One of the most iconic pubs in Oxford! The food is okay, the drinks are reasonably priced, but the location is elite. It has that classic Oxford pub atmosphere that makes it worth visiting, especially if you're showing someone around the city or looking for a casual drink in a historic setting. There are outdoor tables, seating inside, and a smaller section in the back. During peak hours, it can get quite packed, so it is not always the easiest place to grab a table, but that also adds to the energy of the place. Overall, I would not necessarily come here expecting the best pub food in Oxford, but for the atmosphere, location, and quintessential Oxford experience, it is absolutely worth a stop. read more

The Kings Arms - Menu - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

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It's no surprise this pub is popular considering its location, but the quality of the food, drinks, and the people-watching make it great in its own right, not just because it's smack dab in the middle of Oxford. We found ourselves coming here again and again, as it was always nearby after a tour, or perfect for killing time before the next event. (in town for a family member's graduation) There's a few outdoor tables, and many little rooms inside with all types of seating options. We were a larger group with children in tow, and kept lucking out with the long table in the first room on the left. It does get rather busy at peak hours, but if you're patient or come at off peak hours, you'll snag a seat just fine. The fish & chips were a standout from all other fish & chips I had that trip. This is an American tourist review, so take that with a grain of salt, but we liked the food and the service was always friendly and quick. read more

I loved this spot, although it's definitely a bit touristy, since it's located in the heart of Oxford. But the fish and chips were on point, there were good beer selections and the staff was really friendly and helpful. It was pretty crowded when we were there and I suspect that's the usual atmosphere, but it makes it lively and fun. read more

My daughter and her friend ate here. The brownie and french fries were delicious. They both had an Apperol Spritz during lunch (why is my daughter drinking alcohol during lunch .... ps... she is 18?). The salad was meh. read more

Busy place. Top marks for real ale. Very freindly bar staff coping well under pressure. Meals are great value and good quality. Inside the feel is one of great age and it is as English as it comes. read more

I was on a day trip from London and stopped in for lunch. A pleasant old pub in every way but one thing stood out. I like fish and chips quite a lot, but did not order any for the rest of my UK visit because I knew anything else would disappoint after these. The fish was moist, the batter wonderfully crisp, and the "triple cooked" chips even better than the best Belgian fries. A memorable lunch! read more

This is my first trip to the UK so I really l just wanted a typical dish... Fish & Chips and a pint. I was walking through Oxford Square and came across this establishment. From the outside, it just seemed to epitomize what I had imagined a traditional English restaurant. Inside, there are multiple dining areas, some with screens to watch the latest match. And they have a few bar areas where you can enjoy a pint and a meal. The first pint I had, was just okay, but then was given a different pint which I found to be amazing! And finally... I was able to get a traditional Fish & Chips and it was everything I had expected. Of course, I have had fish & chips before and at many places throughout the world that claim to be traditional but this was simply epic! The fish was a generous portion of haddock and in a delicious batter. Not too heavy or greasy. It came with a tartar sauce and some malt vinegar. The chips were thick and cooked to a golden brown on the outside and still crispy on the side. Maybe everywhere in England serves great fish & chips, but in my experienced having dined in over 90 countries, nothing compares to what I have had here. The atmosphere is fun, the people who work there are very nice and friendly. Great food and atmosphere. I'm sure I'll be back at least one more time before I leave. read more

The Kings Arms - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

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Okay, this pub really isn't as famous as some of the other pubs that I have visited in Oxford (such as the one around the corner). Still, I didn't actually think that this pub was all that bad. It still have the charm that out would expect from a typical English pub, especially one in a town (or city, technically) like Oxford. Mind you, it didn't seem to have the swarms of university students here that you would expect from a pub in the middle of a uni town. read more

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David was very accommodating for our larger party! Tom gave him a bunch of curveballs and he handled them with class!

Love this pub. I was working at the Bodleian this summer and went here every day for a pint and a meal. Food is good, typical pub fare--venison pie and mash is great. Oddly, even in the height of tourist season, it's comfortable and friendly. I took 19 students here for lunch and the service was seamless. Among my favorite pubs in the UK. Laid back, good place to have a tipple and read. read more

The Kings Arms was ok. It's a cool looking place and it is a great location to sit outside and view the Natural History Museum. There are only a couple tables out there. But there is plenty of room inside and it looked like a nice space. I didn't have any drinks. I only had a salad, so I'll admit I can't give it a full review. What I has was the Waldorf salad. It was very tasty, but it was disappointingly dainty and seemed a bit pricey for its size. So because of that I can't rate it any higher. I would however be willing to go there again. They have lots of food and beer to try. read more

The Kings Arms - View from an outside table. - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

