Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Bracknell
Hardens guides have spent 34 years compiling reviews of the best Bracknell restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 80 restaurants in Bracknell and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Bracknell restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Bracknell Restaurants
1. The Mutton at Hazeley Heath
restaurant in Hook
. - RG27
Leafily located between Reading and Basingstoke on the Hampshire Downs, this “good country gastropub” is an accessible spot for refugees from ‘The Smoke’. Though rooted in traditional pub favourites (Shepherd’s Pie, Fish ’n’ Chips, Steak) the “food is a bit more elegant than the usual and they try very hard. Prices therefore are higher than average but it’s still overall good value”.
3. The Bottle & Glass Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Binfield Heath
Bones Lane - RG9
A short drive from Henley-on-Thames, this thatched pub, has a “modern dining room extension to a traditional wood-beamed interior”. Classic pub dishes (for example steaks or honey-glazed ham, egg and chips) are served alongside more ambitious fare, including venison from the surrounding Phillimore Estate.
4. Meimo
Moroccan restaurant in Windsor
69-70 Peascod St - SL4
Meimo's is one of Windsors finest restaurants
Meimos Restaurant has an extensive menu with dishes that will suit all tastes and a friendly atmosphere. A real locals' favourite and definitely not a tourist-trap!
With popular dishes such as Lamb or Chicken Tagine with exotic...
5. The Vanilla Pod
French restaurant in Marlow
31 West St - SL7
“Year after year the food is consistently excellent and the value incredibly high” at Michael & Steph Macdonald’s well-established fixture, which they founded over 18 years ago in a house once occupied by poet TS Eliot. “Whether it’s the excellent value set lunch or the full tasting menu” you opt for, all reports are full of praise (“I hadn’t been to the Vanilla Pod since before the Pandemic, so was delighted to discover that it was still in business and as good as ever”; “I have yet to have a course I didn’t enjoy”). “Others in the locale get more publicity, but in reality offer less for more”.
6. The Anchor
British, Modern restaurant in Ripley
High Street - GU23
“It’s more gastro than pub, but the ambience deliberately stops short of a full restaurant experience and so you can have great food in a more relaxed manner” at Mike Wall-Palmer & David Adams’s characterful old hostelry, which has been a feature of the high street since the sixteenth century. A feature highlighted for praise is the “exceptional value set lunch” (“delightful carpaccio of beef, sea bream in a delicious mussel sauce and a scrumptious dessert… top value!”). There’s also a simpler offering in the bar and courtyard.
7. The French Horn
French restaurant in Sonning-on-Thames
‘We are closed for a holiday period – looking forward to seeing you soon’ is – as of October 2025 – the message on the website (and answer-machine) of this famous Thames Valley institution, in a gorgeous Thames-side position at Sonning Eye and famous for its spit-roasted duck. Owned by the Emmanuel family since 1972, it went on the market in September 2023 but we can find no record of any sale, and it seems to have been closed for most of 2025. Will it reopen?
8. Orwells
British, Traditional restaurant in Binfield Heath
Shiplake Row - RG9
“As always, outstanding food” is again reported at Ryan & Lian Simpson-Trotman’s converted 18th-century pub in the lush countryside surrounding Henley-on-Thames – “a brilliant place that’s always a delight to visit”. There’s an à la carte menu with two courses for £65 per person or you can opt for a seven-course tasting menu for £130 per person.
9. Caprice at Crowne Plaza Reading
British, Modern restaurant in Reading
Wharfedale Rd, Winnersh Triangle - RG41
The new luxury 4 Silver Star Crowne Plaza Reading M4, Jct 10, provides a stylish, contemporary look and feel to suit the business traveller, leisure, and spa guest. The hotel, set in landscaped podium gardens, delivers exceptional dining experiences, providing a serene setting...
10. Glaze at Crowne Plaza Marlow
British, Modern restaurant in Marlow
Fieldhouse Lane - SL7
Experience excellent food and fine wine in the 4 silver star Crowne Plaza Marlow’s newly refurbished Glaze Restaurant in Marlow, AA Rosette awarded for its culinary excellence. Having recently undergone a huge refurbishment project, the Glaze Restaurant is no...
11. Caldesi in Campagna
Italian restaurant in Bray
Old Mill Ln - SL6
“Lovely as ever and long may it continue” – Giancarlo & Katie Caldesi’s “welcoming” country venue (their flagship is in Marylebone) provides “wonderful Italian cooking”, including “silky-smooth homemade pasta” and “top-quality, tender calf’s liver in white wine”.
12. Sindhu
Indian restaurant in Marlow
The Compleat Angler - SL7
“A lovely view of the weir at Marlow and over the Thames” through old-fashioned leaded glass windows is a highlight at this “friendly and professional” outpost of star chef Atul Kochhar, which – true to the contrasts of 21st-century Britain – aims to pay homage to his love of Indian cuisine in the environs of a “pretty” dining room by the river whose situation is archetypal of the traditional English Home Counties. On most accounts, his team provides “exceptional” cuisine that’s “sometimes full-on Indian” but mostly “a subtle, not-too-fiery fusion”. Ratings, though, are dragged down this year by a minority who find its performance “very average”. Top Menu Tips – “sublime Dal Makhani”; “the best ever soft shell crab and amazing monkfish”.
