Victoria Arms, Oxford Review

I guess it was super busy yesterday as it was nice out and perhaps they weren't expecting it and so were understaffed... But, don't try to get any food here. Just not worth it. I ordered the chicken sandwich, after about 30 minutes, the sandwich below appeared. The chicken piece you see is barely visible. And overcooked. And the bacon was gross. Very disappointing. They were nice and took it back and brought it back with an additional piece of chicken, but that required another 15 minutes of prep and the wait was most definitely not worth it.

Fantastic staff
Fantastic food
Fantastic setting
All in all one of my favourite pubs
Definitively recommend!!!

A bit pricey but nice - beautiful setting and great quality food

Many people walk to this pub from central Oxford, so customers should beware that they will close the kitchen any time at the managers discretion if it s not busy and won t open it again. I walked here with my elderly parents this evening for dinner and when we arrived we were told with no apologies that they d closed the kitchen early and wouldn t reopen it. Nasty service beware before you come here!

The location of this pub is beautiful on a sunny afternoon, even though the staff are overworked they are polite and friendly even under stress.
The toilets and general cleanliness of this busy well used place is beyond a disgrace! Sort it out!

Amazing location. The food is a total rip off, no salmon in the salmon cakes and no chicken in the chicken parmesan. Go there for a beer, definitely not for dinner.

Very cosy with fire in winter, fantastic garden backing onto river Cherwell in summer. Historic, loads of parking.

Great location, great service, good food. Recommended.

One of th best gardens in town. The food is great and it is not a chain pub. Could have a better selection of beers on tap

In the winter the inside is cosy and in the summer the garden is idyllic! It gets very busy on warm summer days and is popular with punters from the river. Food selection and quality is good, it has the usual pub food and usually some interesting specials on the menu.

Great food, best place in Oxford for Gluten free eating

Two meals were OK but one which was reported to have taste had none at all, totally bland. And their food prices are mid range, so those prices for bland 'pub grub', basic food with chips, was not a good result.

Delightful setting though Sunday lunch not quite as good as a meal earlier this summer

Beautiful. If only I lived nearer I'd become a regular. I could wax lyrical, everything I want in a pub. Great beer, friendly staff and locals, wonderful setting etc. Etc.

Nice, cozy. Good pub for lunch and a beer. Of course, for a nice dinner by the fireplace.

Had a bouncy castle when visiting, great for the kids

Nice pub right on the river. You can punt to this pub.

Wonderful pub ,good atmosphere and good food and pretty location

Lovely spot to walk the dog to and have a drink in the beautiful outdoors

Over priced and under whelming
Pros: nice view by the river. Big field for kids



In defence the waitress and kitchen were very keen to make up for it with some complimentary extras and they were very busy.

That being said it remains overpriced for what you receive. The menu offers two portion sizes for different prices and I can't honestly not imagine how they would make my portion any smaller.

Would not return unless for a single beer on a boat crawl and i was prepared for a long queue on a sunny day.

Great location weather was superb for this time of year unfortunately the food was very poor infact quite expensive and poor.

Great place to have a drink,quick lunch and bring your

In my opinion the most evocative Oxford pub, an enviable view

Great location next to the river. Gets very busy on a sunny weekend but plenty of garden seating. Average food.

If you have hospital appointments in oxford, then for a change of pace and decent coffee and fresh food, then this could be an answer for you? Always a warm welcome and this time of year a roaring log fire to great you, it is 'Disabled Friendly' having access to both the lounges and the restroom, this place has lovely views of the meadows that lead to the river Isis and the woods. Out door seating. Menu offers something for everyone. From my pictures I chose on this occasion a Crab and longestine salad sandwich competitively priced. Popular with dog walkers and families at weekends and everyone in the warmer weather, it is a quiet oasis right at the heart of the busy city-state Summertown and St.Giles is just over the expressway. They do a very popular festive package if you don't fancy cooking or are at a loose end as I was 2 Christmas's ago and joined the party on the day. The food and company was terrific. Had a great time.
This has the historic Cromwell Room from when the General used this for meetings from the time when Oxford was the heart of Government long before Westminster. In those days Cromwell also despatched the "3 martyrs" at Burford town Church where they are buried.

Great spot. Brilliant time at the Rabbit hole festival. Best this year. Thanks

Smashing location and great food. Overlooking a river with good outdoor seating, would recommend.

We just move to Old Marston and people recommend us the victoria arms. Nonetheless, our first experience there was terrible. It is my wife s birthday, Sunday, we arrived at Victoria at 19:15, ordered a pint each. While waiting to be served, I grabbed two food menu. Siting at our table we promptly choose our dinner. When I went to order, at 19:20, I was informed that the person in front of me was the last one allowed to order because the kitchen would be close...!!! Unbelievable and unacceptable!

It was the day of the storm, no punting so we arrived early for a family do. They were very friendly and helpful, all sorts of food, vegetarian, vegan, no nuts for our tea. Recommended for all.

Nice family pub with good food and good outside space.

We visited the Victoria Arms after renting a punt from the Cherwell boathouse and travelling up the river. This takes about 30-45 minutes depending on your skill, but is much quieter than the punting areas in central Oxford. The Victoria Arms has areas to tie up your punt and plently of space to sit outside. Food is good, traditional pub meals with a few more modern options available. Book ahead if you want to sit inside the pub at weekends. Service very friendly and bar staff cheery in face of very busy times.

Beautiful views but expensive food for what you get.