Roaming Oxford on a Sunday, where to eat? Sundays are for roast beef, and where better than the Kings Arms, the oldest pub in Oxford! The Sunday Roast was three slices of succulent roast beef atop several potatoes, served with horseradish and greens, a carrot half and squash, topped with a nice Yorkshire pudding. My friends got the fish and chips and the plate was huge. A full meal in a nice cozy atmosphere, perfect for groups. read more

The Kings Arms - Sunday roast beef and a Peroni - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

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I want to emphasize that three stars is not bad. Not super-good, but absolutely adequate. Indeed, I'd eat there again (and probably will). It's location is good--right across the street from the Bodleian Library reading room--and its beers are also good I ordered the Steak and Ale Pie with chips (or fries as we call them in Freedom Language) and cabbage. The pie was good, although the meat could have been a bit higher in quality and the filling could have been juicier, and the cabbage lacked any flavoring. The chips likewise were adequate. By no means were they bad, but there were quite a few that were bits of crust without much delicious starch within. So all told, not bad, but not the best deal at the price. read more

The Kings Arms - Having dinner and a pint after a day consulting manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

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NOW BACK LANE TAVERN. Great tapas that made for the perfect light lunch for a family of 4. Recommend the spelt sourdough with beef butter & king prawns. read more

I went here for a pint or two on a glorious Friday afternoon. I really liked the fact that it was quiet and calm where one can read or even do some work. Until.....the American tourists arrived. I am an American, but for the life of me I do not understand why Americans (mostly women in their early 20s) have to shout instead of talk. The other person is less than two feet (less than one meter) away. Are they deaf? Are you? After completely turning a quiet environment into their own personal shouting parlor, they thankfully left. To the rest of the world, on behalf of all Americans: I am sorry. Not all of us are obnoxious and rude. No wonder we are not popular in the world. Back to the bar: limited selection of tap ales but the quality is high. I loved the DNA and the Young's Special was good too. Tried a bowl of chili and it was spicy, really nice kick. I was pleasantly surprised. I wish they had Guiness on tap, but I will return again and hope to avoid the loud and inconsiderate (clueless) Americans. read more

The Kings Arms - Bowl of chili with garlic bread . - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

At one time this had the best pub food in Oxford, but that was quite a while ago. I had the fish and chips, and while the chips were great - double-fried and very crisp - the fish was mealy and tasted more like battered mashed potato than fish. The White Horse down the street was better for that. Still, this is a large and friendly pub, with plenty of rooms with closable doors that may be reserved if you have a large party, and it's as convenient to the Bodleian and Blackwell's as any. read more

This is a large, multi-roomed warren of a pub on a prominent location at the end of Broad Street. The first recorded licence was in 1607, which stated Thomas Franklyn has licence to set up an inn with the sign of the King's Arms. I'm glad they've kept the name. It's a bit of a surprise when you find it, as the outside and inside don't match: the exterior is a fine Georgian-styled building with classical features, whereas inside it's all 1990s-styled stripped wooden floors and wooden furniture. There's a main L-shaped room at the front with the bar and separate food ordering counter, another separate room to the left, and a very nice (and more traditional) snug-like room at the back. It's a Young's pub, so real ales included on my visit Young's Bitter, Special and Waggledance, together with Bath Ales' Gem, St Austell Tribute, and the wonderful Deuchars IPA. They also serve Addlestone's Cloudy Cider (none of your Magner's rubbish). They have a reasonably wide food menu, focusing on traditional pub grub with extras like faggots, mushy peas and mash, with a large board of daily specials, with mains around the £8-£10 mark. It can get very busy in the evenings, apparently, but during the day it's not a bad place for a quick pint or a pub lunch. read more

The Kings Arms - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

Had my first fish in chips !! It was very good I felt like it was a bit oily but it's also deep fried. So what do you expect. Anyway nice and cozy. You go up and order your food and they will bring it in to your table. read more

The Kings Arms - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

This is one of two pubs I visited in Oxford but I have to say that I really enjoyed this one even more so than ones that I've frequented in London. This particular pub was not as pretentious (if that's even possible) as the ones in London. What I really liked about this place was that it had a college-town atmosphere. Most of the people at the pub were obviously students which gave it a much more down-to-earth feel. At this pub, I was able to try some good ol' English ales and even got used to the warmer temperature of beers in England. Also at this place, I tried a dish mainly because of its name, "Two Traditional Faggots". I enjoyed the dish and even hoped that someday I could be in a relationship and be described as "Two Traditional Faggots". Either way, my stay in Oxford was definitely great due in part to this establishment. I would have never gone to this place on my own but luckily, I was taken here by my friends who live in Oxford. The best part of my visit to this pub was that my group was the last group to leave and the walk home was definitely the best part of the night. read more

