The Abingdon Arms in South Oxfordshire

Stood waiting for 10 mins 1 person serving beer coffee food needs more staff. Won't be going back there again so. Walked out.

Firstly, lovely pub garden, and nice inside - great views.. however, I ordered 2 roast beef meals and 2 Hawkstone lagers and it cost £62. I didn’t mind this, although it felt a bit expensive, if the food was good. Unfortunately, the beef was very chewy and not nice. The gravy looked amazing, dark and rich, but tasted horrible. The roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese were nice. The red cabbage was nice. Carrots were poor, and you could tell the Yorkies were from a pack. I really wanted to enjoy it, despite the price, but it was sub standard.. the ironic thing is, I do t think the ingredients (bar the Yorkie pudding) were cheap, but they were poorly cooked. Beer was nice (Hawkstones), garden nice, food pants. If you’re just going for a drink, you’ll love it… if you’re going for food, give it a swerve.

A lovely little village pub with loads of character. The staff are friendly and welcoming, and the atmosphere’s always relaxed. The food’s solid across the board, but it really shines on the day they do their stone-fired pizzas !! absolutely top-notch, well worth timing your visit around that. The pub has a charming, community-owned feel (I believe it’s part-owned by the villagers themselves), which gives it a unique touch. They’re open seven days a week from 11am and, for those with four-legged companions, they’re dog-friendly too. Definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area — especially if you’re into good pizza and a laid-back village vibe.

Beautiful country pub with a great Sunday roast!

A beautiful olde world Cotswold pub owned and run by the local community. Lovely big terrace at the back with incredible, far-reaching views. Stunning!

Loved the out of the way location, outstanding view over Otmoor reserve. Cozy to eat inside if too cold on patio. Loved the historic, very genuine atmosphere! The server was lovely and helpful. We are visiting from another country and not accustomed to British pub culture, we were excited to try it. The pizza lunch and ciders were very good, the pizza is a large flatbread style, ample for one or even two to share. I would have given this review full stars if we had not also ordered the lasagna. It came with lovely fresh greens and good garlic toast and while the lasagna itself had an excellent flavour the texture was totally wrong! - Swimming in oil - with the pasta overcooked to a soft mushy texture. Pizza and lasagna were the only lunch choices on the menu - Our advice to others - please only order the pizza.

we had the loveliest visit this easter sunday - we ordered two (massive!!) roasts and left stuffed!! the food was delicious and the view was even better!! their garden is huge and full of tables on both levels and the view is just stunning. a real hidden gem just 15mins from oxford, with plenty of circular walks around the local countryside (there is a map outside the pub). a 10/10 pub in a gorgeous small town - can highly recommend! thank you so much to all the team!!

Lovely views out back, good choice of beers, friendly staff!

Great atmosphere, brilliant food.

We went for Mothers day sunday lunch and it was top notch. The food and service was great, lunch at the Abingdon Arms made our family day perfect. The feta and filo was delicious as was the Sri Lankan Cashew Curry and the roast lunches. It was a lovely sunny day and we sat out the back for a pre-meal drink, the view is lovely. Thank you for a lovely meal.

We had a lovely lunch here on Mothers Day. The food and service was first class, everything was locally sourced including the drinks from local breweries and distilleries. We couldn't have asked for more on a happy family day, thank you all at the Abingdon Arms

What a great Sunday lunch we had last weekend. Loads of fresh cooked veg and tender tasty chicken. Too full for a pud but were tempted. Very friendly welcome and good service..

Really nice food , proper nice pub,an what a lovely view from a cracking garden.

Lovely pub garden and even cosier inside. Staff were very friendly and welcoming. I felt the portions were perhaps on the smaller side (Sunday roasts and desserts) and we had to ask for more roasties (which had a supplemental charge), but otherwise very well cooked and tasty! Would go again, especially in summer for the pub garden with amazing views!

Fabulous and friendly community owned pub that served a lovely Sunday lunch.

A really lovely local village pub... Yummy food, good service and a great atmosphere. A good place day or night!

Delicious lunch today, excellent varied menu with lots of good choices. Attractive cosy pub. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

We held my late partner's wake at this lovely pub on 30th January and it was perfect. The food they provided was first class and the service was great throughout. A big thank you to all the staff and management. We'll definitely be visiting in the future.

We visited Beckley following our Family Tree history. My great great great grandfather used to own the Abingdon Arms and lived in the building. We had the most wonderful time with a fantastic meal and lovely local beers. The staff were extremely friendly and welcoming and even let me take a photo pulling pints behind the bar as my ancestors would have done. Such a quaint little pub in a beautiful village.

