With its “fantastic location overlooking the rooftops of Oxford”, the airy top-floor dining room of this famous museum still sometimes seems a “welcome addition to the city’s appalling dining scene”; its ratings slipped even further this year, though, and critics now find it “mediocre in every way”.
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The reviewer secures our respect by (substantially) correctly summarising the Oxford dining scene – “for casual eating there’s Jamie Oliver; for non-event eating there’s pretty much everywhere else”. She visits the café of this recently relaunched musuem, where she finds staff who are “keen, beautiful, charming and a bit clueless. The food was very up-and-down though, so the positive grade awarded must reflect other factors.
Tony Turnball (21st December 2009)
The critic has a dismal meal in an overloaded restaurant, which he describes as “slow torture”.
Tracey MacLeod (30th November 2009)
Food 4/5 stars, Ambience 3/5 stars, Service 3/5 stars
“[H]ats off to those clever Warner [Benugo] brothers, who clearly understand the theatre of eating out, and have created a restaurant which lives up to its spectacular setting”, says the critic. Can this really be right? The Benugos aren’t usually that good. If it really is correct, the new dining facility at the relaunched museum is remarkable not only for being in a cultural attraction, but also for being a beacon in one of the most culinarily deprived major cities in Europe!
Zoe Williams (21st December 2009)
Tony Turnball (21st December 2009)
Tracey MacLeod (30th November 2009)
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