In short
For a special meal near Honiton, book The Pig at Combe in Gittisham, two miles out, where the kitchen gardens set the menu. In town, the Heathfield Inn on Walnut Road is the pub that takes food seriously, Toast on the High Street does cakes and cream teas, and Mamma Mia cooks Portuguese food from the Lacemakers Cafe. For a village pub, drive to the thatched Drewe Arms in Broadhembury.
Contents9 sections
What are the best restaurants in Honiton?
Honiton is a market town with one long High Street, and most of its eating happens along it: cafés, a chippy, a couple of pubs with kitchens and, lately, a Portuguese family restaurant. The more memorable meals are a short drive out, in the villages and farms of the Otter valley, which is where the county's best-known country-house restaurant and one of its prettiest thatched pubs both sit.
This guide covers places that were trading when we checked in October 2026. We confirmed every venue against its Food Standards Agency hygiene record, then against its own website, CAMRA's pub listings, the district council's licensing register or a dated local source. We haven't eaten a meal at every venue on this list, so we don't pretend to have. Where we give an opinion, we explain the reasoning: what each place does, who it suits and where it fits in a day out.
For the antiques, the lace and the museum, our Honiton town guide covers the day. This page is about where to eat.
Where should you eat on Honiton High Street?
Toast Cafe & Patisserie
Toast is at 155 High Street, towards the far end from the station, with a garden behind the building. It holds a premises licence with East Devon District Council and reviewers describe cream teas, a wide cake counter, lunches, and gluten-free and vegan options. Dogs are allowed in the garden.
Our verdict: the best daytime stop on the High Street, especially for a group that includes someone with a dietary need. Go for the cakes; stay for the garden.
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party occupies Monkton House at 53 High Street, with a cottage-style garden out the back. It's the South West café chain, so expect the same breakfasts, brunches and coffee you'd get in Exeter.
Our verdict: the safe choice for a late breakfast that will seat eight without fuss. If you want something that only exists in Honiton, walk on to Toast or the Lacemakers.
Mamma Mia Portuguese Flavour
Mamma Mia cooks from the Lacemakers Cafe at 46 High Street; the Food Standards Agency register lists the business at that address, inspected in June 2026. It's a family-run Portuguese kitchen, and reviewers single out the peri-peri chicken, the homemade sauces and the custard tarts.
Our verdict: the most interesting plate of food on the High Street right now, and a good shout for a group that wants to share. Check its hours before you go: a small family kitchen keeps its own timetable.
The Proper Fish and Chips Co.
The Proper Fish and Chips Co. is at 60 High Street, a sister to the branch on Exeter Road in Exmouth, with a lunchtime and evening service and a few tables as well as the takeaway counter.
Our verdict: the chippy. Honiton isn't on the coast, so this is where to go when the group wants fish and chips rather than a sit-down restaurant.
Which Honiton pubs serve good food?
The Heathfield Inn
The Heathfield Inn is on Walnut Road, on the edge of town, with rooms as well as a restaurant. CAMRA lists food at lunchtime and in the evening, describes the bar food as good value with local specialities, and notes two real ales. The menu is modern European; vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options are listed.
Our verdict: the pub to book for dinner in Honiton itself, and the one with the most space for a big table. It's a short walk from the High Street, which makes it the natural end to a day among the antique shops.
The Volunteer
The Volunteer is at 177 High Street, a traditional pub with a large open fire, a courtyard that opens into a garden, and a kitchen that describes its food as fresh, locally sourced and home-cooked, with daily specials and vegetarian and gluten-free options. CAMRA lists it as opening mid-afternoon on weekdays and from noon at weekends.
Our verdict: the better choice for a pub that feels like a pub, with a fire in winter and a garden in summer. Go at the weekend for lunch, or in the evening during the week.
The Star Inn
The Star Inn on New Street is an 18th-century Grade II listed inn that Wetherspoon reopened in 2013. It opens from breakfast, has a licensed outside area and step-free access.
Our verdict: not a food destination, but the honest answer for a large group on a budget, or for breakfast before the antiques fair. Everyone knows what they're getting.
Is The Pig at Combe worth the trip?
The Pig at Combe
The Pig at Combe is an Elizabethan manor at Gittisham, about two miles from Honiton. The restaurant works to a 25-mile menu, with three walled kitchen gardens supplying the plates; the dishes change daily with what's in season. The Folly in the grounds is the casual option, with wood-fired flatbreads at lunchtime. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner and takes bookings by phone.
Our verdict: yes. It's the special-occasion meal in this part of Devon, and the garden-led cooking is the reason, not the postcode. Book well ahead for a group. If the budget doesn't stretch, the Folly gets you the grounds and the view for the price of a flatbread.
