Restaurant at the Randolph in Oxford

Delicious food and excellent service, all the staff were very friendly and attentive. We had an amazing evening and cannot wait to be back.

table for 4 at Acanthus Oxford. booking messed up because staff spelt name wrong. however were given a nice table so forgave . excellent meal ( we had 2 courses), nicely presented . ( only 1 very small complaint. 'espresso cafe' was TEPID and the smallest I've ever seen (I know you dont get a cupful of espresso) absolutely tiny,our french guests were amazed . despite this we all enoyed our evening .

We loved our visit. Beautifully decorated restaurant. Friendly service. We loved the food and wine. We are coming back soon.

Delicious food, great presentation, good wine, very helpful, friendly, knowledgeable and efficient staff.

The food was great but the menu prices did not reflect prices on the bill (e.g. beef carpaccio was £4 more expensive than what was indicated on the menu when ordering). Even after highlighting the fact that the bill overcharged us, the waitress did not apologise and instead stated that the till prices were correct. We then proceeded to remove a pound from the discretionary service charge which the waitress also asked for again separately. Overall, an extremely poor business practise and uncomfortable experience for the customer. If I had the time, I would report the restaurant for prosecution as it fails to uphold Trading Standards

We opted for the 3 course dinner inclusive offer for our stay at The Randolph and found the selection to be very good. The staff were very helpful and covid aware whilst serving us. The food was delicious - superbly cooked and larger portions than I was expecting. The restaurant decor is classic of a building like this - wouldnt change that at all - and wonderful views out as well! Will definitely visit again.

We had a lovely dinner for two. We were seated in front of one of the big windows - a great spot which made for a lovely photo. 2 courses and two glasses of wine and 2 cocktails came to about £110 but I had the steak. Nice ambience and social distancing in place. A great place where you can dress up or wear jeans - there was a mix of everything.

Not the most extensive menu but very good smoked salmon, sirloin steak and fish and chips. Accompanying wine is on the pricier side but then you are in the Randolph. Excellent service.

We chose this restaurant based on other positive reviews and were not disappointed. Food was excellent and fairly priced. We thought the wine was expensive. They add an "optional" service charge which we paid but it does make you think when 60% of our bill was for the bottle of wine, so most of that significant service charge was generated by them simply putting a single bottle on our table. Overall a good experience and we would happily dine there again if in Oxford. On a different note, it is disappointing that Oxford City Council charges £4.60 for evening parking nearby, which doesn't really encourage us to patronise local restaurants.

Excellent evening meal, wonderful service and attentive staff. The wine selection is good and reasonably priced. Would recommend a pre-dinner cocktail in the Morse Bar.

Really good (and surpassing expectations too): a couple of great starters, a tasty and well cooked steak, a great risotto and a couple of drinks went down easily. The service was great and we enjoyed an excellent meal in comfortable surroundings. And it felt safe too - an important consideration in summer 2020 - while efforts had gone into the safety procedures not getting in the way of a great evening.

I don’t normally write Tripadvisor reviews but feel for a special Birthday treat I should warn others (as you can see from other reviews) this 'hotel' and restaurant are certainly not 5 star and not value for money! Lets start at the beginning....hotel arrival- no greeting or warm welcome, only 1 staff member on duty so after waiting standing with bags for some time the young receptionist who was preoccupied by the previous guests and the whole check in was cold and clinical. The walk to the room was about 10 minutes down various musty corridors and up and down stairs. The room was small including the bath and the best bit of the room was the crystal glasses! Cocktails in the Cartoon Bar were ok but took 15 mins per drink to arrive despite it not being particularly busy. On walking into the restaurant in the middle of the floor were large white sheets and a slip warning sign as there had been some leak or spillage in the middle of the restaurant! The manager looked stressed and overworked despite half the tables being empty- hate to think what his blood pressure was! Again no real welcome, felt cold and almost like we were an inconvenience. We were directed to our table for 2 with a ridiculous wobbly leg (surely the staff must notice such things!). The manager took the order himself and we ordered 2 breads but weren’t asked which type so one of each arrived (brown+white), the taste of the brown one was awful so it had to go back for another white one (which is what we would have ordered if asked in the first place). Mains came out- 2 steaks one just warm but mine was verging on cold. The garlic butter was a solid chunk like it had just come out of the refrigerator. At no point during the entire meal did anyone come over to ask how the food was (so not even a chance to express my dissatisfaction) or did anyone refill glasses from our bottle of wine in the cooler. I did it for my wife and I about 4x. As the plates were being collected there was still no asking of how the meal was so I asked to see the manager and explained what had happened and asked for the bottle of wine to become complementary, which he did. Of amusement though was that we were £1 over our DBB package of £30 per person and on checkout he had still included the £1 charge - which after all the problems one would have thought he would have just ignored that! Then comes to breakfast- put into the ‘Annex part’ with its own separate half effort to replicate the main buffet set up in the restaurant area. Sat down and not offered any extras like toast and no information on what extras were available. Asked for eggs benedict and told that was fine then after a few mins I was told the chef couldn't do it as he had no buns-I mean really for a 5 star hotel! Ordered a cheese and ham omelette which eventually came and was 'ok'. The coffee took 15 mins to arrive and the selection was so poor in the Annex there wasn't even butter available! I had to ask for it and so the waiters had to get it from the main area! The lack of food in the Annex was noted by other customers and I also heard others complaining of the lack of service and facilities in the Annex. Dirty plates were not cleared- again all things that should be commonplace in a 5 star facility. So all in all for a birthday surprise the highlight was checking out! I will be emailing the manager as well separately as I often see on these reviews management request to be contacted so I will update this review following any correspondence.

