Diners' Choice: Lively restaurants in Gloucestershire/Wiltshire

OpenTable

Updated June 05, 2025

Looking for restaurants that have the most vibrant bar scenes in Gloucestershire/Wiltshire? You’re in the right place. Each month, OpenTable analyzes nearly 2 million global diner reviews from the past four months. We sort the results by location and category to help you discover new favorite restaurants. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

The Ship Inn

4.8

4.8 (756)

£25 and under

British

Stroud

About the restaurant

Here at The Ship, we are proud to offer a wide range of great British favourites and locally-brewed beers.

In addition, our fabulous food, great atmosphere, convenient location and community focus means that we’re well worth a visit!

So if you haven’t tried The Ship Inn before, or just haven’t visited us for a while, why not pop along?! We guarantee you’ll be glad you did!

Top review

MARCUS

Dined on Jun 14, 2025

Straight forward good value pub food. Served in a pleasant environment.

Kibou Cheltenham

4.8

4.8 (59)

£26 to £40

Japanese

Cheltenham

About the restaurant

Welcome to Award-Winning KIBOU Cheltenham, a Japanese dining destination in the Cotswolds. Step inside and feel transported to Tokyo with cherry blossom canopies, vibrant murals, and immersive Japanese animations. Enjoy varied seating options, from traditional sunken dining and plush booths to an open sushi kitchen and stylish cocktail bar. For intimate occasions, our private room seats up to 10 in stylish comfort.
Our menu offers iconic Japanese dishes like handmade sushi, sashimi, ramen, and katsu curry. Don’t miss signature rolls like the Volcano Roll and Ebi Stak prawn toast, or our sharing platters, Jo Moriawase and Yasai Moriawase. Pair with Japanese whiskies, gins, highballs, or signature cocktails. Perfect for Japanese food lovers, KIBOU Cheltenham promises a truly authentic experience.

Top review

Adesuwa

Dined 2 days ago

The food was absolutely amazing, the staff were the nicest ever honestly.

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Experience

Japanese Afternoon Tea

Experience

Vegetarian Japanese Afternoon Tea

Experience

Sushi Making Masterclass

Smith's of Bourton

4.7

4.7 (612)

£26 to £40

Burgers

Bourton-on-the-Water

About the restaurant

Smiths was born in the heart of the pandemic, founded by brothers Theo and Sebastian with one goal in mind: to bring bold, unforgettable flavour to the Cotswolds. Nestled in the postcard-perfect village of Bourton-on-the-Water. Affectionately known as the Venice of the Cotswolds—we’ve carved out a name for ourselves with gourmet burgers that pack a punch.

2025 marked a major milestone as we proudly took 3rd place at the National Burger Awards—a nod to the passion, graft, and flavour-forward thinking we put into every bite.

Our intimate 30-seat restaurant offers a stripped-back, honest dining experience, where quality is king. We’ve partnered with award-winning butchers Aubrey Allen to source dry-aged beef with just the right fat ratio. Combined with our punchy flavour pairings, every burger delivers serious impact. The buns? Handmade fresh each morning by Marks Cotswold Bakery, using locally milled Cotswold flour from regional farmers. Every element tells a story—and it starts here.

Top review

Dan

Dined 7 days ago

Really good food and good service. Will definitely return.

Bella Mia Pizza at No.1

4.7

4.7 (170)

£25 and under

Pizzeria

Gloucester

About the restaurant

Welcome to Bella Mia Pizza No.1
Our Chefs Table area is stool seating facing our open plan kitchen where you have front row seats watching our chefs at work and your fresh Neapolitan pizzas being cooked (Not suitable for small children). Our restaurant seating is our table seating which is more suitable for larger parties and small children.
Please note, over 18's only for bookings in GreenDoor cocktail bar, this needs to be booked separately from the restaurant.
Any special requirements please contact us before booking.
Pushchairs may need to be collapsed due to access.
We have an ambulant disabled toilet with a full disabled toilet located at the side of the FoodDock.

Top review

matt

Dined on Jun 21, 2025

Honestly one of my favorite, if not my favourite place to dine in Gloucester. The bar is a really unique style matched with great tasting drinks. The food is beautiful and authentic and the staff are just amazingly accommodating and polite. Genuinely couldn't recommend it enough. Thank you for another great evening 👏

The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie, Cheltenham

4.6

4.6 (11328)

£26 to £40

Contemporary British

Cheltenham

About the restaurant

Ivy Montpellier Brasserie in Cheltenham offers relaxed yet sophisticated all-day dining with an all-encompassing menu serving modern British and international classics in the popular town in Gloucestershire

Top review

Garfield

Dined 2 days ago

Excellent service in a great environment. Sunday breakfast was very good. Highly recommended.