Lovely country pub. Good food, excellent selection of unusual beers. Great views across the countryside from the garden.

Smashing country pub. Fitted out to a high standard, roaring fire, lovely food options nicely cooked, great range of interesting beers, friendly staff and comfy seating. The fact that there are blankets over the backs of the chairs tells you a lot about how this independent pub wants you to come in, relax and enjoy the place.

Thank you to the Abingdon Arms for their kindness to my Dad Colin in life and for his wake today. We had such a happy party and he would have loved it. Whiskey flowed, the food was delicious and the staff so kind. We can't recommend it highly enough.

Quick service, gorgeous traditional pub roaring fire and exposed beams, good was delicious and piping hot, quick service with a smile not a problem with seating came 30 min earlier thn reservation time, happy to seat us early, just a fabulous community run pub

When I booked the table, I asked if I could have two beef and one lamb sunday lunch. I was told it wasn’t necessary, However, When I arrived, I was informed that there was no Lamb. So we ordered two beef and one chicken. The beef was okay, but the vegetables were overcooked and it certainly wasn’t hot. The chicken was so overcooked that it was barely edible. My partner had a little of it and then gave up leaving 3/4 of the chicken. They came to take our plates away and obviously saw That most of the chicken Was still on the plate - But said nothing. I wanted to complain, but my partner didn’t as she didn’t want to create a fuss in front of our Brazilian guest. We will obviously not be going back.

Just had two bowls of very bland 'cauliflower' soup accompanied by a slice of supermarket sliced bread. We would have expected a chunk of proper bread. When I mentioned it to the staff, the staff member smiled disarmingly but said, in effect, tough.

Nice Sunday lunch, reasonably priced. Friendly staff, nicely decorated venue.

Had lunch and a wake here we were well looked after and the food was grand Sadly we could not get the EV charger to work:(

Nice pub ,with good food very popular at lunchtime and probably at the evening times too

Lovely looking pub. We went there twice whilst staying close by. Our first meals weren't great, tagliatelle was bland and tasteless (although bacon was crispy as requested). Husbands beer was at the end of the barrel and was cloudy and tasted awful. No one noticed, they did apologise and replace it with another beer. He had lamb and he wouldn't have it again. Decided to stick with the Sunday lunch booking of 7 people as it was very close to our accomodation and the roasts looked great. One of us asked if he could swap out some veg for potato and was told no. The young men who served us were so miserable it was blatantly obvious that they didn't want to be there. All the roasts were tepid. We did not say anything as 3 of the party had to leave promptly to get to Heathrow. We spent over £250 over 2 visits. Other than being barely warm the roasts were good and generous. If we'd had one or two problems I wouldn't have put on this review, but overall the visit was so poor and the problems were easily resolvable but no one seemed to care. There appeared to be enough staff on so it wasn't an issue of staff shortages creating the problems. Such a shame as it has the potential to be amazing. It is a lovely looking community pub in a beautiful area, but unfortunately we wouldn't go back for the reasons above.

We went for the Sunday roast, a great size, not quite as fancy as the website suggests but the potatoes were so crispy, having cauliflower cheese (bit cold) and red cabbage were so amazing and lots of veg, really tasty. The yorkshire pudding was a let down, soft and stale, but otherwise such a good roast 👌 Atmosphere was a little loud and small in the main bar, sticky table, but pretty decorations and comfy chairs/blankets. Definitely would come back

Popped in after a long dog walker, advertised as 7 days a week. Please check online as this is not true.

Very grumpy staff definitely not happy to help , menu choice poor and when asked for gluten free option they seemed annoyed cashes curry was sickly sweet I told waitress I was un able to even eat half she took plates away with no response and only came back to take glasses away and I hadn’t finished my flat lemonade

Lovely old pub. Community owned. Locally produced food. Charming village. Gers busy so book in peak. Roast dinner was good. Sri Lankan cashew curry was good. Near a nice nature reserve.

Amazing little pub, great food and very dog friendly!

Awful Sunday lunch. Cold veg and tough beef. Won't be returning as used to be such a great pub.

nothing 'gastro' about it - there were 3 or 4 hairs in the food

Popped in here for lunch . Was suprised as this pub is owned by the villagers. Picked a tuesday so a more limited menu but the food was very good and reasonably priced. Service was a little longer than expected ( we were in a hurry so that may affect this) but lovely staff. View from top garden area is amazing honestly didn't care how long the wait . New favourite spot .

