Surrey Restaurant Guide

This “reliable and well-run pub-restaurant in a charming part of Surrey is a great place to meet friends, chat, relax and eat good classics”. “There’s also a good selection of local beers”, “a lovely garden”, and “friendly and efficient service”.

Leafily located in the Surrey Hills, this cute-looking, converted red-brick cottage has been a restaurant since 1993, and has been run by Jack Forrest Foster since 2019. The odd reporter sees its slightly old-school menu as “a last bastion of nouvelle cuisine” but feedback overall rates it decently well all-round.

“Good solid food” and a “large outdoor space for eating” makes this country pub a handy refuelling spot for visitors to the RHS gardens at nearby Wisley.

A meal at Serina Drake’s “relaxed and informal” Georgian house conversion is a “really special experience” – and “food is still the focus” under chef Paul Nicholson, who joined the kitchen from Yorkshire’s famous Yorke Arms two years ago and sends out meals that are “fresh, light, diligent and mouthwatering”. Top Tip – “have a drink in the garden beforehand” to set up “the most amazing dinner”.

“A favourite because it’s so consistently good”, this spacious old pub in a beautiful setting on Downside Common is part of Raymond Blanc’s White Brasserie chain, and has a menu that runs from baguette with dips to (royal butcher) Aubrey Allen steak and chips. A recent makeover has spruced things up a bit.

A “best-kept secret” – although enough locals know about it to ensure that it’s “always busy” – this gastropub is “really consistent and thoroughly enjoyable”: “I’ve never had a bad meal at the Old Plough.” A 300-year-old listed building, it was formerly used as a courthouse.

“A fantastic space” – “buzzing, colourful and friendly” – this Surrey branch of Richard Caring’s national outfit is “still a cut above most chains”, according to fans. But “it’s a shame they’ve become so ubiquitous” – and a bigger shame that “the usual Ivy fare” is too often such a “disappointment”. Top Tip – “ask for a table in the conservatory”.

This smartly turned-out steakhouse pub on the edge of Cobham from the Rare Breed Dining group specialises in “great meats on the grill” – and has its own in-house butchery and smokery to prepare the choicest cuts.

This “light, bright and airy” ‘clubhouse’ incorporates a bar, lounge, orangery and terrace with “strategically placed roof lanterns” – and “igloos which are great fun”. The food is “fine” – if a little “average” – leaving some to conclude: “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I always come away feeling underwhelmed”. For others, though, its flexible style and attractive interior make it “great for occasions”.

“Always reliable and hard to beat” for its “wonderful food”, this “bustling and enjoyable” Thai has been a local hotspot for four decades. “If you’re looking for a different experience, sit on cushions at the low-level table in the separate ‘Khan Tok’ dining room”.

Steven Drake’s “formal, well-spaced but welcoming and comfortable Surrey Hills venue in the centre of Dorking” is “a great bonus to the Surrey dining scene” and one of the most commented-on non-metropolitan restaurants in our annual diners’ poll. “It has really bounced back well post-lockdown – service is discrete and knowledgeable” and the “always exciting” cuisine “remains of the highest quality”. It focuses on a tasting menu format: 9 courses for £125, and all of the many reports suggest results are “special in every way”.

A “stunning location… from a car park rooftop!” provides “amazing views over Guildford and the hills beyond” at this long-established fixture, known for its “wide selection of quality Thai dishes”.

By most accounts “one of the better Ivy Cafés” – there are “no real surprises”, “but it’s well executed and a fun place in a nice location”; “if the weather’s pleasant you can sit on the balcony”.

This “very tasty gastropub” (fka The Mayford Arms) from former Ivy staffers James Lyon Shaw and Jamie Dobbin “makes the most of its building”, and offers a “great set lunch menu”. Its 2020 opening was the second from the pair’s Brucan Pubs group following the Greene Oak in Windsor; there are now four.

“We keep going back for the top-notch Japanese dishes in sumptuous surroundings”, enjoyed in the surprising venue of press baron Lord Beaverbrook’s palatial mansion in the Surrey Hills. The “super-high-end sushi” and “tasty” Japanese grilled dishes are prepared by Wojciech Popow, founder of the Polish Association of Sushi Chefs, formerly of Noma in Copenhagen and Japanese specialist Yashin in London.

In looks they are often “almost indistinguishable from the Byron that was replaced”, and Gordon Ramsay’s expanding chain (which has snapped up many of its rival’s former sites) does have fans who say it’s “better than expected” for “a decent burger”. On the flipside, though, there are almost an equal number of sceptics who feel “it trades on the Ramsay name with cooking that’s below par”: “we went not long after this branch had opened hoping for a reliable burger like we used to get there when it was Byron… never have we eaten one so awful”. Still, the roll-out continues with a recent addition near Farringdon station.