The best restaurants in Kirtlington Cherwell South East

We had the wake for my son’s funeral at the Weston Manor Hotel, a very sad occasion but the hotel was a lovely venue, very attentive staff and the food was delicious. We opted for a hot buffet, lasagna and other dishes plus deserts, and the price was reasonable, I cannot fault the hotel.

Awful again prices have gone up AGAIN within just a few weeks portion was only half the amount seems not only increased price but half the amount. Chips were Luke warm and just scrappy bits very poor quality at a rip off price avoid at all cost much better chip shop in main street who give good portions and better quality. Will not go to smarts again

Convenient stopping point on the A34 southbound, two miles south of M40j9, opposite Family Farm on the old Little Chef site. Spotlessly clean inside, with historically-small gents loo. Outside has recently benefitted from a carpark makeover built around the new drive-by coffee window. Two excellent disabled parking bays, linked by a marked pedestrian crossing to the new powered external door. Unfortunately, just inside the powered door is an historical unpowered door. Really? How was this missed in a 2024 refurb? As an able-bodied person, I feel that Starbucks has let the side down here. What would have been the on-cost, when the front of the building was rebuilt for the drive-by booth?

Unfriendly staff, slow with cooking food. No clean plates and tables dirty. Toilet had soap dispenser hanging off wall and not cleaned

Appalling litter in car park no wonder as bin at entrance to coffee house overflowing g with cups all around. Come on Starbucks take some pride

Whilst I have long maintained that the reviewing of motorway service stations sounds like something Alan Partridge would pitch to the BBC, I did say I would review anything I came across that has a presence on TripAdvisor*, and so here goes with my 3rd service station review. Cherwell Valley is a decent enough stop off in Ardley, on the outskirts of Bicester. More importantly it is a great opportunity to get off the monotonous M40 for a little while. There are decent toilets (the most crucial element of a service station in my opinion) that aren't "inclusive" like that rubbish at South Mimms down in Hertfordshire, as well as the usual smattering of fast food outlets including the unjustifiably overpriced Burger King. There is a Greggs just outside the principle building, which is where I opted to eat before rejoining the M40. There is a K-Type Royal Mail postbox on site too, and this is something that delights me. The car park here is pretty badly laid out, and the spaces don't seem particularly designed for larger vehicles, but there are plenty of them, so you should be fine. * so long as they can be bothered to upload a photo at the very least.

Decided to nip into Starbucks whilst northbound on A34. Got food for all as well as drinks. Wanted to sit in. Order taken by one of the lads and we attempted to pay. It said we paid and then we waited for our stuff. A few mins later they advised us it hadn’t gone through and we’d need to pay again. We said it clearly went through as it said approved. They insisted it didnt and asked us to pay again. We asked for the decline receipt and he said there wasn’t one which we also disputed. As we couldn’t get our food and drink we did as asked and tried to pay again. This time it said it didn’t go through so we tried again. Again it looked as if it went through but they said it didnt. This time we stood our ground and said we wanted to see a decline receipt. They then gave us 2 receipts - one said decline, the other said an issue processing. The third receipt apparently hadn’t come out. We then paid again and apparently all successful. Having been perplexed and annoyed, a few days later we checked the bank statement to find they’d taken money from us multiple times. So each time we said we paid; we had. Now either it’s a scam they are running or their machine is on the blink. Needless to say, our bank are now going to be looking into it to get our money back as it’s very clear that they are the same transaction multiple times in a row but we shouldn’t have to do that. There were plenty of free tables and all looked comfy. None were clean. Clear but not clean. A guy however was seen to be sweeping the floor and wet floor sign were out. We had our stuff and then went to go to the toilet to find them closed. Baring in mind this is a Starbucks at a service area and we purchased from them to sit in, not having toilet facilities open is poor. The food we had however was really nice. Can’t complain about the actual products received at all. Although they did present them to us all over the place…food on one side of the counter with drinks the opposite end. None at the same time. And a lad that appeared to think he ran the show was being a bit of a not very nice person to other staff. Would we stop here again?! Absolutely not. It was the most expensive Starbucks I’ve ever visited after all those additional unnecessary transactions!!!