We received very good service. The food was delicious, although some portions rather small. The atmosphere was great, and the table was quiet. The only problem was the staff's ability to produce French mustard (rather than English).

The decor is awesome, the food average. The table had been pre-booked but the wait for our food was exceedingly slow.

We were a party of 12 who booked for Christmas lunch. We booked for their advertised 3.30pm sitting. two days before Christmas it became apparent that they had booked us for their earlier sitting of 12.30. After checking they emailed to say it was OK we were booked in for 3.30pm. We arrived to discover there was no 3.30pm sitting and they had been expecting us at 12.30 and considered us a no-show. They did say they could feed us. The staff all looked like they wanted to go home. Before we had even sat down and found somewhere to put our coats (no-one offered to take them) they were hovering with our starters. We asked where the champagne and canapes were that were advertised as part of their Christmas package. They took the starters away and came back and served prosecco. They should not advertise champagne and serve prosecco. The main course arrived, it was lukewarm. It consisted of some turkey breast, 3 brussel sprouts, 1 carrot, 1 pig in a blanket, 1 parsnip and 3 roast potatoes plus some rather tasteless stuffing. we had to go and find someone to open wine for us, he thought 12 people asking for a 4th bottle to be opened meant we drank a lot... The pudding arrived, it was stone cold. The coffee was at least freshly made but the mince pies that came with it were the cheapest of the cheap...thick, oversweet pastry, tasteless mincemeat. For this rip off meal they charge £135 a head plus drink. They have provided a substantial refund (after chasing), and offered one of us a free night at the Randolph hotel...another own goal,as who wants to spend a night alone in an hotel? will not be going back.

Set in a fabulous location, with classic decor and incredibly presentable service, you have high expectations for such a prestigious restaurant in a very expensive hotel....However the menu is really uninspiring, not everything was cooked well to justify the cost, and whilst the presentation of the food was fabulous, you want to be asked by your waiter if you’re food was ok and not once over our three courses was we asked if the food was good or not.The menu offers what is a selection of very obvious and British food foods, and we went for the haggis pops and leak and potato soup. For the £9 the soup was very bland, but the haggis was tasty and cooked perfectly.For mains my wife ordered the pork belly, which was very well cooked, however it came with huge soggy lumps of apple and very undercooked (and I mean almost raw) pieces of sweet potato. I ordered the hake, and wasn’t told until it arrived that they had no hake and I was getting halibut (!). Which is not a problem as I love halibut, but that was completely overcooked and almost hard like it had been left out for a while before hitting the table for my consumption.We had dessert to give the chef another chance and out came a cold rice pudding with too much jam, and a treacle tart that couldn’t be homemade, and again overcooked / warmed and was set firm and not fluffy in any way.We were very disappointed to be honest. It’s not cheap and for those prices you expect things to be cooked well. We hate to moan as you’ll see by our other reviews, and yes we eat well at very good restaurants, but the least you expect is a chef doing his/her job...

Opted for the 'Festive Lunch' menu - 3 courses plus coffee and mince pies and a glass of prosecco for £40. This restaurant used to feel opulent but it now feels a little souless - some of the windows were obscured due to work going on outside - and 'cheesey' Christmas music was playing - maybe something more gentle and genteel would be better in this sort of environment.The food was fine - albeit the turkey was quite dry.Service was OK - nothing special.Just average all round

My mum and I went to eat there on Friday night as we were a guest of the hotel. We waited half an hour for our first course. I had the calamari and my mum had the pigeon. We had sat there for an hour and a half and had only had one course. The service was terrible and the staff obviously didn’t understand us. We had to ask them to hurry the chef up with our second course, it came and was a disaster. I had the pork which was over cooked and the sweet potatoes had no seasoning what so ever. My mum had the fish which was so overcooked that it was inedible. I would NOT recommend this restaurant at all.

I have to say thank you to the team here for a brilliant family lunch we had today. We all agreed that the food was great and the staff were really helpful, especially with our daughter and we felt really well looked after. We will definitely be back soon.

Went for dinner - good range of choice with all courses and especially vegetarian options (not that many upper end restaurants do in Oxford). Lovely table next to window and we also benefited from the great service from Pedro - a star! Very pleased they not only noted the request for my daughter's birthday at the end of the meal, but also on her arrival, without prompting. Very nice touch indeed. Also had a very pleasant drink in the Morse Bar - one of the best gin martinis I've had recently. Definitely recommend!

