Restaurant263 in Leicester

This place is fantastic. The food is just to die for! We love going here. I love that the chefs come to the table and tell you all about what they’ve made for you. Today was my second visit. I will definitely be back. Awesome

A very well put together and presented tasting menu.

Hi Restaurant263, I wanted to share some feedback regarding our recent dining experience at your establishment on April 11th booked via open table. During our visit, we noticed one of your waiters coughing frequently without any apparent protective measures, such as wearing a facial mask. Despite their evident illness, they continued to serve us throughout the evening. Unfortunately, within a few days after our visit, two of my colleagues and I, totaling five individuals from our party, developed cold symptoms and began coughing. I'm still experiencing occasional coughing myself, which raises concerns about potential exposure during our time at your restaurant. It's essential to prioritize the health and safety of both customers and staff, especially given current public health concerns. I recommend implementing stricter protocols for staff health management, including mandatory mask-wearing for employees showing symptoms of illness, regular health screenings, and measures to prevent the spread of contagious diseases within your premises. I hope you'll take this feedback into consideration to improve the professionalism and safety of your restaurant. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Dined here on Friday evening, could not fault anything. From the moment we came through the door until when we left, we were thoroughly looked after. Friendly staff and service was attentive but not overbearing. We really enjoyed being served by the chefs and each dish kept getting better. I've been to many restaurants including 3 Michelin starred and some of the dishes was up there with the best we've had. Lovely restaurant and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they were to get such accolades. Thank you to the team, will be returning again soon.

Outstanding fine dining in Leicester. We chose the tasting menu, something that works really well for fine dining. Impressive range of carefully designed courses. Excellent in terms of quality and presentation. Was very impressed by the relevant chef bringing the food out to briefly explain it. One in particular, Ashley we think, stood out as a real star, not just for her obvious culinary talent, but also with her genuine enthusiasm for each relevant dish that she explained and the warm manner in which she responded to our questions. Great experience as expected. London quality, Leicester prices.

Where to start. I attempted to treat my mother here for a meal based on the good reviews of the restaurant. I can see this sadly meant very little. The good: the food is great! Leicester is a godforsaken dump, and hardly a city known for “fine dining” so this is a rare gem. The dishes have been thoughtfully crafted to a high level here, with emulsions as good as at any Six by Nico. The bad: The cocktails are disgusting. Childishly sweet, with too much juice in them. I then ordered a negroni thinking surely a 3-ingredient drink couldn’t be messed up (reader; it was). Our candles extinguished quickly, and none of the many waitstaff bothered to replace them. Things went off the rails after course 3 of our 8-course tasting menu. There was a ONE HOUR wait between courses, and then the wrong course was brought out. There was no apology, no explanation, and then the next course took another half hour to arrive. By this point (2+ hours in), the entire meal service should have been concluded- all 8 courses. The maitre’d had no clue what was wrong in the kitchen, and the owner refused to apologise even once for the disruption to service. When quizzed, he simply said “oh, normally we have a very efficient clockwork-like process”. We decided to cut our losses and ended the meal early. The restaurant refunded us the difference for the 4 missed courses. Complete and utter disappointment. If you are charging fine dining prices, there can only be fine dining service.

Nice food. Polite and helpful staff

Dinner Leicester city centre. It's situated at 76 Highcross Street,which is just across the road from the multi-storey car park,where you park if driving to them. On arrival the restaurant was full except for one table which was our spot for the evening. It's called 263 after the area code for Zimbabwe. Don't let that fool you as it's not African cuisine. They class themselves as Modern British, serving seasonal A La Carte Dining, Tasting menus, set Lunch Menu alongside curated Wine-list and Classic cocktails. There's an 8 course tasting menu £60 which we chose or a vegetarian/vegan version. Or if you can't manage that, they also have the A La Carte menu to choose from. Our meal starts with a couple of snacks followed by a beef fillet tartare served with a little brioche. Next up was cured salmon, slightly blow torched. Then it was Lamb belly with bread and butter. To follow was a very tasty stuffed chicken wing. Onto the main course where you have a choice of pork, beef, or cod. We chose the latter two options. Both served with Jerusalem Artichoke/ Potato/ BBQ Leek. There was a pre-dessert of lemon and wild berries sorbet with little crunchy meringue peices. Dessert was a very pretty rhubarb and ginger delight. The end of the meal is Petit Fours, which we had with a coffee. We had a very enjoyable Saturday evening. The staff were lovely and friendly, and we especially liked it when the chefs came out of the kitchen and served their dishes to your table. A return visit is a must.

