another one bites the dust. what a shame that the only decent local restaurant in chiorlton has had to shut up shop.

before we all rush back to frozen pizzas at croma or gloopy yakisoba or as a last resort, perish the thought, head back to the 'cheshire light' nonsense that is all of Didsbury [epicentre The Met; bring back the Bullas] we should note with joy that Ostara is being retooled to open as bar/restaurant rather than restaurant / bar.

hopefully they will move the bar to the front downstairs to create a buzz [and so drinkers can pop out for a fag] and seat the diners upstairs where its warmer and nearer the kitchen so better suited to food service.

the food has always been superb, its local, its seasonal, its as good as it gets without crossing into didsboir lime tree Jem&i territory. and the prices were right. even the service gradually improved.

i desperately hope that it will succeed in its new incarnation as we need it in chorlton as an antidote to the awful generic establishments which are creeping in [latest dissapointment jockey on the green].

in the end its up to the locals to support the local establishments otherwise we lose them and end up having to travel to the style-over-substance suburb which is our nearest neighbour.

We ate here this evening and were told the restaurant was closing tonight. I agree with some of the reviews here that food is sometimes slow but am surprised that this restaurant has not done well even in the current climate. The food has always been brilliant and waiting staff lovely. Chorlton really needs a restaurant like this and will be sorely missed particularly now that Marmalade has also closed. Thanks you to all the staff and hoping this is a temporary closure.

Was in yesterday for our works Xmas do and I must say what a cracker we had!

The food was outstanding, we ordered most of the dishes from the Christmas Menu and we all thought it was great. I had the Chestnut, Cranberry & Onion Tart for starters, The free Range Roast Turkey for mains and the Christmas Pud for dessert, Yum !

We all managed to get through quite alot of bubbly, suffering badly today! thanks a million for looking after us last night, I'll defo be back soon.

Went last night and had their excellent Christmas Menu for £25, Wild Boar & Pigs Liver Parfait totally blew me away and the Cider Pot Roast Ham was outstanding! Finished with the Stollen Bread & Butter Pudding and a nice glass of dessert wine to wash it down. It was a tad cold when people came in from outside but what do you expect its winter and its snowing, I love it!

Don't worry about these negative idiots, we know how hard you're working there. I'd like to say a big merry christmas to all the wonderful staff that have served me there over the months especially Louise and Oscar, keep on going guys and don't forget my table booked for New Years Eve, I can't wait!

Ate there last night v v disappointing. A 50 minute wait for our starters (how long does it take to slice some beef and put some pate on a plate... ?) and then a 35 - 40 min wait for our mains.
The restaurant wasn't busy and there were no specials on so why the ludicrously long wait? We did have to wait for quite a while last time we ate there but assumed it was because we were a large party and the restaurant was full. A 50 minute wait for a party of four is unacceptable no matter how polite the waiter is. Throw another chef in the kitchen the extra salary will pay itself off because you might actually get some repeat customers. Oh and put the bl**dy heating on!

I visited the restaurant last night and even before we sat down on the hard chairs the mood is immediately set by the large open, soulless, space, the high ceiling, the odd lighting and the cold......it was freezing with many diners wearing their coats!

It wasn't until I visited the toilets that I discovered that the upper eating area was warmer and that there was a bar! There is nothing welcoming about Ostara.

I had to ask for candles on the table just to give ambiance and warmth. and on another note, large spaces require large pictures on the wall, hard floors require small pads on tables and chairs to stop loud scraping noises and hard, cold seats require cushions!!

The food was underwhelming, I didn't notice any mention of 'organic' on the menu. My warm beef and beetroot salad was indeed warm sliced roast beef with what seemed like pickled beetroot, leaves and a smidgen of horseradish cream which was more cream than horseradish and very little dressing on the leaves.

The kedgeree was tasty but the poached egg on top was overcooked which meant that my friend didn't benefit from it's soft yolk running through his rice.

The scallops were very good.

My main course was the rump steak, cooked perfectly medium rare but served on top of and covering, the home made chips, mushrooms and tomatoes. The red wine sauce served with it was very good.

Others had the roast ham, again, well cooked juicy ham off the bone and fisherman's pie which was a highlight.

Only two of the four of us had desserts and both went for yule log, both were very disappointed as it actually tasted like a rolled up omelette!

Another reviewer (the owner) asked that you respond via the Ostara website..... i wonder if he's tried?

The food and service at this restaurant was wonderful. We called up the restaurant and discussed a recommendation of the Belly Pork which we saw on the previous review. The restaurant was a bit cold at first but the service, staff and food was absolutely fantastic.

I would definitely recommend this place and would just advise that you go with expandable waistband as there is more than enough per serving.

The price was even more brilliant ( we had to recheck because we thought that we had been undercharged ).

Again please try this place it is well worth every penny.

We visited Ostara today (Sunday 22nd Nov) and we all had the lamb roast (£10). There was no nut roast available, and no chicken on the menu, so only red meat (beef and lamb) was available. One of our party had not eaten red meat in years and this was the first time she had to. The food took over 45 minutes to arrive at our table, and much of it was cold, primarily because it seemed to be served on cold rather than warmed plates. There was no apologies for the wait and we decided to soldier on rather than have it taken away to be put in the microwave. The restaurant was not very busy, so it was disappointing that this happened.

The food itself was of good quality, and the gravy and mint sauce complimented it well. The roast parsnips were also well seasoned. The portions could have been slightly more generous (only three very small roast potatoes).

We decided to have dessert. Again, one of the items that we all wanted - crumble - was unavailable, so we opted for bread and butter pudding and the treacle tart. It took about 20 minutes for this to arrive which was disappointing as the treacle tart appeared to be bought in and wasn't heated, and the bread and butter pudding seemed microwaved.

Overall it was a good experience and reasonably priced, but it did seem a bit lacklustre in comparison to restaurants in Chorlton, and particularly the new Horse and Jockey.