Kings Arms — Restaurant in South Oxfordshire

The Kings Arms was a pleasant location to visit. In the warm summer evening it was nice to sit outside in its outdoors eating area. The tables and chairs were comfortable, if a little bit worn.

The restaurant is located on the canal, and has scenic views of the locks, and the fields on the other side of the canal (keep an eye out for owls hunting in the fields).

Seating did have parasols available, but if the sun is out and low, as in the evening, you will need sunglasses and probably sun screen too.

The food was of good quality and decent portion sizes. We did have to return a steak as it had been overcooked however, but this was fairly quickly replaced.

The restaurant does unusually insist on using their mobile app to order food/drink if sat outside. If sitting indoors table service is provided. The use of the app did bring some confusion however. As we were paying separately we ordered on seperate apps to the same table, but this did mean food/drinks arrived at slightly different times depending on who ordered first. No table service also meant no assigned waiter/waitress, which meant service was a little slow to clear plates and glasses.

The app was further confusing in that it was not as clearly labelled as their own printed menu was. The Supper Club (a good deal on a 3-course meal with selected dishes) for example was not easy to find, and using the app to order multiple courses at once did have us a little apprehensive that dessert might arrive alongside dinner, but fortunately this did not happen.

Another couple who were elderly were also sat outside, and attempted to order through the app, but they had trouble with this. They asked for assistance and a member of the wait staff did try to help them, but when they could not get the app to work for them, he told them they would have to move inside in order to order, which they did not wish to do. The staff would not bend their rule even a little to help this couple by taking their order traditionally whilst they were outside. Eventually after ordering inside they were able to bring their meal out.

The restaurants location along the canal means that it provides for a pleasant stroll after dinner, although be sure to have comfortable footwear and be ready for midges in the hotter months. The canal is a popular walking and cycling route, however due to the location of the restaurant, many travellers will have to pass alongside and cut through the restaurants garden in order to carry on their journey. This is normally not a problem, but may be a little disruptive when larger groups pass through, particularly cyclists who must be dismounted at that time.

Overall the restaurant was pleasant and provided quality food for relatively low prices (do consider the Supper Club menu for a pretty decent deal), and is set in a...

This pub/ restaurant is situated in a really nice setting. It is river side and the outdoor sea is beautifully decorated with flowers and hanging baskets. On our visit the weather was great and so this made for a really nice outdoor dining experience.

We were forewarned that there was a 30 to 45 minute wait, which we accepted willingly.

The food was pleasent, on the whole. We had a sharing cammambert starter, glazed pork belly and a duo of chicken for mains and the cheese cake and a peach and elderflower crumble (on of the seasonal specials) to finish.

My critiques are as follows:

The starter and the mains came within a couple of minutes of each other. In fairness, the server did say he could take it back until our starter was finished but I did not want to be served the same main knowing it had been sat for a while as we ate our starter so we did accepted everything together. I did notice that this happened with another table sat close to us. So, it seems to me that the kitchen either rushes through making dishes or has some timing issues.

I do not feel that the pork belly was glazed with marmelade. Rather, it had been cooked/ rendered down fine but had a dollop of marmelade simply spooned in to it when dished up.

The crumble from the specials menu was served stone cold. When I quizzes the server about why the crumble was cold he said he would check with the kitchen. He took so long I ate it. When he eventually returned he suggested that it was the customers preference. However, he accepted that I was not asked how I wanted it served when I ordered it. I feel that a mistake had been made here but rather than accept that and rectify it the server made an excuse as to why it was not hot.

Moreover, I do not believe the crumble was not value for money. It was essentially cold sliced peaches with a crumble on top. The peaches had not been stewed and there was certainly no taste of elderflower running through the dish as the description lead one to believe.

The servers were not quick at clearing the tables and therefore, we were left surrounded by dirty plates throughout our experience.

Adding to this point, given that the weather was warm, the lack of clearing tables in a timely manner meant that wasps were out in force.

Despite the about, it did not take away from what was a largely enjoyable meal and we...

We had a table booked for 7pm yesterday, and we arrived amid scenes of chaos with the temporary manager on the night holding his head in his hands at the welcoming desk. We then watched as he turned several people away because “they only had one chef on” and were unable to cope with more orders coming in.

We were then shown to our table and had to wait 50 minutes before we were brought our drinks due to “there being no clean glasses available”. We both ordered the same starter – “Wye Valley Asparagus with a poached egg, hollandaise sauce and a shard of sourdough bread” as described on the specials board. When it arrived, the asparagus wasn’t cooked and we couldn’t even put a knife through it. It was inedible. There was also no sourdough bread served with it either.

We both ordered the same main dishes, which also arrived after a very long wait. “Honey and thyme glazed chicken with spring greens, smoked bacon, crushed new potatoes and a rich chicken gravy”. The dishes arrived with no honey glaze, no smoked bacon, lumps of very undercooked broccoli instead of spring greens, and some carrot puree instead of the “rich chicken gravy”.

In all, it was an absolute shambles.

However, we must give a shout out to our server, Emily. A really lovely girl who was attempting to battle against the tide of incompetence, and clearly had to withstand a barrage of complaints from multiple tables throughout the day/evening. We could not fault her approach nor attentiveness in dealing with us. She was the one bright spark in what was a night of totally unacceptable service. And never in our time have we seen a waitress break down in tears in front of us. She deserves a medal for putting up with this nonsense.

Thanks must also go to the temporary manager on the night who could see how awful the service had been and waived all charges on this occasion.

This is a nice pub in a lovely location but being criminally let down by extreme incompetence from the top. They are not equipped with enough staff to deal with the amount of people who visit this pub on busy summer days...