Excellent place! Had the six course meal and it was a gastronomical delight !!

Best fine dining restaurant in Leicester City by far. We had an 8 course meal and we were extremely pleased by the attention to detail that went into preparing each dish by the chefs. My favourite was scallops, duck and also the selection of puddings. We Cant wait to visit again soon for another fun evening. The atmosphere is classy, beautiful and cosy. enjoyed the indoor plants and the great view from the front window. The waiters were really friendly, food-out of this world. you couldn’t ask for more really. What a really great restaurant.

Incredible service and great atmosphere. The tasting menus are so inventive. I've been for three different seasons and each time have really enjoyed the food here. Excellent veg and vegan options too.

Wonderful tasting menu and wine paring. Delicious, innovative food and friendly, knowledgeable service staff. Chef Keith should be on Great British Menu or similar.

There aren't many tasting menus in Leicester, and I'm glad 263 has filled the gap! The food is inventive and the price is more than affordable. I've been a few times now and I haven't been disappointed. It's nice to try different types of food that aren't sold anywhere else in the city. I have a dairy allergy and they always accommodate it, including a delicious pudding rather than a bland sorbet like most other restaurants. 😁

Located in the city centre. The vibe was very calm, the service was excellent. The food was amazing, I cannot fault it. Definitely a place to return

Simply lovely. Great food and service from enthusiastic well informed staff.

Extremely slow service coupled with 8 courses of disappointment. Don't waste your time & money.

Yes, they have it all. A treat for your senses. They dishes bring some experimenation without creating nonsensical. The cocktails were delicious.

First visit tonight,been recommended by a couple of friends, so thought we would give it a try. We were not disappointed... We chose the 5 course blind taster menu. Given the choice of main...pork,chicken or vegan. Wow!!!!! Each course was superb. The service was excellent, attentive staff. Each course flowed nicely, and the table next to us had the wine pairing, which they said was great. A good wine and beer selection. Very impressed and highly recommended. A good idea to book a table as Friday and Saturday are very busy. Pleasantly surprised when the bill came,absolute bargain for the quality of food and service.

Had the 8 course pairing menu. Every course was a taste sensation. Cannot recommend highly enough. Will definitely be going again.

We loved it here. The food and service was spot on. Loved the wine pairing too. It really added the experience. 6 very happy ladies, we'll definitely be back.

Excellent! Had the 8 course menu with wine pairing and everything was delicious. The staff were really nice too. My husband had the meat eaters menu and loved it. I'm vegetarian so was given the vegan menu but with dairy products - this was perfect for me and I'm so glad they offer this option.

Fantastic food as usual. If u love fine dining you will not be disappointed. would highly recommend.

Top quality food and fine dining experience. Absolutely recommend!!

We've eaten here a few times now, and it's clear that they've found their feet and are turning out inventive, delicious dishes. There's a choice between six or eight course menus, being either meat/fish or vegan. I've always eaten the vegan menu but been with meat eaters at times. The courses are fabulous, and vegan ones no less so in terms of flavours. Service is excellent too. You can have matching wine flights, or buy drinks you like. Once you factor in drinks it's not the cheapest place to go, but in my opinion it's worth every penny. Booking recommended.

Exquisite tasting menu at a pretty fair price. Really glad we took the wine pairing option too, they were all great choices and complemented each course perfectly. I asked for a veg or fish option tasting menu when I booked, and this was honoured even though there was a blind tasting menu on that night. The sea bass main they produced for us was amazing. Delicious cocktails too; we had the tequila & rhubarb, and the cucumber & dill ones.

Absolutely superb 5 course blind tasting menu. The smokey potato dish was incredible. We added the wine pairings and they complimented perfectly. Attentive service. Prices very reasonable for this kind of fine dining experience. We will definitely return.

We visited this place once before (about 18 months ago) since then it's had a bit of a make over but I'm pleased to say one thing that hasn't changed is the quality. We had the 8 course tadting menu last night and every course was delicious, as a veggie it's such a great thing not to be an afterthought. It feels like a proper treat, the staff are quietly attentive, it's a nice environment but the star is the food. Don't miss it.

