Ashmolean Dining Room in Oxford

Excellent food in a good location. Handy for the theatre.

Would have been better if I could pay with cash and when offered water received it. Wasn't rushed but felt it wasn't the best, although nice. It consists of 1 mini roll, I mini tartlet, and 2 small sandwiches with loads of sweet.

A beautiful light setting overlooking the rooftops. Excellent service even though the restaurant was very busy. We took Brazilian friends for a quintessentially English afternoon tea and it was perfect.

This is an attractive venue and the staff were friendly and helpful. Unfortunately our lunch dishes arrived a little late and were both quite underwhelming. My beetroot ravioli was rather lacking in flavour and with a rather bland sauce and my friend’s beef pie and mash was fine but again not outstanding.  Still worth the visit for the view and ambience.

We were warmly welcomed and sat by the window- always a treat. Service was friendly and efficient, not intrusive. The food was delicious and we were able to linger over our wine with no sense of rush. We could talk easily and the restaurant had a lovely atmosphere.

Food wasn't bad at at all, but portions were really small. Not worth the price... Ambiance was ok, not bad, but nothing special.. they also add 'discretionary' 10% service charge, so tip is in, regardless... All in all, £110 for lunch for three, including wine and tip/service charge, is a bit too much overkill..

My son and I had a nice lunch. We were served by a polite gentleman Charles. The service is incredibly superb!

Had an excellent high tea, very tasty, good amount, and the customer service was excellent! The place is lovely as well.

It was very good! Impeccable service! We ordered an apple juice and an orange juice (what a surprise, they were fresh and tasted olala..) As a main course, it was delicious. The best food we have eaten in England so far. Respect of dietary restrictions, allergies and intolerances. I recommend. The setting is also magnificent. The servers were very friendly

Lovely afternoon tea at this stylish restaurant. It was great!

Beautiful space unhurried experience great service but afternoon tea food was lack lustre curly dry cucumber sandwich and flavourless blackberry fool and tiny teapots of tea

Excellent place in Oxford to stop for something to eat, we ordered the typical afternoon tea at a cost of £28.50 (we ordered one for two, with the addition of another coffee/tea, which in my opinion is excellent for taste everything without getting too full) the vegan version is simply amazing! Eating the typical scones in a vegetable version is really nice. The restaurant is inside the Ashmolean Museum, entry to the museum is free, to get there you have to go up to the top floor; there is both an external part (with a view of Oxford) and an internal one. The staff is very kind. You can also book in advance online (we went there directly and found a place). Absolutely recommended!

We were lucky to have a beautiful blue January day and the rooftop restaurant was perfect for afternoon tea. Excellent value and an interesting combination of delights to eat. Only shame was that they don’t serve lapsang souchong which I think would have been a perfect complement to the afternoon tea.

Everyone was lovely.. the menu is fine, the view of the roof tops is very nice too

The Ashmolean rooftop restaurant is a great place to have a nice meal in a light and airy environment, with the option to be seated outside when the weather is suitable. The menu is limited to 5 or 6 options for each course but is a good range to suit most people and it is well presented. The serving staff are polite and attentive, the atmosphere is calm all round a pleasant experience.

Gorgeous atmosphere and superb service It wasn’t busy and we were served quickly Recommend the seabass and also the ravioli

Afternoon tea on rooftop of museum? Why not! Great food, great service, great place!

Thank you for today's lunchtime service on a foggy day in January. I enjoyed my meal and my adult daughters did too. Thank you for the complementary prosecco for my birthday. Very relaxed dining and great service

Superb service and food. This is an oasis for anyone seeking a wonderful experience with a very personal touch.

Fabulous - the food, views, service and space.

Fabulous lunch in a beautiful- and quiet - restaurant overlooking the slate roofs of Oxford’s stunning buildings. The service was excellent and my ale beef pie with a glass of red wine was just the thing on a cold and rainy day before the train back to Glasgow. And the museum is beautiful- the space and the collection.

Lovely lunch. Slightly unexciting soup. Nice atmosphere and warm on a freezing day

Meh They stopped serving the main menu 2 minutes before I sat. So I could not get the bowl of soup I wanted. Waitstaff was oh so polite, and screwed it up anyway.

Gosh it was so hot in the restaurant with the low sun shining onto our table and into our eyes. Maybe some blinds would help make winter sunny days more bearable. Our food was good although the roast potatoes weren’t great and disappointingly you had run out of children’s pasta.

Delicious food served with a smile by helpful head waiter. Plenty to eat. Service good.

The food (sea bass, gnochi, posset) was excellent. Service was good but a bit slow, the restaurant being very busy. There was a problem with the low winter sun shining into the restaurant... why no blinds?

Mikael the waiter was super nice with us and welcoming. The food and the view was just perfect, will definitely return next time we visit Oxford.

