Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Stapleford
Hardens guides have spent 34 years compiling reviews of the best Stapleford restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 15 restaurants in Stapleford and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Stapleford restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Stapleford Restaurants
1. John’s House
British, Modern restaurant in Mountsorrel
139-141 Loughborough Road - LE12
John Duffin’s “excellent and interesting cooking” continues to inspire interest in this family-owned venue – a simple, brick-lined space with attractive wooden pitched room, which is part of the family farm (Stonehurst Farm) where he grew up. Fans vaunt the “amazingly priced set lunch menu” for £49 per person, and “it’s good to have a cafe and farm shop on site to extend a visit”. A trip in the evening requires a more substantial investment: five courses are £100 per person or seven are £120 per person. Reports are consistently upbeat.
2. Fern
British, Modern restaurant in Uppingham
The Falcon Hotel, High Street East - LE15
Fern is a seasonal restaurant rooted in Rutland, serving small plates, organic wines and British aperitifs with quiet confidence. Our menu is led by ingredients — not trends — and shaped entirely by what’s growing, reared or landed nearby. Our drinks reflect ...
3. The Olive Branch
British, Modern restaurant in Clipsham
Main St - LE15
“Been going for over 25 years” – this “quintessential English gastropub with rooms, just off the A1, never fails to please” and “delivers excellent hospitality to the lovely Rutland village which it serves and passing travellers” in the “noisy and fun”, “warm, welcoming interior, or – in the summer months – the beautiful small garden”. Back in the day, co-owner Ben Jones and his team blazed a trail with the contemporary style of the place, and it retains “great attention to detail from a highly professional team”. Quibbles – some locals consider it “rather dear” (“those who love it, love it but glitches are not unknown and opinion in the area is rather mixed”), but more striking is the consistent support for “well-cooked seasonal food” that’s long made it one of the top-100 most commented on destinations in our annual diners’ poll outside London. Top Tip – “an amazing wine list”.
4. The Lake Isle
British, Modern restaurant in Uppingham
16 High Street East - LE15
The “calm and generally quiet dining room” of this 450-year-old townhouse in the old part of this cute town – now a “slightly old-fashioned (which we love) and tremendously good value” restaurant-with-rooms that takes its name from a poem by WB Yeats – serves “excellent food: fine dining without Michelin-style fussiness” from chef Stuart Mead, who has run the kitchen for more than 20 years. (“We had our wedding breakfast here and have returned every year since – it gets better and better”). Top Tip – vegetables undergo “especially thoughtful treatment, which will satisfy the vegan in your family”.
5. Hambleton Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Hambleton
“Everything a country house hotel should be with the added bonus of an award-winning restaurant” – Tim & Steffa Hart’s long-established destination is the epitome of a successful classic formula that’s increasingly an extinct breed. They’ve owned this fine old house since 1979, a former home purchased from a scion of the Hoare banking dynasty, and it sits in “exquisite grounds” with an “unmissable view of Rutland Water” (the 1970s reservoir that is much younger than the house itself). “In some ways it’s rather old-fashioned, but that’s intended as a compliment – it’s a return to a more formal style that makes dining seem special”. Chef Aaron Patterson has been in-post since 1992 and his classical food is likewise “very good, albeit in an old-fashioned mould” and “never fails but to deliver a top gastronomic experience”. And it’s backed up by one of “the most extensive and detailed wine lists ever seen”. Service is “exemplary” too and – for traditionalists – this is “a perfect experience if you have something to celebrate”.
6. The Fox and Hounds Hotel
British, Traditional restaurant in Exton
19 The Green - LE15
The Fox and Hounds Hotel is a handsome former 17th Century coaching inn that dominates the Green in the picturesque Rutland village of Exton. The building oozes character, with a number of fireplaces for cosy winter evenings and a pretty garden for lazy summer evenings. Privately...
7. Hitchen’s Barn
British, Modern restaurant in Oakham
12 Burley Road - LE15
“An unalloyed joy” – “Neil & Louise Hitchen’s exceptional family-run restaurant” is “a wonderful, happy home of good food and charming service, delighting all who visit” with their “lovely bistro-style” meals. “Not the poshest, nor the starriest and thankfully not the most expensive, but possibly the best ‘local’ restaurant in Rutland and for miles around”, with “some innovative cooking”. Top Menu Tip – “the marmalade ‘croissant’ bread-and-butter pudding is a knockout”.
