The Jolly Postboys — Restaurant in Oxford

Hands down THE WORST excuse for a Sunday Roast I've ever had the misfortune to pay for. Avoid like the plague. A shame, because the live DJ "Count Skylarkin" was fantastic and clearly a lot of people there had come to see him. The beer selection including alcohol free was decent, but prices for beer and wine were steep for the area, and don't even bother asking for something like a Bloody Mary because "we don't do cocktails". Didn't bother wasting any extra money on dessert so can't comment on that.

Roast potatoes were like rocks, grey inside and inedible. Can only have been cheap, shop-bought frozen ones thrown carelessly into a fryer. Yorkshire puds were similarly cheap and shop-bought, dry as a bone and tiny. Veg was grey, boiled in plain water, had apparently never seen seasoning. The cauliflower cheese had no cheese, just a thin, flavourless white sauce that barely even left a mark in the dish there was so little of it poured over the top of the boiled veg. The red cabbage had at least seen a splash of vinegar and was probably the best bit. The meats were all tough and chewy, and the vegan roast was just tasteless mush. The only thing decent was the small portion of chips that came with the tasteless vegan burger. My partner was ravenously hungry but couldn't stomach finishing his plate - he left half and just scoffed a lot of cheese and biscuits at home afterwards instead.

We witnessed several tables get refunds, one sent their food back twice then just left without paying. I'm not sure what management is playing at, charging such prices while clearly skimping on both decent quality ingredients and paying a chef with the skills to cook them, but it seems a terrible shame to squander such a good venue by acting with greed aforethought. I do hope they get their act together before they put off enough locals to send the place under. We were also seated over an hour late for our 1:30pm booking as the kitchen was already struggling by that time.

In future I shall eat earlier elsewhere and use this place only for a couple of beers while listening to music...

My first visit to The Jolly Postboys was on a Sunday for lunch recently. The welcome was pleasant and service was in good time. The decor is modern and light, and the seating area is spacious enough, but is still small enough to feel cosy. I liked the relaxed atmosphere.

The Sunday lunch options were beef, chicken, pork or vegetarian. I went for beef which the menu states is served pink. I found most of it fine but my final slice was almost blue so not to my preference. It was very tasty but somewhat tough. The side veg was flavoursome and not overcooked which is always good, though the cauliflower cheese needed an extra minute or two's cooking in my opinion. The most disappointing part of my meal was definitely the Yorkshire pudding which was brown to the point of being burnt and wasn't pleasant, which was a shame as I'm usually a big fan of a good YP.

My dining companion chose the vegetarian Wellington which they said was flavourful and very enjoyable.

Overall the meal could also have been hotter as it came to the table a little over room temperature at best. My companions agreed on this point.

Dessert was a choice of two options, but only the apple and berry crumble was available once we were ready for puddings. The crumble and ice cream part was very nice (custard might have been nice but was wasn't offered), but for my taste the fruit wasn't sweetened enough and by the end became very acidic.

I don't drink alcohol so I can't comment on the drinks, but I was pleased that a bottle of plain water was brought to the table on arrival without our needing to ask first which is too often not the case. After the food we chose to finish with coffee and all agreed the drinks were not hot enough either!!

Overall I wish I could be more positive about this first experience of The Jolly Postboys as it is great to have a revamped local pub in this area, and I did think the service was pretty good. So on this occasion it was 3 stars but I will return and give the food...

First post-lockdown pub venture, 17/04/21.

Nice atmosphere with friendly and chatty waiters, however food let the experience down.

Went with a couple of friends and we all ordered the ribs, costing £16.50 per portion, as well as a portion of the deep fried gherkins (I would recommend the latter).

Food arrived in a black plastic diner tub with a small portion of fries and coleslaw. However, whilst the ribs were cooked wonderfully they were unbelievably salty which completely overpowered every mouthful. Leading to a friend and myself only having a couple of ribs, and leaving the rest as they were inedible, the other individual also did not finish their food, leaving 3 or 4 of the ribs.

We placed the dishes at the end of the table, and were initially ignored (as if the waiters knew the dish hadn't gone down well previously), however we were finally approached around 30 mins later asking how the food was. I explained we did not enjoy it whatsoever, due to the saltiness of the dish, with the waiter then leaving stating they would sort it out.

50 minutes after this, we then asked for the bill as we were not told the resolution, and found that £25 had been removed. Whilst I can appreciate the gesture, it is still frustrating we paid £30 for a meal whereby the main feature was barely touched, and only the small side dishes (fries, coleslaw and a couple of gherkins) were eaten.

Really nice to be back at the pub, but this was not an experience to remember I am afraid. Booked another table for a few weeks time, prior to this visit, so hopefully the food can them...