Red Lion Wendlebury Reviews

Great breakfast. The eggs Benedict were great. Really nice pub

Relaxed, friendly and clean. Nice place close to Bicester Village bit away from the madding crowds.

Its really lovely place for lunch, dinner, food was excellent and the staff were excellent.
Definitely will go back again

A pub I usually frequent and usually am rather fond of. However, recently on one of my conquests I found myself rather peckish and though, some food would be idillic. When enquiring upon viewing a menu I was rudely informed that they were fully booked . At 6pm there was not a single other customer in the establishment. But alas, this alone would not be enough to spoil my visit. I settled in and ordered another pint. It arrived and I was ready to consume the only bit of joy they would allow me. Running in the theme of my experience, the pint was flat and tasteless. If there was another choice of pub in the village I would be there in a drop of a hat, even if I was run by the devil. 2 stars

It's my local. It's a good combination of a locals wet bar and a gastro pub catering to visitors from bicester village. There are also high quality rooms available.

Wonderful place, staff service and food was great. Must find an excuse to stay for the night.

Okay pub food (meaning it's not great food but not overly bad either) in quiet surroundings but be warned, even with the restaurant half empty, the service was extrememly slow.

Menue is nice food but trying to hard to impress a bit foofy

Slow service, hard to find waiting staff, waitress seemed to have a cold as she was sniffling and sneezing every time she brought us food.

Took forever for each course to be cleared and even longer for the next one to arrive!

Very nice pub, great fish & chips and beer, outside area nice. Does Covid well as no bar service. You can only order if you have a table, but you can have a table if you only want a drink. Ordering is via table service or they have an App you can order on. Sanitiser on entry and dotted around the pub plus a one way system. They take your name & contact number for tracing if there are any issues. Pretty well done and it's a shame all pubs/restaurants don't operate like this. Recommended.

The place is very modern and pleasant. Unfortunately after arriving for a 7.00pm booking it took almost 2 hours for our meal to arrive. It seemed to me the place was understaffed. They did get stressed, but a simple comment about delay in service would have helped. Didn't make me feel any better when neighbouring table, who were seated way after us, were offered a complimentary drink due to delay in service. So to management, get your staffing levels right. To staff, a few simple words of explanation would helped.

On a positive note, food was good.

Sorry, but thats how it was.

A very warm welcome and a fabulous Sunday roast in a quaint Oxfordshire village setting. Highly recommended.

Great atmosphere and very friendly welcoming staff. The food is fantastic. Outdoor seating is very good. I have no hesitation in recommending The Lion.

The food was lovely although the service was a bit slow being Sunday.

Lovely food. Our waitress was friendly, helpful and polite. A popular place to dine!

Absolutely loved our stay at this pub with rooms to stay. The food is amazing, staff are friendly and rooms and clean and self contained from the pub so it was lovely and peaceful. Would stay again next time we are in the area.

Friendly, polite and well trained staff - food was excellent - they have their own ale which is also very good - beautifully done out inside and out with oak and local stone - nice open feature fireplace and easy to find and park. Highly recommend.

Terrible customer service - Got the meal order wrong - When we question the manager he stated "its not the end of the world "

The food was great but astaff member made us feel very uncomfortable.

Great place to eat. Private room is adequate for meetings and the service is polite and friendly

Always an amazing meal with friendly service and a seasonal menu

We had heard great things about the Lion so as my other half enjoys vegan good due to being dairy intolerant we decided to give it a try on a vegan night.
It was very clean and presentable from the outside with a good size car park however the staff looked very under pressure with senior staff not doing much.
Eventually we got served in a room with decor that was very questionable with knives, forks and plates screwed to a wall and other miss placed items really screamed trying to hard to be something it wasn't, it looked false and out of place.
The food was ok, however found it ironic that on vegan night the did not have dairy free milk for an after meal coffee.
It's good for business use I'd say.

Hi Anthony,

Yes it was from then, I was updating my reviews.
Sorry to say we did ask for non dairy milk with the coffee & the staff mentioned that they didn't have any, they felt awkward as we said "but its vegan night" they acknowledged that they should have some especially as it was vegan night but didn't.

Came here this morning to attend a department meeting which was being held here and the staff were extremely proficient.

