Diners' Choice: Lively restaurants in Oxford/Oxfordshire

OpenTable

Updated September 05, 2024

Looking for restaurants that have the most vibrant bar scenes in Oxford/Oxfordshire? You’re in the right place. Each month, OpenTable analyzes nearly 2 million global diner reviews from the past four months. We sort the results by location and category to help you discover new favorite restaurants. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

Orwells

4.8

4.8 (1341)

£41 and over

British

Binfield Heath

About the restaurant

Located in Binfield Heath, Henley on Thames. Orwells' Kitchen is headed up by Michelin starred chef Ryan Simpson & Liam Trotman. The aim is to source the best produce available locally and beyond to prepare delicious dishes with no fuss to let the quality of the produce shine. The kitchen takes a rural approach combined with modern cooking. The restaurants' been recognised in all the major guides and have continued to hold 4AA rosettes consecutively for 8 years. We have a nice relaxing lounge area and the atmosphere is cosy and classy. The garden area has great views and is open on warm days for dining. We are also dog friendly.

Orwells offers a choice of Al a carte, Wednesday - Sunday alongside a Tasting menu.
The Lunch menu runs from Wednesday to Sunday, its £45 for 2 courses and £55 for three courses. Sunday has a roast offering which in £55 2 courses & £65 3 courses, alongside the tasting menu and A la carte

We look forward to seeing you very soon, Ryan, Liam & The Orwells Team x

Top review

Susan

Dined 2 days ago

We had an excellent experience with skilful, creative cooking and well thought out wines to choose from. Lovely staff- v friendly. Really enjoyed every aspect of our meal!

Sticks'n'Sushi - Oxford

4.8

4.8 (105)

£26 to £40

Sushi

Oxford

About the restaurant

Located in Westgate Shopping Centre, enjoy quality sushi, sticks and Japanese-inspired cocktails on our rooftop terrace with stunning views of Oxford’s historic spires. Perfect for quick lunches, leisurely dinners, celebrations and graduations. A sushi restaurant - even for those who don't like fish.

Top review

Thomas

Dined 3 days ago

Delicious. The platters were well portioned, considered, and of great variety. Cocktails were delicious, and the service staff were wonderful and knowledgeable.

Pizza Calzone Banbury

4.8

4.8 (609)

£25 and under

Italian

Banbury

About the restaurant

Pizza Calzone has been awarded By The Food Awards England 2023 for Best Pizza Restaurant of the Year & Best Italian Establishment! Multi-ward-Winning Pizza Calzon,e we offer meals of excellent quality and invite you to try our delicious food.
Whether you come for our mouth-watering Italian dishes prepared by our Chefs or for the creative cocktails, Pizza Calzone has something DELICIOUS for you!

Pizza Calzone Italian Restaurant is perfect for a quiet meal, family gatherings, events, and business meetings.

Good food. Good Drink. Good Atmosphere

Top review

OpenTable Diner

Dined 3 days ago

Always fabulous, lowering lights would assist ambience later in the evening and last night very noisy. Food always great with exceptional service

The Plough at Hanney

4.8

4.8 (373)

£25 and under

British

Wantage

About the restaurant

Set in the picturesque village of West Hanney,This beautiful thatched pub offers great british pub classics, and small plates, with a vibrant pub atmosphere. This community owned business has new tenants who have been lucky to win a fair few awards in their time.
The Plough is the ultimate country pub and offers an incredible atmosphere and dining experience. Housed in a stunningly thatched public house, customers can choose to eat in the beautiful eatery, in the cosy bar by the fire or in the beautiful sun trapped garden.
With a passion for supporting farmers, the kitchen sources food from the very best local farms, knowing where each item comes from, from farm to plate. Owain even uses the produce from his family farm in Wales! Cooking is modern British and menus change daily depending on what is fresh and seasonal - Luke is particularly passionate about his small plates menu, ensuring that th plough is something for everyone.

Top review

Nicholas

Dined 1 day ago

Fantastic food, lovely service - really lovely community pub with friendly staff and atmosphere.

Branca

4.7

4.7 (2404)

£25 and under

Italian

Oxford

About the restaurant

Welcome to Branca, our large and lively Italian brasserie in Jericho. For us food is all about quality ingredients, honest cooking, big flavours and uncomplicated dishes. In other words buy decent stuff and keep it simple.

