The Black Rat

We were celebrating my husband’s birthday (the candle was put in the wrong pudding but that was ok!!!) so it was a special occasion for us.
We were not disappointed. The food and specials were explained to us and we were given time to have a drink and peruse the menu before sitting down to eat. There was an appropriate amount of time between ordering and receiving each course. The food was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. I couldn’t fault anything about our wonderful experience at The Black Rat and would highly recommend your restaurant to friends. Thank you for a lovely evening!

We had a fantastic meal. We tried the taster menu. My husband has a severe fish allergy. We contacted the restaurant before hand and they adapted the taster menu for us. We had 6 indulgent courses of delicious food, safe in the knowledge it was fish free. The service was excellent and setting perfect. We stayed next door in the B&B, linked to the restaurant and it was lovely! Perfect evening.

I could not choose a better place to celebrate my boyfriends birthday!
Starter I had had the most interesting flavors I have actually never tasted! It was marvelous and we both had a great time also thank to all the staff. We will definitely be coming back and recommending The Black Rat to all out friends.
THANK YOU FOR EXCLUSIVE EXPERIENCE!

I'm a frequent visitor to the Black Rat but this was the first time that we opted for the Tasting Menu. I was somewhat disappointed with the the first three courses which I found to be somewhat bland and lacking a good tasting experience. The latter part of the menu was excellent and back to my normal expectation.

The service was excellent, friendly, knowledgeable and not oveerbearing. We had a lovely lunch.

Starters (especially) and the mains were amazing, desserts left us a bit cold to be honest, looked good on the plate but flavours and textures didn't really meet the expectation set by the presentation. Service was fantastic, pricing good for this kind of high end restaurant. Would definitely go again.

As usual, we had a lovely evening, excellent food, perfect service. Thank you

Catching up with overseas friends

The restaurant has a lovely setting and food tasted delicious. The madeleines were the best dessert I’ve eaten in a while. A perfect end to the meal. The staff were attentive and helpful without being overbearing. Overall a wonderful meal.

Lovely evening spent enjoying some fabulous food and drink. Great tasting menu accompanied by gin and wine!

Delicious and beautifully presented food. The portions we’re really good and we had a delightful 3 course meal over 2 hours. The staff was very friendly and the building a very cosy cottage. Highly recommend it!

Couldn't fault it-everything was perfect esp the service and cuisine and the puddings sent us home in 7th heaven even if mine was listed as pigs blood something...!

We visited Winchester especially to have lunch at The Black Rat and we were not disappointed! The setting was relaxed and cosy and sympathetic to the historic building. The staff were friendly, welcoming and very knowledgeable about the menus. Our food was beautiful, sometimes challenging but always delicious! Our entire experience was fantastic and we would definitely recommend eating here to all our friends and family. It was a pleasure and perfect way to celebrate a birthday!

Wonderful and inventive as always. The lambs heart starter was exceptional

Excellent but John Dory was overcooked, not expected from Michelin star.

I received this as a birthday gift voucher and loved the experience. We eat out quite a lot and the food was certainly in a different league from other fine dining. The John Dory dish was particularly delicious as was the white chocolate dessert.
Service was very attentive but perhaps asked if everything is OK just one too many times! However, better this than being ignored.
I would suggest that unless money is no object you make a note from the website menu as to the prices because they are not shown on the restaurant menu.

We had a table at 6.30pm and there was only one other couple present, hence the ambience was a tad lacking, but not unsurprising. The key issue was service, which was not at a level I expected. The wine, a pinot noir, was not aired and too much poured in the glass. No request to taste. The wine was disappointing, lacking flavour and short in length. Very average and consequently a tad overpriced. The food was excellent. Served beautifully and excellent textures and flavours.

We visited the Black Rat for a special occasion and chose the tasting menu. Great food, expertly cooked and presented. Accompanying wine was excellent as was the attentive but not intrusive service. With pre-dinner drinks, tasting menu, 1/2 bottle of wine, 2x sparkling water, coffee and one grappa it came to £100 per head.
OK for a special occasion.