Friendly and welcoming pub on the (at present seriously flooded!) Thames just outside Oxford. Wadsworth not our favourite beer but we enjoyed their Good Elf. Pub staff could not be nicer, and food entirely right. It's becoming a regular for us.

Very disappointing lunch today. The Vicky Arms has always been favourite of my family but today was disastrous, very slow service and very poor food. We shall be cautious about another visit.

Decent pub food, good beer, superb old building lovely spot.

We visited for lunch on Christmas Eve, and the food was terrible. Both our dishes, the bean casserole and the risotto, had zero flavour, and couldn't be rescued with salt and pepper. I
can barely cook, but I would have been embarassed to serve either dish. The risotto in particular was nothing like advertised - the artichoke and vegan cheese shavings were nowhere in sight. I would strongly recommend against eating here.

Traditional pub great food, great location and great staff.

Great Riverside pub with terrace and lawned area. Real ale available. Can book rooms and areas for private events.

Food was great but could be a little cheaper for a lunch stop.

Nothing better than hiring a punt at taking it to this pub to sit in the garden on a summer's day. They even have a jetty to park your punt!

Great place to eat and drink especially in the summer. Attentive staff and good food.

Great location with excellent view by the river. Average food,nothing special.

This is a fab gem of a place in 'Old Marston' Village. If you have a hospital appointment at the JR, Churchill, Nuffeild ect, you may want a change to the hospital plastic butties in a box and expensive bitter coffee? Then head hear I More

Very slow & inefficient service, results in long and unorderly queues.

nice views - but don't really have a choice but this pub when punting

No food except sandwiches which to be honest were not very nice and were very expensive. Supposedly they had problems with food suppliers soaybe it was a one off.

Delicious food efficient and friendly staff in a gorgeous location! Had a beautiful birthday lunch for my son this was delightful thank you so much!

Lovely location, beautiful country pub but unfortunately the food is awful. The pomegranate halloumi salad was tasteless and had but 3 bits of pomegranate and no sign of lime and chilli sauce. Just a bland green salad with halloumi. The baguettes were equally tasteless. Expensive lunch out which left us unsatisfied.

Considering we were a large party of 14 they did quite well. I had to mark them down though as despite being accredited by coeliac uk, they served us a 'gluten free' cheesecake which was just a normal cheesecake with the biscuit base removed leaving visible traces of the biscuit behind. Not cool guys, not cool. Also their vegan option of a couscous salad was flimsy at best....
The staff however were lovely.

In the fields, nice traditional pub, with decent food

Visiting in a group whose numbers were increased and this notified a few days beforehand. Unfortunately an itemised bill for individuals was not produced and we ended up having to pay cash and pooling the whole lot- lucky we had some on us! Food was not particularly nice unfortunately either. I have always loved the location of the venue having once visited by punt before the Marston Ferry Road was built!

Morse country! We went for dinner but found the menu limited. We did eat but we both felt such an iconic location deserved better.

This is our local and we have enjoyed time there for years! The food recently has been hugely hit or miss. Sometimes it's superb, others it's awful. For example my husband once found a large bit of kitchen roll in his burger. When we showed it to the waitress she just awkwardly laughed and picked it off his plate. Another time we were really disappointed by the expensive fish and chips; they had clearly been sitting around a while as the peas, chips and batter were cold and hard. We're just going to enjoy drinks there from now on.

Absolutely welcoming our waiter was amazing the food was amazing . and they had blankets for the garden will defiantly be back

Great riverside pub with large sloping garden- more like a field - down to the Cherwell. Popular destination for people punting from the Cherwell Boathouse. Can be queues for drinks at busy times but with lots of open space always somewhere to sit. Much quieter on winter nights! Food is good - pub food plus.

The Rabbit Hole Festival was frankly a sonic nirvana.

Best to go there on a sunny day via a punt from Cherwell

Nice staff, cozy inside and nice spacious outside seating.

A warm and welcoming pub on the banks of the river Cherwell. It is a perfect stop for a pint or a meal after some punting or kayaking on the river. Great views, loads of mooring space and outdoor seating, big garden.

Super food, great staff, chilled vibe. Sit outside by the river.

A very busy day due to the wake and not enough staff to detail with the huge ammount of people. Having said that it was a nice pibt and a lovely pub

We were waiting for food for 1h, and was not even busy. The portions are very small, but expensive.
Good to go just for a drink.

Lovely location, esp e ciall y on a sunny day, when it gets very busy. Food is ok. Good selection of beers.

A two hour wait for lunch!

We chose the Victoria Arms because of its positive reviews, and booked a table for family and friends. The restaurant was busy, but not overly so and service was friendly and fast. We ordered drinks, which came quickly and then ordered lunch. After around 30 minutes we asked how the starters were coming along, and were told they were on their way. After 50 minutes, we asked again, especially about the children's meals, and were told we were in a queue behind 5 other orders, and it would take another 20 minutes. We asked again if the children's meals could come out first. After an hour and 20 minutes we were told the meals were all being plated and would be 5 more minutes. After and hour and 50 minutes we were told the meals were almost ready, and after 2 hours we left without lunch.

What was most disappointing was that the staff would keep stringing us along, knowing that the children were hungry.

And what was worse, a couple sat down next to us, towards the end of our ordeal, and ordered lunch, which was delivered within 10 minutes.

A really painful experience, without even an apology or acknowledgment from the staff.

There is something about a wood fire that is very pleasing

Beautiful garden right on the river with a punt dock. Nice food and reasonable price. A lovely pub!

Food is good, although ours took a while to arrive. Perfect setting for a sunny summer's day.

How can it take 1 hour and 15 minutes to produce ham egg and chips ?