Brasserie Blanc - Winchester — Restaurant in Winchester

We went on a Saturday night and it was crowded. There are two levels; the toilets, additional seating and the kitchen are upstairs. I wish we had a table upstairs where it was warmer from the kitchen heat. The atmosphere is lovely as are the table settings. But it’s extremely loud — so much so that we couldn’t carry on a conversation. Wish restaurants would consider noise reverberation when they build or renovate. Heck even some carpet or cork as decoration would help.

The service was very good and attentive but the waitress didn’t know the menu and ingredients ad well ad she should have. They have a separate menu for gluten free and dairy free options which I appreciated but wish they had more options that were both dairy free and gluten free. I didn’t see any. I also had to ask for the allergy menu and only knew it existed because I saw it online.

We had the olives which were ridiculously salty—even for olives—that I couldn’t eat them so my spouse had to. He loves salt and said they were the saltiest olives he’s ever had. Olives are not enjoyable when they’re that salty.

I also had the bread with trio dips and asked for gluten free bread which was really good. The waitress wasn’t exactly sure of what was in the dips which was disappointing especially since people have allergies. I took a chance but kind of wish I hadn’t. One was garlic mayo—not sure how this is a dip as much as it is a condiment, two sort of tapenades but with a strange flavor reminiscent of Indian food and one had onions which ruined it for me. I wouldn’t recommend the dips. I do recommend their gluten free bread.

I also had the potted crab with avocado. I thought this would look and taste differently than it did. It was just a small amount of crab meat that you can get at places like Waitrose or Whole Foods with a tiny amount of avocado in a very small glass jar. Definitely not an appetizer for two. The crab was very fishy so I had to mix it with the avocado to be able to eat it. It should be served with a lemon but was not. My experience was disappointing other than the gluten free bread.

My spouse had the fricasse which he really enjoyed. The waitress couldn’t describe what it was exactly but I’d say it was like a bouillabaisse with mushrooms, white wine sauce and croutons.

He also got the pheasant and thought it would be bigger than a tiny piece of breast meat. He didn’t love the sides that came with it but was hungry and ate most of them.

We will probably return at some point to try other menu items. Their Christmas menu...

My wife and I visited Brasserie Blanc last weekend and despite really looking forward to going, we left feeling slightly underwhelmed.

The food itself was pretty good. We ordered the crab and avocado, and baguette and dips to start. For mains we ordered the duck and beef bourguignon.

Wish I could give 2.5 stars, as 2 is probably a bit harsh, and 3 too generous. The reason for this score was purely down to the service....

Our table was ready only about 20-30 mins after the time it was booked for. I understand you can’t push previous customers out the door, but it was only when we began questioning when our table was going to be ready, did we then get seated almost immediately. Which leads me to think it was ready before this, but we had been forgotten about at the bar area.

When we were seated, I think almost every time we wanted to order a drink, food, or ask for a knife(!), we had to look around the room to catch a staff members attention. It just seemed they were slightly disinterested, and attention to detail was lacking.

When my wife’s main meal arrived, she hadn’t realised immediately as they placed it, but after the waitress walked away, she noticed she had no knife following the starters. It seemed a mission to catch the eye of one of the waiting staff to obtain a knife.

When we ordered the main meals, I asked for a glass of the more expensive Malbec they offered. After waiting I would estimate about 10 mins. I managed to flag one of the staff members down again (seemed to be becoming the theme of the night!), and asked if the wine was on its way. It duly arrived promptly after that, however when I asked which Malbec it was, the waitress said the barman had told her it was the “good one”.

Anyway overall a disappointment considering we were looking forward to going. Perhaps we were just unlucky, but it felt like we were in a seating area that had no dedicated waiter / waitress, so maybe everyone thought that the other person was looking after us. So ultimately spent the evening feeling somewhat forgotten.

Ultimately, good food,...

I had been looking forward to finally trying this place in Winchester as it looks like a high end restaurant. I am experienced in working in high end restaurants previously so I was hoping to receive a certain level of service.

We are met nice enough and shown to our place yet the attendant seemed more interested in repositioning the cloak stand than actually taking our coats. The atmosphere was nice and perhaps a little warm to some but pleasant for us. The table left very little room to move as if your elbows moved off to the side you would collide with waiters passing by.

We mentioned about the half price voucher and the attended rudely said "I thought so!" He read the specials as if they were a pop up advert, no connection to what we might like just slide in "here's the specials" and away it went. He recommended the specials because they came with a side yet what I was given was seriously lacking in comparison to other dishes. He advised my partner to have sides with her meal as he described "It comes with tiny vegetables" however this was adequate and it seemed he was trying to hard to up sell sides.

At no point did our waiter check on our starter or our main. The starters were nice but these were not delivered by the same waiter nor cleared. It seemed like he just popped up to try and be "funny" with the customers and left. When he did ask at the end of the meal, did you enjoy everything, personally, not as much if you would have asked. Nor was this an open question. He immediately asks about desert. Give us 5 minutes, geez!

I am typically British and do not wish to embarrass my partner nor others enjoying their meal out yet there is definite room for improvement. Take coats, ask how our day was or what brings you to us this evening etc. Pour or offer to top up our wine. Add some personal flair to your presentation not just the same jazz you do to everyone else. Try to make each party feel special. Overall, adequately nice food but the presentation and pushy up sales left a bitter taste. Food...