The Bull on Bell St — Restaurant in South Oxfordshire

I was so looking forward to this meal. I booked for 6pm today (Friday) as was going to The Kenton Theatre after dinner. My husband and I arrived early and were actually seated at 5:50pm. I asked about timings of food arriving as we needed to be at the theatre to meet friends at 7:15pm as we had their tickets. We ordered drinks and our food (Starters and mains) at 6:05pm. To be fair it was a good start and our starters were delicious, hence I have given the food 2 stars, they came quickly and were cleared away by 6:30pm. We then waited for our mains to arrive. My husband had ordered the fillet steak snd I ordered the lamb shank with chorizo mash. A table of four people were seated next to us shortly after our starters had been cleared. At 6:50pm I asked waiter (Carl) where our ‘mains’ were? He apologised that they were not with us and went to chase them up for us. He was gone for 5 mins then came back and said they would be with us very soon. At 6:58pm a waitress came towards our table with 2 lamb shanks in her hand and proceeded to place them on the table of 4 next to us. Shortly after her another waitress came with another 2 plates (1 steak and another lamb shank). When I got ready to receive them her response was “Oh these aren’t for you! These are for this table” and placed them on the table of four next to us again! The table that had been seated 35 minutes after us!! I then got up and proceeded to go towards the kitchen. I asked the group of staff there, as we had been waiting for our mains for at least 25mins when ours would be served? One lady (who I assumed must have had the most responsibility-manager?) answered quite rudely “which table are you, because it depends what you ordered as to how long it will take?” Carl (our waiter) arrived at that point and said that we were table 44. (In an exasperated tone, making me feel that he had already asked this question on our behalf and had been fobbed off) She then said they were plating it now. Carl brought the food to our table and apologised again. He did offer us a drink on the house but as we only now had 10 minutes to eat the food we declined saying we wouldn’t have time to drink it as well as eat and therefore could we just have the bill. While he went to get the bill we started our food. Mine was luke warm at best. When Carl bought the bill to us it was £105.50 I told him then that I couldn’t eat my lamb as it was luke warm and if we had more time I would have sent it back to the kitchen but as we didn’t I wasn’t going to eat it! Also that I was NOT going to therefore pay for it. Carl took the bill away. We put on our coats and Carl came back with a revised bill. With £21.12 (20%) taken off! This is less than the cost of the lamb and his words were I’m really sorry but this is all she will reduce it by! I was furious! I would have walked out and not paid a penny because of the way the manager lady made me feel. My husband just got his card out and paid the £84.48 left and we left. Something went wrong tonight in your restaurant, these things happen, BUT it’s how you make them right with the customer, or in this case didn’t, that counts. The Manager (or supervisor) didn’t take responsibility, made me feel like it was what I ordered that made it take so long, didn’t apologise and made Carl (our lovely waiter) be a scapegoat and take all the flack. I am not impressed in the slightest. The table of 4 next to us were also really embarrassed that they were served before us and were also appalled that were we charged at all! I don’t ever complain let alone write a bad review but, I’m afraid, ‘The Bull on Bell Street’ I couldn’t...

Fabulous staff!

I went in to The Bull on Bell St in search of an unopened , take-home bottle of fine Brakspear Oxfordshire ale. As to why this fine brew is no longer available in Waitrose, or any other supermarket or off license shop I can find in the area, that's something the good folk at Brakspear Brewery will no doubt know the answer to. But nowadays, most of us will have to go to the pub to give it a go. Not too difficult if you live in the area - as there are a goodly handful of pubs in the environs bearing that reassuring seal - but quite a struggle if one wishes to spread the good "news" further afield..!

Having spent almost all day looking (because I had drunk a friend's bottle - in his London home - in his absence, assuming it would be easy enough to replace when in Oxfordshire!), I was on the verge of giving up when an old timer at one of t'other Brakspear pubs pointed me at The Bull (shout out to the Three Horses on Reading Road, and the lovely, engaging and also helpful bar staff).

For those not in the know, The Bull pub is officially "Brakspear Central", since the brewery's offices and HQ are ensconced at the back of this fine establishment.

Enter "Cam", bartender at The Bull...

Whilst the brewery no longer seems to distribute its bubbly bottled grog through wine merchants and the like, one or two bottles (fully in-date, because other pubs do still have "ancient" unopened bottles knocking about, as part of their decor!) still bandy around, for promotional events, etc. And, staff at Brakspear Central - being cunningly and conveniently located - occasionally get to take them home.

And, our Cam - in this story, my main man - had such a bottle, my persistence led me to understand; and promptly volunteered to bring his own tidy tipple in to work for me the very next day. I put it in my virtual diary, and he in his!

We reunited the next day. I actually swapped his "Brakspear Oxford Gold" edition with a newly discovered brew from Wales, "Butty Bach" (which I simply had to buy, since that's what buddies affectionately called each other, way back, in my Cardiffian school days...); and, of course, Waitrose in Henley currently stock it, unlike their famous, more local Oxfordshire offering!

Thanks sooo much to Cam, who went above and beyond, and did not know - at the time of his offering - that I would swap another bottle, or reward him in any way for his kindness or devotion too duty.

It's this kind of thing that continues to make this kind of...

An absolute shocker. We were on our way to lunch elsewhere but we found a quiet table with our two dogs. We cancelled our other booking and were told we could remain and order at the bar. I was behind a party of four and it took me 20 minutes to get to order. There were four men behind the bar and about 2.5 of them were immersed in coffee making. When I came to order I asked for the Paella and the Monkfish. No Paella, this was off the menu. I was offered Duck confit pie which I ordered with fries. Server checked that the duck didn’t already come with fries-came back 3 minutes later-Duck confit off (not on Sunday menu). Ordered Scotch Egg and fries-sorry Scotch Egg off. Went back to the table very agitated by now. Picked scallops from starter menu and fries. Asked for this to be sent as main course along with the Monkfish. Ten minutes later the Scallops arrived. Questioned the waitress who didn’t have a clue about the order so accepted the Scallops and ate them in front of my hungry wife without the fries. Waited for 30 minutes, now fuming and asked that my main course either be delivered NOW or knock it off the bill and cancel the order. Server went to bar apologetically and returned saying main course and fries were ‘just being plated up’. The main course arrived 5 minutes later. The Monkfish was lukewarm as were the fries. Then another portion of hot fries arrived and all for the trouble we were gifted a free drink. But we went here for a decent meal and ended up frustrated, half drunk and still hungry. This was a very very poor effort from the Bull, we should have kept our original booking around the corner. Very poor all...