Having lunch at Acanthus was supposed to be an experience but unfortunately it was a lesson in poor service and mediocre food. The restaurant itself is located in fantastic historic facilities and has a lot of charm but the food and staff makes you shake your head wondering why something with so much potential is done so badly.

Si se encuentra en la zona y tiene la suerte de cenar en este restaurante, solicite que Pedro le sirva. Un caballero encantador, que se disculpó porque se suponía que teníamos el menú fijo, pero como el jefe de cocina no estaba bien informado, tuvo que seleccionar del menú principal. Mi otra mitad y yo elegimos el bistec de solomillo después de preguntar si podíamos hacerlo, ya que era la segunda opción más cara para comer. Aparentemente, el supervisor y el gerente no estaban muy contentos con esto, pero Pedro nos aseguró que estaba bien, luchó por nosotros y por eso tuvimos una comida increíble. Además de esto, Pedro nos dio prosecco en la casa, y se ofreció a tomarnos una foto a los dos para la ocasión (nuestro tercer aniversario).

La comida era fabulosa, el ambiente era perfecto y la habitación es impresionante, pero lo que hizo que nuestra visita fuera realmente especial fue el servicio absolutamente increíble de nuestro camarero Pedro. Muchas gracias Pedro por hacer que nuestro aniversario fuera tan especial, ¡nunca nos han tratado mejor!

Gut zu essen und das zu, dafür dass man in einem 5 Sterne Hotel ist, recht moderaten Preisen. Tolle Atmosphäre, sowohl in der Bar, als auch im Restaurant und eine sehr freundliche Bedienung machen den Aufenthalt zu einer Freude, die sogar anhält wenn das Essen kommt. Wir hatten ein sehr gutes Chateau Briand serviert auf heißen Tellern, mit neuen, gekochten Kartoffeln....immer den Chips vorzuziehen....Sauce Béarnaise alles frisch aufgekocht.....sehr lecker. Dazu einen guten Malbec.

A pesar de la impresionante decoración de la habitación y la cálida bienvenida del personal principal del vestíbulo del hotel, el restaurante fue una decepción tan pronto como nos sentamos.

This was a haven from the bustle outside. The room was beautiful and quiet. Service was fine if a little slow. The food was traditional and good with plenty of options and a well-priced 2 and 3 course lunch menu.

My friends and had a wonderful Tea time with some nice sandwich making our English afternoon spectacular!!

Sólo. . . no. Almuerzo. No lo intentes. Tomó f o r e v e t. Podría haber hecho un mejor César. Tenía partes amargas de lechuga romana (y no mucho de eso), crutones comerciales, una pequeña cantidad de aderezo. Cassoulet de bacalao sin sabor. Se lo quitaron de la cuenta. Estaba en un grupo y tenía que estar en algún lugar; otra mujer nunca recibió su postre y tuvo que irse sin él. Estuvimos allí una hora y media. Sin embargo, el desayuno buffet estaba bien y, por lo tanto, las dos estrellas. Lástima porque es una bonita habitación.

Visited for a birthday lunch with family. The dining room is in a traditional style, with coats of arms of Oxford colleges. Ordered pan fried cod, chicken and roasted beef. All food was well prepared. Service was ok, if a little slow.

We ate at Acanthus three nights in a row while in Oxford in June 2019. The restaurant itself is beautiful, with its high ceiling and portraits. We also found the food very good--we enjoyed the seared Asian beef salad, the various steaks (tasty fries and onion rings accompany the steaks!), herb crusted lamb, the fish of the day (cod/hake with wild mushrooms/kale/chestnuts), and the roasted root vegetables (a lovely side if you like root veggies, which I do!)--all were delicious (skip the carrot cake). However, honestly, what made the experience most special to us was the wonderful service by the wait staff, and the manager, Dragos, who assiduously attended to the comfort and needs of all the guests, while simultaneously managing his staff with grace and ease. Dragos was professional, pleasant, and always present---looking to see where he could help and render assistance. His ability to multi-task, attention to detail, and obvious people skills make the restaurant run smoothly and create a great experience for the guests: That's why we returned each night we were in Oxford!

Reservamos la cena en este encantador restaurante, ya que teníamos una familia de EE. UU. Que se hospedaba con nosotros y pensamos que apreciarían la historia. Teníamos razón. Ellos lo amaron. Teníamos bebidas antes de la cena en la mesa antes de ordenar, pero eran muy caros. Todos elegimos la carne bourguignon del menú y todos estuvimos de acuerdo, ¡delicioso! Compartimos dos postres que también eran encantadores.

Twice during our stay on Oxford we dined at Acanthus ... first time on "spec"; the second time by design. The service, the food, the ambience all combinded to cap off two delightful days. Well done to Dragos and his staff.

I was staying in the hotel and ate dinner in the restaurant twice. It wasn't busy either time, but service was incredibly slow. The first night, I had the beef bourguingon, which was astoundingly good. The next time, I wanted a lighter meal, but they were out of the pasta that I wanted, so I opted for mushroom soup -- which was also astounding -- and a prawn and avocado sandwich. It came with no sauce or dressing of any kind. The prawns were icy and the sandwich was difficult to eat, as the slices of avocado kept slipping out of the bread.

