Ashmolean Rooftop Restaurant

Fabulous venue for meeting old friends for lunch ..... delicious food and great staff ...thx

From the already small menu one of the starters was unavailable and two of the mains were sold out.
The service was fine and the wine choice good. The setting is lovely but I will not visit again in the evening as I was disappointed overall.

I love the Ashmolean Rooftop restaurant for morning coffee -- it's a beautiful, south-facing space, and the coffee is good. BUT the restaurant continues to be disappointing. We went recently to have a celebratory dinner. The menu was limited and that was OK until we got there and discovered that quite a few items were not available. This is just not good enough. If you have a limited menu then everything on it needs to be available! I would never have booked it if I'd known that the choice would be so pathetic. Other points -- I had risotto which arrived with no offer of extra cheese, and it didn't have enough salt in it. By this time we'd been through the gauntlet of limited choice with a very offhand server, and I just couldn't be bothered to complain at the table. I did speak to the very nice front of house person as we left and she retrospectively offered us free tea/coffee. But what we wanted was a decent set of choices, and some decent food, and a decent server. I'm not in a hurry to return.

Worst value food I’ve ever had. Main dish of salad was a few chard leaves, four slivers of roast pumpkin and three dots of curd cheese. Ingredients must have cost 50p. Dish cost around £15. Even the waiter agreed “it’s embarrassing”. What a waste of a lovely space. Jazz was nice. Waiters tried hard

Lunch was to celebrate my wife's 71st birthday, we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the ambience, the service and the food. We would like to return next summer & experience the outside seating area.

Another first class lunch in this beautiful venue. There is always a warm welcome, courteous service and delicious food - a winning combination. Fresh ingredients, seasonal ingredients are treated with respect to provide unfussy, attractively presented and extremely tasty dishes.

A fantastic museum complimented by a superb restaurant.

warm white wine and warm sloppy risotto . Limited lunch menu would have been acceptable except several key ingredients were not available . Plus market fish if the day was substituted with pork pie!!
Come on catering manager - take your job seriously - these are GCSE level errors that relay indifference to customer dining experience.

As occasional visitors we found our meal very disappointing. We felt similarly last time and sadly we will look elsewhere in the future.

Not a memorable experience, food poor, quantity small and not at all good value. I advise only to use it if its heavy rain outside.

We had to wait 40 minutes for the kids meal and ours although we ordered at noon in a very empty restaurant. Staff were dour. Food was good. Was amazing when it first opened but now you very much get a benugo cafe experience, don’t go with higher expectations and you won’t be disappointed.

We were very surprised there was no gluten free bread available for my husband to have with his soup, he is a coeliac . Also, the tap water & carafe of wine were tepid ( not even cold) let alone chillled. We still enjoyed our lunch with friends though.

Having dined at the rooftop restaurant several times in the past, I wanted to let you know that on this occasion, I found the experience very disappointing. We had a table for 4 which was near the service area - it was very noisy (at times making it difficult to talk) and, on what was a cold day, frequently unpleasant as a result of a cold draft from the external door being opened and closed. When I made the booking I advised you that one of the party needed a gluten free diet but there seemed to be no awareness of this and when my wife had the 'gluten-free’ soup it consisted of the soup, a butter pat but no bread as there was no gluten free bread. Her butternut squash salad was very poor with the butternut squash, such that it was, undercooked and with the skin on, and the salad was little more than some spinach leaves and a few bits of onion. There was a significant delay in us receiving our main courses which was recognised by our waiter Paloma who gave us free coffee to compensate. We were not offered desserts but by this time I had given up and wanted to go. I would have made my concerns known at the time but it was the 90th birthday of one of our party and i did not want him upset. I will be very reluctant to make a further booking for lunch or dinner in the future

Brilliant experience. Food was extremely tasty with a good choice on the menu. The live jazz was enjoyable and added to the ambience of the restaurant. My only (slight) negative is that the food was just warm.

Another magical luncheon in this excellent restaurant after attending Spellbound. I had reserved at 1:30 intending to eat after the exhibition but half term meant only entry at 1:15. The pleasant maitre de was very graceful accommodating our changed time at 12 midday. Cesar our waiter was quietly efficient. All the dishes we had were very good. It was good to have nicely heavy cutlery. Well done

Lovely meal. Great service - especially Cesar! Everything was great.

Convenient location allowing you to maximise time in the museum. Nice environment. However service v slow with some vegetables arriving tepid and chicken extremely hot and dry.

A nice airy restaurant at the top of the Ashmolean Museum. The museum is free and well worth a visit ( give yourselves plenty of time ).

The restaurant has a nicely balanced menu selection and a daily special ( fixed menu ). The food quality was good as was the service. I will go back when next in Oxford.

