The White House, Bladon — Restaurant in West Oxfordshire

*Edit to this initial review * Kevin the pub owner at The White House contacted us regarding our visit last night when we discussed his dismay at how our dining experience had been handled. We have returned back to his pub today (Sunday) and have had the most beautiful food cooked for us. What was a negative experience in his establishment has easily turned into one of the best. We will definitely be back for dinner when we come back to the area in December. Thank you Kevin and we wish you all the very best.

Sadly not a positive 2nd visit here tonight. We were in on Thursday but only for a drink but while there booked a table for 7pm on Saturday. As theres is an event on in Blenheim we thought it was a good plan. On arrival the pub was quite chaotic looking and although not many people inside it took us a while to be served drinks. Just two people on the bar which, considering they knew there was an event on (with the potential for extra footfall) is in my opinion a bad shout. We were shown to our table and ordered. My main of rump of lamb was in fairness really very nice but my husband ordered the pork belly and it was incredibly disappointing. One very thin slice of very dry and chewy pork. This was in between 2 huge chunks of fat which, I know what pork belly is meant to be but, usually you would expect this to be crispy or be sliced differently to break up the fattiness of the dish. Served with the pork was at best two potatoes that were sliced and sauted and a couple/three pieces of tender stem broccoli. When telling the chap that cleared our plates who didnt ask if everything was ok (two massive pieces of fat in the side of the plate is surely a give away that something isnt quite right) he just said oh ok and walked off..! At this point we heard a lady at the bar also complaining about the same issue with the fat on the pork and asked for a bowl of chips. She was offered another dish but she declined as she didnt have time to wait. We had our pre ordered desserts and then had the bill which took an age to arrive because the bar man had to take food to tables that chef was cooking as well as deal with other customers that were complaining about wait times. There was a couple of American ladies that had asked for their bill, didnt get it so got up to pay at the bar but then must have waited 20 mins plus and still hadn't been sorted after we left... Another guy had ordered food heard all the chaos so cancelled his order and wanted to pay for his beer. He gave up waiting for the bill so left money on his table. When we got our bill, we asked the bar man to take off the 10% service which he did, paid our £50 bill repeated our disappointment on the pork and he also just said ok and we left in search of a meal for my husband.

Such a shame as on the face of it, it looks a lovely pub and has so much potential. My suggestion would be to sort your front of house, train your staff better and perhaps when there are events on, simplify your menu to allow people to buy quality home cooked food that can be served efficiently. I'd like to say we'd be back but I'm not sure thay we will. We did book a table and left our contact number so if you would like to discuss further...

Utterly charming village pub completely let down by the hostile attitude of the owner. We pulled up intending to have a beer and some lunch and visit churchills grave 3 mins over the road and were subjected to a screaming session from the owner who had just pulled up and was displeased about the amount of cars in the car park. Turns out the primary school opposite had an early finish and parents had used her car park for collection. We had to enter the pub to register our numberplate anyway, and even after telling her we would be returning for lunch after walking over to the grave site (c. 10 mins total when we later went) she continued screaming that she didnt care and we had to move our car, and followed us into the pub, continuing to shout infront of lunchtime customers, even continuing after her barman explained about the early school leaving. We paid for a beer as the car park was then too full of people to move the car easily, but decided we weren't spending lunch there. Car park was empty before half a pint was finished so we moved to the opposite side of the road and visited the grave site as planned. For a countryside 'community pub', that reception was unacceptable. I understand issues with parking around school time but that is part of being a community, and easily manageable without being aggressive to customers. Rural pub footfall is based on ramblers and walkers visiting and being so close to a national landmark must be a huge benefit to their footfall so I am unsure why, if there was such an issue on a private site, signage or other means couldn't have been used, or communication to the school/parents...

Called for a spot of lunch on a Thursday afternoon, walked in with my Labrador and was told that they don't take dogs. We have seen previous reviews saying they do take dogs. AHH well you don't take my dog you don't take my money. Probably 40 quid down in takings not bad when you can afford to do that.

Updated, I agree after giving your response some thought, however I feel that you have made a mistake to disallow dogs.

We walked the other direction to Woodstock and all the pubs we went in there took dogs but one. The pub that took the £45 food money that I spent (which you should have got) had 3 tables with dogs on the floor.

I understand that some dogs are a pain in the rear, and probably some owners but I'd like to think that most are not.

In my experience, and I travel a lot around this country with my dog, more and more pubs are letting dogs in, as pubs need the money. You should give your policy some reconsideration as you are feeding your competitors.....

Anyway, I have increased to 3...