Absolutely terrible experience. Food took nearly 90 minutes to arrive (after being told it would be 40). Sri Lankan cashew curry was nothing of the kind - just open any Sri Lankan recipe book to see how to make it. Pie had undercooked pastry and a few dessicated roasted root veg on the side, no greens. Apparently the head chef was off but the actual recipes were poor.

The food was mostly nice, but the service was almost non existent. We had to call staff over every time we wanted something, and no one came to ask if the food was ok or if we wanted more drinks. The staff seemed pretty indifferent/unbothered. This was in huge contrast to a meal the previous day at a “cheap and cheerful” Wetherspoons pub where we were actually made to feel welcome and asked by several staff if we needed anything else. Good service makes all the difference, especially when you are being charged gastro-pub prices. We are unlikely to return.

Cozy friendly pub with great views over Oxfordshire countryside. A convenient 15-20 minute cab from Oxford to Beckley village.

Visited today for some lunch after being at the hospital. We walked in and not a staff member in sight we waited a good five minutes and when someone did appear no apology about keeping us waiting.We asked if we could eat so took a seat and after waiting 15 minutes for a menu we had to ask for it and the female member of staff was very abrupt. She should perhaps spend less time looking at her phone . Safe to say we decided not to eat there so finished our drinks and left won’t be going back anytime soon . Considering we were the only ones in the pub so not like she was busy .

Absolutely beautiful traditional British pub, a true few house gem

Great village pub with really good pizza (from the wood oven 3-5.30pm) and really good food at lunch and evenings for dinner. Amazing view across Otmoor from the gardens. Staff are very friendly and lovely atmosphere inside and out.

We chose this place for our son's graduation dinner as we liked the location and we couldn't have made a better choice. Everything was just perfect: the food simply delicious, we could also choose gluten-free and vegan menu. We felt welcome, the staff very kind and professional: they set aside a special room for our group (17 people), very cozy. We wholeheartedly recommend it!

Lovely place and friendly staff. Very quiet and had to look for staff once but they were very friendly

Stopped here on the way back from my daughter’s. Wonderful roast and really pleasant staff.

Amazing place, staff are so lovely and attentive I’d definitely recommend

Fantastic staff. Food was fabulous and fresh. Highly recommend this beautiful pub The owner has got everything spot on. 5 stars isn't enough

Thankyou all the staff at The Abingdon Arms for an absolutely wonderful lunch It was absolutely delicious. Couldn't believe the time when we left. We had been there enjoying the beautiful views over Oxfordshire for hours I'd like to give special thanks to the Chef Elena who boxed me up a carrot cake for my supper x

Good honest pub food at a sensible price 👌

Beautiful pub in a beautiful village. As a local, I have visited The Abbo on numerous occasions & attended many events here over the years, and I have never left disappointed. There is always a great selection of local ales & beers. The menu is varied with something for everyone & the wood fired oven pizzas really do live up to the hype! You’ll find quality food & drink here at reasonable prices, as well as a warm and friendly feel about the place. Staff are friendly and attentive, nothing is too much trouble. Really rate this place, would absolutely recommend it to anyone.

Updated Review - 1 year on: came back to this pub as we have great memories of the food and atmosphere. Sadly, on this occasion we found the quality in food and presentation much worse. One year ago the burger was presented nicely with really tasty chips, proper cheese and the pickles on the side, plus a nice pint of Hawkstone. This time there was no Hawkstone, the presentation was not nice, the chips were basic ingredients pub chips and the cheese was plastic stuff. The food is still quite pricey, so I would say not worth it anymore sadly!

We visited as a group of 7 adults, 2 babies and 2 toddlers. We were well looked after by all the staff who were warm, welcoming and attentive. I cannot eat dairy and the waitress kindly discussed my food options with the chef who marked a menu with all the options they could make for me. The food was pricey for what it was, but the service and atmosphere made up for this.

I have visited the Abingdon Arms to celebrate with family and friends twice recently. On both occasions they have produced an amazing buffet spread that we have all enjoyed in a wonderful country pub setting. If the weather is kind the outdoor decking with it’s awning gives delightful Otmoor views but should you be unlucky the inside of the pub is charming.

Went on Sunday had a lovely lunch staff very friendly and helpful will definitely be going back

A lovely welcome to a family party on Saturday 6th July. All staff were wonderful helpful and attentive. The food was delicious - super quality and plenty of variety for all palates and dietary requirements. Super, clean and tasteful toilets and garden area. Excellent choice of quality wines and beers.