I managed to book a table for one at short notice in this quite superbly decorated restaurant inside the Randolph Hotel. The service was excellent and the food was amazingly good. Try their version of a jaffa cake for pudding - it's absolutely scrumptious!

Eating at Acanthus Restaurant is the perfect complement to a stay at Macdonald Randolph Hotel. It is a good choice for experience a historical place for guests staying elsewhere. The food is excellent, fairly priced and presented. An excellent service makes the experience memorable.

Birthday dinner for my wife so looked for a good quality restaurant in Oxford. What a disappointing evening it turned out to be. The restaurant was empty when we arrived at 6:30pm for our booking. The windows were overshadowed by the scaffolding for the refurbishment underway. We knew about this. However, the room was dark, dingy and poorly lit with a decaying grandeur feel about it. The two waiters and maitre de were attentive enough for their only 2 customers. The menu was very limited and pretty uninspiring to be honest. For starters we had a giant prawn cocktail which was like something from the 1960s and smoked salmon and toast with a horseradish creme fresh dressing. This looked a bit sad and not really very appealing. For mains my wife had beef bourgiinon with mash which was OK and I had chicken escalope with a side of new potatoes. I cut into the escalope to find that the inside was pink and not quite cooked. I summoned the waiter who in turn summoned the maitre de. He took the dish back to show the chef. He then returned and apologized but said that the pink colour was due to a vein rather than under cooking but that the chef would cook another one. After about 20 -30 minutes a replacement appeared that had been cooked so much that the breadcrumb coating was bordering on burnt. The accompanying fried egg had a hard, not runny yolk. We had ice cream and sorbet dessert and then paid and left. We were not charged for the chicken escalope but then the first one was under cooked and the second one was almost burnt. I have to say I was incredibly disappointed by: the dingy, gloomy atmosphere, the lack of table linen, the dismal uninspiring menu and the alarming poor chef skills on what is real a pretty simple dish that I regularly and successfully prepare at home. I think that this hotel and it's restaurant have probably had their day. I will not be returning or recommending this place.

The star is definitely the room itself - very high ceilings, oak paneling and university coats of arms on the walls.

Tuvimos 4 malas experiencias en 2 días. La cena del día 1 fue al restaurante, que es grande, solo hay otras 2 parejas allí. Fuimos apresurados a pedido, ya que esperaban una gran fiesta (¿12?), Nos apuraron a que nos atendieran debido a la gran fiesta, pero el restaurante estaba prácticamente vacío. Mi comida estaba muy seca, me preguntaron si me gustaría un poco de salsa que me costó una edad. Nos dijeron que reconocieron que este plato estaba demasiado seco y que la próxima semana se serviría con salsa, ¿por qué esperar hasta la próxima semana?

Lo único que tienen es tortellini y ensalada. Cuando me preguntaron por el sándwich me dijeron que solo están disponibles para el almuerzo (no hay información sobre esto en el servidor o en el menú)

Mi compañero y yo comimos en el restaurante con un amigo que celebraba su cumpleaños. El restaurante es encantador, la comida era fantástica y el personal fue muy atento, pero el servicio fue increíblemente lento, incluso a través del restaurante no estaba lleno.

Food great- Service exceptional. We come each year for anniversary- last year service not wonderful. This year brilliant Thank you Dragos. We do still long for the years when the dining room was carpeted and there were white linen tablecloths but hey ho life moves on.

Came here for dinner on a voucher that a family member had bought us for a birthday treat but we felt a bit like they didn’t know what it was! Anyhow got our champagne and ordered our food, only had 1 vegan option so I had the superfood salad as a starter which was very nice and then Tortellini as a main and whilst I like my pasta al dente this was just slightly under cooked. My husband ordered a side which they forgot to do and I ordered a Gin was took about 20 mins also. Desserts were nice but had to wait a while. The staff were mixed the Asian lady was lovely but the other staff were a bit offhand and not very friendly. The room was lovely.

Después de leer las reseñas variadas del restaurante, reservé una cena para ver por mí mismo. Estoy tan contenta de haberlo hecho. Fue excelente Desde el frente de personal de la casa, camareros y asistentes. La comida era excelente y no podía ser criticada. Qué experiencia tan brillante y tan atractiva, también reservamos para la noche siguiente.

Went to Acanthus for lunch on a Monday with my wife and my daughter and her partner. Acanthus is set in a very nice room but is rather dimly lit; massive amounts of scaffolding around the building did not help the lighting either. Service was offhand to say the least; we were given the Christmas lunch menu when we had told the restaurant on booking that we would be eating from the a la carte menu. On request, we got the a la carte menu and were then given a long list of items that were not available, " because we were very busy over the weekend". Given the lack of choice on the a la carte menu, we chose from the Christmas menu. Food was decidedly average. Smoked salmon starter was OK; Chicken liver parfait starter was also acceptable (although in both cases they forgot to bring the accompanying bread). Roast turkey main was poorer than you'd get in almost any pub at this time of year - the turkey itself was OK but only two small roast potatoes, two tiny carrots and two sprouts (daughter was less fortunate; she had only one sprout); no stuffing, no extra gravy to add to the tiny amount on the plate. My wife's monkfish was poorly cooked. However, the gins and tonic were fine (as they should be at £8.50 a time), as was the coffee. Total bill for 4 was £189. We could have gone to any number of pubs and got a much better experience for half of that.

