The Bell Hungry Horse in South Oxfordshire

My partner and I came out this way to collect something and after a lot of thought we decided we would try this pub for lunch. Now, we've had some awful experiences recently with various Hungry Horse pubs. So much so, that we actually had a voucher emailed to us as a goodwill gesture. Thankfully, this turned out to be the best decision we made this day. The place is nice, the staff are friendly and efficient, and the food was fantastic! I know these chains tend to drop people's standards, but cheap shouldn't mean poor quality and inedible. This was far from that! We both had the Southern Fried Steak Sandwich, which is essentially a chicken fried steak sandwiched in a garlic ciabatta (plenty of garlic!). Coming in @ £9.99, you might think that's expensive but it's massive! We were stuffed afterwards and my partner couldn't finish her one, so asked if it could be wrapped so we could take it with, and what do you know, they were more than happy to do so!

This is a typical example of this type of chain pub; standard pub tables and chair, reasonable range of beers, lagers, wines and spirits.The staff are welcoming, friendly and professional and happy to help with choices. The menu has good options for all. Our meal was well prepared and presented and nicely cooked and tasty.Facilities and toilets are well maintained and clean.

The burger deals they have on a Friday are pretty good. Given the size of the meals, its not bad value for money. Stuff usually very friendly. Only thing that loses the point is the things (like roast dinner wrap) being very often out of stock and the occasional long waiting times (even when quiet) - with little to no communication of the delays

Not very good, bar lady / waitress done everything on her own, they had hardly any food, everything we went to order we got told they didn't have something, took a few attempts to get something for everyone. Coffee machine hasn't been working for ages, 1 person in the kitchen yesterday, absolute shambles, I feel for the poor girl behind the bar and running back and forth giving customers their food. 😢

To be honest I do not believe it even deserves one star. The starters arrived after a 40 minute wait which if it is busy you understand, however we then found the added surprise of hair in the food. The mains arrived and to be honest it was shocking. The burger had been re heated and the stench of burning was tasted throughout. I removed the meat and just ate the bun. The steak was not steak 🤔 and the fish arrived well overdone and dry to a crisp. The salad was hotter than the food. The experience has not been pleasant although the staff are friendly and try there best. The toilets well that is another story, I have never experienced toilet paper on the floor with ingrained dust, that in itself tells you how often they are cleaned. I wish we had read the reviews before stopping.

A good visit this time. Busy sunny good friday, some queues but the staff did their best to serve everyone and wait times were not excessive. Good food. Waiter could have been more happy, but did not ruin lunchtime meal. Hungry Horses do vary in quality and this one is one of the best. Will return again soon. Very good value for what we had, due to meal deals on rear of menu. Thank you.

Me and my family went there for mine and my dad birthday, three of us had steak and two of them hsad to be sent back as we ask for middle rare but when we cut in to it, it still looked alive. So it wasn't the best meal I've had there. And for a sat they were only a couple of people working. But our dogs enjoyed the steak we couldn't eat .

Lovely large pub restaurant with plenty of seating. Large garden. Great meals & fast service. Never had a bad meal yet.

It's such a shame as they have a lovely spot and a great garden. Food is not great, service is even worse, very slow, you get ignored and not enough staff. It's so grubby In the pub and dining area, sticky tables, disgusting toilets so sadly a very poor place, needs a massive overhaul. Sadly the kitchen staff do not look very clean and tidy also. On a positive note it would be fantastic as a carvery or if a decent eatery could take over the running of it.

My wife & I have visited several times since leaving a positive review on Trip Advisor last year. Having had over six months to settle into the role, Manager Ciaran has gone backwards and become as scruffy as the restaurant he manages. A few months ago we received one instance of poor service & incorrect/cold meals, which Ciaran gave us free, when I mentioned "Trip Advisor", after asking what we wanted not to write a bad review.We visited on Sunday 11th June and had two fresh, well cooked meals, which were great. Three weeks later (Sunday 2nd July) we visited again, at roughly the same time and ordered a similar choice of food. The order was simple - one plain burger in a bun with chips, no salad for myself, and a Sirloin for my wife. Server Ellie (a pleasant & bubbly young lady) brought the food out. The burger was full of salad, I asked her to take away & bring me a new one, plain - as ordered. My wife started eating her steak, which mostly comprised fat & gristle and the chips appeared to have been reheated. This was in total contrast to the tender steak and fresh golden chips she was served three weeks earlier. My same burger was subsequently returned, with "most" of the salad scraped off. The chips were shrivelled and looked like they had been reheated. Manager Ciaran appeared and I asked him to take my food away and cancel the order, I pointed out this is the second time in a few months they have given us bad service. He became defensive, stating "this is a family pub", "we are a busy pub" and "not many customers vary their orders" being his reason for getting my order wrong again (being incapable of placing a plain burger between two halves of a bun and serving with fresh chips). When I asked him about the floor being filthy, the fly problem, the tables and menus being sticky and that when we first met him he promised the earth but has delivered none of it, he told us we were barred from his pub! Ciaran then kept repeating "I am a good manager", I advised him "you are not a good manager, your customer service and state of your dirty front of house operation shows you haven't got a clue." He processed a refund on my meal only and we left, advising him we will be complaining to Greene King. We had been fairly regular visitors to this Hungry Horse for over eight years.