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Popular dish

Minute Steak

Popular dish

Steak Tartare with Chips

Popular dish

Chocolate Mousse

Nagomi

4.6

4.6 (400)

£26 to £40

Japanese

Cheltenham

About the restaurant

Nagomi is the first Korean / Japanese restaurant in the Cotswolds & Gloucestershire offering an indoor smokeless table bbq & hot pot experience (we use the world leading yakiniku table grill from Japan). This is massively popular in Japan, Korea, London and the USA, so come and try it out !!

We also have a great selection of authentic Japanese & Korean dishes + sushi rolls cooked from scratch in the kitchen, if you don't fancy DIY grilling. We have separate Gluten Free and Vegetarian/Vegan menus available.

All of our dishes have been taught to us by Korean and Japanese chefs, so that we can give you the most authentic experience possible.

Our atmosphere is relaxed and fun, so that you can enjoy your time with us. A lot of our interior artwork, laterns & signage has been imported from Japan & Korea, just make you feel as though you could be dining in Osaka, Japan, or Hongdae, Korea !!

We look forward to welcoming you to Nagomi !

Top review

Susie

Dined 5 days ago

Always amazing! The food is fresh, delicious and most importantly, it’s authentic.

The Nook On Five

4.4

4.4 (597)

£41 and over

British

Cheltenham

About the restaurant

Join us for the very best of modern British dining looking out over Cheltenham's newest, iconic and timeless vista.

The Nook On Five uses produce from the best butchers, fishmongers, grocers, creameries, distilleries and vineyards to create dishes and experiences both fun and fine.

Serving Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea and Dinner, take in mouth-watering bites overlooking the Cotswolds and the rooftops of Montpellier.

Headed up by Alisha Phillpotts, the kitchen carefully selects the finest produce to cook up a refined evening à la carte menu, alongside a fab lunch and all day menu of modern British classics and twists.

The bar and cellar offers an extensive English section to our wine list and serve up some fantastic cocktails which you can take out to our rooftop terrace.

Top review

Lesley

Dined 4 days ago

We love this restaurant. Everything about it makes for a very special evening. Thank you!

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Experience

Afternoon Tea

Elote Tacos

4.3

4.3 (78)

£25 and under

Mexican

Gloucester

About the restaurant

Casual dining restaurant with a focus towards a friendly service & authentic dishes bursting with the flavours of Mexico

Top review

Cherry

Dined 5 days ago

The main waitress was great, as the kitchen had not prepared or ran out of several dishes and she communicated this with us well. For an every week meal, this would be an expensive trip as for two people, you would need to spend the recommended amount of £60-£80 on the main meal, not including drinks! That being said, the food is tasty and has good quality over quantity and it is worth a visit.

Cirencester Roots + Seeds Cafe Kitchen

4.3

4.3 (24)

£25 and under

Farm-to-table

Cirencester

About the restaurant

Roots + Seeds Kitchen Garden brings together a sustainable, home-grown and locally sourced dining hub to The Old Kennels in the heart of Cirencester Park, whilst embracing the wider community.

Roots + Seeds café and restaurant together with a children’s area a new beautifully designed light and airy space with vaulted ceilings and large windows. Outside, two courtyards provide dining spaces divided by edible flower and herb-filled raised beds, with access to a new and exciting outdoor children’s play area, as well as the kitchen garden.

Farm to Fork Dining
Open for coffee, breakfast, brunch and lunch daily and for dinner Thursday – Saturday. Modern, fresh, seasonally changing Farm to Fork menus of Modern British dishes with French influences and daily specials. We showcase the beautiful produce delivered by our trusted suppliers and growers within a 25-mile radius of Cirencester Park, alongside our own home-grown produce freshly picked each morning from our on-site Kitchen Garden.

Top review

Charlie

Dined 3 days ago

Lovely brunch with friends - plenty of parking, friendly staff, great choice on the menu and a beautiful building. Highly recommend!

Pho Cheltenham

4.2

4.2 (502)

£25 and under

Vietnamese

Cheltenham

About the restaurant

Pho is a healthy Vietnamese restaurant that specialise in pho noodle soup, the national dish of Vietnam. Aside from pho, you can also expect to find amazing sharing starters, healthy salads, hearty rice bowls and decadent curries. They have a range of freshly made juices and also Vietnamese beers and a large wine and cocktail list. Pho’s menu is 40% vegan and nearly entirely gluten-free too. They also have an accessible kids’ menu where children can get a meal and a drink for £5.50

Top review

Kim

Dined 3 days ago

The professionalism and manner of all the staff was fab. Lovely atmosphere and the food was delicious. A few things were forgotten or needed changing but once they were made aware there was no issues at all. The sad highlight for our group was the amazing bill payment at the end- no messing around and easily self- service split. Brilliant experience. Will be back again! Kym

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