Ripon restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Ripon Restaurants
1. Samuel’s, Swinton Park Hotel & Spa
British, Modern restaurant in Masham
Swinton Park - HG4
“The formal dining room at Swinton Estate” – “a country house hotel in a beautiful setting that supplies much of its food from local sources” and its own 20,000 acres of grounds. Ruth Hansom has been in charge of the kitchens during 2023 – a year that saw solid all-round ratings for its ambitious cuisine – in advance of handing over to former Roux Scholar Nicole Benham-Corlette following a £500,000 refurb to complete in early 2024: part of the property’s ‘estate-to-plate’ philosophy which aims to reduce its carbon footprint to being neutral by 2030.
2. Sukhothai
Thai restaurant in Harrogate
17-19 Cheltenham Pde - HG1
Leeds entrepreneur, Ban Kaewkraikhot’s local outpost is a large, modern and fairly glam venue that wins praise as a “busy restaurant with very consistent cooking”. “Don’t publicise the fact that it’s your birthday!” if you don’t want a fair amount of fuss…
3. The Lime Tree Inn
restaurant in Great Ouseburn
Branton Lane - YO26
A brand new country Inn, opened its doors for the first time in September 2020.The Lime Tree Inn is a family run country Inn made of seriously good food in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.Our menu is seasonal with everything made in house from quali...
4. The Old Deanery
British, Modern restaurant in Ripon
Minster Rd - HG4
The Old Deanery is a Jacobean mansion in the shadows of Ripon Cathedral. Acclaimed chef, Adam Jackson is surrounded by a buzz of excitement, having a collection of awards and accreditations to his name, and a list of some of the top restaurants on his CV. Ada...
5. ChefsTable at TRUEfoods
British, Modern restaurant in Melmerby
9 Hallikeld Close - HG4
“A true gem” – chef-patron Mitch Mitchell’s utterly unlikely venture, located within a factory unit on an industrial estate that manufactures sauces and stocks. The 14-course tasting menu (Fri/Sat night only) caused Giles Coren to invoke Noma no less, and reporters this year all concurred that it is “an experience not to be missed”. The “only tiny issue is who you sit next to, as your neighbour could be totally loud and full of self-importance – but this place deserves a star at least!”
6. Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Grantley
This “handsome old house” makes a “brilliant” showcase for Yorkshire-born chef Shaun Rankin’s talents, honed by decades in Jersey and London. Valeria Sykes spent £70 million converting the country pile into a hotel, and given its almost “intimidating” level of luxury naturally “you may need a second mortgage before booking” (“from the iron gates policed by a uniformed guard, along a coiffed drive, we found a forecourt occupied by four Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini and assorted top-model Range Rovers!”). On all accounts, though, it’s “quite outstanding in all respects”, not least results from the ten-course ‘Taste at Home’ menu for £145 per person.
7. Crab & Lobster
Fish & seafood restaurant in Asenby
Dishforth Rd - YO7
This quirky fish specialist, with exotically styled bedrooms in the 18th century Crab Manor, certainly has an “original ambience” (“if Victoria Wood’s Acorn Antiques ran a restaurant”, it might look like this, replete with assorted “sea-fishing paraphernalia”); there was the odd blip on the service front this year, but also continued praise for some of the “best seafood around”.
8. Graveley’s Fish & Chip Restaurant
Fish & chips restaurant in Harrogate
8-12 Cheltenham Parade - HG1
2021 Review: “A very traditional Yorkshire chippie” which doesn’t offer anything fancy but “just good fish ’n’ chips” (the former “huge and well-battered”, and “you can go for more exotic if you wish”); “a little tip – avoid early evening when the ‘pensioners’ special menu’ is served – it will be heaving!”
9. Royal Baths
Chinese restaurant in Harrogate
Central Hall, Crescent Rd - HG1
“Fantastic surroundings” – the owners spent an eye-watering £1.5 million transforming the Royal Baths into this upscale restaurant – and a “really nice feel and vibe at all times” set this two-year-old apart from the competition; the contemporary and trad Cantonese food is also worthwhile. “We still prefer Orchid, but this place has great decor!”
