Redwood Bistro in Eastleigh

Yuk this meal was awful in the restaurant who provide food the the care home. Over priced and Luke warm with kids serving.

We couldn’t believe how this once terrific restaurant has gone down hill. We c allied in at lunchtime to check that they had gluten free options and even spoke to the chef about it. We booked for the evening with high hopes. My pigeon breast starter was slightly over cooked. There was a cod dish on the set menu but we were told that they only had one left! My husband opted for this since he had been told that it was gluten free. When it arrived it was the cod dish from the a la carte menu rather than the one from the set menu that he had ordered, so the waitress had to go and check that this was also gluten free. Since this was the only cod left he decided to eat it even though it was the wrong dish. This restaurant needs to sharpen up its act.

What a gem of a place! We went with friends and had a wonderful meal. It's within walking distance for us and the service was attentive and professional whilst still being personal and informal. The meal we chose was from the a la carte menu which was delicious, well-cooked and very reasonably priced. We'll be back! Thanks for a lovely evening.

We thought we would give this a go as a change to our normal choice of restaurant . Food was ok- nothing special. The restaurant itself was dead with no background music - the whole experience was rather awkward . We would have been better off going to the local Toby carvery - at least the atmosphere is ok there!

I have frequented this restaurant on many previous occasions with family who reside within the village but am extremely disappointed with the terrible drop in standards after visiting recently. Not only does this seasons menu lack in any gourmet appeal, the atmosphere and general running of this once classy restaurant has failed to sustain any of its original glory. There was no sign of any management presence, reflecting heavily on the sloppy service of the young waitresses who were more interested in chatting about their upcoming holiday and diets to care that we were left waiting to be served. My family spoke highly of previous events and gatherings that have ceased since a replacement elderly restaurant manager was employed, implying this person would be better suited to organising daily outings for the care home rather than managing a commercial business. The meal itself was substandard and certainly not reflective of a rosette menu, soup and battered fish is not quite what i expect on an a-la-carte menu so i will be taking my family to a nearby establishment on my next visit. It is not forgiving enough that the menus are priced on the lower scale, presumably to tempt the few residents that reside on the village to eat there. The least I expect from a restaurant is to be served by staff that appreciate my business and from those who dont make me feel as though I am interrupting their weekend plans. I also expect some form of management presence for assurance that the outlet is being run efficiently, paying close attention to the reputation and standards of their restaurant. Much improvement needed to bring back the good standards once offered

Poor service food has gone down hill big time since the old team left. Not rosette standard any longer.

This used to be a great restaurant, with dishes such as venison, grouse, partridge, steak, all served in gourmet fashion. When one of the two master chefs left, they withdrew their a-la-carte section from the menu but the set menu was still OK, if a bit basic. We decided to give it another try and this time the set menu featured only four mains, including fish and chips, scampi, and some vegetarian dish. I chose a starter billed as 'ravioli of smoked salmon'. This was over-described, since it was merely three small rolls of salmon filled with cream cheese (no pasta in sight). It did taste better than it looked, I admit. The main course of fish and chips was all very good, except for the batter, which was undercooked and quite white. I had to leave the batter. The restaurant and the service is as pleasant as always and... wait for it... there is some good news! They are about to hire two up-market chefs again and will resume the (fabulous, let's hope) a-la-carte menu in September. To launch the upgrade they are even holding a one-night 5-course tasting menu. So, with any luck, it will be back to super standards of around a year ago.

Had a beautiful meal with a good friend who resides there Staff lovely food amazing prices excellent prompt service Cannot fault it

What an embarrassment . Took a chance on this restaurant after reading some good reviews and wish I hadnt bothered, my poor mum was speechless and refused to stick around for any pudding. Respectfully its a restaurant in the middle of retirement housing but i couldnt believe how many elderly frail customers filled the sparse (dirty) tables. No music playing in the background just the sound of soup being slurped and the staff banging equipment and shouting. No sign of decent food either, apparently just a basic menu available in this AA restaurant ? Not sure when the AA Inspector last visited but they need to go back now and see how bog standard the food is. Staff look fed up telling us that standards and business has fallen since original manageress was made redundant and head chef left. They didnt paint a good picture of the replacement restaurant manager whom they call `a resident` as he doesnt spend any time in the restaurant and does no work. We ate our one course and left as quickly as we could, my poor mum was petrified a sales assistant might try to persuade her to buy a property here. Not likely !!

