The Bear & Ragged Staff — Restaurant in Vale of White Horse

After getting a recommendation here, it was unfortunately a disappointing experience. One star is for our waiter who was very friendly, and one star is for the Peroni I got (the 0% version is worth getting if you're driving up here).

This is coming at a time of "eat out to help out" so I appreciate it was busy but the restaurant needs to plan better.

Where do I begin? We requested for outdoor seating. Unsurprisingly, everyone else had, too. However, we were the only guests to have not been asked if we wanted the alternative to go outside midway through drinks, etc. It could be bad luck with timing, but I found it more irritating that when I asked about it, the front of house didn't even bother to apologise.

Slow service. This was shockingly slow. I think what made it irritating is that I overheard one waiter say "oh it's like a weekend" – which then makes me wonder, A) then isn't this something everyone's used to? and B) shouldn't the restaurant plan a bit better ahead of time? Especially considering all the other stuff that needs to happen (e.g. social distancing) Also, other waiters came to our table asking if we ordered something we haven't – what is going on?? Worse still, it wasn't just us. There was a family that sat a few metres away and I heard one of them saying that they had waited for their drinks for 20 mins.

Food was pretty bland. We ordered burgers and though the patty itself is good, the burger's generally dry. The "relish" was essentially orange cream. The bread was actually given after our mains; it was still warm but it tasted more like a pretzel than bread.

This place has lots of potential – really great interior, great outdoor seats, menu that looks impressive – just... ugh. So much promise but such a...

First, all the good stuff - and there is lots! ||A great hotel and restaurant. Lovely room. Big bed. Nice and warm. Lots of hot water for a shower. Quiet. Nicely located. Slept well.||Good, friendly staff. Warm welcome and and looked after us well.||Restaurant evening meal and breakfast were both exceptional.||This would easlily have been a five star review if it had not been for the fact that we feel very short-changed (ripped off would be too strong a term) by the pricing structure for the dinner, bed and breakfast.||We opted for the 'Dinner Bed and Breakfast Package for 2' which was expensive for the night we stayed, but having eaten at the restaurant previously we knew it would be a good meal. We were also expecting it to be a good deal - a package usually implies that it is. It isn't.||On most nights, looking at the website, you will pay £83 more for DBB than you would for Bed and Breakfast. The dinner part of the package affords you a £70 discount on your meal (already £13 out of pocket) but the real sting is that drinks cannot be included. The food part of our meal was less than £70 so we were even more out of pocket. It turns out that we paid £116.25 for a meal that would have cost £89.50 if we had just walked in off the street - once you factor in the additional £83 on the room rate. This does not seem like a positive way of rewarding hotel guests.||I would certainly recommend staying and eating at the Bear and Ragged Staff, but please avoid the dinner, bed and breakfast package as this will cost you more than...

Beginning with our arrival, the staff were very friendly and helpful. My husband and I loved the old, rustic feel of the original part of the inn which we were told dates back to the mid 1500's. We lucked out with the weather and were able to enjoy a beer on the back patio. Our room was attractive, spacious and comfortable. We found some walking trails (footpaths) nearby the inn, so were able to enjoy a little of the surrounding countryside. The inn staff actually had some information on other nearby walking paths, but unfortunately we were only there for one night, so did not have time to explore them. I would have given the inn an excellent rating, but I felt that it fell a little short on the food and service at mealtime (slow). Regarding the food specifically, I had the trout with spinach in sauce for dinner. It was not quite what I expected. The trout tasted more like salmon which the wait staff explained was not a mistake, but was due to the type of trout. The spinach had dissolved into the large amount of sauce on the plate, so appeared just as a green swirl around the trout. It was tasty, but just would have preferred more spinach and less sauce. Also, we got the English Breakfast and it just seemed a bit overcooked (tough bacon and overcooked eggs) compared to other places that we stayed during our trip. That being said, we would definitely return if we were in the area again, but would just perhaps make different...