Took libertys with my friends mum who had just laid her father to rest. The family picked this venue for a wake and paid £ 700 for food and was served with food that was absolutely shocking so bad it's embarrassing will never return.

If I could give it 0 stars I would. £700 for about 3 plates of food. Rude staff. Absolute fools. £700!!!!!

Great pub, went for a Sunday roast and it was fantastic. Staff were helpful and very welcoming

Sadly this pub is ran by bad management which clearly shows from their prior responses to negative google reviews. The lady manageress' professional conduct at this establishment is under question. Demonstrating obnoxious and narcissistic behaviour. As a community owned pub, the shareholders should seek new management to sustain a viable business.

Rude staff, massively overcharging for food that had been catered for a wake, £700 first picture and £400 2nd picture! very minimal food! You should be ashamed!

Absolutely stunning views and food to match. Thanks to Vicky and Dan and all the staff at The Abingdon Arms for looking after us and making our lunchtime so enjoyable. The sardines were outstanding, thanks to Elena.

Went on Saturday night. Booked for 3 people. Food very poor. Don't know if chef was on holiday but it certainly seemed so. All main courses served mildly warm. 2 people had chicken skewers. Tasted abismal. Lumps of strange shaped chicken that where supposed to have been marinated. Perhaps they forgot to do that. Tasted of nothing. Served with supermarket chips and salad bowl that looked and tasted bad. When we complained (one chicken meal returned - should have done that with the second one). The staff decided to ignore us. No apologies or anything. Be careful what you choose on the menu. Or alternatively only go for drinks and no food.

Loveky pub, with amazing views and space for kids to run around. Pizzas were fab!

I visited the Abingdon Arms for a wake after a family funeral at the Crematorium. The service was appalling. The food they claimed was for 30 people would have barely fed a toddlers party and they charged £700! I'm absolutely shocked they think that was an acceptable price to pay for the small amount ot food they served. You would have been hard pressed to spend more than £50 at Iceland for the spread they provided. They should feel ashamed of their service! I won't be visiting this establishment again! Don't make the mistake we made, go somewhere else! If I could give no stars I would!

Wow!! What a lovely pub! Friendly staff, food was superb and quickly to the table. Now to the best bit the decking and garden is out of this world with a view like that I could have sat there all night, stunning just stunning!

Really nice place to go for a drink- great garden! The food was pretty uninspiring, though- it's trying to be fancier than it is, feels like style over substance. The staff also seemed to forget about us for twenty minutes. They came to take our food order, and seemed a bit surprised that we didn't have drinks.

Nice pub, friendly and helpful staff. But we were there on a Wednesday and found they only served pizzas on Wednesdays. We had expected a full menu. But the pizzas were fine!

Real nice pub with great views from the garden. Little bit over priced for beer but worth it

Fantastic service, really lovely staff. The food was delicious. A little pricey but very fresh and tasty. We sat in the garden and the view is lovely, sadly doesn't get the evening sun. Very dog friendly. Would return if in the area again. Would recommend booking

Stopped here for a drink and snack after visiting the RSPB reserve. Glad we did - very friendly welcome and tasty snacks. Smashing pint of local beer too. Terrific view over Otmoor from back garden!

We went on a Wednesday evening for pizzas. We both thought they were amongst the best pizzas we have had. Absolutely delicous, generous toppings. Great service too!

Super friendly & knowledgeable staff, good atmosphere and great food.

Good food. Bar staff were super friendly and polite, waiting staff were polite but quite lacklustre. Outdoor seating on the lower deck was lovely.

Chicken could have been better. It was still good. Great location

A great night out at this pub. Located in a very nice village outside Oxford. The scenery is beautiful. It must be wonderful to be here in the summer with their outdoor seating. Will definitely come back for that. Food is great. The starter was on the small portion side. The grilled Brie was amazing!! I enjoyed my slow cooked lamb. Service was good. Price was fair - shared 3 starters among 6 of us, each had a main and a drink. Paying just under £30 per person. Overall a great experience. Highly recommend!

Lovely looking pub, service was absolutely fine but the food quality and portions do not match the prices.

Wonderful place for a relaxed Sunday lunch. Fast, friendly service, 100% recommend it to anyone.

Nice authentic place, ver friendly staff and amazing food.

A beautiful pub in a gorgeous village with fantastic ambience and food to die for! The lamb was superb and the sticky toffee pudding a must! Friendly and helpful staff made my first time visit a memorable one…I will be back!

Great pub with great food and service 👌

So much clean toilet!! 🚽 I love this. Of course, food was also nice and reasonable.