Wes exceptional, now so poor it’s not worth the bother. Staff including manager head chef all gone and left to the kids to run. Food a shadow of the past

Four of us visited, intending to dine off the excellent a-la-carte menu. On arrival we found that the a-la-carte section had been removed from the menu. One of the two a-la-carte chefs had left the establishment. The set menu remained and the dishes we chose were top quality, prepared by the remaining expert chef. I began with a kedgeree and continued with a sea bass fillet main. It was good value and very tasty. The dining room is still the same, a splendid place to eat. The service was as special as always. Our waitress brought us an ice bucket for the reasonably priced bottle of Chilean sauvignon blanc. We ended with a fig dessert and fig ice cream. So everything was as good as it has always been, except that the wonderful gourmet dishes, such as bouillabaisse, grouse and venison were not available.

We visited for lunch on a Wednesday. I always order from the a-la-carte menu because the quality is so good. On this occasion we were informed that none of the

This bistro is amazing value and the food is beautifully presented and very good quality. I invited my granddaughters for lunch on Sunday and they both had roast chicken with roast potatoes and vegetables and pronounced it simply delicious! As children will, they followed it with ice cream, 2 chocolate balls each while I had a cheesecake. I regret not having taken a photo as the decoration looked almost too good to eat! We sat next to the terrace and were lucky enough to have sunshine. It must be super to eat outside in the summer.

This was the third time I had visited the restaurant and even though the original chef has moved on the quality of the food was still excellent. My Stilton and walnut salad was delicious and the venison main course was cooked to perfection with wonderful accompaniments. My husband had an equally delicious bouillabaisse. The restaurant has never been particularly crowded when we have visited, which is amazing considering the quality of the food.

We visited with two friends to enjoy the gourmet cooking provided here. The menu does not change much and I ordered two favourites: partridge and then venison loin. I hear that the original much-vaunted chef has left and been replaced by his number-2. We did not notice any difference in the quality of the dishes. The partridge was splendidly succulent and the sliced venison loin (served pink) was magnificent. All the accompaniments were as excellent as before. The minced cabbage in a creamy sauce with tiny piece of bacon was delicious, underlying the venison. At my recommendation, one friend chose the bouillabaisse - four pieces of different seafood, including red mullet, with a crab bisque pourable from a small jug. She greatly enjoyed it. I would advise dining off the a-la-carte menu because the quality is so good. The fixed menu is commendably reasonable (12.50 for two dishes, 14.50 for three) but naturally the frills and quality of the a-la-carte gourmet dishes is not there. Excellent Chilean wines are available at a reasonable charge (£5.90 for 250 ml). The coffee is excellent too. Our waitress was friendly and vivacious. Many thanks to her and the new chef! Booking is essential.

We had a lovely eve here, perfect for an early dinner, great service ( Thanks Daniel)

We visited with two friends for lunch. For the first time, there was little space for parking and we had to park one car on the road outside the property. Booking is essential for this restaurant. You have a choice of a very reasonably priced fixed menu or a-la-carte. The more exciting dishes (grouse, partridge, venison, bouillabaisse, etc.) are on the a-la-carte list. I chose the partridge starter, which was as excellent as on previous visits. For the main course, I selected something new, the bouillabaisse. This consisted of red mullet (an excellent but rarely seen fish), sea bass and tiger prawns with a small jug of splendid bisque to be poured over it. It was beautifully cooked and tasted great. A friend enjoyed her grouse, while my wife highly rated the venison. Even the vegetarian sausages were said to be very tasty. The wines by the glass are all sound and modestly priced. We ended with four well-made and tasty coffees. We look forward to each visit here.

Heard about this place through radio and was keen to try, I wasn’t disappointed food was on an other level and they had grouse on the menu which is a hard find

I spent 30 minutes or so online, looking at the menus for restaurants in Southampton, Winchester and Romsey, and didn't manage to find a single game dish, despite game now being in season. My wife and I decided to revisit the Redwood Bistro, where we had always enjoyed a great meal. I could not believe my luck, on arrival, when I saw they were offering partridge, venison and (the holy grail of game) grouse! I began with Breast and Leg of local Partridge, with red wine jus and girolle salad. The meat tasted absolutely delicious, perfectly cooked and very prettily presented. My wife chose the same starter that she had enjoyed last time - frog's leg soldiers to be dipped into a reconstructed parmesan egg with soft yolk, served with panacetta crumbs and pea puree. This was as beautifully presented as you would see in any Michelin restaurant (see photos). I continued with Pot Roasted Scottish new season Grouse, with braised savoy cabbage, truffle mash and butternut squash puree. The grouse has obviously been hung for a short while and was quite superb. I have rarely enjoyed a game dish more. My wife was very happy with her sea trout fillet, with wilted kale, saffron potatoes and a curried shellfish broth. The generous amount of broth was the making of this dish. We ended with two desserts: vanilla pannacotta with ginger snap and apricot, creme brulee with sorbet. These were fine but not quite as good as the desserts on previous visits. In any case, the starters and mains had been so splendid that we had no cause whatsoever for complaint. The wines by the glass are much more reasonably priced than in comparable restaurants. I enjoyed a 250ml glass of a good Penfold's shiraz for £6.95 and my wife had a 175ml glass of a tasty Argentinian sauvignon blanc for £4.95. The service was just right and we had a very enjoyable evening. .