Excellent meal with attentive but unobtrusive service. Menu (lunch) was sufficiently varied to cater to most tastes. Good portions without being overwhelming. Loved the variety of ingredients and how well they complemented each other in the dishes. Very good wine list - nice to see some unusual wines. And the value for money was great! Will definitely go again!

Our visit to the Black Rat exceeded our expectations. The attention to detail with the service & food was meticulous and contributed to making this a very special occasion. The food combinations were outstanding.

Have been going to BR for over ten years.Most recent visit last week and it still gets better.Great food,and the tasting menu great idea .All the dishes very good.Gareth and team provide excellent service and knowledgeable about what they do.Excellent food and great ambience.

Wonderful food and great surroundings

Very nice, cosy atmosphere. Excellent food, drinks and wine. Highly recommend.

Well presented food in a very comfortable atmosphere

Amazing tasting menu with interesting ingredients and flavours! Great service and setting too!

Excellent service and good quality food but a bit limited on the choices.

Interesting menu and beautiful presentation. Great wine pairings with dessert. Good service

We went with the expectation of a nice relaxing, long lazy lunch - and that is what we got! Lovely setting and more on the informal side of dining, which was perfect. The staff a little over attentive, but did not diminish the experience.

We had a very relaxed evening with great food. Not cheap, but good value. The courses were all perfectly prepared and the service was friendly.

Fantastic romantic ambiance and high quality cuisine.

The staff were pleasant and attentive, the food seasonal and technically good , however the seasoning was lacking and food was flat in fact the best dish served was the coffee, the dashi lacked substance, ponzu dressing was so sweet it killed the trout, fish was over cooked , Japanese artichoke to acidic, need I go on ....trying to fuse Japanese and other cultures needs to based on basic cooking be right first ...here the fur coat no knickers approach to cookery appears to be the case

Our first visit to this restaurant and it will not be our last. (next time we have something to celebrate!) From the time you enter to the time you leave you are given every attention and none at the appropriate times. The food is exceptional albeit I think the starter could have been a bit bolder (lambs heart). However, we both enjoyed our starters which need hit all out taste buds. The mains too were of very high standard especially the Halibut. Neither of us could find fault with any element on the plate - this shows excellent detail and skill in the kitchen. This is not a cheap eats for the two of us will nearly reached £100 ph that is with Wine and we did have a cheese-board. A place to visit again? Definitely. Value: and my only complaint is the 12.5% service charge which I don't mind paying on the food but NOT on the wine too. There is already a huge mark-up on wine and to an extra £5 to have the cork taken out??? (that is my only gripe!!!!)

Food was great. Stunning flavour combinations beautifully presented and excellent service. 1st vists will be going back

treated our nephew to dinner we had the tasting menu and we all enjoyed the whole experience would highly recommend and will be going back next time we are in the area

Excellent meal, worth a detour from anywhere in the county

Wonderful food - very unusual - and it was the reduced Sunday menu with 3 choices per course. We could have eaten all of them! The people were lovely, though there were quite long periods between courses, which didn’t matter a bit as we were all enjoying ourselves so much. We’re planning a Saturday night meal, with a stopover at the Black Hole, with the same friends who were with us on Sunday. Loved it!

Fabulous food. Lunch set menu is good value for this standard of cooking. Friendly service. The lunch session had a very relaxed atmosphere.

I booked the restaurant for a surprise 40th meal. I was fully aware of the cost of the menu prior to our visit but was shocked by the portion size of the main meals. I felt the menu was very limited which was disappointing.

Evening meal with my wife. Both had the tasting menu which was incredible. Food looked amazing, great flavour and ideas. Combinations we have never had and unlikely to have in the future. The staff gave brilliant drink recommendations too. Very enjoyable evening.

The restaurant was beautiful with a quaint rustic feel, however good size tables ensured you never felt close to anyone. There were lovely touches like complimentary bread and varying butters as well as a treat truffle at the end. Each course was wonderful and had such an array of ingredients and features. The staff were attentive and always good at suggesting things. Overall a wonderful experience.