8. The Wheatsheaf
British, Modern restaurant in Greetham
Stretton Rd - LE15
“A village pub, but one which serves really good French bistro food (escargots, oysters) and is excellent for fish” – owners Carol & Scott Craddock worked in London ‘fine dining’ (Bibendum, The Dorchester) before decamping to rural Rutland in 2008, creating a venue that is “more restaurant than pub, but retains a friendly local welcome and atmosphere”. Carol’s “well-sourced-and-cooked food” is backed up by “husband Scott’s truly first-class wine list” – and if it’s “a tiny bit predictable, perhaps that’s not a bad thing”. Top Menu Tip – “save room for the desserts!”.
9. Finch’s Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Hambleton
Oakham Rd - LE15
“Always a favourite”, this 17th-century country inn is a “lovely old” place – “at least in the bar and older parts” (there being a “less lovely modern bit on the back built to take advantage of the location with fine views over Rutland Water”). The “food is pretty much standard gastropub fare”, but makes for handy refuelling before a walk round the reservoir.
10. Langar Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Langar
Church Ln - NG13
A “wonderfully atmospheric place, with idiosyncratic but comfortably plush surroundings” that was born when founder, the late Imogen Skirving, decided to open the doors to her family home three decades back. This country house oasis is now run by her granddaughter Lila Arora, with chef Gary Booth continuing their longtime focus on locally sourced produce, from Belvoir game to “truly delicious soufflés of the savoury and sweet variety”. Further praise this year for the “professional yet friendly service” – clearly this “quirky place knows what it’s doing” after all these years.
11. The Hammer & Pincers
British, Modern restaurant in Loughborough
5 East Rd - LE12
An “excellent special occasion” is recommended by fans of this well-established venue, which also has two rooms available for staying guests, set in a smartly modernised old building in a village in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire. Chef Danny Jimminson and his wife Sandra offer an array of menus including a three course selection of £65 for three courses (available Tuesday-Friday), while on Saturday night they serve a seven-course meal for £95 per person. Its superior cooking as acknowledged by its hard-to-achieve award of three AA rosettes.
12. Harry’s Place
French restaurant in Great Gonerby
17 High Street - NG31
You’ll look online in vain for the website of Harry & Caroline Hallam’s quirky venue – one of the country’s earliest supper-club-type experiences, which has seen them serving up to 10 guests in the red-painted front room of their Georgian house for the last 30 years (and which had a Michelin star until about 2010). Harry is still in the kitchen and Caroline still front of house. It only inspires a couple of regular fans in our annual diners’ poll nowadays but they continue to say it’s an exceptional experience (if one whose ambience necessarily derives somewhat from your dining companions on the evening).
13. The Tap & Run
British, Modern restaurant in Upper Broughton
Main Road - LE14
“Owned by ex-England cricketer Stuart Broad, this country pub has hit a rich seam of form with its “great vibe”, “interesting menu of well-cooked food” and “super Sunday lunch”. It’s also enjoying a second innings, having been refurbished to the tune of £1.3 million following a disastrous fire in 2022.
14. Jericho
restaurant in Whatton
Orchard Farm, 45 Barkestone Lane - NG13
Chef Richard Stevens grew up on the farm housing this cosily lit barn – complete with corrugated iron roof – which since September 2022 has become an ambitious venue for sampling his 20-course tasting-menu for £120 per person, with service from his wife Grace. Our reporters all rate it highly – “a proper hidden gem with a stunning location and setting with brilliant food and team”, although it skipped our highest rating due to the odd quibble (“I understand everything is local but just felt the prices were high in relation to the portions”). Certainly the Sunday Times’s Charlotte Ivers is a fan – in her November 2024 review she declared herself “in love – utterly enthralled” with a “magic” meal “you’ll remember forever”.
15. No 23
Mediterranean restaurant in Uppingham
23 High Street East - LE15
This “lovely restaurant” in a splendid 300-year-old building on the High Street makes a “fantastic new addition to the market town, whether you’re here for a drink at the beautifully designed bar or a full meal” – much of the produce on the eclectic, modern menu is from the owners’ farm just out of town. Founders Ben & Toby Cripps have moved the offices of their property company Langton Homes into the building; their local hospitality group now comprises the Sun Inn, Nevill Arms and Red Lion.
View full listings of 15 Stapleford Restaurants
Popular Stapleford Restaurant Searches
Stapleford Restaurant News