Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Hampton Poyle
Hardens guides have spent 34 years compiling reviews of the best Hampton Poyle restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 6 restaurants in Hampton Poyle and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Hampton Poyle restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Hampton Poyle Restaurants
1. Cherwell Boathouse
British, Modern restaurant in Oxford
Bardwell Road - OX2
With its “idyllic setting on banks of river Cherwell, with trees and ducks and peace and quiet”, this restaurant in a working boathouse for punts is a true Oxford institution after 55 years in operation. By all accounts, “the food is a little hit-and-miss” – “but the wine list is great, with knowledgeable serving staff”. It’s at its best on a “sunny summer’s day” – but if weather forces everyone to squeeze inside, “it can be very noisy”.
2. The Bell
British, Modern restaurant in Hampton Poyle
11 Oxford Road - OX5
2021 Review: A “buzzy, busy pub” with nine rooms plus flagstone floors, oak beams and slouchable leather armchairs; while the food is perhaps good rather than stellar, they’re “trying hard” and it’s handily located if you’re en route in or out of Oxford.
3. Pompette
French restaurant in Oxford
7 South Parade - OX2
Five-year-old French bistro in Summertown offering “a limited but well-executed menu”, alongside “delightful service and a warm and friendly ambience”. Chef-patron Pascal Wiedermann (ex-Racine, Terroirs and Six Portland Place), who runs it with his wife Laura, scatters his Gallic cuisine with touches from across Europe. Even fans, though, say “sometimes the food is excellent, but unfortunately it can be variable”. Top Tip – “look out for the early evening drink and snack offers”.
4. The White Hart
British, Modern restaurant in Wytham
2023 Review: “A foodie gem”, this well-known eighteenth-century pub in a village on the outskirts of Oxford has been going through a period of flux, hence we’ve removed a rating for the time being. High-profile chef Jon Parry joined in summer 2022, after our annual diners’ poll had concluded, having made a name for himself cooking over an open fire at The Mash Inn in Buckinghamshire, and declared his ambition to ‘turn The White Hart into something really special’. Four months later, owner Baz Butcher announced his intention to sell up and retire to France.
5. The Perch
British, Traditional restaurant in Oxford
Binsey Ln - OX2
Either a short drive or leafy stroll from Oxford, surrounded by Port Meadow, this beautifully located Thames-side inn is as cosy in winter as it is glorious in summer with its conservatory and large garden. There’s a wide-ranging menu that’s not particularly ‘foodie’ but realised very competently.
6. Gee’s
British, Modern restaurant in Oxford
61 Banbury Rd - OX2
This “wonderful conservatory dining room in trendy North Oxford” – a former Victorian florists’ that provides a “lovely greenhouse” effect – has been a fixture of the city’s dining scene for four decades and its good looks ensure it’s perennially booked out. But despite a costly overhaul a couple of years ago, doubts about its gastronomic qualities persist: “it’s still hard to fathom how the food is so underpowered” is a typical complaint.
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