The House

This is an excellent upscale bar in Oxford, one of the best around. The drinks are great and not too pricey during their happy hour. The ambiance and lighting make it a nice place to be.
This would be a five-​star review without question, but the staff were once rude to me. It wasn’t such a big deal, but afterwards it made it hard to look at the place as the «go-​to» spot my friends and I once had.

A very sexy and refreshingly good cocktail bar — finally found by my husband and me — yanks from Seattle who’ve relocated here for the next 3 yrs. We’ve been looking for a good cocktail bar and Raoul’s isn’t it. I don’t need a tropical fruit basket and umbrella w/​every drink. I don’t want flourish. I want a good cocktail.
The House is down a teeny tiny alley we found from the back, walking down Bear Lane. We sat at the bar, which you can’t do in many places in Oxford I’ve noticed. I rather prefer sitting at the bar in any given establishment. You get more attentive service usually and can ask questions and/​or strike up a conversation w/​other customers or the bartender. In this case, as they’d just opened for the night, my husband and I chatted quite a lot w/​the 2 male bartenders who were professional and kind to humor us. Coming from Seattle where the prohibition era cocktail and quality ingredients have been king for a while, we’re maybe a bit snobby about our drinks. I’m a fan of negronis and a good dark and stormy and my husband likes manhattans and a good whisky. Unfortunately they’d run out of Bulleit pouring him less than a double. He took it but then there was a fruit fly in it. Classy, my man, he picked it out and still drank it. Why waste good Bulleit? I had the Thyme & Lemon, a lovely concoction w/​egg whites. I do love a good egg white drink. Not too sweet, really lovely. He had a manhattan next and I had a negroni. Unfortunately, because he asked for it ‘dry-​ish’ they wouldn’t put a cherry in it, which is what they do in the states. They also don’t ask you if you want it dry or sweet, which they do here. Apparently here a cherry is only for sweet manhattans so they put a lemon peel in it. And for mine, I’m used to a peel of orange and they put in a whole wedge. I’m being picky, of course, but w/​a manhattan, the garnish can change the flavor. Just interesting the differences we’ve encountered.
I’m not sure if the lights and ivy were only from the Christmas holiday, but they added a really pretty glow to the main bar area. It was just really gorgeous in there and I could see stopping by a lot here as they have very generous happy hours daily.
They also have a games room upstairs for events and I’ve already told my husband I want to have my birthday there.
All in all, a lovely place I can see us frequenting often.

This place is fantastic. The cocktails are pretty good– the barstaff know what they’re doing. The price is also unbeatably cheap.
I love the dim lighting and comfy couches/​chairs. There’s a pool table upstairs and a romantic little widow nook.
Why four stars you ask? So. Many. Stains. on the chairs/​couches so it kind of creeped me out. The cocktails are also a bit more on the sweet side than what a solid, balanced cocktail should be.
This place is great for groups. Upstairs can be closed off for private functions and a respectable cost.
Also: UNI STUDENTS PAY ATTENTION: flash your student ID and get Happy Hour rates for much of the week (excluding Friday/​Saturday).

This award winning cocktail bar, which has been featured in a Vogue fashion shoot is most definitely my favorite place to sip and unwind. Apparently it won a place in Elle’s Top 25 Best Bars in 2010, and I can vouch for it being much deserved. Nothing compares to the delicious options on their full menu (sorry Duke of Cambridge). The location is very central but a little bit hidden away in a back alley off High Street (down Blue Boar Street).
The feel of it is not your typical bar or lounge. If you ignore the often candle lit ambiance, it is exactly like (in line with the title) walking into an up-​scale New York apartment, with couches and comfortable chairs and a beige color scheme. The neutral appearance is a nice change from the glossy décor and glitzy lights of many other ‘chic’ cocktail bars. Its causal pillows and unimposing circular ceiling lamps are refreshingly simple. The price is right, especially for happy hour, though don’t be surprised to see how crowded it can get. House is intimate at best and a little cramped at worst, with the tables being slightly too small to match the meager square footage of the ground floor. However, the establishment rises up with a private room/​game room upstairs and a terrace just outside with large plastic sofas. Lots of people opt to have birthday or other celebrations here and I think it is just the right place to do it! It is the perfect place to entertain out of town guests or have a cocktail before dinner out with friends.
The good news was that it was about two minutes from my college. Though that was kind of a mixed blessing! My personal favorites are the sours which include the ‘Lemon and Thyme’ and the ‘Almond and Apricot’ which are beyond fantastic, neither one being too sweet. The only cocktail I tried here and didn’t like was recently taken off the menu (how very attentive you are to me, House). Besides the ‘sours’ above, my recommendations include the Espresso Martini (serviced in a small coffee cup), White Russian, Raspberry Collins, and Mai Tai. Further, the Kir Royale is delicious for the fans of sparking.