The Boat Inn Reviews Summary

Atmosphere & Location

Pros:

• "Really friendly staff and a lovely atmosphere with decent food promptly served."
• "This is a delightful backwater by the canal. Wonderful welcome."
• "Pretty walled beer garden."
• "In the next room (the main bar), the local Irish band was having a practice, which was just incredible!"
• "Location is excellent with short walk to the Thames."
• "Lovely traditional pub with a walled garden."
• "Next to the lovely Thrupp Canal."

Cons:

• "The pub was woefully understaffed by young people who struggled to cope with the overcrowded and overbooked Sunday."
• "Service seemed understaffed and disorganised making it hard work."
• "Absolutely abysmal service (if you can can call it that) I didn't even order in the end."
• "The Manager was extremely rude and even short changed us regarding the refund of my meal!"
• "Lovely location..poorly run bar. Dirty scruffy pub."
• "The Manager is rude and aggressive!"
• "Made to feel not welcome, before even entering the pub."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Superb food from a beautiful pub along the canal."
• "The food was excellent, piping hot and well presented."
• "Absolutely amazing food, I had the cod and chips, my friend had the scampi and chips 🤤"
• "Biggest piece of cod I've seen in years."
• "The white bait was tasty and well cooked, main courses were both of good size and tasty."
• "Food was good, service very good, ambience and warm fire a real winner."
• "Food was really yummy."

Cons:

• "The pie we ordered was OK in itself but came with frozen veg and what I’m sure was instant mash."
• "if your after very over priced Tinned veg, frozen fish and undercooked food then visit the boat inn."
• "Was expecting something more than oven chips and slices of packet ham."
• "The creamy mash was dry and claggy."
• "The scampi was very poor (encased in a thick layer of batter, which was overcooked on the outside and soggy inside)."
• "If you enjoy waiting over a hour for your food to be served, no apology when it does finally come out and then appears to be floating in luke warm milk - then this is the place to go."
• "The worst tasting pasta I've ever had."

Service & Staff

Pros:

• "Arranged a group booking for a Christmas meal. Excellent value, staff very efficient, polite and helpful especially considering the size of our party."
• "Dropped in unbooked on a sunday lunchtime. Most tables reserved but the lovely staff made a great effort to seat us."
• "Rang up tonight at short notice and Grace got us booked in no problem at all."
• "Staff very attentive, although I was standing at the entrance for a good few minutes before somebody greeted us."
• "Good food. Good service. Friendly staff and reasonably priced."
• "The staff are all efficient, happy and nothing is too much for them."
• "Staff were really friendly and chatty."

Cons:

• "Service could have been quicker as it wasn't very busy."
• "Food took in excess of 40 minutes to come out and steak was stone cold once it arrived."
• "We were so uncomfortable in the end that we left before eating, swearing never to set foot inside again."
• "Everyone said their meat was delicious, and the beef looked great, nice and pink and juicy."
• "Only thing to complain is food took more than am hour to arrive."
• "Saturday afternoon with out a manager. We placed an order and were completely forgotten about for over an hour even with reminders."
• "We went to this pub early on a Friday evening, it wasn't busy but we had to wait over an hour without notification or apology for the delay."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "You turned a pouring Sunday into a lovely afternoon with a wholesome, sumptuous Sunday Carvery."
• "Prices were very reasonable for the good quality food."
• "The portions are brilliant and the price ....... even more commendable!!"
• "Great pub that my partner and I walked to up the canal from Wolvercote (about 1 1/2 hrs). They do a smashing Sunday carvery lunch with all the trimmings."

Cons:

• "if your after very over priced Tinned veg, frozen fish and undercooked food then visit the boat inn."
• "Feeling robbed at £14 pound a head before drinks."
• "Best way to describe it is 'bland.'"
• "Food was ridiculously late and offered free lemonade just to figure out it was a sparkly water."
• "And do you know how much I was charged for this treat? £11.95!! For a small portion of plain rice, a supermarket naan and lukewarm lumpy curry! I could go to an Indian restaurant and get a real authentic curry with all the trimmings for less than that! Absolute robbery!"
• "Food was really good, it is overpriced though."