13. Latymer, Pennyhill Park Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Bagshot
London Road - GU19
Feedback has strengthened over the years regarding the much-accoladed, wood-panelled dining room in the oldest section of this plush Victorian pile in Surrey – nowadays a 124-room luxury hotel and spa – where chef Steve Smith has looked after the stoves since early 2020. It doesn’t attract huge volumes of reports, but its dedicated local fan-club regards it highly all-round. Dinner is a three-hour, seven-course affair at £175 per person, with four- and five-course options available at lunchtimes and on some evenings. The wine options here received particular praise this year.
14. The Beehive
British, Modern restaurant in White Waltham
Waltham Rd - SL6
“So pleased we went… the food, service and table decor was excellent and we look forward to going again” – this traditional pub on the village green parted ways with Dominic Chapman in 2023 and its nowadays run as part of a growing genre of UK establishments as an Indian-in-a-pub, serving fish ’n’ chips with curry sauce, chicken tikka burger… and on Sunday it’s tandoori chicken roast.
15. Fego Caffe
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Sunningdale
Chobham Rd - SL5
From South African owners, this eight-strong chain of cafés based in London and the Home Counties wants to be a neighbourhood ‘third space’ where you ‘feel good’ (hence the name). By all accounts they’ve hit their target: fans say the venue, with its “fabulous environment”, is “very popular with locals, always full and fun” and “never fails to satisfy or put a smile on your face”. The reason? Its “very good brunch” – French toast, the Full English, or fancier fare – and it’s also a “lovely lunch spot” if you’ve an appetite for salads, burgers and sarnies with a side of South African cheer.
16. The Brickmakers Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Windlesham
Churtsey Road - GU20
“Smart pub/restaurant with a buzzy atmosphere” and “consistently good food from a large and varied menu” – built at the 19th-century height of the local brick industry, it’s a “great place to stop for lunch after a good walk in the countryside”, with “lovely log fires in the bar”.
17. The Greene Oak
British, Modern restaurant in Windsor
Deadworth Rd, Oakley Grn - SL4
A “fun” and smartly turned-out country pub offering “consistently good food and service” at a “price point you’d expect for Windsor: fairly high”. Launched in 2018 by industry insiders Jamie Dobbin (an ex-Savoy, Ivy and Groucho Club chef) and James Lyon-Shaw (ex-ETM group manager), it’s now the flagship of their five-strong Brucan Pubs group.
18. Woven by Adam Smith at Coworth Park
British, Modern restaurant in Ascot
Blacknest Rd - SL5
“Exceptional attention to detail and exquisite food” lead to many best meals of the year being reported in this “elegant and classy” retreat – the dining room at the heart of the Dorchester Collection’s luxurious country house hotel and spa, near the borders of Virginia Water. A number of reports are “surprised it still has only one star from that ‘other’ guide” – “surely Adam Smith is knocking on the doors of two” given the “exquisite” food and “culinary theatre” delivered by the intricate succession of dishes for £185 per person. Despite its 2023 revamp, one or two critics still find its style too “oligarchy and international”, while still acknowledging that the food is “excellent”. Top Menu Tip – “turbot with caviar and two sauces… yes please!”
19. The Crown at Bray
British, Traditional restaurant in Bray
High Street - SL6
Simon & Deborah Bonwick took over this well-known pub (which boasts a cosy, traditional interior and huge garden) in mid 2025, and its website now dubs it as ‘A cosy pipe and slippers kind of pub’ that’s ‘A Gastronomic Chapel amongst the Culinary Cathedrals here in Bray-on-Thames’. He has been and continues to be involved with a number of other pubs in the Henley / Marlow area, and here aims for ‘highly executed seasonal French cuisine’, with dishes such as ‘Market Fish “Like When in Paris”; and ‘Aged Highland Beef fillet “A La Ficelle” with a Rather Nice Sauce’. Reports please!
20. The Fat Duck
British, Modern restaurant in Bray
High St - SL6
“It has to be done… and at the price it’s possibly a never-to-be-repeated experience… but what an experience – theatrical, magical AND delicious!” – Heston Blumenthal’s famously wacky temple of weird molecular gastronomy is entering its 30th year, and most reports say it’s “still an unforgettable and amazingly inventive experience”. Perhaps sensitive to the odd accusation that it can “feel a bit dated and a bit behind the likes of Core, The Ledbury and Row on 5” nowadays the rate of innovation has stepped up this year. A cheaper à la carte option has been reintroduced after an absence of many years (three courses for £255 per person); and there’s now ‘Mindful’ and ‘Journey’ menus (including iconic dishes of the last 30 years) for £275 and £350 per person respectively. Bad vibes about its cost-levels abated somewhat in this year’s annual diners’ poll – only 1 in 6 now consider it “overpriced”.
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