Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn — Restaurant in Cherwell District

Location On Parson St, perfect town centre location and you cannot miss that rustic sign!

Interior What an incredibly interesting place, there is clearly a lot of heritage here, we sat in the back room which required a walk down some back corridors and appeared to be something out of mediaeval TV show it doesn't feel like somewhere that is smashing out incredible fried chicken burgers... was I mistaken?!

Service Order at the bar and take your own drinks to the table (it's a pub right, kind of expected that). But the two guys who were working were both super friendly and although their table service was only delivering the food I wouldn't complain, they have a system and it works.

Food/drink Let's walk through the food dish by dish

Crispy fried & Reine deer rooster burgers - these where what we came for and they didn't disappoint. The chicken was super tender and the batter crispy. Smashed into a burger and served with plenty of chips and onion rings. 🙌

Mac and cheese - another healthy portion of gooey cheesy pasta with two slices of toasted garlic bread. No complaints on thus one 👌

Vegan Katsu curry - a breaded vegan patty covered in a rather tasty homemade sauce, the rice was a bit generic but overall a good eat.

Fish and chips - a staple of the menu, good portion size and not too greasy. Overall another good meal

Wild mushrooms and Pesto linguine - oh deer 🦌, I am afraid we were not a fan of this one. The whole meal was very very overpowered by mushroom, the only relief was the sheer amount of oil that had sunk to the bottom of the bowl. Unfortunately between 5 of us we actually couldn't finish this.

Price Most mains are around the £10 mark which seems more than fair given the portion sizes. Drinks are pub prices so again spot on the money

Overall A very interesting venue in the centre of Banbury which is smashing out some incredible food. Be careful what you order but the burgers are a...

WOW!! What a fantastic place!! This is one of the most beautiful pubs we've ever been to, steeped in history, circa five hundred years old and being the secret head quarters of Oliver Cromwell during the Civil War! 🤩

We never ate, so I can't comment on the food however, the food coming out looked good!

The beer was so fresh and tasty and the pub is owned by the brewery Hook Norton!

Carla the manager is so lovely and gave us a proper history lesson about the building! 😊

This is a definite 5 stars from Nigel and Claire! 😊

Thank you and hopefully see you again one day!

BTW . . In the rear garden courtyard photo, I've just noticed a strange image of a face in the window of the property to the right! Could someone/management verify this please as to whether I've photographed a ghost or it'sjust some kind of ornament...

Ok, so this may seem an unfair review because I didn't even wait to get served, so I cant comment on the food or the beer. But as I have been a couple of times in the past few months I know the food/beer are both of a high standard. My issue is with the 'front of house' or lack of it. I was totally blanked at least 3 times whilst I stood waiting to establish if there was room for lunch and (his) demeanour was that everything was just too much trouble. He eventually found time to grunt at me that there were some free tables at the back. Well I didn't bother, I just walked out. The front of house role demands a cheerful and helpful person to greet guests, I suggest the landlord drops into the Old Auctioneer next door to find out how front of house is done. A great pity as this famous establishment...