We thoroughly enjoyed the 9 course tasting menu on our first visit. All courses are flavoursome and with some unique combinations, but all tastes delicious. Chefs coming over to each table at every course and explaining about th dish is a great idea. This should be on your bucket list if you live in Leicester.

Rubbish food. Rip off prices and poor service

5 course taster menu was really clever and inventive to make it really good value! Best meal I've had in Leicester

Absolutely fantastic. Holly our waitress was absolutely amazing. Providing great service. Brilliant place to dine . Would highly recommend

Fantastic food, service was impeccable Probably the nicest meal I’ve had in Leicestershire, definitely worth doing the wine paring

Excellent food and service .Highly recommended 8 course meal with wine pairing

Came for a Valentine’s meal. Set menu which catered to both vegan and non vegan. Very nice, each course was perfectly presented. Would recommend if you’re looking for something a bit special in Leicester.

me and my boyfriend had the valentines day 6 course tasting menu. we were attracted by the low price for a fine dining experience and previous reviews and recommendations we had seen. overall romantic and sensational experience. a must go for vegetarians! (fabulous oyster mushroom) one criticisms would that we both wished the server had talked us through the courses. thanks!

Friendly staff, great service, and superb food. Really enjoyed it, will be coming back.

Me & my wife went for a blind 5 course meal for our birthdays, and we wasn't dissapointed! Great experience and food. Staff was great, each course that came out was explained by the chef and top it off we got a suprise birthday dessert. Highly recommend.

The food was next to none! Definitely a fine dining experience and i have a say a trip for your taste buds!! Great seasonal produce used to make some exceptional dishes!!

Wow! Fine dining heaven! A relaxed chilled restaurant with polite, attentive staff. We did the 6 course taster menu, with matched wines, & every course was lush! The wine complimented each dish perfectly. My venison steak was cooked perfectly 🤤. I am definitely coming back!

I don't write many reviews but when I do it's only for the places I find truely amazing. Everything from the food to the hosting was excellent. I definitely recommend people to go if they haven't been before. It's a great date night!!

Only surpassed by restaurant 264.....

Delicious 8 course tasting menu. Especially the pheasant! What a treat for an early birthday present. Attentive service- great timings and a great price point. We’ll be back and recommending to friends. Thanks so much for a lovely evening.

We had a fab time here last night. The food was delicious and you could taste the care and detail in every dish. The Chefs clearly take their time working out the flavours and textures to create special dishes. This isn't just about going out for a quick dinner, it really is an experience so make sure you leave plenty of time to sit and enjoy it. We will definitely be returning to try out some of their future menus!

Best vegan taster menu in Leicester, the staff (both serving staff and the chefs who come to your table and talk you through each course) are super friendly and professional. Can't rate this place highly enough. If you are vegan, just go 😉

Beautiful 8 course vegan menu with wine matching.

Enjoyed every course. Each course was introduced well and the food was delicious and well presented

What a fabulous place this is. Impeccable service from all staff Love that the chefs bring the courses to the table & describe the amazing food they have prepared. Everything was absolutely delicious, the Red Pepper parfait was such a beautiful surprise A Gem in Leicester city centre

An amazing experience!! Delicious and flavourful courses with the scallop course being my favourite. This experience is really unique with the chefs themselves explaining their dishes. The floor staff are attentive and kind making the overall experience wonderful. Some of the best food I've tasted, with the desserts being so phenomenally unique. Would recommend to everyone and anyone!! Definitely one of Leicesters hidden gems!

Excellent food, excellent service. We had a fixed menu and would highly recommend Restaurant 263, my new favourite restaurant in Leicester! Can’t wait to return!

What a brilliant meal. Thank you all at 263. I can’t wait to return.

We came for a blind tasting menu. They had vegetarian and vegan. Wine pairing was lovely (also had vegan wine). Lovely ambience and staff were really friendly. Felt like I was in an episode of masterchef. Really affordable for a tasting menu. Hats off to the head chef. I'd definitely come back again.

Absolutely wonderful! Had the blind 5 course taster menu and was thoroughly impressed with every dish. Petite and lovingly prepared dishes that left us feeling happy and satisfied. Everyone there really cares about what they present to you and it's no wonder it's so highly rated. Definitely will be coming back again!