We had a lovely Saturday lunch, where everything ticked all the boxes. Warm welcome, great drink selection, food served promptly and extremely nice steak and ale pie. Keep up the good work

To Anthony
My name is Peter and I had the pleasure of my daughter booking a table at your restaurant for four persons on the 23rd February 19:30 pm in aid of my up and coming Birthday.
My wife and I had travelled all the way up from Kent for the weekend and on entering your establishment we were very pleased with what we saw the place itself and the menu.
We ordered drinks which took a while to arrive but we moved on to ordering starters and main course for the four of us when the mains arrived at about 8.30 pm only two were bought out, the waiter looked a bit confused as he placed the two Tomahawks on the table with associated side orders and asked if that was all!! We explained there should be two burgers for the ladies and this appeared to concern him he left the table and a lady came back stating there was some confusion over the machine she had placed the orders through and that the burgers had been deleted that she would take the mains away to keep it hot and would bring all four out together. Although not too happy about two meals being kept warm
We ordered more drinks when the mains all eventually came out some while later but the drinks never arrived, we had eaten out mains and my wife had to get up and go and ask what had happened to the drinks she was given another apology- the bar girl is new and told they would be chased up to which my wife said not to bother as we really would of liked our drinks with our meal to which the waitress replied I ll have the drink removed from your bill that we hadn t even got.
We were then offered coffee or desert but to be honest after the evening so far we were in no state to sit for even longer and wait again for service when we could evidently see other tables being served a lot quicker than us .One couple had had three courses and drinks by the time we had got our mains.
The bill arrived, the only drinks removed from the bill were the two we never received. I was shocked after the service we had received and there was not even an acknowledgement of apology, to even remove the first round of drinks.
I was not prepared to get into a discussion on the night about the extremely poor service the way we felt treated and embarrass my daughter who had recommended your restaurant and had wanted to treat her dad to a nice birthday meal.
I did not feel if fair to review your restaurant with such a bad evening, as I haven t had any communication with you regarding the disappointing evening until now.

Regards

Peter Elphick

Went to the Lion for lunch. Beautiful pub and staff were very welcoming and friendly. The food was lovely, cooked beautifully and served hot. Will definately be returning

Lovely place and location. Dinner was a little disappointing. My haddock was well cooked and tasty but a bit on the small side whereas the chips,a generous portion, were overcooked. My wife's sea bass was well cooked and tasty but again a little skimpy on portion size. Her roasted root veg consisted of only potato and carrot. My sweet,sticky toffee pudding, my all time favourite, was very poor,dry. The shower overflowed in the morning due to a blocked drain. Overall the jury is still out on whether we would return.

Sorry to say I was very disappointed with the food and the service I could not believe the lack of interest on serving you it's a real shame as the place is in a nice village and setting

Really lovely nice place very very good food and very friendly staff who really looked after you can't wait to go back.

Probably deserving of a 4.5 stars, very very good, only very minor issues with drinks availability, highly reccomended

Lovely meal, recommend the pies and sticky toffe pudding, delicious

A great place to go for food and drink. The pub is really nice, well decorated and a lovely environment to spend a few hours having a relaxing meal. There is loads of space with plenty of quieter nooks if you want to hide away.

The staff are friendly, polite and helpful and the food was brilliant. Will definitely be visiting again.

Its not my first stay at the Lion, and it wont be my last! I love this place, the rooms are gorgeous and beds are huge and comfortable. Such a great place to unwind and relax after a days shopping at Bicester Village. The pub has a great feel to it and with plenty of 'out the way' seating and open fires, it has a really romantic feel to it. We had a lovely meal, my favourite had to be the Asian Duck Salad, my partner enjoyed the sirloin steak which was cooked perfectly. Katie and Megan did a great job of looking after us during our stay, and nothing was too much touble. We cant wait till our next visit.

Had lunch here today. Staff were extremely pleasant and attentive without being intrusive. Food was presented really well and cooked to perfection. Desserts are also a real treat. Good sized meals and well priced. Lovely decor. Would definitely return.

Very disappointing service, arrived in the afternoon expecting food , but staff didn't tell us until an hour after we arrived that the kitchen doesn't open until six pm(no signs to state this either). Even when the kitchen was open the waiting staff were slow to come over to us. None of the staff were wearing face coverings despite the record rise in Covid cases in Britain.

Booked a table for 8:30 on Saturday we waited 15 minutes to get served a drink, then we were told that they were just cleaning our table. when the fair haired girl walked past me about 3 times eventually i had to ask her at 9 o clock when will we be seated, she was extremely rude and very unprofessional so we got up and left. I will never be going back to the lion ever again.

Beautiful food, cosy and welcoming atmosphere with attentive and very friendly staff.

The food is delicious (especially the Plum and Apple Tart with hot custard!) and the portions are very generous. I had the Pork and vegetables, and thoroughly enjoyed every bite!

I'd recommend this place any day and look forward to going back for a delicious face if food!!

Fantastic restaurant with pleasant surroundings and lovely food

Reasonably good, slightly upmarket pub food, not the height of gastronomy but then that's perfectly fine. Good portion sizes too and friendly (if somewhat slow) table service. Definitely enjoyed it, will go again.

Beautiful location. Delicious food. Reasonable prices :)

The Lion Wendlebury was an amazing pub and hotel. They rooms were spotless, brand new and very comfortable. The pub is friendly and welcoming. I'd love to return when back in the area.

