winchell's

?????. we've lived in lex. for 3 years and until recently have enjoyed winchell's. they seem to be cutting corners. i've seen this happen to other restaurants and it's not a good sign. specials such as the pot pie are no longer worth the asking price: $12.99 and up. regular menu items such as the reuben sandwich used to be consistently good.....no longer. ifwinchell'sis going to charge $8.99 or $9.99 with fries it should be top notch.
i'll give it a couple more tries because it used to be so good.


-----26 nov, 2011-----

like. food and service have always been very good. try the tomato/basil soup.

great breakfast. the months i work nights are made a little easier knowing that in the morning i have awinchell'sbreakfast to look forward to.

yes, this is a sports bar, however it definitely is, in my opinion one of the most underrated breakfast establishments in lexington.

the food is just spot on, cooked correctly with good ingredients. if you're feeling hungry, try the "elvis pancakes," which are a usual special item and include a peanut butter and banana topping. i usually opt for a spicy bloody mary w/ an egg and bacon dish complete with their delicious "jalapeno cheese grits" which are absolutely delicious.

waitstaff are attentive and friendly. all in all, i would definitely recommend giving it a try.

7/11/2015-dropped by for lunch, gourmet burger, homemade chips, jalapeno cheese grits, and sweet iced tea. the burger was good--tasted the grill flavor (similar to a burger king flame broiling), chips were okay and the jalapeno cheese grits were awesome. i would definitely enjoy the grits for breakfast.

i rated only a 3 becausewinchell'sis nothing out of the ordinary, just basic fare and not stepped up any.

update (august, 2017): a much, much better experience as of late.  great service, and the breakfast sampler was spot-on (three eggs over-easy, crispy home fries, a quality piece of country ham and solid biscuits and gravy).

for me, this place is a prime example of a popular lexington institution that is resting on its reputation and not churning out quality dishes. i knowwinchell'shas a strong following here in town, but i have visited this restaurant twice in recent months, and was disappointed both times. 

my wife and i came here for sunday brunch, and the coffee tasted old and bitter. my wife ordered the biscuit and gravy plate, with bacon, and i ordered the breakfast sampler (eggs over easy, bacon, toast). as my wife described it, our breakfast reminded her of a middle school cafeteria, where the cafeteria workers were more friendly than our server.

i later visitedwinchell'sfor lunch and i ordered the blt sandwich (on wheat toast), served with house chips - the sandwich and the chips were average. if i am looking for a diner in town, i am going to suggins.

best pub food in lex. my wife and i have been going towinchell'sfor a while now, and have never left disappointed. their open faced brisket plate is unbeatable. we also love the pork quesadillas. service has always been good and the food even better.

knowing what little i do about the chefs operatingwinchell'sat this point in time--these guys love to cook and are really good at it!

i've been towinchell'stwice and i've had very different experiences. the first time i went towinchell'si was slightly underwhelmed. i had a buffalo chicken sandwich for lunch. it was a decent sandwich but a little pricey. the fries were quite good though. overall, i was a little unsure if i'd be back for lunch. the second time i went towinchell'si had a bacon and cheddar omlette for breakfast. the omlette was amazing, tons of bacon and very cheesey. it also came with amazing sides of biscuits and gray and potatoes. it was fairly priced for the amount of food. i highly recommend you check outwinchell'sbreakfast.

what happened??. my wife and i went towinchell'stoday because we have been there many times over the past couple of years for good food. when we asked our waitress if she knew the specials she said "unfortunately" then spattered off about 60 miles an hour what they were. today, i did in fact order one of the specials (pulled pork and random sauces) and my wife had the chicken cordon bleu. both meals were atrocious! no flavor. all around bad. my wife shoved her meal to the side of table with only one bite having been eaten.
after waiting for our waitress to give us a check we were asked if we would like to take any of it home. she said absolutely not. having been a server, i would think that seeing a patron shove food away them and take one bite might signal something is wrong. they were quite busy, but seriously!! i think we will be taking a breather from winchell's.

we come towinchell'salmost every sunday. the food is always great and the bloody mary is just as good. the thing that really keeps us coming back is the great service and conversation from the bartender robin.

pot pie???. usually i am not disappointed when i stop bywinchell'sfor a lunch to go order other than the kitchen being too slow for most lunch service, but it
is ususally worth the wait. not today. a $10 pot pie was nothing more than chicken a la king with too much white pepper in a styrofoam cup and two bisuits in another cup. their lunch prices are more in line with a dinner menu. lunch specials ranged from 9.99 to $14.99 - too high for working folks on their lunch hour. we're in a recession folks!

surprisingly delicious. we moved here several years ago, and when someone first took me towinchell'si wasn't too thrilled: it *is* a bar, and it *does* have typical bar food, but in addition it deftly made, delicious, creative dishes! my first shock was the arugula-blue cheese-portabella mushroom-country ham salad. say what? it was delicious! the tomato basil soup is made with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, not that canned crap some places serve. the orange trout is one of the few dishes in the whole town of lexington that our exceedingly picky adult daughter will eat and actually rave about when she visits from austin.

always check out the specials on the blackboard, because those are truly "special" and delicious. i had the mahi-mahi tacos once, and i still think about them as a standard when someone says "fish tacos." and the veggies .... their kale is the best in town, as is their garlic broccoli (which i think is a special and not always on the menu).

their typical bar food is a notch above, but i recommend reading the menu carefully to skip the fried foods (as delicious as they are) and find the hidden gems or order off the blackboard.

menu - no more fries.winchell'sincluded french fries with its sandwiches up until tuesday, 4-17-2012. now they are charging extra if you want fries. please bring back the french fries and do not raise the prices!!

misconceptions.... as someone who has been dining regularly atwinchell'sfor a few years now, i'd like to point out a couple reasons why complaints about the restaurant are illegitimate. for one, people seem to be angry about the period of time between breakfast and lunch on the weekends where no food can be served. i have spoken to a manger before who was incredibly nice about it and explained that the kitchen is so small and the food is actually prepared fresh that in order for the restaurant to function, they need about half an hour to switch all breakfast items out for lunch; they have to get ready. this restaurant is the best in the city and prepares the food in house every day; that is something hard to come by in lexington.

no lunch until 1:00 on sundays?. we arrived at 12:00 on a sunday and where handed breakfast menus. we asked when they started serving lunch and were told 1:00.

we probably should have just left, but we stayed for breakfast. i didn't really enjoy the food, but it probably would have been better if i had wanted breakfast.

i heard the couple behind me also ask about lunch and when we were leaving my wife overheard yet another couple comment on how strange it was.

the only other time we had eaten atwinchell'swas also on a sunday. we got there around 12:00 that day too, but they were serving lunch. the food was really good that time, but i probably won't be back because i don't know what they will be serving if i do.

the best of "home cooking". we tried the chicken fried steak, fried oysters, and a philly cheese steak.
everything was very good. i would recommendwinchell'sto anyone for some home style southern cooking.