Top review

Patrickvip

Dined 2 days ago

Branca is great, as ever. the best brasserie in oxford and oxfordshire, and one of the best in the uk, always perfect. what is less perfect is the trouble one has to go through to post a review; open table make you recieve multiple codes via text and email, having already sent you an email asking for feedback. I get that they need to verify you, but their approach is petulant. almost gave up trying to post a review. anyway, put that aside, branca is brilliant, if you like brasseries, you'll love branca

Quod Restaurant & Bar

4.5

4.5 (4993)

£26 to £40

European

Oxford

About the restaurant

Accessed from the High Street and through a glass lobby, Quod restaurant with its terrace and bar, forms the hub of the Old Bank Hotel. Formerly a banking hall it was transformed by owner Jeremy Mogford to become Oxford's largest and most successful restaurant. Stylish, contemporary design describes the space which houses an amazing collection of young British art. Sandra Blow, Craigie Aitchinson and Gary Hume adorn the walls. There is a spectacular terrace where diners can enjoy a morning coffee, the superb value two course lunch or a cocktail.

Top review

ElizabethP

Dined 2 days ago

Excellent food as ever and lovely serving staff. I have various food allergies and they always adapt dishes without a fuss. This is definitely head and shoulders above the other restaurants in Oxford. It is a spacious place and you are not on top of other diners. They have poached fruit dishes for dessert so there’s something for those prefer a fruit based treat for dessert.

Discover more

Experience

Afternoon Tea in Quod

The Ivy Oxford Brasserie

4.5

4.5 (7383)

£25 and under

Contemporary British

Oxford

About the restaurant

The Ivy Oxford Brasserie is located on the bustling High Street in the heart of Oxford. Enjoy an accessible all-encompassing menu, serving British classics from dawn until dusk, including breakfast, elevenses, weekend brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, light snacks, dinner and cocktails.

Top review

Tania

Dined 7 days ago

Had a wonderful meal with my cousin. Service was first class as usual. Food and drinks were great.

Discover more

Experience

£19.17 All-Day Set Menu

Experience

The Ivy Oxford Afternoon Tea

Experience

Breakfast Set Menu

Pho Oxford

4.5

4.5 (428)

£25 and under

Vietnamese

Oxford

About the restaurant

Located on the roof of the Westgate Shopping Centre, Pho is a healthy Vietnamese restaurant that specialise in pho noodle soup, the national dish of Vietnam. Aside from pho, you can also expect to find amazing sharing starters, healthy salads, hearty rice bowls and decadent curries. They have a range of freshly made juices and also Vietnamese beers and a large wine and cocktail list. Pho’s menu is 40% vegan and nearly entirely gluten-free too. They also have an accessible kids’ menu where children can get a meal and a drink for £5.50

Top review

OpenTable Diner

Dined on Sep 8, 2024

Lovely staff very friendly and helpful. Perfectly set table and area for me and my friends, order was taken quickly, food arrived fast but fresh, my friends first time coming here and we all will be back for sure

The Old Auctioneer

4.4

4.4 (362)

£26 to £40

Comfort Food

Banbury

About the restaurant

The Old Auctioneer is a 500 year old listed building in the centre of Banbury with wonderful character and history. It is now the home of great quality comfort food, incredible wings and much more. All dishes are homemade and cooked to order, and we have a lovely terrace for outside dining throughout the year.

We are open from 12 each day and are located on Parsons Street in the heart of Banbury centre. For any enquiries for parties of more than 8 people, please give us a ring or drop us an email and one of our team can help you out.
We look forward to seeing you soon!

Top review

Lisa

Dined on Sep 4, 2024

This is the only place to go to eat if you want chicken wings! Literally the best wings ever

Piccolino - Henley-on-Thames

3.9

3.9 (46)

£26 to £40

Italian

Henley-On-Thames

About the restaurant

A treasure in the heart of Henley-on-Thames, the newest addition to the Piccolino family brings a flavour of Italy to this historic market town. Located in a grade ii listed building, the Piccolino, henley embodies the charm and sophistication of authentic Italian dining.

Set to open on Tuesday 25th June 2024, this culinary haven promises an exclusive gastronomic experience, with a stunning river walk entrance and elegantly designed spaces including two bars, a winterised courtyard, and a unique private dining room.

The restaurant features 140 seats inside and a delightful 38 seat patio, offering a picturesque setting in the town’s vibrant center.

Top review

Megan

Dined 4 days ago

We throughly enjoyed our dining experience at Piccolino in Henley. The staff were extremely attentive and the food was delicious. I had called earlier in the day to check that our 6.15 booking would give us enough time to get to the Henley Picturehouse for a National Theatre screening at 7.30 Juan was very helpful and suggested we pre order our food to avoid any delays. It all worked perfectly. The decor is lovely, an amazing floor leads you to the restaurant area. All of the staff were excellent and I would highly recommend a visit. Top tip - join their IR rewards scheme (free) to receive special offers. A bottle of free ( very nice and well chilled ) Prosecco if you join in September. It may take 24hrs to register the offer so sign up well before you visit.

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Experience

15% off your food bill, Monday & Tuesday

Experience

Wine Wednesday - 50% Off Wine

Experience

Festive Lunch Menu

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