Sin un saludo sonriente y casi sentí que era un esfuerzo por servirnos. ¡Tuvimos que pedir que nos quitaran los abrigos! No hay ambiente en el comedor,

The breakfast buffet, two days in a row, was very nicely done. One room at the back of the dining room area was set up buffet style with meats, cheeses, breakfast biscuits/rolls, orange juice and other juices, and fruit. A second room had two long tables, set up with eggs, sausages, bacon, biscuits and (I think.._) gravy; all one could ask for. Servers were quiet, respectful, and timely with pots of hot coffee. Toast is made to order and delivered to the table. Breakfast was very good.

Although the surroundings in the restaurant are very pleasant, the room was so dark that we could not read the menus. The food is very disappointing, overpriced and bland. The first night I had the pork in breadcrumbs. It was swimming in grease and overcooked. The second night I had chicken and mash - the chicken was tiny and the mash the size of a soup spoon. Both of the tables either side of us were complaining about the food and the wine to little avail. For a 5 star hotel this restaurant is AWFUL - AVOID.

There were very few fellow diners when we visited on a Thursday lunchtime and we can understand why. The menu was OK & so was the food, but the service was unsmiling for the most part & the food unexciting. My soup was piping hot, which is not easy to do & I was very appreciative. Wine by the glass was expensive. The dining room is located in a beautiful space, but it seemed very bleak with so few diners & the windows covered with scaffolding.

The Acanthus has a great setting in the Randolph Hotel but the food is well below par. The service is patchy - the staff are friendly but not very attentive and don't appear to be very well organised. It isn't expensive but there are far better places to eat in Oxford.

Starting with the negatives: lunch at the restaurant starts at 12:30, a bit odd. I waited for half an hour for a salad, gave up and cancelled the order. Room service arrived without cutlery (first time). Second time missing the drink and bread (but with jam and butter). The food is okay but entirely forgettable . Why the empty minibar is beyond me.

A really disappointing dinner. Service offhand and patchy. Fritto misto tepid and greasy; terrine bland. Chateaubriand for 2 served with bain-marie tasting tomato, two small mushrooms, and dreadful re-fried “hand cut” chips. Beef acceptable, but with watery sauce and little evidence of basting. We decided to forgo anything else and requested the bill which arrived for 322 pounds, over double the actual amount (wine included). The person who seemed to be masquerading as a maître d’ was called, said we had been given another table’s bill and took the bill for correction. The same bill was duly brought back by a waitress with several items crossed out but the original total - 322 pounds – which the waitress then claimed was the amount owed (yes, this is true). Told that this was wrong, she took it away and returned with a bill for 149 pounds, being 133 pounds for the meal plus service charge. When I asked how much the service charge was, the waitress said 10%; when this error was pointed out, she said, well, 12 or 12.5%, not sure. She did remove the service charge when asked to do so. We paid 133 pounds and explained why the meal was sub-standard and why we were deleting the service charge. As we left, the maître d’ skulked away, seemingly to avoid contact. No apology. My summation was “disgraceful”; my companion said “atrocious”. Vale Randolph.

The Randolph is an iconic 5 star hotel in Oxford. It's restaurant is the Acanthus. Not having visited for a very long time (we live there) and wondering what one of the few 'white linen' restaurants in Oxford was now like, my wife and I decided to have Friday lunch there to see.

We ate here to celebrate ours sons 21st Birthday. Beautiful dining room but felt let down by both service and quality of food. My husband asked for a beer the waitress took his order, left and never returned. He asked again and got his beer eventually. we noticed lots of staff coming and going, leaving the restaurant empty occasionally.we found it quite difficult to get anyone’s attention at times. The goats cheese starter my husband and I had tasted lovely but simply not enough of it, menu described tomatoe and courgette salad but only one small cherry tomatoe cut in half arrived on the plate. When we asked for some bread we were told it would take 20 minutes, so didn’t order it. The actual roast dinners were pretty poor my sons slow cooked Pork belly was not slow cooked but rather tough and hairy! The Yorkshire puddings were dry and burnt when we asked for more gravy to try and eat them were left to wait 10 minutes and dinners almost finished. The roast beef dinner was nicely cooked and would recommend this option. Our desert was nice, again quite small portion size. Overall we felt disappointed by our experience here.

We poppped in for a birthday treat for my brother as he’d eaten here before during business meetings. This time it was just for coffee and puddings as we had our children with us. As soon as you walk in it’s obvious the standards are high as staff are attentive even opening doors for our 2 boys aged 8 & 6. The staff were happy to accommodate us in the main dining restaurant for our dessert only visit. It was while we all enjoying our desserts that my brothers wife informed us she had a little extra in her dessert. A huge fly had managed to find itself into hers meaning she could eat no more. She informed the staff and they were very apologetic and adjusted the bill accordingly. Now I try and remain amicable in situations like this because it’s not really anyone’s fault the fly got in there but at the same time with what you’re charged in places such as this you expect quality. They’re happy to charge you high prices for accommodation, drinks etc so you expect quality in return. At the end of the day if you’re paying £7 for a pudding and over £4 for a coffee it’s somebodys job to check.

