Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in North Yorkshire
Hardens guides have spent 29 years compiling reviews of the best North Yorkshire restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 326 restaurants in North Yorkshire and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing North Yorkshire restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured North Yorkshire Restaurants
1. The Devonshire Fell Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Skipton
Burnsall Village - BD23
“Views are incredible” from this sixteen-bedroom hotel in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales. There’s a wide variety of menus – for a “romantic” dinner the main choice would be the two-course or three-course menu which are £29.50 and £38 respectively.
2. Samuel’s, Swinton Park Hotel & Spa
British, Modern restaurant in Masham
Swinton Park - HG4
With its gold-leaf decoration, the stylish dining room of this grand country house hotel and spa provides a traditionally luxurious backdrop to a meal. But ratings have come off the boil a little with personnel changes. Mehdi Amiri – in post since mid-2017 – sometimes gave reporters the impression that “the sheer confidence and assurance typically found here was lacking”. He himself then moved on after our survey in summer 2019. We have maintained this year’s survey scores on the bet that further changes are more likely to be positive than negative, but further upheavals may be afoot.
3. The Yorke Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Ramsgill-in-Nidderdale
Frances Atkins remains involved with the “beautifully situated” coaching inn that she helped make famous, and which she and husband Bill sold in 2018 to local entrepreneur Jonathan Turner. Its ratings slipped a notch this year, though – not due to grievous complaints, but on the back of a few mixed reports (e.g. “food good, but service rather haphazard and felt overhyped”; or “meal was good, but didn’t hit the heights, and not good value at over £200”). But many reporters do continue to acclaim it as their best gastronomic experience of the year, or say “it’s even better after the recent renovations”.
4. Clocktower Restaurant, Rudding Park Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Harrogate
Rudding Pk, Follifoot - HG3
Clocktower Bar is a great place to meet for drinks, whether a coffee through to a cocktail. A bar menu is also available with a range of dishes.Guests can relax on the large south-facing terrace and have a refreshing drink or something to eat followed by a walk in the b...
5. Roots
British, Modern restaurant in York
68 Marygate - YO30
“A magnificent addition to York’s burgeoning food scene” – “Tommy Banks does amazing things with the most simple of ingredients” (“how can anyone make a humble brassica such as kale so bloody tasty that we were all fighting over it?!”), at his family’s “converted pub, close to York city-centre”, which – in one short year – has become the survey’s most-mentioned destination in this increasingly foodie town. “The intense flavours and imaginative combination of sometimes-unlikely ingredients are a delight” and “the wine to match is excellent, and very well thought out”. “Young, friendly, helpful and enthusiastic service” contributes to a highly impressive debut. “Get in quick, before the prices match those at his Black Swan in Oldstead!”. Top Menu Tip – “his best-known dish is the epic crapaudine beetroot, the beetroot cooked in beef fat”.
6. The Angel
British, Modern restaurant in Hetton
“So nice to see this old friend, smartened up, rejuvenated and walking proud again” – this old Dales inn (made famous in the 1980s by David & Juliet Watkins) was taken over in late 2018 by much-accoladed chef Michael Wignall, who has immediately succeeded in putting it very much back on the culinary map. “As you would expect of such a top chef, the food is all faultless beyond criticism – real plates of real food in very satisfying combinations” and it’s “good value for money” too.
7. Lanterna
Italian restaurant in Scarborough
33 Queen Street - YO11
Giorgio Alessio’s “fantastic” outfit has long been a “beacon of light” in these parts (“excellent since our first visit… in 1975!”) – the fish is “as fresh as you can get it, collected from the harbour at dawn” and it’s well worth going in season for “some dishes with truffles they bring back from visits home to Italy”. “We go every year while on holiday and I dream about the zabaglione!”
8. Bettys
Afternoon tea restaurant in Harrogate
1 Parliament Street - HG1
“Still the most civilised place on Earth” – these archetypal tea rooms have been a “Yorkshire institution” for a century now, founded as they were in 1919. There’s “no point wasting calories elsewhere” when here you can enjoy “afternoon tea, exactly as it should be”: “surrounded by starched white tablecloths and napkins, plus silver teapots, with a great selection of sandwiches (extra if you want them!) and cakes, plus unlimited tea or coffee served in grand surroundings by lovely staff”. “Every town should have one. Why don’t they?”
9. Bull at Broughton
British, Traditional restaurant in Broughton
Passed from Northcote’s Ribble Valley Inns group to Brunning & Price in 2018 (and promptly refurbed), this poshified gastroboozer is a “lovely place to visit” for its “agreeable surroundings with nooks and crannies” and “excellent food and service”.
10. Magpie Café
Fish & seafood restaurant in Whitby
14 Pier Rd - YO21
“White flakes of fish, encased in crispy, golden batter, plus chips reminiscent of childhood, and still cooked in dripping, all provide a taste to savour” at this famous (hence “noisy and crowded”) Harbourside veteran, often justifiably nominated for being home to “the best fish ’n’ chips in the UK”. “Most punters go for the obvious, but the specials board is always worth close scrutiny, as the kitchen actually produces superb dishes using the wide variety of fish and seafood available in this amazing port”. “Recommended, but it can get very busy so be prepared to queue in busy periods”. “I was in Yorkshire for a week and went three times! Totally excellent!” Top Tip – marvellous views from the window tables, or you can just take away and sit by the water!
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Popular Cuisines in North Yorkshire
British, Modern in North Yorkshire (118)
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Sandwiches, cakes, etc in North Yorkshire (7)
Afternoon tea in North Yorkshire (6)
Fish & seafood in North Yorkshire (6)