Pope's Tavern — Restaurant in Oxford

Through a weird twist of fate, my co-workers and I were looking for a place to stay and somewhere to eat in Oxford on a Tuesday night. With the Robert Morris Inn apparently closed for the night, we stayed at the Oxford Inn and dined at Pope's Tavern.

Let's just say, the Prisco's have nailed it.

If Pope's Tavern, which is a somewhat curious name, was in my hometown, it would possibly be the best Italian restaurant in the city...and we have a gracious plenty of them.

Simply put, everything was good, everything. The calamari were fried to perfection, almost tempura style. Delicious. My co-worker, who ordered the chicken parmesan, said it was the best he had ever had. My other co-worker, who always tends to get spaghetti and meatballs when we eat Italian, said it was better than any she can remember. Finally, my linguini with clam sauce was the best I have ever had...period and end of discussion. Phenomenal.

We ate at the bar, and I will cut to the quick: the bartender makes a perfect gin martini (slightly dirty). That is a more of skill than it should be, and she crushed it.

As for the atmosphere, this is a cozy place with a lot of regulars (all my best to Patty and John BTW). It was very crowded on a Tuesday night, and the guy playing guitar was perfect as the ambient entertainment. It truly was a tavern in an inn, which is something we simply don't have in central Alabama. Really cool.

The reason for a 4-star rating for atmosphere instead of 5-star is pretty simple, the Prisco's apparently like the color yellow a lot...

Excellent Italian!! Delicious fresh, homemade pasta cooked al dente (perfectly). The new owners (new owners started in April 2021) and Chef Anthony are wonderful. The dishes are more NY Italian than super authentic regional Italian but still very high quality and delicious. I had the mahi-mahi with shrimp in a light blush sauce of homemade capellini which was excellent. The main dishes are very large and I took half home for lunch. My husband had the braciole which was outstanding. For an appetizer we had the fried calamari which was very tender and not greasy. We also had a plate of Italian cheeses and olives with their warm home made bread - yum! The wine list is very good too. I splurged for dolce and had the house made tiramisu which was one of the best I’ve ever had. The meal was totally worth the calories! Our waitress was very nice too. Oxford is an adorable, quaint, Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake town so Pope’s nicely incorporates the Eastern Shore seafood and laid-back...

Ate here on a Monday at the recommendation of a local shop owner, she said the burger night was worth it. We arrived at around 7 or so. Long story short, we, along with others, were told they were out of burgers. Frustrated with the lack of local beers and the burgers being sold out we almost left. Instead we settled on some other items from the menu. Later it turned out they weren't out of the burgers but chef was wrong and they began serving again. I had rigatoni with eggplant and sweet squash. Ok but flavors didn't meld well. Wife had Cesar salad with chicken and crab chowder. Both were good but not great. Wine selection is much better than beer as their focus is food pairing better wine than beer I suppose. Mixed feelings over all because of the expectations going in and poor execution /communication in...