I do recommend that you book

very disappointing experience! we booked for a birthday. Half of the items on the menu were not available.
(who runs out of olives?). waitress forgot to bring water, had to be asked 3 times and she also forgot to put in order for sides> we had chips with coffee!
really expensive considering limited menu and poor service.

Was really looking forward to this, but ended up being underwhelmed. Three of us had the same dish, but one of them had clearly had one of the items omitted at service. Also, my wife had ordered a dish which included shallots, but none were to be seen. And, for the price we were paying the the lamb stew had a more lumps of fat than we would have expected. The menu, the dessert and the ambiance were fine, and the front of house staff were great too. Just a pity about the plating and the lamb stew.

Booked a rooftop restaurant but could have been anywhere as no access to outdoor and lights on inside bright so could not even see outside (no lights outside either). Food was disappointing and our starter arrived 2 minutes after ordering and then main within 2 minutes of starter being removed. Just too quick for an evening meal. Waiters, whilst pleasant enough, lacked in attention and did not return to offer dessert after we asked to wait for a few minutes. We gave up trying to get their attention after a couple of attempts. At 10pm (closing time) we were politely told the restaurant was now shut, I would have expected 15 minutes grace from the official closing time. For dinner, the experience was disappointing.

Really enjoyed staff friendly and helpful very good

The leek and potato soup was tasteless and bread stale. The starter sizes salad was uninspired. Service was slow and sometimes difficult to get their attention. I have been before a couple of years ago and had hoped that the food and service would have improved but it hasn't. Such a wet of a brilliant venue

very disappointed value poor .dish content poor.
Would not visit again.

Lunch menu good but overcharged on unasked for extra chips (3x£4), service very slow. Lift access involved a long wait and not clear for wheelchair.

Came here for dinner with my daughter and a friend and we have had a fantastic evening.
The food was lovely, portion was good and price was reasonable. The ambience was beautiful and staff were very friendly. Highly recommended and in fact will come back again in two weeks time.

Waitress got our order wrong, but did offer a free coffee to make up for it. Quality of food poor, using cheap ingredients. Sides expensive, very limited menu. Sparkling water was good though.

Very pleasant experience, helped by splendid weather, lovely on the terrace. Relaxed atmosphere, service very good & courteous. Food tasty & well presented.

The waiters and staff where excellent, however we arrived at 1330 and some of the roasts where sold out and then not all the food was available. Still we had a lovely time.

My daughter and myself enjoyed our experiance at the Ashmolian Restaurant.
The only thing we were not happy about was the 10% surcharge added automatically to our final bill. Tips should be at customers discretion.
I did ask for this to be removed.

The venue was good. Nicely on the roof top of the museum. On a sunny afternoon after my half marathon run we had the lunch on a nice table by the window, as a get together with some family friends.

However, the service was quite average and they didnt have any beef on the menu and was out of braised lamb. The sunday roast lamb was a bit hard to chew. Overall, i d pass it as a mediocre experience.

Highly recommend this restaurant. Good food with fantastic service and a great location. Will definitely go back.

It’s a lovely restaurant with great views and a wonderful outdoor terrace. Food is good, not amazing but I have eaten here several times and it’s never disappointed. Obviously great in combination with a visit to the museum but it’s very restful if you’re visiting the city and want a long relaxing lunch.

Always like to eat here. Food good - we usually got for lunch. Service excellent. Not a noisy place, with no background music. Really recommended.

Atop the Ashmolean in central Oxford yet unpretentious. superb and friendly service. Descriptions of dishes could be better. Excellent wine list. Overall the welcome, reasonably good food in a central setting with excellent service from the staff make it a return to lunch venue.

Specifically - lamb was overly fatty. Accompanying vegetables amounted to little. Bland cooking. A small point but new potatoes came roasted which seems unusual. In general small portions, given price. Made more annoying by additional service charge. Disappointing as the restaurant's setting is ideal.

Central yet serene location on the roof of the Ashmolean museum. Delicious food and drink.

Lovely location on the museum roof with both indoor and outdoor seating, exceptional food, attentive but unobtrusive service, and a fresh and welcoming ambiance. Highly recommended!

Wonderful lunch on a sunny september saturday.
Food was really tasty and well presented.
Staff really attentive even though the place was really busy.
Champagne cocktail was delicious.
Overall a really lovely experience.
I will be returning for afternoon tea.

Good food as always although the starters are definitely more interesting and creative than the mains. Service was friendly but a bit inconsistent. Biggest criticism that at 12.45 they had already run out of the baby octopus starter. But generally a good experience at a reasonable price

We paid our first visit to the Ashmolean Rooftop Restaurant after seeing the Spellbound exhibition. The service was excellent! We arrived half an hour earlier than expected but were accommodated with a smile, despite the restaurant being busy. Our waiter was excellent - friendly, attentive and responsive. The food was delicious, and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. We definitely intend returning here.