Do not believe the hype about this restaurant- the food is terrible. Badly cooked food and poor quality. The wine choice is limited and overpriced. The staff however are lovely and couldn’t do more for us and it seems such a shame they are let down by a bad chef. We definitely wouldn’t be eating there again.

Als velen lieten wij ons vangen in een Morse tour. Op zich was dit zeer teleurstellend. Quid. Het Randolph Hotel maakt uiteraard deel uit van het Morse gegeven. Aangezien het er leuk uitzag boekten wij een diner. Personeel was redelijk ongemotiveerd; kader is heel mooi; maar daar houdt het op. Eten was eetbaar; maar niet echt lekker. Wij hebben geen dessert en koffie meer genomen en zijn vertrokken.

We booked for an evening meal for a birthday celebration. The service was first class and the food was well presented and tasty. A good choice was offered on the menu with nice sized portions. The food was hot and the whole table got their food at the same time. The staff were attentive, and offered to take photos for us.

Acanthus is the house restaurant of the Randolph. We live in Oxford and went there for a meal. First, we had cocktails in the Morse Bar. Pricy, but an elegant place for pre dinner drinks. The Acanthus gives you a good choice of starters and main dishes, if you can navigate the menu. I enjoyed my fish and chips with a reasonably priced white wine. Service is polite and attentive. The restaurant has a high ceiling and large windows looking over Beaumont Street and St Giles. A place of cool elegance rather than warmth

Restaurante doHotel Macdonald’s. Ambiente ótimo. Muito caro. Atendimento bom. Pratos ótimos. Local fabuloso.

We had dinner at the restaurant of the MacDonald Randolph restaurant. The food was very good. We had a nice beef Wellington. The meat was very tender! Lora, our waitress did a great job. She advised us about the food and the wine. She was very pleasant and made us feel very welcome!

Ospiti del Mc Donald Randolph e stufi del caos di Oxford nei giorni delle lauree, ci siamo fermati a cena nel ristorante dell’hotel.

Julio 2018 fuimos para comida familiar después de su graduación. Sitio web mostró restaurante no tenía habitaciones libres, pero al sonar reservado en el restaurante no era fácilmente y que ocupado. Recomendamos siempre ring para comprobar. La comida era excelente y el servicio era excelente. Recomiendo encarecidamente como comida de primera clase. Los precios son de primera calidad, pero merece la pena en un entorno precioso.

No oolong tea, no green tea in a 5* establishment? Service was only average. Decor (bar area) not much changed since refurbishment! Not living up to expectations, sadly! Could be so much better! Prices are ok but not cheap!

Reservamos para comer el domingo después de una boda familiar el día antes en lo que habíamos creído era uno de los destinos de oxford premier - sin duda conocido.

Reservé una mesa el viernes por la noche para mí y mi pareja como regalo de cumpleaños y después les dije que quizás añadir algo a su postre, por encima y más allá! Amy (Administrador de servicios para huéspedes) por encima y más allá de la botella de champán, una tarjeta de cumpleaños de su equipo, una preciosa y un amuse bouche placa especial postre de cumpleaños. Nos mimaron! ! ! Independientemente de eso, la comida del menú a la carta era delicioso, tuvimos el Chateaubriand y no me decepcionó! Yo recomendaría este hotel para una ocasión especial. Gracias al equipo, que ganó grandes finos zarcillos brownie puntos por esto!

El menú del restaurante finos zarcillos Randolh (parte del hotel) no tiene enorme, con un poco más de un aspecto sandwich bar, pero la cena formal, de lo que nos pareció que era un poco limitada, fue excelente. Tuve huevos crujientes de pato con lonchas finas de jamón de Parma y guisantes minty, seguido de cerdo con puré de humo, y rematado con un budín de chocolate recién horneadas, helado de café y alveolar. La señora tenía un fritto.Misto cosa para empezar, luego un champiñón tortellini, y pistacho tarta con frambuesas. Todo muy agradable. El vino era una botella de Zinfandel rosado - también muy agradable. La factura, incluyendo el vino a 30 libras y servicio, vino a £112 - sobre la par el campo.

Untrained and unsupervised staff, a maitre d' conspicuously absent for much of the time and completely detached when present, a menu much more limited than the one available on your website, an inordinately long waiting time for the food to arrive (and, not surprisingly, dishes that should have been hot were tepid on arrival), premium prices for very modest portions unimaginatively cooked and dourly presented, a rocking table, having to ask a waiter to clear dishes at the end of a course and then to return to the table to take dessert orders; at every level the experience was dire and for us, as the hosts, embarrassingly below our reasonable expectation. How you dare promote yourself in the way you do given the standard you actually achieve beats me. I've been to better motorway service stations and I've never had to pay £177 at one. Finally: an email of complaint remains unanswered four days later.

