The Fishes — Restaurant in Vale of White Horse

First meal out just me and my partner for a long time and found the fishes online which looked great so booked a table a week in advance. As a bit of advice for other diners booking online, don't pick the dining area.

First impression, good parking facilities, lovely big garden area and nice looking building. We were greeted by a friendly host and guided to our table inside and informed we would be served shortly. All very good so far!

They had a little note on the menu recommending some small dishes to have with a drink while you decide what to eat. A nice little touch which we ordered but had a semi blank face from the server that we wanted this as a starter before ordering our mains.

While waiting for drinks we couldn't help but feel a little out of place. 1 other couple at a table, with 5-7 staff members stood 2 metres away gossiping about the day, the people at the tables outside and fiddling about on phones. It didn't quite create the right atmosphere and my partner asked me if I could ask for us to be moved outside. So when the young lad brought the drinks over I asked and he said yes. We picked up our stuff and moved outside. Once seated the host appeared and asked us to move back inside as the decking was fully booked that evening and due to covid reasons we cannot move tables. So back we went, the young lad came and apologised as he wasn't aware. Oh well life goes on and full credit to the lad for coming back over, I guess he wasn't told about the covid policy.

After trying the drinks the pinot grigio wasn't great but the beer was crisp and fresh. After a further 10 minutes the bread and olives were brought out without any plates to eat them off, so we improvised with our napkins and the bread basket. The table was loaded up with cutlery and glasses for 4 despite it being a prebooked table for 2, and after we knocked cutlery off for the 2nd time somebody came over to clear down the 2 other places.

The mains were brought out remarkably quickly while we were still eating the bread and olives... The chips were fantastic, fish was good, the snitzel was a bit overcooked and hard to get through but not inedible. They came and cleared the table and disappeared.

At this point the drinks were empty, we had decided on our desserts and waited to catch someone's attention to order the next course. After 15 minutes of watching staff serving people outside, natter at the bar, fiddle with the ordering computer and have a mini staff meeting in the room next to us I started to get irritable. We agreed between us that we wouldn't get a dessert and instead get the bill and head elsewhere.

In the end I had to stop somebody cleaning another table to ask if they can get us the bill. 5-10 minutes later the bill arrived and the server left. So we then sat waiting another 10 minutes for someone to come and take the payment. After failing to make anyone's eye we stood up to go and pay at the bar at which point the server promptly came over to take the payment...

Overall I wasn't impressed with The Fishes, it had all the potential to be great but sadly I wouldn't recommend dining there to friends based on today's experience. I do think it would be a great location to enjoy a pint in the garden on a...

We returned for a Sunday lunch as we have previously been on many occasions and have been pleased with both the service and food. The restaurant was beautiful and warm.

Unfortunately after being seated we waited for just over 20 mins to place our order, while the staff were stood talking. The drinks we ordered were not fizzy. I asked the waitress if she could redo our drinks as they were flat, the waitress asked me “are you sure?”. However if the waitress paid any attention she too would have seen the drinks had no bubbles in them. The drinks were redone twice.

The vegan choices were limited with one hot and one cold option. There was no vegan option for a Sunday roast. What a disappointment this had been!

The three roast meals which came out were fine although could have been hotter. I was disappointed that at £17 per roast meal there was only a drizzle of gravy. We we’re not asked if we’d like any condiments. I tried to catch the eye of the waitress serving our table and a couple of other staff members, however nobody came to our table.

I had the cold vegan option and asked for a side of roasted root vegetables. The roasted root vegetables were beyond disappointment. They were cold, not warm, cold!

Once my children had nearly finished eating the waitress did come to our table to ask if our food was ok and if we needed anything. I did share that I had been trying to get the attention of her and her colleagues with no luck. I shared the food was disappointing and the service was worse. I also told her what my complaints were.

I was further disappointed when the management did not come over to speak with me, I would assume that this is something which would happen if the customer is not happy with both food and the service.

I can not express how awful the service was last Sunday (13/02/2022). The Fishes is local to us and I will not be...

Had a very disappointing experience this evening . We booked a table a day in advance for a larger group, which came with email confirmation. On arrival our booking was not present on the system. This being said, we were offered a table for our group out the front. When ordering, we were informed that several items had sold out on the menu (at 18:30 on a Wednesday). We then had to wait a very long time for drinks and courses. When the food came, a lot of our food was missing certain items described on the menu, but was enjoyable enough. We then were offered dessert (missing items again), but our plates from our main course were left on the table for another 45 minutes until our our desserts finally appeared (after we enquired about how long it would take and were told the kitchen was very busy). When our desserts appeared, we asked if our plates could be taken away to which we were told they would find someone else to do this. We also then had no cutlery to eat our dessert until we asked, to which then we were still short of one spoon. We also all had empty glasses prior to our main courses arriving and were not offered more drinks. When given our bill, we were not given an apology by any members of staff or offered any compensation for the wait we had endured (although our waitress had apologised when our cutlery was missing). We are fully aware that restaurants are very busy at the moment and the staff were trying their best, but considering the prices we expected a much higher standard of service than what we received and left feeling very disappointed. Perhaps walk ins should not be accepted if there is not enough supplies to fully carry out the menu or staff to provide adequate service? I sadly will not be retuning...