This is a pleasant and convivial place to meet for lunch or high tea, and combines well with a visit to an excellent museum. The staff are very friendly and helpful and the menu options are good. It made for a very enjoyable day out.

The service is friendly but doesn't connect to the kitchen. Very slow and a lot lost in translation. Good idea good. Nice view if you get a window seat.

Really tasty meals, reasonably priced. Good gluten free and vegan options. Book in advance for gluten free afternoon tea. Vegan afternoon tea always on the menu. Helpful and engaging service.

Experience was disappointing as the menu offered differed in important dietary respects from that posted on the restaurant website the previous day when the booking was made. We had to leave and eat elsewhere. The atmosphere/ambience seemed good and the staff were friendly.

Very decent tea and cake, excellent views and amazing service. Situated on top of the museum.

Service was very slow and the afternoon tea was way over priced. We’ve had better tea and cakes at M&S for less than half of what this cost. Very disappointing

An amazing Roast Turkey lunch. Friendly and helpful service from Matheus. The chef was able to do a smaller version of roast for my daughter which was perfect. A lovely experience!

An amazing Roast Turkey lunch. Friendly and helpful service from Matheus. Lovely!

We had the afternoon tea menu (veg option). The portion is not big but enough to fill the stomach. The taste was of low par. I would expect much more well-cooked/prepared food from a place of their caliber and price. The atmosphere is quite good overall.

Really enjoyed the festive afternoon tea. The scones are amazing, the festive cranberry flavour was delicious!

Excellent afternoon tea, attentive service! Thoroughly recommend.

On a sunny day, the rooftop is an absolute must! Enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea with exceptional service from Matheus—truly well looked after!

We had Matheus as our waiter for afternoon tea. So attentive and kind!

Afternoon Tea was a delight (they accommodated my pescatarian diet), and Mateus is a very attentive server!

I like to eat here as it has a lovely outlook (even on a dismal December Day), the staff are always attentive and efficient, and the food is always excellent. It's really reliable!

Pleasant and rapid service. Mushroom tart and venison both good.

I enjoyed the seasonal afternoon tea (Christmas). Also it was delicious, and the restaurant staff let me feel comfortable. I am looking forward to coming there from Japan next spring again.

A wonderful meal and a brilliant setting, the food is really good and the service is good, if you can sit outside in the summer it is an added bonus. Good for a lunch with friends and family.

I had thought of afternoon tea as being a big and lengthy meal, but it wasn't. We had a tasty selection a wonderfully prepared fresh traditional tasty portions that satisfied us both. A great way to start or finish an outing to the Oxford Playhouse theatre, just across the road.

Lovely, restful spot to enjoy delicious food and catch up with family and friends. Nice relaxed ambience and great views.

Nice variety in the menu. Pretty view. Noise level can get a bit loud. Pleasant service. Tasty quiche special, good turkey, nice hot mulled wine. They offer afternoon tea which looked nice: regular and vegan versions.

It was probably one of the saddest meals of my life. We ravelled from London with my Venetian friend who was looking forward to try some traditional British 'festive season' food, which I wasn't into. I ordered a mushroom tart, which for £9 was rather small in size and barely heated, with a few sad looking watery rocket leaves on the side. Her turkey with pigs and blankets and under-roasted veg was poorly cooked, lacking any taste and very dry. She asked for some gravy but by the time it arrived, the meal was already lukewarm (the gravy didn't help btw). We also ordered a carafe of French wine from Langedock, which tasted like some liquid you might wash your bicycle with so it doesn't rust. We were later told that we were in fact served the 'replacement wine' from Spain because they ran out of the French one but failed to tell us. The whole things was a mess, wont be coming back ever again.

The restaurant itself was light and airy and the food was was very enjoyable. We only wanted a light lunch and both selections were delicious. However when we arrived at the restaurant we didn't receive a warm welcome. We were happy to wait to be seated but a smile and acknowledgement of our presence would have made us feel more welcome. Once seated several of the staff ignored us and seemed to be intent on avoiding any eye contact. However the waiter wh took our order and brought our food was more friendly and did smile. It was quite a contrast to a pub I visited last week where the staff could not have been warmer and more helpful. It is a pity the Ashmolean can't do the same as it would then be a really special experience.