Which village pubs near Honiton are worth the drive?
The Drewe Arms, Broadhembury
The Drewe Arms is a 16th-century thatched pub, Grade II listed, in the cob-and-thatch village of Broadhembury, five miles north-west of Honiton. CAMRA lists food at lunchtime and in the evening, except Sunday evening, with a locally sourced, seasonal menu and daily specials. Reviewers recommend booking for Sunday lunch.
Our verdict: the prettiest pub lunch in the area, and the one to pick when you want the village as much as the food. Broadhembury is worth the detour on its own.
The Otter Inn, Weston
The Otter Inn sits by the bridge over the River Otter in the hamlet of Weston, just outside Honiton, with a large riverside garden and a children's play area. It runs a carvery on Thursday lunchtimes and on Sundays, has a dog-friendly area inside, a log fire and a big car park. The river is shallow with sloping banks, so keep an eye on children.
Our verdict: the family pub. On a summer afternoon the riverside garden is the best outdoor table in the Otter valley, and the carvery means nobody argues over the menu.
Where to eat in the countryside around Honiton
Otter Valley Ice Cream & Field Kitchen, Monkton
Otter Valley Dairy makes its ice cream on the farm at Monkton, a couple of miles east of Honiton, and runs a café and field kitchen alongside it: coffee, cakes and wood-fired pizza, with the ice cream eaten in a field beside the cows that produced the milk. Our Devon ice cream and gelato guide has more on the dairy itself.
Our verdict: pudding with a view, and a pizza lunch for a group that would rather sit in a field than a dining room. Check the dairy's own site for the field kitchen's season and hours.
The Grazing Cow, Offwell
The Grazing Cow is a café, deli and farm shop on the A35 at Offwell, east of Honiton, open daily for breakfast, light lunches and afternoon tea until mid-afternoon. Rosie Cooke opened the original small café in 2016 and the current one in 2018; everything is homemade and locally sourced, and reviewers rate the cakes and the breakfasts.
Our verdict: the breakfast stop on the way to the Jurassic Coast, and the place to pick up Devon cheese and bread for a picnic further on.
How to plan a group meal in Honiton
- Come by train. Honiton is on the Exeter to Waterloo line, about half an hour from Exeter St Davids or Central, and the High Street is a few minutes' walk from the station. The Heathfield Inn and the High Street cafés are all walkable.
- Book The Pig and the Drewe Arms. Both are the kind of place a table of eight needs to reserve, and both are a drive or a taxi from the station.
- Match the day. Antiques in the morning, lunch at Toast or the Lacemakers, then the Otter Inn's garden or the Field Kitchen in the afternoon if you have a car.
- Keep the dog in mind. Toast's garden, the Otter Inn's indoor area and the Drewe Arms all welcome dogs; check the others before you go.
If Honiton is one stop on a longer tour, our best day trips from Exeter for groups puts it alongside the coast and the moor, and the Sidmouth restaurants guide covers the nearest seaside town. For the county's cheese and cider, see our Devon cheese guide.
Honiton restaurants: frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best restaurant in Honiton?
- For a special occasion, The Pig at Combe at Gittisham, two miles from town, with its garden-led 25-mile menu. In Honiton itself, the Heathfield Inn on Walnut Road is the pub that takes food seriously, and Mamma Mia Portuguese Flavour at the Lacemakers Cafe is the most interesting plate on the High Street.
- Which pubs in Honiton serve food?
- The Heathfield Inn on Walnut Road serves lunch and dinner with a modern European menu, the Volunteer on the High Street cooks home-made food with daily specials, and the Star Inn on New Street is the Wetherspoon. Outside town, the Drewe Arms in Broadhembury and the Otter Inn at Weston both serve food.
- Where can I get afternoon tea or cake in Honiton?
- Toast Cafe & Patisserie at 155 High Street does cream teas and a wide range of cakes, with gluten-free and vegan options and a garden. The Grazing Cow at Offwell serves afternoon tea until mid-afternoon, and Boston Tea Party on the High Street has cakes and a cottage garden.
- Is there fish and chips in Honiton?
- Yes. The Proper Fish and Chips Co. at 60 High Street serves at lunchtime and in the evening, to eat in at a few tables or to take away.
- Is The Pig at Combe near Honiton?
- Yes, about two miles away at Gittisham. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner from a daily changing menu grown largely in its own walled gardens, and the Folly in the grounds does wood-fired flatbreads at lunchtime without a restaurant booking.
Make it a dinner with friends
The best meal around Honiton is a long one in a village garden, with the Otter running past and nobody in a hurry to drive back. If you'd like more evenings like that closer to home, we host dinners in Exeter where you share a table with people you haven't met yet.
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