We visited for dinner on a Thursday, having booked by phone. The a-la-carte menu offers some splendid dishes and it was difficult to choose. The other three diners began with a Caesar's salad and followed with lamb rump (both from the set menu). Both dishes were excellent. I was tempted by the a-la-carte and began with wood pigeon confit leg and breast slices. A pigeon leg is tiny but it still had good taste. The rare breast slices were splendid, as was the accompanying jus. For a main course, I chose venison loin slices, topped with a red wine ravioli. When you broke the pasta, the gravy flowed out over the venison. Very nice. Underneath was a fine mixture of cabbage, parmisan, and tiny ham pieces. A top-class dish, which looked very good on the plate. The other diners ended with crème brulee and peach ice cream or cheesecake, again with a scoop of home-made ice cream. I was awarded a small spoonful of the cheesecake and the taste/texture was exquisite. I will try a full portion next time. We ended with some well-made coffees. Every element of each dish had been prepared carefully and it was impossible to fault anything. The dining room is elegant and the service very good indeed.

My wife and I visited for a second time, having booked a table on the online booking site. The attractive restaurant opens at 5.30 for dinner and closes around 8.00. We booked for 6.00 and were somewhat delayed by the heavy Eastleigh traffic. My wife chose from the set menu (3 courses for £15) and began with trout gravadlax. This had an excellent colour and was decorated with a quenelle of goat's cheese and fresh peashoots. From the a-la-carte menu, I chose asparagus pannacotta with a confit egg and prosciutto strips. This was somewhat less attractively presented than most of their dishes, in a small glass container with toast on the side, but tasted fine. For the main course my wife chose mackerel fillet with rocket and new potatoes. This was a good-sized piece of fish and tasted delicious. My a-la-carte dish of lamb saddle and leg of lamb was presented in Michelin star style with several different baby vegetables, Each item tasted great. The Hampshire lamb saddle was served pink, as requested. It was succulent and very enjoyable, as was the accompanying jus. All the dishes here are modestly priced, particularly when you consider the quality of the cooking. The wine is also good and priced at only £5.25 for a 250ml glass of Chilean sauvignon blanc or cabernet sauvignon. My wife ended with a dessert of lemon pie with chantilly cream and vanilla ice cream. We had eaten very well for a total bill of £43 including two large glasses of good wine. You could easily pay almost double these prices for such excellent fare.

The title says it all , a place not to be missed . I took my 18 year old son here the other day to try the food , which he was really impressed with . Bearing in mind he is also a chef and i have brought him up with a love of good food . He came away very impressed and could not fault his meal in anyway. Having eaten in many very high end restaurants i must say the team and the food far excell expectations .You just need to look further than the stigma of eating in a retirment village.This a gem amongst the many drab place around to eat .

Having read local newspaper reports about this being the first restaurant in a care home to receive an AA rosette (it is open to the general public) we phoned to book for dinner on a Thursday evening. The dining room is spacious and classily decorated in subdued colours. The wait staff were in traditional black-and-white dress, as in many expensive restaurants. A set dinner was offered (£12.95 for two courses), with several interesting dishes. There was also a wider a-la-carte menu. I started with scallops on a bed of squid's-ink risotto and pea puree, decorated with peashoots. It was great to look at and tasted very good too. My wife began with a goat's cheese and red-onion starter in puff pastry. She continued with a second dish from the set menu, red mullet with saffron risotto and purple brocolli. She rated it as excellent. I chose a rabbit dish, loin and best-end, braised leg in sherry and saffron jus. There were gourmet-style drops of carrot puree and some delicious new-season asparagus (which the chef later told me had been pan-fried in escargot butter). This dish was prettily presented like something from a Michelin-star restaurant and was very interesting to eat. We each had a 250ml glass of Concha y Toro wine, sauvignon blanc for the fish and cabernet sauvignon for the rabbit. This was very reasonably priced at £5.50 per glass. We ended with a chocolate fondant dessert and a three-element rhubarb dessert. It was a fine meal, with good service, and we enjoyed it greatly. We were served both still and sparkling chilled water, for which there was no charge.