Oxford, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Rightly an Oxford institution”, this self-service café with a “student vibe” is a “go-to place for a good-value wholesome brunch in a buzzing atmosphere”; sit inside on trestle tables or “outside in the sun, surrounded by the architecture that makes Oxford famous”, as you enjoy “fab cake” and “tempting” mains, with a “great choice from vegan to Asian curries and lovely cakes”. Fans are “glad to see it has survived” thus far – indeed some 15,500 of them signed up to save the venue, which remains at the heart of an eviction dispute between café owner Will Pouget, and the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, where it sits, and whose landlord wants to create a larger social enterprise in the space; having already been adjourned in April 2025 due to the complexity of determining if the land is consecrated (the pivotal point), the case was listed to recommence at the High Court shortly before we went to press.

“Lively and convenient venue”, “well-placed in the centre of Oxford” and serving brasserie fare in the “attractive surroundings” of the Old Bank Hotel. Ratings here are often dragged down by the odd report of “variable” results – the “good-value set lunch menu” goes down best with reporters and helps make it a popular choice for business lunchers as well as loving parents with their bookish offspring.

This “calm and pleasantly traditional” bistro in a sidestreet close to the city centre “never seems to disappoint”, with its combination of “charming, professional service, great wine and really excellent food” – “set lunch is remarkably good value at £21.50 for 3 courses” (main courses are mostly £20-30 each). Top Menu Tip – “try the Lobster Bisque”.

A meal at this “great location on the roof of the Ashmolean” makes the perfect culmination of a mooch around the museum (or a visit in its own right) – but it can seem a little “mediocre unless you’re outside on the terrace”.

A substantial 17th-century parsonage in the city centre, now a plush boutique hotel with a “charming atmosphere and well-chosen art on the walls”. Its Grill is “an excellent all-rounder with a good choice of well-executed dishes”. Afternoon tea is also on the agenda, and “one set tea is quite enough to share between two with an extra pot of tea added”.

2023 Review: This “picturesque riverside venue” on Oxford’s Osney Island (which opened in 1871 as The Waterman) is notable for its “laid-back but beautifully presented vegetarian food, full of flavours from a varied and interesting menu”. “I’m not a vegetarian myself but most definitely hope to be back”. Top Tip – “the whipped goats’ cheese”.

Humbly billed on its website as ‘Oxford’s Most Beautiful Restaurant’, this former Victorian florists’ – just outside the city-centre as you head north – has a gorgeous greenhouse-style interior and has been packed out for four decades now. Feedback on its Mediterranean cuisine, however, is perennially patchy and indifferent and this year is no exception.

This “big old pub with a jolly, slightly bohemian atmosphere” is a well-known “gastro-pub (with the emphasis on gastro)”. It achieves solid and still-plentiful support in our annual diners’ poll, despite a feeling that “the food falls well short of the standards at its London siblings, Anchor & Hope and Canton Arms”. Top Menu Tip – “the suet crust steak-and-ale pie to share is a lovely, lovely thing”.

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.

“Definitely a good choice if you’re in the area” – i.e. just five miles from the dreaming spires of Oxford – this “very comfortable country pub” boasts one of the best gardens in these parts and is particularly appealing come summer. Some feel the menu is “limited” and “relatively expensive”, albeit “generally good with some unusual dishes”, much local sourcing, and a fair selection of veggie-friendly options.

2022 Review: Despite its weird and wonderful decor, this lavishly decked out hotel not far from Oxford – a fixture of the area for over a quarter of a century – attracts relatively little feedback nowadays. It’s all still positive though, especially when it comes to the Thai dining room (there’s also a more traditional, British one). Service is “very engaged” and the classic twelve-dish sharing menu “well presented and flavoured food that reflects the cuisine”, without being “touristy”.

Mike & Imogen North’s thatched inn set deep in the Oxfordshire countryside is the epitome of a “very good gastropub”, praised for its “superb food, attentive and discreet staff and lovely surroundings”. They do serve ‘Pub Classics’ as well as Sunday Lunch, but where it really comes into its own is in the multi-course meals that have established it as a regular feature in the Harden’s Top 100 Best UK Restaurants listing.

At last and after a substantial refurb – (which reputedly cost new owner Daniel Ede £4million) this boutique townhouse hotel near Blenheim Palace is back and its restaurant, Nest (geddit?) “is returning to previous culinary standards – with an updated, modern British menu” and “while not terribly cheap” fans say “the cooking compares very favourably with many other places in Oxfordshire”. “The staff are very friendly and the newly refurbished dining room is a pleasure to dine in”.

“The food is delicious, the place is lovely, as are the people” who run this historic pub-with-rooms in a Cotswolds-fringe village – dating from 1637, it provided Winston Churchill with a handy lunchtime escape when staying at nearby Blenheim Palace in the 1930s. It’s been smartened up by owners Jim & Claire Alexander since they took over in 2012, with the kitchen run by chef Adam Brown. Feedback is somewhat limited, but all rate it consistently highly.

2022 Review: This rural pub (complete with beams and roaring fire, and also accommodation) in a lovely Buckinghamshire village still achieves solid ratings, and – notwithstanding gripes from the occasional reporter about its takeover by Oakman Inns in late 2019 – most feedback rates the food as “very good”.

“Everybody loves The Edge” – a relaxed albeit slightly “cramped” brunch spot offering “fabulous” and “imaginative” food (bagels, sandos, and tacos which are the stuff of legend) which has become a real local hit since Tom Pickett & Phoebe Hall opened doors during the pandemic. “Staff are friendly and efficient” and it’s “so worth the wait” to taste the food, which is also proffered at their sibling venue, ‘The Edge Deli’, located in Witney’s Hexagon Business Centre, and combining a full deli with their in-house bakery (an earlier offshoot, ‘The Edge at Lils’, having bitten the dust).