The Black Rat

A special birthday treat from me to my partner. We each had the taster menu. It was excellent. The service was impeccable, staff chosen for their effortless, smooth charm. The meal was in rushed & expertly paced. The venue, (complained about in some trip advisor posts), is as it should be, old worldly, reminiscent of its age. Ok, truth be told, I did want to scrub & scrape the candle wax off the window & ledges... but I’m sure this authentic feature adds to its charm.
I highly recommend this restaurant, booking in advance a must. Expensive but worth it.

Wonderful tasting menu....

This Michelin-starred restaurant has, unlike many, kept it's feet firmly on the ground. The dining rooms are casual and relaxed - wooden tables, mismatched chairs and cutlery, no hushed acolytes for wait staff. It's comfortable, friendly and welcoming.

My wife has a gluten allergy and modifications to her dishes were made with zero fuss and a level of imagination rather than just "we'll leave it off the plate".

All our dishes were great, two standouts for me were the ox cheek/heart & ris de veau entrée - the sweetbreads were fantastic - crispy on the outside, creamy within and the seasoning was just perfect, I wonder if they were brined before cooking? The pig's blood bavarois dessert plate is not something you see every day, but the iron-y flavor of the blood added another dimension to the sweetness of the bavarois and the texture. There were essentially five desserts on that plate, and the suggestion to tie them all together with a glass of temperanillo/cacao rubis was brilliant.

Our servers, José and Ali took good care of us, all the front-of-house staff were professional and attentive without being overbearing. Great job.

We'll be back, unfortunately not tomorrow, we live in Los Angeles!

Good, friendly welcome making us feel ‘at home’ immediately.
Excellent overall customer service from very friendly staff.
Really nice outdoor setting in ‘the huts’ creating very good ambience, although the weather was beautiful which no doubt helped the feel 😎☀️
We would return to The Black Rat again & would recommend it.

I book because choice of good food in Winchester is very limited an the food here is generally good, however I feel that a restaurant of this calibre should offer an internet connection particularly as I was a solo diner and could not get 4G and therefore struggled to do the work I planned to do while I had a leisurely lunch.

This will definitely affect any future bookings if I wish to lunch alone.

Best food we’ve ever had! Amazing service lovely restaurant - we have told everyone to go and try it and we will certainly be back!

We visited the Black Rat on Thursday evening for dinner. We had the most amazing meal, the food was beautifully presented and delicious, the service was friendly and attentive, the whole experience was all that I hoped and much more! We will definitely be returning the next time we are in Winchester! Thank you for an unforgettable evening, and memories that will last a lifetime x

Interesting menu that was well delivered. Attentive service throughout. Would definitely recommend for a special occasion.

Have already recommended to friends, great food and service in a nice setting. Portions a little on small side but full of flavour and wine very overpriced, they gave my wife a birthday pannacota with a candle in. Overall good Sunday evening out

Incredible food, staff and restaurant. It completely exceeded our expectations and made our first wedding anniversary very special.

Outstanding food - the tasting menu is a real treat with nicely paired wines. Staff were exceptional. We will definitely be back - can’t believe it has taken us two years to find them.

Incredible food, for a reasonable price, very deserving of the Michelin star.

A beautiful old building in Chesil Street is home to the Black Rat restaurant. We booked a table to eat at 6pm and so we had a choice of tables. We sat in the window and were made to feel very welcome. After choosing our wine we were served with some delicious home made bread and butter. We then enjoyed a delicious three course meal exquisitely presented and with sufficient timings with serving the courses.
Thank you to the chef who worked wonders with a sugar free dessert for me!
We enjoyed the experience so much we booked again straight away!

We really enjoyed our dinner at Black Rat on a Monday evening. We arrived early for a pre-dinner drink, and I think its fair to say that the upstairs bar room isnt the most cosy and welcoming place, but the drinks were nice, and then when we were shown to our table, the setting was lovely. Service was excellent, friendly and fun. The Zinfandel was terrific, and we really enjoyed our starters and mains, esp the duck. The elderflower cheesecake and its presentation was unusual , and didnt quite work for me, but overall the food was very good. I was being treated, but a sneaky glance at the bill suggested well over £180, which I think is sl steep 2 people with one pre-dinner drink each, one bottle of wine, and a glass of dessert wine, together with 5 courses (my partner skipped dessert and we had tap water and no coffee). I understand that service was 12.5%, perhaps more London like than necessary!

Great food, great service, great atmosphere. Menu has a very good offering so there will be something to suit any taste buds. Highly recommended.

