The Crown & Thistle — Restaurant in Vale of White Horse

I would like to commend Youenn he was incredible for our wedding day and frankly without him it wouldn’t have been what it was. Al of my family commented on how charismatic he was and how he ran the show. ||||The breakfast is great and the food is absolutely amazing. I had vegetarian, gluten free and nut allergy guests all catered for well. ||||However… ||||We found some staff members to be very unprofessional. Two of my bridesmaids the day before were getting a drink at the bar and two members of staff, had a conversation in front of them (not realising they were there) about how tomorrow was going to be a complete nightmare! As in my wedding day. ||||Not only that, no one was there to meet me the day before to hand over my wedding items and understand where things needed to be or do a run through. This meant on the day, personalised items I’d invested in did not get used and me - the bride - had to go out to minstrels room and bring out the props for the Photo Booth, our glow sticks and sparklers and some of the evening things I’d arranged. ||||I also arrived to find another event I didn’t know about in the barn, when I’d been told it had been booked out for us the day before so I could decorate and also meant there was only 2 parking spaces free. It wasn’t hoovered after their event despite them knowing from many communications I’d be setting up the ceremony myself with a wedding event stylist who had to go and come back and it led to a bridesmaid being given a dustpan and brush to sweep it so we could lay the aisle runner and get started. ||||The gentleman did get us the tables and some things we needed but this seemed to be a tall order for him as everything felt like I was asking for too much. ||||And on the wedding day, the same gentleman was watching something sports related on his phone during serving my guests drinks and asked the best man to ‘wait a minute’ for a drink so he could finish watching whatever it was. This behaviour is just not on. They market as a wedding venue but it seriously lacks organisation and they also merit their awards for customer service but I just can’t say apart from fleeting moments over 2 years planning that I got the service you’ve been awarded for. ||||My experience with Gareth was horrific I know he’s left but after a meeting where we were made to feel stupid and not looked after I had to email saying how anxious her made me feel. 6 months later when I emailed to say I hadn’t heard from anyone and was my wedding even going ahead, Greg picked up and tried his best to help sort the $#?t show that had been left in his wake and made things better. ||||Administration was a nightmare, room allocations - a nightmare and I didn’t sort that until 10pm 2 days before. Everything was just niggly situations I didn’t need to be having to rectify. Just short of me coming there and doing it all myself it was a very difficult experience. ||||One of our guests rooms priced at £176 per night (wedding discount on that!) had a shower leak which soaked the bathroom floor making it near unusable. Another guest in an executive room, £220 per night and had 2 nights, was kept up all night from the bathroom fan and generator outside their window making a horrific noise. ||||The bridal (honeymoon) suite is darkly decorated, it’s beautiful as a hotel room but for wedding prep it’s dark. The room next door is lit well and painted light so luckily we had it to use for photos and final prep. Despite that room having chunks taken out of the walls and a lot of cosmetic damage to the walls that had to be edited out by our photographer. But the room needs more lighting, lampshades that don’t keep tipping off the bedside lamps, lighter paint work than mustard yellow and dark blue and a mattress that doesn’t bring on sciatica. Housekeeping made a beautiful towel arrangement on the bed adding a little extra and everything was clean so well done to them! ||||If you’re ever looking to step up the game with weddings or need an actual co ordinator I’d be more than happy to assist. I wanted my day to be perfect, and because of my guests and my suppliers it was the best day. But I can’t say the venue contributed too much for that experience and even though you’re marginally cheaper than exclusive venues, the stress outweighed the finances. Not to mention the cost, I was made to feel I was penny pinching but you only had to give so much away based on last of a professional service and to us it was the single biggest financial out lay we’ve ever had excluding our house. What one person classes as expensive is different to another’s. I seriously hope to have a response to this and the feedback to be...

I can't give a full and fair review for this hotel as I was very tired when I arrived and then we didn't stay for breakfast, we just checked out. So all I did was sleep. Nothing more. However. That being said. I do have this to say. We were sent an email to "express check in" which at the time seemed to make sense, save a bit of time at the desk when we arrived etc. As it turns out this seemed to be the way the hotel functioned. With little to no staff. My husband took in our bags at the 3pm check in time. Wasn't informed of the code to get back in after hours or where to find it. When we came to get back into the hotel a sign on the door said to use the code given at check in. We weren't given one. So we had to ring. Twice we rang before a very annoyed night manager answered and rudely told us what the code was. We got in - to then be faced with a second door. Assuming the code was the same and trying to remember it (didn't think it prudent to commit it to memory) we then had to ring again. Again we got the same annoyed man on the phone who told us the code and we put it in about 10 times before it worked. By this time he was very disgruntled and huffed loudly "I'm coming down". We made it indoors and he was less than amused to see us inside. Eventually got up to our room and I was out like a light. The bed was very comfortable. Coming downstairs to check out we were met by a sign that said to call for a member of staff. We rang and the phone AT the desk we were stood at rang 👍 At a loss we stood and waited. Then after a while a man appeared to check us out. Followed by an email to "express checkout". I'm all for technology and making life easier but it just all seems like the hotel wants as little interaction with their patrons as possible. Plus.. over £150 for a midweek stay? I know it's the centre of Abingdon but that's very pricey. I was stuck for a place to stay so yes. I paid. But begrudgingly. Amenities in the room were good. It was clean and comfortable. Noise level from the street...

Came here for dinner so I can't comment on the hotel experience!

I arrived to meet a work colleague and started with a pint at one of the bars. The bar we were in seemed a bit dark but the pint was good so I wasn't complaining. We then moved across the courtyard to the main restaurant area and my my what a difference! The first thing you see is the humungous wood fired pizza oven, an eye catcher for sure. You can tell they've put in a lot of work into making the dining area a cozy and welcoming place. The decor and interior design were great. We were sat at a table of our choice and was instantly provided with a bottle of tap water and our drinks orders were taken shortly after. Both of us got a glass of red wine. Our food order was then taken, for starters we got the cider chorizo and some olives both of which were delightful and was just right in terms of quantity. Seeing the pizza oven upon entry, we felt obligated to order pizza so I ordered the Pollo Diavola and my colleague the Parma. There was a slight wait but boy was the wait worth it! These pizzas were fresh out the oven and looked professional. Our server provided both garlic and chilli oils without us having to lift a finger. I was in heaving eating this pizza, not only did it have an excellent combination and quantity of toppings but the dough was the perfect balance of chew to soft/fluffiness, I couldn't get enough of it. Overall I would consider the pizzas to probably be the best in Abingdon and the best I've had in a while!

Overall as a restaurant, the Crown and Thistle is a delightful experience that provides top tier service and food, especially the pizza. So if you're in the area and want somewhere that does good quality European food, then this is the place to go. Bear in mind they have an extensive menu and will definitely come back to give some of their other...