Food great, pub really nice with amazing views in a delightful village. Service ridiculously slow, we had to ask to be served 3 or 4 times during the course of our visit. Overall enjoyed it though.

We stopped in during a hike. The pub had been freshly refurbished, very nice inside. We had some sausage rolls and brownies, which the staff kindly packed to takeaway. Very tasty.

The food was fine but not the standard it used to be. It was Mothers' Day and very busy and the waiters seemed very inexperienced.

A very pretty pub, good food, interesting veggie options, some very poor attitudes towards customers. Bar manager was unfriendly and dismissive when showing us our table. The young waiter was fantastic, however, accidentally spilt almost a full pint on my partner's lap. Good customer service would replace the spilt pint and also deduct it from the bill/offer something for free. They only replaced the spilt pint. We politely asked for a free pint to make up for the fact my partner was sitting there drenched, cold and sticky, and we were refused not once but twice. The poor young waiter was in the middle as he was engaging with the bar manager, who did not come out to speak to us. After dinner, we went to speak to the bar manager directly and her terse response was "accidents happen". Yes we agree they do, however accidents should be made right. In the end she agreed, without smiling, to take the spilt pint off the bill, which is all we wanted. Shocking attitude.

Disappointing. Went on a Sunday, their sample menu on the website looked good for vegetarians, but when we got there there was one vegetarian option for main and the only vegetarian option for starter was bread and olives. The bread butter and olives were a joke. .5.50 per person and it was clearly olives from a tub, margarine and bread that was all from the supermarket. Other pubs offering the same kind of food at the same prices have fresh baked bread, actual butter and use high quality olives. The Sri Lankan curry was nice, but was of the same quality as Taylors in Oxford, good, but not for 17 quid. The dessert thankfully was nice although the plate had not been cleaned.

Nice pub in a lovely village with a beautiful church Good pint and great wine But lunch was very disappointing And not cheap Terrible pie not good 😟

I'm a long-standing fan of this old pub in a lovely Oxfordshire village, especially since it became community-owned. However our Sunday lunch was really disappointing. Fish and chips were extremely greasy and the roast grey and stringy. The pudding was better. The staff were welcoming and efficient however the kitchen is really letting them down. The menu is boring, and unchanged for months - no specials, nothing interesting. What a shame.

Just had lunch Staff maybe more suited to non customer facing roles. Girl very surly and dismissive Food ok but pricey for what it was Really disappointing as had great experience last couple times we’ve been, although couple of years ago now. A long time before we return, if at all

Food and atmosphere fine but Service slow and staff not really thinking about what they were doing. Drinks late to arrive( pre drinks arrived after starter )soup served without spoon, dessert menu requested and took ages / as the bill. It was busy but staff need to be more aware.

Very friendly staff and even served us after kitchen was technically closed, which we really appreciated. The food was nice, and staff made sure we had everything we needed. Menu could be improved with more vegan options as daughter and wife are dairy free but not a reflection of service and atmosphere. Would visit again.

Such a lovely pub, I would definitely recommend it here, they really look after you, the food is fabulous! Lovely old building to!

Poor choice for vegetarians, waiting staff weren't very welcoming. Portion sizes very small which wasn't compensated by flavour.

we met London based family here for lunch on the 30th December and ordered 3 Fish and Chips . The batter was minimal and soft , and the fish looked a grey colour and of little substance . Soo disappointing, and the pub needs to up it game if such food is being served in a charming Village Pub visited by visitors looking for a good experience .

Eaten here three times over last couple of years. Last time was Dec 2023 and the food experience was very poor compared to previous occasions, which was a disappointment. Goose was inedible - hardly cooked at all. Pie wasn't a pie but a stew with poor quality pastry top 'floating' on the meat. No chips offered with pie despite this being a pub food classic. The cashew nut curry veg option sounded good but was bland and unappetising. So not sure if kitchen staff were having a bad day or a new chef wasn't too 'our taste' but this has put us off eating here again (for a while at least). It's a shame as otherwise i really like the atmosphere and as i said previous meals have been much better!

Paid £85 for an inedible meal. Two people, neither of us could eat more than a few mouthfuls. Really awful food. Nice location for a drink and beautiful views but don't eat there.

A beautiful pub and very kind staff. I've never been so grateful for a phonecable! Thank you x

lovely community run pub with good food and pleasant atmosphere. Beautiful spot with views over Otmoor from the garden.

Lovely pub. Perfect after a trip to RSPB Otmoor down the road!