The Golden Cross — Restaurant in Cotswold District

The bar area at the fron of the inn is very small and gets quite crowded, but the restaurant area is further into the building. Appears to be several dining areas. We had booked a table as it was a Friday evening. We were reasonably early, so there was plenty of space. As the evening went on, the restaurant got a lot busier - so booking a table is possibly a good idea.||Menu has quite a few usual and usual options. We decided to share two starters - probably a good idea as the starters were huge. Chutney with the pate we superb - I tried to find out if purchased or self made, but never managed an answer (I think the waiter may have been only one on dudy and the poor guy was run off his feet (but still very attentive). Other starter was the squit,frawn and whitebate plate. More than enough for two folks as a starter. ||For mains friend went for the chicken and ham pie. This was a large clay dish full of big chunks of chicken and ham with a pastry lid. Served with mashed spuds. Was a substantial meal. Other friend ordered the belly pork and noodles. Skin on the pork was a bit over-done, but the meat was very tender. My wife ordered the sausages - made by the butcher in the shop next to the inn. Very good sausages with a lovely gravy and a huge portion of bubble & squeak. I had my normal test dish for a new restaurant - fish and chips. Good fish nicely cooked, batter was ok, peas were lovely (possibly fresh peas crushed with mint). We never even got to look at the pudding menu as the shared starters and the significant main courses were tasty and very filling.||Restaurant appears to have changed hands in January 2025, friends commented it was a very different menu now - but still included several dishes made with items from the butchers next door.||Bar area does get quite noisy, so if you are in the restaurant area near the bar it can get...

Update: Returned a second time only for the most bizarre bill paying experience. Drinks are now part of a separate company, but not all drinks, hot drinks are pat of the the food bill and no, nobody wanted a VAT receipt. Even if one person had have wanted to settle the bill, we would still have to calculate this from the three bills presented. Service as a whole has become a farce - when it's not particularly busy. The food itself was still really nice, although arguably the the menu has dipped, and it took ages. The steak did look really good... as tmdid the fish and chips, and the burger was... but honestly, I just don't see how the food business wouldn't purchase the drinks from the drinks company so the present a single bill, if for some reason there's a need to split services when it's operating as one venue. First time returning since it's been taken over. We'll definitely be back!!!

It was busy, and the manager told us there'd be a short wait on food because there were some larger tables ahead of us. We almost went elsewhere as the kids were starving... but very glad we didn't.

The food is fantastic! Kids' menu options were really nice, and devoured. The pastrami sandwich which came with skinny fries was the best I've had outside of New York!

The team that work at the Golden Cross were brilliant - friendly, attentive even as they got increasingly busier.

As said, we'll definitely be back. Some of the other good looked incredible and can't...

Avoid this place, although the staff were friendly enough the speed of service was appalling- and it didn't appear to be that busy. I estimate that it took over 15 minutes to get drinks brought to the table, despite the fact that I was directed to take a seat and was not able to order drinks at the bar. Once ordered the food took over 30 minutes to arrive... and the best I could say about it is that it was average. I had a dodgy tummy after eating the "Potted Crab, and 2 slices of toast" served on a piece of slate.... at over £7. The most off putting thing about this place was the rancid smelling dog that has a basket in the bar area. The dog had a habit of bothering customers by sitting next to them when they were trying to eat - and he stank to high heaven... very off putting. Another thing to mention is the state of the toilet seat in the Gents - I can't believe the state of the WOODEN toilet seat, it was not clean and not in a good state of repair. Who would fit an unhygienic WOODEN toilet seat in the Gents toilet of a pub ! ? Overall it was not a good experience and with the total cost of £30 for a starter, a main, a beer and soft drink... I would advise you to...