I would like to say, I am extremely shocked and surprised to see so many positive reviews about this place. My experience dining here could not have been more the opposite - this restaurant seems to purport it’s self as a fine dining establishment with attractive looking dishes, but having tasted the unbalanced nature of the flavour profile of each and EVERY one of the courses on the taster menu, it is clear that these chefs lack a fundamental understanding of what is required to make food taste good! Following some quite bland chickpea based ‘snacks’ the meal started with what I had presumed would be the weakest dish of the evening, a plate with goat’s cheese and beetroot supposedly with some elderflower and rose flavour which in fact was non-existent. The rest of the courses continued to disappoint however, the Potato/Samphire/Cucumber soup course was extremely watered down and lacking in flavour. The Chicken/Kimchi/Red Pepper ‘curry’ was sour and the spice was completely overpowering. The Lamb course was possibly the worst thing they served with the dish floating in some extremely unpleasant sauce which was so salty, it took away any sense of the taste of lamb. The supposed ‘Panna cotta’ which followed was served in a small tin and was again extremely sour and had no semblance of any kind of Panna cotta I have EVER eaten before in my life. The next dish was literally some pineapple and cream with some fairy cake torn up and thrown on top. They really left the worst till last with the final course which was 3 different sweets served in a small chest (which seems quite innovative and cute) …. Until you tasted them…. One tasted like a store bought fudge, the chocolate one was the quite unappetising flavour of seaweed and the pink one tasted like an incredibly sour ‘Haribo’ fizzy sweet. You may think I’m being a bit harsh with my review but honestly, considering the price we paid for this meal, I expected a lot more. This restaurant seems overall to be a pale imitation of the kind of establishment where this cost of a meal is justified.

Myself and my boyfriend decided to celebrate our anniversary at Restaurant 263, sampling their 8-course taster menu. Initially it seemed like a great idea as it appeared to be a great gem in Leicester, newly renovated and it looked great on Instagram, 'About Leicester' raved about it, the reviews seemed good and the price £45 for a tasting menu wasn't too bad. Both of us are huge foodies and have sampled everything under the rainbow from Michelin star restaurants to humble street-food, we're easy to please as long as it tastes good! The evening started off well, friendly staff and was seated straightaway. To praise anything it would be how hard the waiting staff tried and how attentive they were. However, we were served by a different person each time, which was odd. We were then quickly served "Snacks". A hash brown and a celeriac yeast tart of some-sort. The hash brown was the most delicious thing of the evening, but at the end of the day, it's a hash brown. The celeriac yeast tart was unmemorable. We were very quickly served the second course: a Beetroot/Goats Cheese/Rose/Elderflower. And it literally tasted like that, beetroot and goats cheese, nothing else, absolutely no other detectable flavour. After these two small courses, we were willing to give the rest of the courses the benefit of the doubt. Our next course was: Potato/Samphire/Cucumber. Beautifully presented, however it had no flavour except an extremely watered down sauce accompanying the rösti. There was absolutely no samphire taste, the black garlic was weak, and the cucumber garnish was a cold random accompaniment. The next course was Chicken/Kimchi/Red Pepper. I liked that the bowl the food was served in was warm. Also, the accompanying bread and butter was obviously made fresh and was tasty. There was flavour as it had heat in the sauce but the kimchi was weak and didn't seem as it was fermented for long enough. The chicken however was horribly low quality, it was practically tuna mush out of a can. So far we hadn't been wowed and thought they obviously were cutting corners in quality. We both chose lamb for the Lamb or Cod/Courgette/Cabbage course. The plate was warm which was a bonus, but the vegetables were bland, the quality of lamb was poor and the sauce was the saltiest thing we had ever tasted, which definitely ruined the meal. We mentioned this to the waitress and she assured she would tell the chef straightaway. It can only be presumed that the sauce was in a huge vat and not stirred properly when plated, so we had a saltier version compared to others. The Basil/Lime course was presumed to be a sorbet, but a Panna Cotta in a tin was presented. I personally thought it was an insult to name of the dish as it was a slither of cream-flavoured gelatine. The cream was basil flavoured and the meringue had a lime zing, but the flavours were not well matched as the basil was so dull in comparison to the overpowering lime. The Pineapple/Earl Grey/Coconut course was ridiculous and bland. The cake was plain, had no Earl Grey flavouring and obviously had been baked in a sheet pan and teared up into strips for each plate. The cream was coconut flavoured but had a strange consistency, the piece pineapple tasted like you'd expect. The Petit Fours was the final nail in the coffin. The name translates to "small oven" so it's presumed that these are baked goods (small cakes, pastries). We were served 3 sweets in a wooden box. In order, the Seaweed Chocolate was nice, a regular ganache truffle, the Miso Caramel was fine but kind of almost tasted like store-bought fudge, the miso did come through! But the Sour Apple was the worst thing we had the whole night. My face screwed up and my boyfriend was spluttering, after the sherbet shocked, you don't even taste the sweet afterwards. This is something you do NOT get at a fine dining experience - it's something you expect at a 1p sweet shop. Overall, this was an incredibly disappointing waste of time/money and we will NOT be returning and advise people to not be mislead by the other reviews!

