3 Best Restaurants in Guildford, The Southeast

This popular restaurant is set within a gorgeous space in the city center, with exposed brick walls and high ceilings. The à la carte menu features updated Mediterranean dishes including fried zucchini "cakes" with fresh Greek yogurt, veal cheeks with potato puree, and roasted octopus with caramelized onions. Save space for a traditional Greek dessert.

Located 8 miles southwest of Guildford, just a short hop down the road from Waverley Abbey and roughly halfway between the Sculpture Park and Watts Gallery, this unusually handsome country pub is in an old water mill; you can still see the working water wheel in the lobby. The menu nicely balances British pub classics and more ambitious restaurant fare; expect to find fish-and-chips and burgers alongside pan-roasted sea bass and Devonshire crab on toast. The huge beer garden is an extremely popular spot when the weather's nice, and it's also the venue for occasional open-air theater performances by local groups. Look out for the cute (but slightly intimidating) flock of ducks that are not only well practiced at begging for crumbs but also will immediately pounce on any unattended meals.

Considered by Guildford locals to be one of the best Thai restaurants in the Southeast, Rumwong has an incredibly long menu, with dozens of choices from all over Thailand. Tasty dishes include the poh-taek, a "seafarer's soup" made with lemongrass, lime leaves, and shellfish, and kai pud krapraw, a spicy stir-fry made with ground chicken, fresh chilies, and basil.