The Winchester Restaurant & Bar

This bar/​restaurant is in danger of closing soon. I read reviews before visiting and the negative reviews were spot on. Beer selection is a joke. I was told they have a great selection of craft beer. Three local brews on tap is not a great selection! And serving beer in plastic cups is not acceptable to me.
I asked for a food menu and they said all they were serving were paninis.
I guess they ran out of money to pay the heating bill, might as well have been sitting outdoors.
They don’t have set hours, I dropped by for lunch during the week, but they were closed. The web site and the sign on the door said they are open at noon.
The live music was a positive. The 2 TV sets over the bar were not on and the others were only showing Barbarella.

Still hoping for a good local bar and the Winchester just doesn’t cut it. I second all of the reviews regarding over-​priced, extremely small portioned, and poorly executed food. It’s a sports bar that wants to be a hipster gastropub and it falls very short of either of those things. Doesn’t work for the Woodbridge demographic and doesn’t have the quality to get folks to chose it over the great selection New Haven has to offer.
The fact that Barbarella always seems to be playing really turned me off, but the Winchester must have gotten a sweet deal on a public exhibition license, right?

Disgusting! Gross! Just plain awful. Whatever you do, keep driving pass this place. Sure wish we did. Both bartender & waitress service is so slow. The food is just inedible. Close the ‘kitchen’ please. Our group tried a little bit of everything on the very limited menu and everything was disgusting. The waitress asked if we wanted to take our ‘food’ home. Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t feed a starving animal this garbage.
Never. And I mean Never. Will I ever step foot in the place again. YUCK.

My first experience of the Winchester was running from a Final Friday event at New England Brewing Co. across the street to use the bathroom. Because they let me do that, I thought the staff was pretty friendly, and at the time, I thought it looked like a decent bar. I stopped in more recently for happy hour, and I still think it’s a decent bar.
Beer selection is much more extensive than I expected, with taps wrapping around the entire inside of the bar counter. For happy hour (M-​Th 4 – 7, F 3 – 7), drafts, well drinks, and apps are $ 2 off. On top of that discount, I have the CT Beer Trail card, which gives me 50% off wings at the Winchester. For two orders of wings and two quality draft beers, two people were able to get out of there with a tab of just $ 15. The wings weren’t the best ever, but they were crispy enough, and the sauces were good. Prices aren’t too bad to begin with, so I would definitely stop in even when it’s not happy hour for some wings and beer.

A little sad when we went here, thought it would be better, OK for beers and drinks I suppose, but the food was well below par. Regular stuff, but just not that good.

Great selection of craft brews, though there are a few of those around town. Great bartenders and friendly service — much improved over the last couple of places that were here. Still, it’s a bit pricey and when compared to other craft brew pubs, still lacks character. Rumor has it, they’ve gotten a good kitchen crew now, so hopefully it begins to stand out. It doesn’t have much of a following yet, so you won’t have to wait long for a drink.

Everything looks good on the outside, I heard the interior was remodeled beautifully. The food was TERRIBLE… TERRIBLE. The Caesar salad was just leafy greens with a few strips of chicken for $ 13 bucks. The buffalo wings were awful my husband put them back in the oven with sauce from one of our favorites. I will never go back! I much rather had spent that at stop & shop to make us our own lunch at home. By the way the portions are toddler sized, save your money.

This place has a pretty extensive craft beer selection. They weren’t too crowded which made getting drinks quick and easy. The bartender was very knowledgeable and was a pleasure to talk to.
I haven’t eaten here yet but the food looks very nice. They did make us some homemade Frito style ships with old bay seasoning that were delicious.

I wanted this place to be good, I really did! However, it was one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. After a delightful Final Friday at New England Brewing, everyone in my party was very excited to try the new restaurant across the street. Although the exterior was somewhat unassuming, the inside has been beautifully remodeled and looks much better than it did previously. The only true positive in this place was all of the delicious New England Brewing offerings they had on tap. You may be tempted to brave these choppy culinary waters for that alone, but trust me, the voyage is simply too perilous and you would be much better off buying a growler and eating a Hot Pocket in the parking lot!
The service here was terrible with inattentiveness that bordered on indifference. The food was incredibly overpriced, basically inedible and served in painfully small portions. Some highlights included «meatloaf cupcakes» that were really three dry and hard as a rock meatballs that, both by taste and appearance, could have been taken right out of a Chef Boyardee can. Also, five – yes, that’s right FIVE – nacho chips with a spoonful of greasy pulled pork on each. Other culinary delights included a pulled pork sandwich, also greasy, on a half a piece of bread with what seemed to be two spoonfuls of pork and lobster mac and cheese that tasted like they made the cheese sauce with water from the Naugatuck River. There was absolutely nothing good to say about my experience here and I don’t plan on EVER returning, even if they do have some very good beers on tap. Next time I visit New England Brewing I can plan on having a better tasting meal at the Five Guys down the street or at the deli section of the Mobil station.

Great burger and good vibe. I’ll be back.

Changing the menu and painting the walls was not enough to make this place any better than Scoreboards. The service was bad, the food was overpriced and the portions were small. As the old saying goes «you can’t put lipstick on a pig»