When I visited: September 2018

Location: Lichfield, Staffordshire

Rating in the Michelin Guide: Recommended

Dining Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

What to wear: Men – jeans or nice trousers and a shirt; women – jeans and a smart top or a smart dress

Ambience: Smart / casual, busy

Course of the meal: Mushroom burger

If I could change one thing: Slightly smaller portions

Review:

The Wine House is a smart, upmarket restaurant in the middle of Lichfield city centre, and a solid choice for a smart / casual lunch (or, as we found out on our visit, for a raucous hen party wanting a bottomless brunch).

The portions are pretty big, the service friendly and attentive and the choice of drinks especially wide. Between us we sampled the Thai fishcakes with rice, Hereford burger with skinny fries, mushroom burger (which came with skinny fries but was advertised as coming with sweet potato fries – who cares I guess), and the grain salad with scallops and bacon. We drank Freedom Brewery beer, glasses of Chardonnay and Malbec. The desserts (Eton Mess served in a martini glass, espresso brownie with a shot of espresso and lemon posset) were similarly big and hearty.

I would definitely go back to The Wine House, probably to sample the bottomless brunch that was making so many hens so happy.