Wonderful, especially the service. Complements the museum well

You are better than the Ivy or Quod for taste and value

A lovely lunch with friends, with great waiting team

The food, as always, was excellent. A good selection of dishes, and the ones we had were delicious. The staff were friendly, and were trying hard, but the service was a bit haphazard. I ordered mulled wine, and got a chocolate cocktail. Since we only had a limited time, we didn't send it back, and it was delicious, but not what I'd ordered. The waiter also managed to spill it as he put it on the table. We'd ordered olives and bread to eat as we waited for our main courses, and fater a bit of a wait, the waiter then came to check we really did want them before the main course, which seemed a little odd to me. Our coffees at the end of the meal somehow got forgotten, and we had to ask for them again. I was only given a fork for my dessert, so found it difficult to eat the wonderful berry compote which accompanied my cheesecake. We paid one waiter, then as we were leaving, another waiter came to ask us for payment. Having said that, the staff were very busy, and unfailingly polite, there just seemed to be a bit of a breakdown in communication.

We had the afternoon tea which was lovely . The staff were fantastic and couldn’t do enough to help. Exceptional service and food. We will be returning.

Great afternoon tea and lovely atmosphere. Very good value for money. The service was very attentive as well, thank you Matheus @italia_theu!

A lovely setting, and the food was excellent. Service initially a little slow but picked up once we ordered. Duck and orange terrine starter was delicious, with a superb mix of sweet and savoury flavours, and the vegetarian ravioli main course was outstanding - colourfully presented and tasty. Recommended!

Thanks to the team and big Thanks to Matheus ! The food was good, and the place beautiful ! Loved it very much and would recommand it for a friend

My main course was pork fillet which I am quite certain had been cooked some time earlier then re-heated in a microwave. Pork was tough.

I’m just sending the private note below, I have nothing to say publicly.

A wonderful time to rest, reflect and eat after a stunning visit to the museum. We had a wonderful visit to the Ashmolean, finding more and more rooms that we hadn't found before, and then had a lovely meal in the restaurant to talk and reflect on the time we had spent. The service was well paced, and the food was well prepared with portions of the right size. It really confirmed yet again that it is a good way to round up a visit.

Lovely service and a beautiful restaurant - would go again

Efficient and pleasant service. Tasty food. Good choice. Sat inside.

Excellent food. Service was a bit variable; e.g. taking orders a little slow, but food arrived in good time. Shame the IPA listed on the 'Specials' card was actually not available. Only downside; it was a good job it wasn't too cold outside. Customers kept going outside to take photos from the external seating area, meaning the door was wide open most of the time. If you prefer to sit inside and don't want to catch cold, make sure you are not in the possible/probable draught! This seems to be a basic design flaw in the layout of the restaurant. Overall, a lovely lunch.

Good food in a light and airy top-floor / rooftop space above the museum, with panoramic views.

We went for the afternoon tea: savoury very good, Vegan option good as well. However, sweets did not taste fresh. Don’t come at 4pm as you will be rushed out before your scones pass your throat.

We had a lovely afternoon tea and the manager was very friendly and upbeat which made us feel valued as customers. The food was delicious and we enjoyed the ambiance and left feeling happy and relaxed

Don’t take reservations for 4pm if you close at 5pm, especially when you specify on reservation that we have the table for 1h30. They came to see us 4 times in total between 4:10pm and 4:45pm asking to pay the bill, telling us multiple times they close at 5pm etc. We were rushed out the minute we stepped in, terrible service for a £30 tea. Savoury food was good, scones were nice with real cream served, same for the vegan option, but the sweets did not taste fresh, we didn’t finish them.

Good food in an excellent setting - staff very friendly.

Decided to treat ourselves to lunchtime at the Ashmolean to complete our special time in Oxford. What a letdown! Had the ravioli from the limited main course menu, which was dry, tasteless and all together a big letdown / underwhelming.

Front of house staff glum looking as if tired and bored. We had to ask for specials and to place order. Food arrived tepid and ravioli well undercooked. Asked for service to be removed from bill which prompted waiter to launch into a moan up about it not being fair he lost money when kitchen and done poorly. I couldnt be bothered to point out his bad behaviour. I wont be returning to restaurant anytime soon which is a shame as Ashmolean Museum is great!

My sister and I brought our elderly mother here and everything was excellent. Matheus went above and beyond to look after us. Very much appreciated and recommended in an era where a focus on customer service seems to have been forgotten by so many establishments.

Lovely staff, beautiful setting but after a starter and a main I was left hungry.. the portion size for the gnocchi main was not adequate…

We had a table booked for 6 people today. We were greeted well and looked after with attention. However, after our food was served, the staff lost their interest. We were left to sit at the dirty table for a long time, until we had to ask someone several times to clear the table. It was not easy to get their attention at all. When the staff came up to clean the table, he was so rude and loud with the dishes so that we felt uncomfortable sitting at the table with all the noise of dishes and cutlery banging. Then we had to have our afternoon set without tea, which we had to wait for a long time until someone finally decided to come to our table. One should also note that at that time the restaurant was barely full, only a few tables. All in all, the experience was poor and it is sad that such a nice place has become so bad with extremely poor service.

Very good food that is far better than usual museum fare.