Great staff, great food. We sat outside in one of the huts. It was our anniversary meal so perfect. Will definitely go back.

Wonderful evening as always !

Fabulous meal, couldn't fault any aspect of the food or service. My only negative comment would be the lightning, even with many candles it is a bit gloomy.

A very interesting menu with just the right balance to choose from. Beautifully cooked and presented. Definitely a meal I could not cook myself at home. We will return.

The concept and brand of black rat,hole, bottle, and boy love it.
Really enjoyed the the venue and quirky setting. The food was lovely and staff very welcoming. Plenty to choose from

Went here for lunch on sunday.. Food lacked on flavour and very overpriced. I was surprise to discover this is a michelin star restaurant. My expectations of the place were high and i left so disapointed.. menu was reduced to a lunch set menu which didnt have much options on them. Took too long to have the main that then we didnt bother with the dessert. I left feeling dissapointed after all the amazing reviews that i had read on here. Unfortunately not worth the money for us.

Sunday lunch menu choice and food selected was amazing. We only had soft drinks but there is an impressive and extensive wine and gin list! The restaurant itself is very cosy and homely, it was roasting hot outside so we sat inside with the refreshing aircon. The waiting staff were very attentive and friendly. We sat beside a table of 3 older people, one who complained as it actually turned out he thought he’d ordered tongue when it was clearly heart on the menu, but the staff responded impeccably to this and were very courteous and polite.

Had lunch here while visiting Winchester. Really good food, with unusual and tasty flavours. Highly recommended!

We were a table of four. The first course and main courses were all good. Deserts a little disappointing.
having been a number of times the menu may be in some danger of becoming a list of ingredients and losing a focus on the main element of the dish.

My wife and I have been to the black rat a couple of times before.
This time was a fantastic experience living up to the Michelin Star status.
We both had the taster menu which was amazing and we both throughly enjoyed!
They have a huge special gin menu which we would recommend to anyone!
We had an excellent evening once again Thank you to the staff and chef

Creative, innovative well executed dishes in an attentive relaxed atmosphere.

This restaurant is our favourite for miles and miles around. You can eat cheaper elsewhere but you can’t eat as well. You get what you pay for here and the food at The Black Rat is absolutely up there with the best. Local produce. Interesting menu. Excellent.

Fantastic experience in every way. amazing food, great and knowledgeable service, lovely atmosphere.

Very atmospheric setting evocative of medieval Winchester. Attentive but unobtrusive service and very high quality food. I much enjoyed my duck main course. This was a special birthday occasion and I will definitely return!

The only real restaurant in Winchester offering a wide choice of original recipes.

I wasn’t sure how much we would enjoy it as we were pushing the boat for our anniversary and this menu was far from our comfort zone, however, it was incredible!
The food was insanely tasty and combined with things you just wouldn’t find or expect!
A real culinary experience and I’m so glad we did it. Thanks Black Rat 🐀

The service was friendly and helpful in explaining some of the more unusual items on the menu. The food wasn’t as good as its reputation had suggested it might be, with the meat under-rendered and dishes over-seasoned and salty. Wines were very nice, but again, expensive. Without a gift voucher that we’d been given, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near value for money.

Amazing food, unpretentious atmosphere and lovely service

We booked lunch to celebrate our friend’s birthday. We had great service, the place was really comfortable and not stuffy and a relaxed setting.
Catered with no fuss for one of our friends with nut allergy. Noticed that there were no vegetarian-friendly menu options but this wasn’t an issue for us.
Really fresh, seasonal and delicious food and lovely drinks. Would definitely recommend.

It was my birthday dinner in which I selected this restaurant over the chesil and was very disappointed. I felt that the dishes were overrated and complicated. The staff did a poor job in describing the dishes. As a foodie, I suggest that they present a menu that is eatable. It did not live up to its reputation.

As a birthday treat we tried the tasting menu. The range of food, flavours and presentation were all excellent.

Absolutely perfect. I cannot fault this place. The service, the food, the staff, everything is just wonderful.

Lovely experience and very nice atmosphere. We rated our experience as 4 star, however this was not because anything was wrong but because we have just had better experiences elsewhere with food that we enjoyed even more. We went for a set lunch and perhaps we need to go for an evening meal to appreciate the full menu choice.

Phenomenal food and excellent service. Huge selection of gins, delicious home-baked rolls of different varieties. Knowledgeable friendly staff, and a superb atmosphere. Loved it.

Fantastic food, unobtrusive but attentive service, informal atmosphere.
We thoroughly enjoyed our evening here thankyou