Bar + Block Steakhouse Whiteley — Restaurant in Winchester

Usually I love my food at Bar+Block, but I’ve removed 1* because of my most recent experience. I unfortunately had a bad ribeye steak here last week. I don’t like being awkward, but when I was asked how my meal was, I was honest and said the steak wasn’t great (you could see the half chewed up steak still on the plate). The response from the chef was that this cut of meat is sinewy. I explained I’d had it multiple times before and it hadn’t been like this (I usually just leave the big piece of fat in the middle), and they offered us a free dessert - we were quite full, so just had one between us.

I didn’t take a photo this time because I was having an in-depth convo with my friend, but I found a photo of my last ribeye at Bar+Block cooked to perfection and in comparison this one was squidgy, and had a disappointingly grey/dull appearance. Should also note that the jacket potato skin was burnt to the point of being bitter and it came with standard butter, not melted garlic butter like it was served in London (I still think about that steak and potato in London!).

In general feedback for the brand, I also don’t think samphire is an adequate side for the meal - it would be nice to have a fuller plate of food, even broccoli would be better than a couple of strands of samphire. Just a suggestion because the plate looked pretty sad when it came out.

Never had a problem with service here, I would go again, but I wouldn’t order the ribeye and will definitely speak up earlier in the meal instead of waiting to be asked how it was. If you order ribeye medium, as they recommend it, it should look firm on the outside, with nice charred lines (mine didn’t). It shouldn’t be so sinewy you leave half - speak up at the start of your meal, I’m sure they will...

Myself and group of friends (6 people) have been coming to bar and block once a month for the last 5 months. We have normally like the atmosphere, and a young chatty lad who was our waiter for the last 3 visits (not last nights visit). We were looking forward to the new menu and arrived with empty bellies. Our waitress was extremely slow and had to be prompted to even take our order. One friend has celiac disease so orders from the gluten free menu. However there is no longer a gluten free menu but a huge arch folder listing ingredients for all items which makes a simple order now quite challenging. We eventually ordered and after some time a “manager” who took the gluten order informed us that that food was not available and to select an alternative. This didn’t take too long but then having to wait nearly an hour for our food and when asked why it was taking so long was told it was pushed back as “we” made changes to our order? Sorry but the changes were made due to the restaurant not having advertise food from the menu? Food eventually arrived we ordered 3 crispy duck legs which are new however if your hungry and order this I advise you to order side dishes as there is not a lot of meet but a big plate of mash potato. When finished we waited for a while as 3 staff including our waitress were busy entertaining themselves. I could go on able the lack of customer focus which was made obvious to the “manager” and our waitress who kindly deducted 2x diet cokes from our final bill. We paid and did not tip as such but left change to which our waitress said sarcastically “do you want your change”. We told her no and sorry we will not...

We chose this restaurant for a birthday meal out. What a mistake! From being shown our seats it took 20 minutes for someone to take our drinks order then 25 minutes for the drinks to arrive. Half the drinks were sat on the bar for 15 mins before being bought over. We then asked the bar manager to bring fresh beers over as they had been sat there for 15mins then was met with attitude and no apology. It felt like the drinks were delayed so we couldn't order more buy one get one free cocktails, we'd only managed to order one round and would have drunk more had we been served quicker. After all the drinks arrived our orders for food were then taken. 45 mins after being sat down! Starters arrived 25 minutes later and what a disappointment! Scallops were tiny! No bigger then a pound coin! And only 3 of them for £7.50. Mains then arrived 30 mins after the plates for starters were taken. Steaks were okay at best, chips could have done with a couple more minutes cooking. Triple cooked they were not! Rump steak came out in two pieces one side 1cm thick, the other side 5cm thick, impossible to get a medium rare so one side was very well done and the other medium. Overall a very disappointing evening. We decided to come here as a 'second chance' after recieving poor service a couple of years ago. We won't be giving a third chance! Food was not worth the price tag, how they can charge these prices with the quality of food they serve beggers belief. Miller and carter prices,...