Warwick, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: This former fishmonger, butcher, casino, tailor etc. is acclaimed by locals for its “perfect fine dining in an intimate setting”. After pandemic lockdowns, it’s “back with a subtle but impactful makeover and a great new tasting menu” – now the only option, and ringing in at £65 for six courses.

2022 Review: It’s “nice to eat outside by the canal on a sunny day” at this well-run casual spot, with a useful menu of grills and sarnies.

2021 Review: “Pleasant and friendly” venue off the main drag: modern British dishes are “clearly made with both love and knowledge” in the semi-open kitchen, and “it’s good to interact with the chefs as they serve a course”; reasonable prices too.

2022 Review: The oak-panelled dining room at this Lutyens-style Relais & Château spa hotel makes a suitable setting for chef Paul Evans to showcase fresh produce from the hotel’s long-established kitchen garden. Long-serving chef-director Simon Haigh oversees the Eden hotel collection’s culinary offering from this flagship restaurant.

Still “maintaining a brilliant dining experience” a decade after winning the tyre men’s acclaim, this pub in a 19th-century building (the dining space is a former schoolroom, the bar an old butcher’s shop) is the brainchild of Andreas Antona, owner of famed Brum haunt Simpson’s, and chef Adam Bennett, who also used to work there. Regulars never seem to tire of its “supreme quality” (“celebrated our 150th meal here this year”), and it’s much “better value” than other venues of its quality. For its many fans, “Adam, Andreas and the team are to be congratulated” (not least “for enhancing the value of properties in the neighbourhood”).

2022 Review: With its “lovely setting (indoors or outdoors)” and “nicely priced menu” of dishes from around the world – including a selection of “fantastic” small plates to share – this 200-year-old country pub with a contemporary brasserie extension is a useful option near Stratford.

2022 Review: “A real gem in our local area” – this branch in the stylish, seven-strong Warwickshire-based 'Lovely Pubs' group has a lot to recommend it: “service is on the right side of friendly and very attentive”, they serve “great pub food, but restaurant quality” (including “fantastic seafood platters”), and if you stick to the main bar downstairs, there's plenty of atmosphere too.

This half-timbered town-centre fixture is useful for a “consistent offering” that includes “good-value lunch and pre-theatre menus”. “First ate here in the mid-80s with a Sixth Form school trip – it was good then and still is”.

Wild food chef and hunter-gatherer Mike Robinson is behind this “regular favourite” in a Grade II-listed building dating back to 1500 (and now host to the Indigo hotel chain). Reporters “love the excellent offering of game – particularly venison” (they manage their own deer herds and have a deer larder in the Cotswolds) and “everything is delicious” (“there’s an à la carte, thank god”) and given that they’re “cooking with flame” there’s also “plenty to watch”.

“Only the view can recommend it” – is the charge rather too frequently laid against what should be the ideal pre-theatre refuelling spot for visitors to the RSC. “It has stunning views over the river and park, so what’s not to like? Almost everything in fact!” according to its detractors – “we’ve been frequent visitors over the years and every time we go we hope it has improved, but sadly it never does” – “the food is average, the staff ill-informed about the menu”. Fans are a bit more optimistic: “a lovely setting for food that’s fine, if a little unexciting”.

Paul Foster’s casual but ambitious venue has had a slightly tumultuous year with the loss of its Michelin star in early 2024 and the closure of a short-lived London business that doubtless took up much time and energy. Some diners either found it “not as satisfying or memorable as previously”; or “went to Salt with high expectations, having heard enthusiastic reports from normally reliable friends”, and found food that “at a cheaper and less pretentious place would have seemed OK but which could and should have been more exciting”. On the plus side, though, all diners still award good-or-better food ratings, and there are still encouraging reports (“contrary to some others, my impression is that the restaurant has moved from strength to strength, with the quality of the cooking being extremely good and the frequently locally sourced ingredients working together to deliver excellent and delicious dishes”). As of autumn 2024, the restaurant has moved to a tasting menu only format.

Stop Press – in February 2023, ex-Simpson’s head chef Matt Cheal closed down his popular Henley-in-Arden venture, which was too small for his planned expansion, and upped sticks eight miles down the road to Knowle High Street, where he now co-runs things with the manager of the Jacques fine dining restaurant which previously stood in the new location. According to early reports, “the exceptional quality of Cheal’s food, not up till now as appreciated as it ought to be, has not deteriorated in its relocation”, while the new space – a former bank with a posh cocktail bar – is “comfortable” (if “a little too glitzy” for some tastes).

“Run by a delightful couple in a charming village pub” – Richard & Solanche Craven inspire a hymn of praise in reports on their “outstanding Michelin-starred pub” on the fringe of the Cotswolds, which provides the “best all-round gastronomic experience” this year to a couple of reporters. “The food ranks very highly by virtue of its originality and the excellence of its execution. The place still functions as a pub, with an open fire and a pool table, but it is also a proper restaurant”.

“Good food and beer in an excellent, welcoming atmosphere – what more can an Englishman/woman want?” ask admirers of this classic village inn on the northern fringes of the Cotswolds. “An overnight stay with excellent dinner and breakfast to be recommended – but it needs booking in advance”.

2022 Review: On the banks of the Avon, this riverside eaterie boasts an excellent terrace overlooking a scenic Saxon bridge. It serves a modern bistro menu, with char-grilled steaks the prime attraction.