10. Baltzersens
Scandinavian restaurant in Harrogate
2023 Review: This “quirky café with wonderful cinnamon buns and waffles” offers a “real taste of Scandinavia in Harrogate”. It’s “very popular with yummy-mummies in the morning so can get a little loud, but you can buy all the baked goods from their shop just by the theatre”. Owner Paul Rawlinson’s Scandi restaurant Norse is still missed, five years after its closure.
11. Orchid
Pan-Asian restaurant in Harrogate
28 Swan Road - HG1
Ignore the “dated surroundings”, this well-known local institution under the Studley Hotel “continues to deliver a first-class experience” after more than two decades, and “never lets you down” with its “amazing pan-Asian cooking”, “matched by high-quality service and a good wine selection”. “Whenever we visit Harrogate we make a bee-line for this restaurant”.
12. Drum & Monkey
Fish & seafood restaurant in Harrogate
5 Montpellier Gdns - HG1
This “amazingly busy” Montpellier Quarter veteran (est. 1971) is “just as good as it’s always been” – credit to Ray & June Carter, who’ve overseen it for a decade (and have also run the Sportsman’s Arms, Wath-in-Nidderdale, for three). The “very interesting and delicious menu” spotlights “fish cooked absolutely right” – “try the queenies (aka queen scallops) followed by fish pie”.
13. Bettys
Afternoon tea restaurant in Harrogate
1 Parliament Street - HG1
A Yorkshire “legend” – “the epitome of an old-fashioned afternoon tea room, and with a great pianist too”. “You might have a long wait in the queue to get in, but it’s worth it” for the “delicious pastries and well-filled sandwiches” served at this flagship of a family-owned business founded in 1919, now with five venues across North Yorkshire. “Places that are described as an ‘institution’ are often a stuffy, stilted let-down – Betty’s is none of the above”: “even the fish ’n’ chips are stylish”.
14. The Ivy Harrogate
British, Modern restaurant in Harrogate
7-9 Parliament Street - HG1
2021 Review: A “bustling” ambiance that “gives a lift to the spirits” is the chief plus-point of this brasserie offshoot of the ever-expanding London luminary. Even fans concede it’s “expensive for what it is”, and “could be said to be a little formulaic”, while a couple of other reporters noted meals that were positively bad.
15. Fletchers at Grantley Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Grantley
This ultra-opulent seventeenth-century country house was reborn as a hotel in 2019 replete with pool, snow room and altitude training chamber. Its many eateries include a haute operation by former Ormer chef Shaun Rankin – and this tartan-clad, baronial-style brasserie, praised this year for its “amazing welcome and lovely food” (especially patisserie, if you put your trust in Jay Rayner’s otherwise slightly mixed 2022 review).
16. Paradise Café at Daleside Nurseries
British, Modern restaurant in Killinghall
Ripon Road - HG3
“The new venture from the old Yorke Arms team is absolutely perfect in every way” – “to see Frances Atkins preparing your lunch in the open kitchen is a wonderful experience”. Following the sad ending of her long tenure at the famous moorland inn, the first woman to earn a Michelin star in the UK is now wowing guests at a garden centre near Harrogate, alongside her trusted lieutenants chef Roger Oliver and manager John Tullett. There’s “a high-quality menu available throughout the day, while dinner is only on Fridays” (twice a month) – and it’s all “Michelin-quality food without the pretensions of a star”.
17. Starling
restaurant in Harrogate
47 Oxford Street - HG1
“Increased in size” – this “dog friendly” bar/café/kitchen is “still best in class locally despite the new look and expansion” and makes “the perfect location for working, socialising and relaxing”. Expect “Darkwoods coffee, great value breakfasts and brunches, and the friendliest service” plus a selection of beers (10 craft keg taps and 6 cask hand pulls on the bar), pizzas and poutine (Quebec comfort food mixing chips, gravy and cheese) but with a Yorkshire twist.
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