Chesil Rectory

Modern European·
££££
·

SquareMeal Review of Chesil Rectory

In a city rammed with historic buildings, the centuries-old, timber-framed Chesil Rectory still turns heads. It dates from 1450, lays claim to being Winchester’s oldest dwelling and has character by the bucket load. Set across two floors, a gentle makeover has carefully woven a modern country look through the old beams, timbers and inglenook fireplace, with the whole operation taking an unstuffy approach to hospitality. There’s nothing dated about the kitchen’s output either, with well-executed brasserie-style dishes fashioned from local and seasonal produce. The kitchen keeps things intelligently simple – witness Blackmoor Estate venison, perhaps teamed with wild mushrooms, cavolo nero and chocolate sauce or roasted and spiced Brixham monkfish accompanied by caponata and a potato crisp. Desserts deliver comfort in the form of treacle tart with lime ice cream or cherry sponge with mint syrup and vanilla cream.

Good to know

Average Price
££££ - £30 - £49
Cuisines
Modern European
Food Hygiene Rating

Chesil Rectory is featured in

Location

1 Chesil Street Winchester, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 0HU

01962 851555 01962 851555

Website

Opening Times

Mon-Sun 12N-2.30pm (Sun -3pm) Mon-Sat 6-9.30pm

Reviews

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4 Reviews 
Food/Drink
Service
Atmosphere
Value

Anon

15 January 2024  
Food & Drink 1
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 4
Value 2
***ALLERGY AVOID / SHOCKING FOLLOW UP***

***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 - such a shame.

Beverley R

28 December 2022  
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 5
Value 5

Really fabulous menu, with a great variety of ingredients 

 

 

Anon

30 April 2019  
Great food, really lovely service.

Julie R

09 April 2019  
Beautiful listed building recently renovated and with an amazing cocktail bar upstairs. The food is modern, using local sourced ingredients and is the best i've had outside of London.
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01962 851555 01962 851555

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