Desayunamos en el hotel en Oxford en Randolph 1 de junio de 2018 con 2 amigos. El servicio era muy pobre y el buffet era igual de mala, y el precio era desorbitado (21 libras. 50 por persona). Tuvimos que seguir pidiendo cosas que no había convertido, y cuando lo hicieron llegar fueron de risa e. g. una taza de mermelada. Nos quejamos con el gerente, quien se disculpó profusamente, pero no pide ningún detalle de lo que se quejaban, él parecía tener un inglés limitado. Y este está destinado a ser un 5 estrellas!

We had both breakfast and evening meal here as we stayed the night.I enjoyed the breakfast but the evening meal I though was average.The service was reasonable and it was nice looking out on the Ashmolean but the food is not special.

My husband and I dined in the restaurant as we are staying at The Randolph. Excellent meal - very well cooked and well presented. Good choice of dishes. Good choice of wines. Risotto was absolutely delicious!!! Would certainly recommend this restaurant !

Esta fue la cena de celebración, así que queríamos algo especial. El entorno es precioso, un gran hotel antiguo, con techos altos y grandes ventanales con vistas a la ciudad. Este es el tipo de lugar que se .dess. La comida es buena y bien presentada, pero la calidad no está a la altura del entorno, o los precios.

The food is modest, The ambience uninspiring and the staff require training and better supervision. The music is intrusive rather than background. The wine list is overpriced.

Service is okay but the food is very poor. Classic hotel restaurant...highly priced but minimal quality. Not interested in repeat custom. Just go through the motions and maximise hotel profit. Waiters ask if food acceptable and when I complain they shrug and ignore.

A superb meal in lovely surroundings. Surprised at the end of the meal with a sharing plate for the birthday girl, just wonderful.

We ate here for dinner and also the following evening for the pre-theatre 2 course menu. The restaurant is elegantly...

I had the misfortune to temp here and I was very dissappointed with the value for money side of things!,...

Lors de notre visite de cette ville, nous avons posé nos souliers dans cet établissement. Accueil des plus surprenant, il...

Mi marido y yo nos alojamos en el Randolph para nuestro aniversario de plata y cenamos en el finos zarcillos esa noche. La comida era precioso y bien presentado. Carne de mi marido estaba muy bien cocinado, él dijo que era el mejor bistec hubiera...

I was treating my mother to lunch before seeing a show at The New Theatre. I had allowed an hour...

Decidimos probar el restaurante finos zarcillos para mi padre en leyes cumpleaños 80th. Al llegar nos recibió un personal muy atento. El ambiente en el restaurante es realmente maravillosa y no nos decepcionó en nuestra elección de lugar. Ahora la comida, diferentes opciones de arranque,...

Twelve Family members and the little three year old, from different parts of the country, had not met for a long time. Much to tell and talk about.

Based at the heart of the Randolph, the Acanthus Restaurant is delightful. The atmosphere was lovely and the food was excellent with interesting choices on the menu. Certainly worth a visit.

Lovely traditional afternoon tea

Four of us had dinner at the Acanthus, unlike the hotel, service here was good. Extensive menu, good wine choices. Unfortunately the food is ordinary.

La peor comida que nunca tuve; El Restaurante randolph es el peor.

Went here as an extravagant family treat. This was the main restaurant in Oxford’s most prestigious hotel, the 5* Randolph. Arrived in the hotel bar to the welcoming smell of sewage in the foyer. Hardly an auspicious start.

The Randolph Hotel restaurant. The goat cheese nibble bon bins are served with a pink salad dressing that looks like cat sick. Yuk. Our main courses were cold. They were replaced with a slight improvement. The waiting staff were very good. We were informed, a new menu is on the way. They don't need a new menu. They need a new chef. There is a huge choice of good restaurants in Oxford. This was a very, very disappointing lunch.

The building and setting could not be more perfect, however I believe the restaurant uses the supposed 5 star status to mask its very poor standards. I went with my family and the staff were very rude and service was incredibly slow despite us being one of only a few families in the place. The food itself was ok, but they forgot my parents meals. However the worst came when after stressing I had a bit allergy to the staff and then assuring me my dessert had no nuts, the chef decided to last minute scatter nuts on my dessert coated in honeycomb. I proceeded to have a reaction only for a member of the restaurant staff to accuse me of lying. Luckily the hotel manager was extremely nice about the situation, after the chef had confirmed the addition of nuts. I hope that they have upped the standard since the visit, as it is a shame for such a beautiful venue to not be used to it’s full potential.

The hotel boasts an AA 5 star rating, also for the Acanthus restaurant for their food and service. Lunch today was disgusting both in quality and service. The restaurant was not very busy. Once seated we waited about 10 minutes before our order was taken. Michele ordered the burger from the A la Carte menu while I chose the ham Hock terrine followed by a Flat Iron steak from the set menu. We also ordered a glass of red wine and a passion fruit and orange juice.

Five of us for lunch and none were disappointed. Steaks were served as ordered and the service excellent. Plenty of staff to serve and our dishes came out together. We all enjoyed our meals. Starters, mains and puddings were all tasty. We also used the valet service to park our car which was a real bonus as traffic is very heavy near to the Ashmolean Museum.