Sitting on the side of window in a rainy Sunday afternoon, drinking a pint of their signature beer with famous pork pie relaxed my tired legs. This place is famous and a lot of customers are coming by. Good food and lively atmosphere are enough reason to go back. Highly recommend this pub along with Turf Tavern near by. read more

The Kings Arms - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

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There are so many things both British and Japanese people have in common. The most particular thing among them will be that both love history and tradition. When I visited Oxford in Sep 2015, which was my first trip to UK, I felt as if I were in Kyoto, a city which has own long history. The Kings Arms itself has 400-year history and I felt so comfortable with myself drinking beer in such a place. I guess there are so many tourists visiting this pub, but I should respect they still keep themselves "grumpy (in good ways)" and not to be too commercialized. read more

The Kings Arms - Oh, really? - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

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Pretty decent place to get a pint and a plate of classic fish and chips at the end day.

Confusing menus ... There are 3 of them but the chicken tikka in a tiffin was fantastic Definitely a local haunt, awesome! read more

The Kings Arms - Chicken tikka masala in s tiffin ... Heaven! - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

Student-y but good. I really enjoyed my visits here. The service was great. The drinks were good, and the ambiance is perfect for a university town. read more

We ended up coming here twice during my stay in Oxford because Turf was always too crowded every time we tried going for lunch. Kings Arms has a nice layout with multiple rooms filled with primarily square 4-top tables. It's the sort of place that's great for small groups of 3-5 but not much more than that. The food available is your standard pub lunch: fish and chips, various meat pies, sandwiches, a couple salads, etc. Most is in the region of 7 or 8 quid, so it's affordable for a long sit-down lunch. If you're looking for something light, this is not your place (but I came to realize that you would be hard pressed to find light lunches in Britain...) But their chips are just the perfect texture and the chicken bacon pie was rich and wonderfully bad for you. The bar has a great selection as well and KA proved to be the sort of place one could easily spend an better part of the afternoon with a good group of friends. read more

Let's face it: The King's Arms is overpriced, underqualitied, a fairly boring Young's pub with all the Young's beer. So why the third star? It's open 'til midnight. So when everyone's squeezing out a double-round at last orders at the Turf or the White Horse or wherever, feck off to the KA and get to the bar before the rush. 'Cause everyone ends up at the KA, sooner or later. It's pretty blah, the food is meh, the service is, well, nonexistent, really, but it's there and it's reasonably cheap and, um, it's there. And open late. You could go to the Retreat, but it's expensive and full of wankers. Just stumble over here and stand outside and be shouty and then leave, nicely, when the nice men ask you to. read more

It is not so much the pub which is horrible, but the people who tend to frequent it. Bulging at the sides with tourists and horrible snobs, who have no idea how to go on at the bar. The place is really expensive, with good reason. It keeps normal folk out of the pub who would ordinarily take issue with the horrors who frequent it. Actually, just read the reviews from other people here and see the 'type' of person who thinks this place is good. My favourite so far is Autsin J.'s. "......told the man to take a photo of me pouring a beer for my online publication, but he said no. That's when I realized I forgot to call him "governor" or "landlord" ...guess my friend was right!" Perhaps you shouldn't order people about and hey, even add a 'please' and some grace to your request? Note that I don't suggest that you forgot to say 'please' and have any grace, you probably didn't. Also, other folk have pointed out that this is a place to say you have been. Say to who? They are probably bored to death of you listing things you have done, not that you have enjoyed them, you have just ticked them off the list. Well done. Horrible place. Avoid if you like pubs generally. read more

The King's Arms is a great pub. It's touristy, and gets extremely busy late at night (partly because it's open until midnight, whereas many other pubs close at 11PM), but the food is stellar, and it has a large, well-staffed bar where you can usually get a drink quite quickly. It's also very large, which means there is ample indoor seating (very important in the English climate). The pub is a chain pub, owned by Young's, which means their drinks are mostly Young's, but their food is mostly their own, which is great. They have a standard Young's menu and then a daily specials menu (which is just as big as the Young's menu itself) with everything from jacket potatoes to pies to sunday roasts. The grilled chicken breast with bacon, cheese, and chips, is great. I would say that overall, the King's Arms has some of the best pub food in Oxford, except for the (much-smaller) Bear Inn. Definitely a place to go earlier in the night or for a pub lunch - lots of rooms, and lots of character. Great atmosphere. Definitely recommended. read more

Beautiful setting. Worst service ever - took forever to get first course. No water or water glasses. Food eventually came out piecemeal. Some in party were done, before others got served. And, the food was super bland & overcooked. Something to think about as more and more restaurants give up on tipping in California. Weak uninterested waitstaff can ruin the entire experience. Following this review, never looking back even though the ducks were cool. Tried to leave No STARS, but Yelp would not allow. read more

The Kings Arms - Best part of my visit - stray ducks outside. - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