I very much enjoyed the experience I had at Resturant 263, its lovely to see something like this in leicester. Food was very delicious and each course was presented very well. I enjoyed every course. Chefs bringing down each course and describing the food wss lovely and different. Waiters and supperviser down stairs were amazing, they are great workers and whole overall service was great. They also have a nice selection of wine and cocktails. Will definitely come again. 🙂🥰

Every single course was phenomenal!!! Servers was so friendly!!! Will be returning!

Amazing food cooked by the chef. Good fine dining experience for Leicester city. Highly recommended.

We had the tasting menu, and was a great experience. The chef and staff were great, friendly and helpful. Accommodating our dietary requirements which was great. I've never had something like this in LC, and hope it stays around for a long time! 👍🏾

Had a wonderful evening at Restaurant 263. What a joy to experience the carefully crafted dishes which have obviously been created with care and love. Will definitely be back!

This place is incredible. Friendly atmosphere good staff and absolutely amazing food! Fancy something different with the best possible outcome for your tastebuds, hit this place up!! Can’t recommend highly enough

Truly excellent food and a very creative taster menu. A real fine dining experience and very reasonably priced too. A real gem for the city centre. Already looking forward to visiting again. Highly recommend.

Was highly impressed with the food and service here. Arrived the night of a new taster menu and the courses were flawless. Leicester has lacked a fine dining restaurant and this fills that gap nicely. Very highly reccomended.

Absolutely gorgeous food - looked good and tasted amazing! Staff were friendly and helpful- they explained every dish fully which added to our enjoyment. Thoroughly enjoyable evening. Good value too!

We went February 2022 to celebrate a 40th birthday. We've never been for a taster menu as they are usually very expensive but thought this was very reasonable for 8 courses. At the time of my review, there was a choice of meat (chicken) or vegan (mock duck) and we had one of each. All the staff were extremely polite and catered for everything. They explain every single dish which makes the experience even more high class. The food was amazing although we found some of the pickles and sauces a bit too sour for our taste buds but that is our personal preference. Each course came at a reasonable time with plenty of time for the previous course to settle. There are some really amazing combinations and my first experience of mock duck was extremely surprising and palatable. My partner's chicken was big to size which was surprising as we expected it to be smaller for a taster menu and was cooked to perfection. They also gave him an extra brownie for his birthday which was a thoughtful surprise. You get to meet the chefs as they come down with the food and you can tell them what you think of the dishes. Overall I really rate this restaurant highly.

A hidden gem in the centre of Leicester. Fantastic quality of service and the food is impeccable.

Such great value, definately makes access to fine dining very accessible.

This was genuinely the best food I've ever had, lovely service as well :)

We were looking forward to eating here but with a little hesitation about how good the food would be for the low price. However, we were blown away by the food. Really interesting dishes and all delicious. Some of the dishes are fairly small but by the end we could not have eaten another morsel! The service was great too. Highly recommend eating here, we'll certainly be making another booking soon.

We ate at Restaurant 263 this evening and on the whole the food was really great but for some reason, because one of our party has a Gluten Free diet, none of us were served the bread and flavoured butter. We only realised this when we saw other tables being served this as no mention was made at the time. When we queried the omission the chef advised they had not served the bread to any of us because one of us was gluten free! (We had advised the restaurant when we booked that one of us needed a gluten-free meal so it wasn’t a surprise…) We found this rationale quite bizarre as every other restaurant we have been to has managed to serve food containing gluten to those without the intolerance with no problem whatsoever. To cap it all there was no reduction in the charge for the meal in light of the omission - This is clearly an area where the restaurant need to up their game so in light of this I’m reluctantly posting a 3 star review as we left still feeling a little hungry which was a disappointment.