Had 2 days stay here while on a shopping trip to bicester village we had room 12 really good quality bed. shower hot and powerful very clean .we had our breakfast here basic choice of the help yourself toast juices and cereal fresh fruit was melon and grapes had cooked breakfast each day really nice good quality products and cooked beautifully
Evening meals same quality as breakfast so really happy had steak first night fish second can not find anything negative to write about an overall positive experience staff friendly our evening server lady think she was from New Zealand was very attentive would recommend The Lion

Came here on a Saturday afternoon and ordered some sharing starters for the table which were delicious- the Camembert, squid and humous were all great. Lovely service too.

Last minute diversion off the motorway and very impressed. Welcoming, friendly staff, tons of board games to keep the children busy. Fast service and fab food. Here's to traffic jams! (highly recommended)

Very lovely food and company. Thank you @benq for hosting @c_learning_net today

I didn't put details in here initially but feel compelled to give further information since the venue has responded. Sadly, although this is a gorgeous pub in a beautiful village I can't give any recommendation based on my (first) visit I'm afraid. The service was really slow, which didn't matter too much as it was nice to chat with friends. The food was OK but not amazing. I had a fish finger sandwich and the fish seemed a bit soggy and not that hot which we attributed to the long wait. Service was poor but staff tried to compensate for that which is commendable, however, despite the apology for slow delivery of main meals, coffees arrived well before desserts and it was disjointed. Sadly 2 of the party, including me, were ill later in the day, so something isn't quite the ticket!
Not sure what was going on. Maybe it's a new team or it was an exceptionally busy day?? Sorry!

Good food. We so far we've always had a good meal here

Very cold. The only lit real fire was surrounded by a large party of people, radiators throughout the rest of the venue weren't on. We cut our visit short as it was so cold.

Extremely rude barman. Table booking messed up. Slow service at the bar and aggressive response when wanting to book food.

This used to be a great place, but I now won t be returning.

I always enjoy the Lion a good place good service and good food. In difficult times they are doing their best.
Just a small moan the price of wine is on the high side and i would like to see Sunday roast on larger plate, (not bigger helpings)

Nice country pub close to M40. Lots of seating and outside area. Good varied menu, someone knows how to cook. Service at the bar a little slow.

Clearly the chef is not vegetarian: the veggie dumplings were disgusting and we sent them back, the replacement veggie rissoto was not much better. However, the steak and fish were very good! Beer excellent

My wife and I stayed in the village a month ago, first night went into the Lion for a meal. We tried to get served at bar, several people who came in after us (obviously known to staff) were served. When we eventually got served we were told to find a seat if we were eating and we would receive waiter service. We did this only, 5 minutes later to be told we would have to move because we sat in a reserved area!!! We enquired where reserved signs were to the embarasment of staff there were none displayed. Once again we moved and waited for service. We were eventually fed, in fairness food was good albeit, in our opinion, rather expensive. Needless to say for the remainder of our time in the village we did not return.

Great food, friendly service and beautiful decor. Was made to feel welcome with kids. Will definitely be going back!

Slow service, chips under cooked and generally over priced. Brought this to the waiters attention who did apply some discount due to the poor food quality (wasn't even busy!). Shame, as we do eat out a lot.

Very good service, good one ready system for social distancing. Good selection of ales, and their chips are to die for!

Visited The Lion at Wendlebury for their Vegan night and was genuinely amazed with how good the food was. We were greeted upon arrival by a friendly female front of house who seated us immediately in the conservatory area. The waiter who followed was very polite and attentive, he provided us with great service throughout our evening with them and ensured we were happy with our food and that our glasses remained filled.

We have been here previously and thought it was just ok but our opinion has definitely been changed following this visit!

We are looking forward to visiting again soon and here's to hoping for another Vegan night with the same/similar menu!

Easy stop from m40. Much better than a service station, that's for sure. Kids food served first which is always a sign they know how to cater properly for families. Cosy bar and large restaurant area. Good looking and well maintained. Food wasnt mind blowingly exceptional but certainly above average. Clean plates all round.

Great food with excellent service. Room was nice as well

Very nice food. Nice location for bar or restaurant meals.

A lovely family stopover. Beautiful rooms and lovely food, especially for the kids.

Great location for our recent meeting. The bacon rolls were very popular. Friendly and helpful staff.

Excellent service and satisfaction from the staff
And excellent quality food

Lovely pub, tastefully refurbished and a nice place to enjoy a meal and a drink.

Didn't actually eat here - we went for brunch (which the website says is available until midday everyday) and walked into a very smokey room with no staff. The manager appeared at the bar and I asked if they're open for brunch and he said "no, we're not" - that's it, nothing more - so we left. We felt this was incredibly rude and we certainly won't be rushing to try this place again.

Always a pleasure to visit this great country pub and dining. First class all round.

Superb food and lovely hotel finished to a high standard.