The Winch

My mother and I stopped here on Christmas Eve 2012, as our normal place near Ely was closed. We were on our way to Sandringham for Xmas with relatives. I think this episode was meant to be a sign The Winch is a revelation. Under new management for 8 weeks now the service is charming, the food is simple but beautifully cooked and presented and oh, such great value! A cheese salad (strong, local cheddar and home-​made bread) and ham, egg, and chips (local, honeyed ham in thick, yummy slices, freee range eggs and great big hand-​cut chips) with drnks came to less than £20. I’ve paid much more in the past for much less. The owner chef comes out to the bar to have a chat, the great dane and the terrier wag their tails at you, the ambience is relaxing and friendly but not in the least intrusive. This place muust be supported as it’s suffered bad press in the past and this family run establishment deserves to thrive. Highly, highly recommended and don’t forget the lucky lottery shop is in the same village. Other details include super clean loos, flat, sizeable parking area and plenty of disabled friendly ramps.

Went to the Winch Friday evening to celebrate my daughters graduation, so so disappointing. When I booked a table was told that only carvery was available, we agreed that was OK. What they did not tell us was that the carvery was less than mediocre, served on cold plates and very greasy. The evening was meant to be a celebration but was a disaster. The was only one other family in the whole building, I now know why. The bill was £60 for four mains, deserts and drinks. My daughters lager even had something floating in it!
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY THE PLACE IS AWFUL!!!

Visited on a Tuesday after booking the carvery only to find that the carvery was not on, was told on arrival that the carvery was only available on Sunday and Monday. Decided to stay and ordered from main menu which was very limited. Four of us dined and I have to say that the meals were absolutely awful. I opted for burger, salad and fries as there were only half a dozen things on the menu. The salad had started to go off and was brown, the burger was crumbly and after cutting into it with a knife it was like a pile of cheap mince. The fries were home made but most of them were cold, the burger bun was like a cheap supermatket bap. For £8.95 I expected it to at least be edible! We all left most of our mains and did complain. We were pretty much fobbed off by the waitress who refused to even give any kind of discount, although she did say that we could have 10% off if we decided to dine again with them… not likely! We had dined here when it was the Sportsman and the food was pretty awful then, we had hoped that the place had improved as it had changed hands. We dine out regularly at all types of restaurants and pubs and now know why virtually every table in the place was empty… DON’T GO THERE!!!