Join Harden's Platinum Club for Member's Benefits - save 60% with our soft launch offer!
RestaurantsRutlandOakhamLE15

survey result

Summary

£78
 ££££
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
3
Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“Bravo Hitchens!” – this “consistently excellent” barn conversion is “a template for the perfect neighbourhood restaurant, owned and run by a talented chef and his charming wife” (Neil & Louise Hitchen, who met working at local powerhouse Hambleton Hall more than 20 years ago). “The interior is bistro-esque and relaxing”; and the “beautiful seasonal food” delivers “real value for money”: “flavour combinations are carefully created, with each dish superbly planned and cooked to maximise taste. Fish has to come from afar (Cornish turbot on the bone) but nearly all else is sourced from local suppliers”. Top Menu Tip – “game in season is a standout”.

Summary

£74
  £££
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
3
Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“There’s a great atmosphere in this country town restaurant, run by husband and wife team Neil & Louise Hitchen” – “Neil turns out superb dishes from the barn-conversion kitchen while Louise is in charge of front of house. Many of the ingredients are sourced locally in Rutland and the well-briefed team can answer any questions instantly”. Set in a “venerable old building in the heart of lovely Oakham”, with “mismatched furniture and crockery adding to the charm”, it’s “a mainstay of the town” and about “as good as a proper neighbourhood restaurant can get”. “Better still, a huge effort has been made to construct dishes which achieve this whilst being affordable, so a dinner for two with some very good, interesting, wines is still possible for south of £100. No small achievement these days” – and it means “you leave smiling and probably happier than when you arrived. Even nearby Hambleton Hall (where the Hitchens met working in the 90s) can’t better that!” Top Menu Tip – “scotch eggs are a speciality and well worth trying”.

Summary

£65
  £££
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
3
Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

A “little gem” with a “quirky interior” in the town centre that offers “wonderful service” and “amazing seasonal local food”. Owners Neal & Louise Hitchens met working up the road at swanky Hambleton Hall and cooked at luxury destinations around the world before taking on the Berkeley Arms at Wymondham, switching to the Barn in 2019. “Hambleton may be more impressive, but Hitchen’s knocks it out of the park on value!”.

Summary

£64
  £££
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
* Based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT.

“The Hitchens (Neil & Louise) are maintaining high standards after their move from The Berkeley Arms” at Wymondham – their new town-centre venue making for “the perfect market-town small restaurant. It’s very friendly, beautifully organised and totally relaxing,” with “ingredients, cooking and flavour combinations all spot on”. Extra points for the “excellent-value set lunch”.

For 33 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).

Have you eaten at Hitchen's Barn?

12 Burley Road, Oakham, LE15 6DH

Restaurant details

Highchair
20
No dress code
45

Hitchen's Barn Restaurant Diner Reviews

Reviews of Hitchen's Barn Restaurant in LE15, Oakham by users of Hardens.com. Also see the editors review of Hitchen's Barn restaurant.
Piers T
So little choice other than here if you don...
Reviewed 4 months, 5 days ago

"So little choice other than here if you don't want a curry or pub grub. Not cheap but worth it for an occasion."

Report this comment
Have you eaten at Hitchen's Barn?
Post your own review of Hitchen's Barn and contribute to our annual restaurant review guide.
Post your own review

What the Newspaper Critics are saying

The Daily Telegraph

William Sitwell enjoyed himself at an “unfussy modern British gastro pub” in Rutland, owned and run by Neil and Louise Hitchen, “a magnificent twosome, with him turning out highly competent and delicious food and her dishing it up with charm and efficiency”.

The highlight of his meal was a “quite wonderful main course of pollock, its flesh faultless. It came in a sweet, rich bisque-like sauce (think fish soup from the finest Parisian bistro) and was teamed with new potatoes, clams and samphire… as good a thing as you might wish to have on a blustery Friday lunchtime in Rutland.”

William Sitwell - 2024-06-23

Prices

Availability 2 courses 3 courses coffee included service included
Lunch £24.50 £28.50

Traditional European menu

Starter Main Veggies Pudding
£11.30 £27.00 £5.00 £9.50
Drinks  
Wine per bottle £30.00
Filter Coffee £3.00
Extras  
Bread £0.00
Service 10.00%
12 Burley Road, Oakham, LE15 6DH
Opening hours
MondayCLOSED
Tuesday12 pm‑3 pm, 6:30 pm‑11 pm
Wednesday12 pm‑3 pm, 6:30 pm‑11 pm
Thursday12 pm‑3 pm, 6:30 pm‑11 pm
Friday12 pm‑3 pm, 6:30 pm‑11 pm
Saturday12 pm‑3 pm, 6:30 pm‑11 pm
SundayCLOSED

Best British, Modern restaurants nearby

Finch’s Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Hambleton
£54
   ££
2
Average
2
Average
3
Good
Hambleton Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Hambleton
£164
£££££
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
5
Exceptional
The Wheatsheaf
British, Modern restaurant in Greetham
£60
  £££
3
Good
3
Good
2
Average

View more nearby restaurants »

Best similarly priced restaurants nearby

The Lake Isle
British, Modern restaurant in Uppingham
£79
 ££££
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
4
Very Good
Hart’s Kitchen
British, Modern restaurant in Nottingham
£75
 ££££
3
Good
3
Good
3
Good
Stones
British, Modern restaurant in Matlock
£76
 ££££
3
Good
4
Very Good
3
Good

View more nearby restaurants »

Restaurant news

View more ›

NEWS
Edinburgh's Ondine is on the move

NEWS
For Sale: one vintage caff, developers need not apply

NEWS
Pachamama flagship closes as group looks to the Med