The Chesil Rectory — Restaurant in Winchester

Wonderful service and charming location fails to disguise food that aspires high but falls flat.

The wife and I had our fifth anniversary dinner here last night. As newish arrivals to Winchester (we’re Australian expatriates recently relocated from Surrey) we’ve enjoyed discovering the many and varied cuisine delights the city has to offer and have consistently been pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of fare available in England’s most charming ancient city.

First impressions matter - this is an exceedingly well thought out, clean venue with tasteful furnishings and a considered layout that exudes charm from every corner. The decor and settings pay tasteful homage to the buildings 15th century origins while fully activating a multitude and variety of spaces that can accommodate intimate dining as easily as medium sized groups.

Having arrived early we were seated in the cosy bar area upstairs. While apperetif options are somewhat limited, the bar staff were able to accommodate two off-menu cocktail selections with ease and turned out a high quality whiskey and amaretto sour. Service was prompt, attentive and warm.

Migrating to the upstairs seated dining area, the entree options are narrow but with enough variety to pair neatly with the mains available. Karzy had the cream of roasted garlic soup with poached egg and chive oil while I could not resist the offering of the Portland crab tartlet with brown crab mayonnaise. Both entrees were well presented. Solid if not spectacular, the tartlet recommends itself by providing a wonderful contrast in texture from its delicate crisp shell through to the crab filling.

Timing between courses was ideal with a twenty minute wait filled with sampling a Burgundy from the well aligned and exceedingly diverse wine list. Both care and flair are evident in the thoughtful wine offerings with selections available from the worlds most renowned regions as well as the occasional wildcard from new world, with Greece and Croatia earning entries. Additions of more diverse organic and biodynamic choices could further elevate what is already an excellent wine list.

For mains we stayed in a typically reliable lane with choices of the lamb loin with rib and the rump cap with lobster mac and cheese. The menus lofty ambitions were not well served by the mains that were turned out when we visited.

While well cooked, the rump cap was decidedly flat to taste with a stringy texture that was not indicative of either a dry aged cut per the menu, or high quality produce. Plastic mac and cheese added some insult to injury and a dish that is so easy to get right really disappoints.

The lamb and rib was a big surprise. Foodies will know that mid-summer (and definitely not spring) is the season for lamb to shine. The vacuous and mild lamb turned out was not improved by a side of char grilled seasonal green vegetables that arrived limp, lifeless and with all appearances of having been steamed. I’ve not eaten frozen veggies from Iceland however I’d imagine this is what it’s like.

Having decided our luck had run out at the entrees, puddings were not sampled.

This had all the feelings of a chain pub Sunday lunch masquerading as a higher provision and the menus exceptional promise is not delivered upon by fare that is serviceable but no more. This menu is moderately priced and the food was moderately made.

After paying the bill, I did have a quick aside with the floor manager to let him know of our experience and was advised that they were aware of issues with the rump cap but would also pass all other feedback on.

The service from end to end is an absolute credit to the venue - while the team is young they are incredibly keen. You will struggle to find a more charming location anywhere in Britain and The Chesil Rectory has the foundations of being a unique element of Winchesters burgeoning dining scene. We will definitely return to try again as one bad experience does not a bad kitchen make, particularly considering current challenges facing...

ALLERGY AVOID / SHOCKING FOLLOW UP My partner and I had a wonderful evening and meal on her December 21st birthday. We enjoyed the staff, and atmosphere at the table and in the bar upstairs afterwards.

Sadly my positivity ends there.

My partner is Celiac - so cannot eat anything with Gluten without her being voilently sick for a week. For those with allergies, you will understand that even using the same utensils can mean the difference between you getting ill or not.

Having not eaten since the am at home with no gluten ingredients, we had dinner at 6pm at the Chesil Rectory.

Within a window of 2 hours from eating - 30 minutes from leaving (we had drinks upstairs after the food) - We were in Incognito having just ordered a drink and she had to go to the toilet where she was voilently throwing up multiple times. Luckily there were some nurses sat next to us who assisted in the ladies bathroom.

The rest of the evening was horrible for her. Even once we got back to the hotel, the staff saw how poorly she was as well as crying. The Winchester Hotel and Spa were great, on hand to help, bought us multiple bottles of water and promised to take us to A&E as apparently quicker than an Ambulance given the distance.

My partner remained very ill for the following 4 days, taking the magic out of Christmas Day for her.

SHOCKING FOLLOW UP

Once my partner settled that night I emailed the restaurant with my concern, the following day a response which talked of an investigation they would undertake and some questions around whether it was something she could have eaten earlier.

I replied describing the above and with 30+ years of managing the condition, we have no issues when we cook at home.

Later that day, my partner receives a phone call from Incognito asking if she was ok. This was pleasantly surprising and we asked how they knew, as we had only mentioned it in passing as we left swiftly (nor did we identify who we were). We were told that someone from The Chesil Rectory had been over to the bar to lay blame on Inognito for what had happened - they then looked us up from our booking and made the call out of concern for her.

On the 3rd of January - I re-emailed the manager Gareth to ask if we were going to get a reply back from 'the investigation'.

Today it is the 15th of January and we have had nothing back at all.

This is the most shocking service I have seen from a restaurant.

If you have an allergy, I would not trust this restaurant to keep you safe or make good when they make you ill.

I'm going to now look into reporting them to Food Standards Agency -...

We went for dinner at the Chesil and wow. The food was delicious, and while it was nothing particularly adventurous or innovative it was cult classics done right, beautifully presented and evidently made with passion from the kitchen team. Great quality and definitely worth the price.

However! The real shining light of this place isn’t the excellently curated wine list, or stunning hand picked decor, both of which make for a truly wonderful experience, but the staff are fantastic!

Just watching them around the restaurant it’s evident they are truly invested in the place they work in. I overheard of the waitresses apologising for a delay in the food next to us because she “wasn’t happy with the first one” to be sent out! Watching the young waiter (who stuck me as if he was still learning the ropes) lay tables and focus so hard, managers triple checking and adjusting settings to make sure they’re perfect. Everyone was neat and well presented. The service at the table side, serving water and wine was beautiful. A true fine dining experience you just don’t see these days. When little details were missed (for example changing knives over) the issue was rectified so smoothly you wouldn’t even have noticed if you weren’t looking for it.

My ONLY suggestion for improvement would be removing surplus cutlery and glasses from the table, say taking away plates knives if guests don’t order bread or starters. But that’s such a little thing I don’t think most people would even care! It’s only as I work in luxury hospitality myself I even note these things. Not a complaint, more a suggestion.

The managers should be really really proud of their staff, they’re a credit to them and evidently take pride in their work and have been trained to a high standard.

Cannot fault...