We ate lunch here for my husbands birthday. We had two courses each. Food and service were good.Fantastic location.

The food was reminiscent of a school canteen dinner. Very simple menu, long wait for service, tired & boring atmosphere. Not worthy of it's setting.

We came here for dinner. The food was pleasant enough, but not up to the standard you would expect at the price, and most incongruous in this splendid (if poorly run) five star hotel. The wine list looked uninviting, so we ordered Greene King IPA, which was ice cold and fizzy. Tinny background music made conversation difficult and pub tables evoked the atmosphere of a far cheaper establishment. This place desperately needs to be taken on by a competent hotelier and transformed into an establishment which is worthy to sit in gothic splendour beside the Ashmolean Museum. As it is, it feels wrong.

I expected much from this restaurant given it's high status in Oxford and the high prices charged, however, I was extremely disappointed. My mains dish was the red mullet which had a strong, fishy smell, looked grey and unappetising and, quite frankly, tasted awful. I had profiteroles for dessert which were presented pretilly but were as hard as bullets. To cap it all we were served Cappuccinos that were barely luke warm. The service was very 'average'; they were attentive but not polished. You should also be aware that there is a non-negotiable 12% service charge on all meals. To sum up: under-quality and over-priced.

My daughter treated me to a birthday lunch on Saturday. We chose from the set menu and found the food excellent. Well presented and extremely tasty. The chef is to be congratulated and we will visit again.

We stopped here late in the evening after many restaurants and pubs had stopped serving and the staff accommodated us in spite of the hour. The food was good, but not spectacular. I would feel more comfortable reviewing the food after at least one more visit. It is a very formal setting.

This is difficult as there are two reviews here. Staying here we booked dinner at 7 pmWe were greeted and shown to a table. The staff were superb, helpful and attentive, nothing too much trouble. We had brought our drinks in with us from the Morse Bar (memories of such a great actor John Thaw as Morse and series). We ordered our meal starters calamari and a salad. The mains. came presented beautifully served hot. The decor is really beautiful, and the shields depicting the Oxford Colleges all around the room are amazing in fact the room is filled with paintings and historic pictures of interest. We were delighted with everything.Sadly the breakfast experience let this visit down a touch. Yes help yourself to the cereals etc. lots of choices cheese and cold meats. Toast arrived with the coffee so when the meal came the toast was cold. As were the eggs and bacon, which had to be sent back, this was also cold, which was a surprise buffet serve yourself normally is, but to order fresh really strange? Then had to order more hot toast, such a shame this was not what we had expected. Rather a surprise when the head waitress came to the table next to us, where the guest had left, no cloth and with her bare hands had swept the crumbs and anything else left on the table on to the floor and reset the table. Most odd!!!

We were staying at the Randolph as part of a wedding party. After the ceremony we came in for lunch. After a wait we ordered. 20 minutes after our lunch order we got some diet cokes and my husband and I laughed that the table next to ours had ordered the same lunch we had - a reuben sandwich and a chicken caesar salad. Ten minutes later our waitress came and said the kitchen had made a mistake with our order and we would have to order again and wait. We assume she was lying and served our lunch to the table next to us, who took it because they had been waiting over 20 minutes for their lunch, even though they probably hadn't ordered it. No apology even and the waitress was upset when we said we'd had it. (We went out and got an ok lunch elsehwere). Amazingly, the two cokes were on our bill the next morning. No shame, no apologies and no lunch. The revamped dining room lost its carpets so is noisy, the service pathetic and the food.... well if you want to wait an hour for lunch you might know what it tastes like...

The restaurant was very crowded when I walked in for breakfast and I had a very short amount of time to eat. The hostess was amazingly accommodating, found a nice place to seat me, took my order and made sure I was able to keep my schedule. It was a bit pricey for breakfast, but the service was good. I appreciate the kindness and attentiveness of the staff.

My partner and I went to see the Raphael exhibition at the Ashmolean last Saturday and after the visit we decided to have lunch across the road at Macdonald Randolph Hotel in the Acanthus restaurant.The location and setting are nice, the restaurant itself is pleasant and the table appropriately spaced out. Smiles must have been rationed on that day as reception was rather frosty and little greetings was offered. Despite the restaurant being half empty, the service was slow, untidy and far from the expected standard.We started by asking for 2 glasses of champagne, no list was produced, no bottle was shown, just…served. The starters were fine, the soup was hot, tasty and presented in a nice bowl; the croquettes were also tasty, but the bread was dry, the butter rock solid and it cost £4.00! As a main course one of us had steak and the other red mullet. The steak was fine, but the fish was small and tested of nothing at all, thankfully the portion of noodle was generous and well-seasoned.  Again the desserts were a mixed bag, the cheese platter was fine, but the amount of ice-cream served with the strawberry was extremely meagre. The wine list is long and has many bottles from all over the world, also it has some wines by the glasses; we drank 3 and they were fine, but on the expensive side. In our view, the 12.5 percent service charge was not fully justified and we will be in no rush to go back.