Afternoon tea was lovely and fresh tasting. Great selection of savoury sandwiches. For being quite busy the service was fair and good.

Lovely lunch time experience - good food, excellent service

We booked lunch for 5, to celebrate our Book Group anniversary. We were treated exceptionally well by the front of house and waiting staff. We ate a range of mains and desserts. All were very tasty and helped make our visit a memorable one. I had the herb crusted pork fillet, which I enjoyed, but it was overcooked and my friends could see I was struggling to cut it up. My suggestion would be to use a good pork chop instead. Had my pork been more tender, I'd happily have rated the restaurant 5 stars.

Food looked absolutely wonderful and tasted just as good - a lovely place to take someone for a treat!

Four of us enjoyed a delicious lunch at the rooftop restaurant. The food, ravioli & gnocchi dishes, was really unexpectedly tasty and the plates were warmed (a big plus). Service was great and the carafe of wine sufficient for 2 of us.

First of all this is superb location - one of the best in Oxford - and completes a visit to the great museum. Operated by the Benugo group who we have found vary in quality in the various venues in which they operate. This one is something of a sinecure and it would be hard not get it right. They just make it work largely because of an accommodating manager. But the food is so so and could be much better - at least my luke warm gnocchi was taken back to be reheated which at the high prices charged was the least they could do. It is not enough to put you off returning but oh how wonderful it would be if it could match up to the museum itself.

We love this restaurant. The food is always very good and the service is excellent. The beef pies were very much appreciated. It has a lovely atmosphere too.

We had a really nice and tasty cream tea at the rooftop cafe. Matheus was really friendly and helpful and looked after me and my mum really well. We really felt cared for and welcomed.

Was almost perfect return to form apart from the incorrect main course. It was correctly ordered and verified on the till system. The server implied his plate was correct. Hmm? Mistakes happen but it’s not wise to assume that the diner made the mistake. Otherwise, food was thoroughly enjoyable.

We stopped here at the beginning of our visit to Oxford, starting at the Ashmolean Museum. Rooftop restaurant, really nice views of the surrounding buildings. We stuck with lattes and desserts, and we very happy with the food and the service. A nice place for a break in your busy day !

A busy Saturday lunchtime but we had a brilliant lunch served in a timely manner. Each course looked and tasted delicious. All 3 of us ordered differently yet were equally delighted with the food and service. A real treat. Thank you everyone

Lovely restaurant but looking a little tired. Great staff and even better food that tasted really lovely.

A very enjoyable lunch with lovely food and excellent service in a bright, lively dining room. One of us has food allergies and the manager and server were extremely helpful in checking ingredients.

A lovely setting with tasty food and service was good. Certainly not outstanding but worth a visit.

Having asked for gluten free as I am a coeliac,I was given two pieces of brown bread with my pate both of which had white mould on which frankly put me off the dish even though they were replaced . It was so obvious I can’t believe the chef and / or waiter didn’t notice . We had visitors from London so we were not impressed.

Food remains fair value. Service, apparently by a new team was as attentive and polite as ever.

My beef pie was very tasty but the meat was chewy; perhaps it needed longer cooking? The noise level is rather too high but the open atmosphere and views are great.

Prompt and personal service. Very good dish of the day: delicious and well presented.

A bit special - to be able to dine on the rooftop (inside or outside) of the Ashmolean Museum, looking out over the Oxford rooftops.

I was with two friends for lunch. We ate a starter each, and a dessert each which we enjoyed very much. I felt the food was excellently prepared, good to eat and carefully presented. Efficient and professional but warm service. Relaxed ambiance. We sat with coffee until mid afternoon and nobody minded! The restaurant was pretty full but not noisy which was a plus for three older women.

We couldn't have asked for better. The staff were so kind and attentive, and the afternoon tea was absolutely delicious!

We were very disappointed with our visit, we had booked to have afternoon tea for a special treat, the service was really quite poor, at point of ordering we asked for 2 glasses of prosecco, these were not brought before or with the food, we had to ask 3 times, including, when the food was brought and after waiting for 10 minutes, getting up from the table to go to the bar to remind them again. The restaurant was only half full and other diners that arrived after us were getting served, it just seemed they forgot us, twice. The food itself was ok, except the bread in the sandwiches was really dry on the outside, as if they had been made much earlier and left sitting out. On finally bringing us the prosecco, there was no apology or explanation for the time taken. We asked for the 10% discretionary service charge they had added to the bill to be removed, which they did. Won't be returning and would not recommend.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Roof Top Restaurant at Ashmolean museum is my favourite restaurant in Oxford. The food is good and presentation was very beautiful.

I enjoyed the vegan afternoon tea. Very delicious and beautiful! See you soon.

Lovely lunch , perfect setting well looked after .