Rick Stein, Winchester

Had an absolutely fantastic meal. Staff were excellent, friendly and helpful. Food was delicious, including the gluten free option. Decoration and atmosphere amazing. Loved it.

We arrived early for our late lunch reservation and waited in the bar area. Restaurant atmosphere is nice and the benches have thick throw pillows. Staff was pleasant, helpful and efficient. Bathrooms were nice and had lovely scented hand lotion. The menu was one long page but no specials or catch of the day which is odd for a seafood restaurant. Another thing I noticed is that unlike almost all menus today, they did not note items that were gluten free, dairy free, etc. Unless it states otherwise for a particular entree, the meals do not come with sides. For appetizers we had the sashimi and fish cakes. My spouse loved the fish cakes but my sashimi left something to be desired. The tuna had iridescence on it which is a sign that it’s it not good quality. It was also very pale which isn’t a sign of sashimi quality. There was no soy sauce but rather a light brownish liquid that had zero flavor. No fresh ginger only the pre-packed cheap orange stuff you get in the grocery store. No wasabi. The rest of the sashimi wasn’t bad but not the best quality. It didn’t taste fishy which is good but it wasn’t anything special. If you want good sushi, go elsewhere (Kyoto for example) but this isn’t the place for it. For our entrees we had the Indonesian seafood curry and the steamed sea bass. The Indonesian curry was supposed to come with pilau rice but instead came with white steamed rice with what looked like pork cracklings. It also came with greens beans that had shredded coconut and hot peppers. The curry sauce was more like a spicy butternut squash soup and was very tasty but watery. The sea bass was excellent quality and the skin came off easily. There were large shrimp as well which were good. I’d definitely recommend this dish. My spouse thought the spicy sauce that came with the steamed sea bass was tasty. No sides came with that one. I had the cosmo drink special which was made with grapefruit Belvedere vodka. It was difficult to drink to be honest. Not a good blend of flavors and it was heavy on the inferior vodka. I had to add sparkling water to make it drinkable. My husband’s white wine was fine but nothing great. They do serve a large portion — more like a double than a single — so be prepared to have someone else drive if you drink more than one. Nothing special was done for Valentine’s Day. No chocolate pieces at the end of the meal like many restaurants do on a regular day. No candles on the tables, no flowers on the tables. Kind of disappointing.