Oxbow Beer Garden — Restaurant in Oxford

We celebrated our wedding in August 2021 at Oxbow Beer Garden in Oxford, ME with about 110 people. Oxbow - both the space and the staff - was amazing. The space was beautiful and their staff decorated it with seasonal flowers. (We hired a separate florist for a few smaller things.)

During our event, Oxbow supplied all of the food. During cocktail hour we had charcuterie, veggies, and their fantastic pizza. (This is coming from a New Yorker who has tried many types of pizza over 15 years of research.) Our dinner was served buffet-style with chicken/fish/veggie options and salads, all of which were delicious. Of course, they also included their amazing beer, along with wines, and some mixed drinks.

The staff was absolutely amazing. Much to our dismay, a hurricane decided to make an appearance on our wedding day (we know we know, rain on your wedding day is a blessing!). The Oxbow staff quickly adjusted. They changed the plan for where they thought food should be set up, donned ponchos and other raingear, and with positive spirits got our guests food in both a timely and remarkably dry fashion (calling tables up one-by-one)! They did all of this with smiles and friendliness At the end of the evening, they came out to dance with us and we couldn't have been happier.

Everything ran extremely smoothly. In weddings, something always goes wrong but none of the things that stressed us out that day had ANYTHING to do with Oxbow. When the bride showed up, they even led her to a little bridal suite, saved the cake for us to take home, and did things like help coordinate the tent and wedding canopy set up and set up a guest book. Much credit goes to Rebecca, the event coordinator, and Birch, one of the co-owners.

Not only will we continue to come to Oxbow on the regular for our pizza and beer needs but we are so thrilled to be able to remember it as the place we got married. We give Oxbow our highest recommendation for throwing an event. And even if you aren’t throwing an event, we highly recommend coming to Oxbow’s Beer Garden for...

When we got engaged, Oxbow was the first place that jumped to mind as our venue because we loved the idea of getting married somewhere we already loved spending time at. It also seemed like the perfect place for a wedding that we didn't want to feel too fussy but didn't comprise on a stylish ambiance or great food. Our past interactions with the staff at Oxbow also made us feel like we'd be in good hands -- and that couldn't have been more true for our event this past October. Rebecca and her team were so friendly, communicative and thoughtful; they took most of the the stress out of planning our event, even when we realized that it was going to rain in the days leading up to our wedding. Before we even reached out, they had ideas for how to adjust our plans for the weather, prepped the venue to combat any mud, and in the end, the weather didn't put a damper on the celebration at all. For a venue that we partially chose for its outdoor space, it's a real testament to Oxbow that we still had such a great time in the drizzle, especially under the big pavilion that we lit up with lights and candles, and inside the cozy, rustic restaurant. (Our guests loved it too!) We love that we got married at a place that we can return to for a beer and a pizza all year round, and would totally recommend it to other...

I read some of the other reviews about this place and I think they miss some really important context:

THIS BREWERY SPECIALIZES IN FARMHOUSE-STYLE ALES. While they do have a couple of in-house lagers and pilsners, this place is all about that fermentation, so if you don’t like that, then it appears they serve limited liquor after 4, or get something else.

We went and had some beer and a pizza and a calzone. For beer: we had a household saison, which was a nicely-made, classic version; the italian-style pils, which was good, but made me miss peroni; and the blueberry sour, which was more saison than sour, but still pretty good.

THE FOOD was a different story. Its cooked in a brick oven and came out shockingly fast. This explains the complaints of burnt pizza that I saw so frequently: the tops of our pizza and calzone were blackened to an excessive degree, BUT the dough remained tender and doughy. The ingredient quality was great: the sausage was excellent, the jalapeños were super tasty and quick pickled, sauce was fresh, cheese was good. Which leads me to the only thing i need the owners to read:

YOUR BEER IS GOOD, YOUR PIZZA WOULD BE TOO BUT THE OVEN IS TOO HOT. PLEASE TURN THAT DOWN A BIT SO THE DOUGH COOKS EVENLY AND DOESN’T...