Nice selection of drinks and always nice people to chat with at the bar. Good place to spend a couple of hours at! read more

This pub is racist? The service: 1. Arrived at the pub with a reservation, but no table. Had to wait 15 minutes for a table to open up 2. Ordered a Gammon Steak, the guy taking my order flips around the menu trying to find it even though I spoke in perfect English, I pointed out what I wanted on the menu, and he proceeds to rip the menu in half and threw it away. I'm not sure what just happened, did he think the menu was dirty because I touched it? I asked my other friends if their menu was ripped, and they were not The food: mediocre. The Gammon Steak was extremely salty, but the eggs were nicely cooked. read more

I stayed at Wadham while doing a study aboard program in Oxford. I'm originally from Boston, MA, USA. The King's Arms really has no comparison to bars in the US. This place is nifty with several sitting areas for small groups (3-5 people). It's also a tourist trap- definitely put it on your list of bars to visit but make sure you don't spend you're whole night there.. it can be pretty pricey especially if you're comparing it to college bars. The place has a comfortable atmosphere and if you make a habit of going you'll definitely find some locals that can't stay away. I personally am a huge fan. It's an Oxford classic, it's quaint and it has more than it's fair share of history surrounding it. Be aware of your timing because this place can get pretty packed. If you don't like crowds and cramped places The KA isn't for you. read more

Cool atmosphere, tasty food/drinks, and right next to Hertford College. What more could you ask for?

The King's Arms might just be my favorite Pub in the whole of Oxford. I went there a couple weeks ago and told the man that I write reviews for an online publication and that I wanted to know all about the history of the King's Arm and what the pictures on the walls were of. My friend told me you have to be demanding with that sort of person and call them "governor" or "landlord" (or "buddy"?) if you want them to do something for you. I found out some of the following things about this old but vivacious watering hole: The King's Arms has the highest IQ per square foot of any bar in the world. In the 1960's some professors had classes in a room at the back. It used to be for boys and men only--women couldn't come in. But since the 1970's it has been alright for anyone to go in, male or not. I looked at the photos too. A lot of them are in color, but even more of them are black and white, which is partly how you know it's a very old Pub. Even though women are allowed to go to that pub now, most of the photos are of men and they're usually wearing jackets or wearing hats or both which is a style I think we should bring back. One of the photos of a woman is queen Elizabeth and her son pouring a beer from the tap. I told the man to take a photo of me pouring a beer for my online publication, but he said no. That's when I realized I forgot to call him "governor" or "landlord" ...guess my friend was right! read more

We had a terrific meal and a pint here, then came back for pints again later. (Museum feet will do that to a person!) The pork scratchings were delicious, and the food reasonably priced for location. Decent beer selection, good location, excellent people-watching. read more

Pub food, but excellent at that. Prices were reasonable. The Steak and Ale pie was by far the best, but the Fish and Chips was good also. It was the only place in all of England where I got a pitcher of water that had more than one ice cube in it. I enjoyed every crunchy one that was in there. We arrived there in time for a late lunch. Plenty of seating, the place was clean. Service friendly. Food excellent. Toilets clean. read more

This pub is great, lots of dark wood and different sections to relax upon/within. Some of the seating is former church pews. (Where better to sit and talk a load of b*llox?). The beer I had was a Gem, quite literally. From Bath Ales (their logo is a hare apparently but looks suspiciously like The Black Rabbit of Inle to me) with a caramel flavor that made the beer very moreish. I'm not a Pork Pie man meself but those that were, were complimentary of them. One of the nicest young's pubs I have been to. read more

My favourite Pub in Oxford. used the side entrance . Unique little bar with much going for it.. nice atmosphere. Well worth a vist and you will keep going back. read more

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The gamiest game pie in Oxford, a former alumna of Keble College told me before I set off on my Oxford adventures just one hour out of the city. I stumbled across this ubiquitous, bustling pub and had one of the best pies of my wee existence (note am traditionally not a lover of pies). This pub is also on 'An Ale Of Two Cities' drinking circuit, which represents the Oxford and Cambridge fiercely competitive boat race crawl. Perfect for large-sized pies sub ten bananas, and excellent for student totty spotting too! Plus they serve Young's Bitter, genius. read more

The Kings Arms - Pubs Near Me - Oxford, OXF

The Kings Arms is an OLD pub. Had a meal and a couple of pints there the other night. They serve food til 9:30 which is a plus in my book. Suitable selection of beers, and they also offer mixed drinks. The atmosphere is dark and leathery as you'd expect a pub to be. Overall pretty clean. There are various little rooms with comfortable couches to lounge on while chatting with friends. One note-- it seems to be very popular with foreigners. I came across a large group of noisy Californian girls who were trashed and seemed to have no clue how loud they were talking about their experiences with E (xtacy). I was a little bit embarrassed for them. read more