The Golden Lion — Restaurant in Winchester

We stumbled upon this gem of a pub on our way back from Paultons Park this evening. A lovely welcoming reception from the staff and a relaxed, warm and cosy pub greeted us. Plenty of parking front and rear. We ordered a Thai green curry, fish and chips and 2 children's meals of pasta bolognese and sausage, chips and beans. The food was delicious, home cooked, lovely and hot and really good sized portions. I'm always anxious ordering children's meals but these were top notch, especially the pasta which turned out to be tagliatelle with a really tasty bolognese (a shame I was so full from my meal that I couldn't polish off the leftover pasta!). We also asked for a bowl of vegetables for the kids to nibble on, they were really helpful by telling us what was available and letting us choose, we had carrots and green beans, again they were really tasty and went down very well. The desert menu had plenty of choice, the children decided on crumble and custard and we asked for a spare spoon so that they could share a portion. The chef very kindly went one better serving them their half portions in their own dishes and with their own jug of custard on the side. My Husband and I were regretting not ordering anything! For a Monday evening there was plenty of custom, bringing a lovely atmosphere to the pub. Overall we've had a lovely evening and it's finished off our mini family get away perfectly. We highly recommend you pop in and visit, we will certainly be back next time we are in the area 😊 Thank you The Golden Lion. Tom, Michelle,...

Three of us went in to have a meal, we had been travelling all day. First thing to hit you was how unnecessarily dark it is inside, you could hardly see what you were eating. Could hardly read the menu.

The young man who served our food was lovely but the young woman working with him spoke quite abruptly, she needed to brush up on her people skills.

The food: Where shall I begin? Out of the three meals two were almost uneaten, started on and left, I ate some of the meat. It was not up to much. The best part of the "mixed grill" was the barbecue sauces it was cooked in. The chicken seemed steamed and the pork hard as a rock, and were not even sure what the third piece of meat was, oh and a burger burnt, and you could have banged nails in with. All served up on your plate with a cumbersome collander and fryer basket! Not the mixed grill we expected. The pasta dish our friend ordered: the sauce was tasteless and as thin as water. She managed to eat a biteful but left it.

If this food had been cooked by a qualified chef I'm a monkeys uncle, or aunt. It was a disgrace. The building and furnishings were pleasant from what I could manage to see, the...

The food is over priced, it's standard pub grub, but you're sitting right next to the bar, so when there are a load of drunk loud mouths shouting about football at the bar, you have to suffer it. We've been there a few times, the menus been the same each time, and I think the loud mouths at the bar have been there each time also. When it's hot all the doors are open and the anti social smokers stand in the doorway letting their cancer blow inside, which I really can't stand. It needs a separate restaurant to justify such high prices, £7 for a dessert for Christs sake!!! If I left full up it would be different, but after two courses I usually leave hungry. And what's with all the containers? My meal came on a plate and in three containers, why they can't just put it on the plate, I just upend them all on the plate straight away anyway. Is it supposed to look like you get more food, or is it about presentation? I don't get it. £16 for the main, £7 for the dessert, and £4 odd for a pint. £27 which I think should have been more like £19. There are plenty of other pubs out there with better food, for less money, with a...