Eyston Arms

Came here with a group of 12 or so, having called ahead to reserve. Despite being pretty busy with a wedding reception just ending, they had a private room set and ready for us. The service was attentive and personal — the servers didn’t have that glazed look that servers sometimes do when they’d rather be anywhere but there.
So it’s even better that the food was exceptional. I had a pork and chorizo burger, which as an interesting flavour and pleasingly savoury. Others were very pleased with their pasta and steaks. Would not hesitate to go back, and definitely worth stopping in for a bite if in the area.

We stopped in on a busy Saturday night after they said we could not reserve a table as they were full. However we had no difficulty ordering a selection of up market bar snacks from the restaurant menu starters, of which the Ham hock potato cake with black pudding was the excellent. The sticky toffee pudding also deserves a mention. We sat in the bar but were offered a table… as we seemed to be later diners at 20.30.
The beer (Old Hooky) was well served and we liked the general atmosphere. The staff we all found to be efficient, but they all seem to have come from the same charm school in middle England, apart from the wonderful female server with a shaved head who was most striking!
It is very much a gastro pub and the clients seemed by the range of upmarket Range Rovers, Audi and BMW’s to be the landowners and not the surfs! If you want a more traditional pub then you may be disappointed, but it did live up to the image we expected when we drove up.
Worth a particular mention were the toilets which were spotless which i think reflects the hygiene standards in the kitchen.

This place is a hidden gem off the beaten path. I have ended up here twice for dinner and have walked away both times with a group of people raving about the food. Lamb, venison, john dory, chicken, prawns, etc have all been terrific.
Country gastropub with good service. Wish it was closer to home.

I came to the Eyston Arms with a group of about 25 people for a special Friday pub lunch and couldn’t have been more impressed. I called ahead and pre-​ordered using their «light lunches» menu for everyone the day before. On the day of we showed up about 30 minutes early and were immediately welcomed and told the food would be ready right on time and that we could either take our seats or sit outside with a drink in the garden area. Sure enough, our food was ready not even a minute late, and the order was perfect. I think we waited an extra 2 or 3 minutes for a green salad, but other than that everything came out right when we expected it, and it was delicious! I recommend the lamb burger — although beware it’s a little spicy, so take that into account if you don’t like spicy food.
Everyone in the group was pleased with their selections, although depending on the dish some dishes were definitely «light lunches» (but we expected that based on the name of the menu!). If I’m ever in Wantage again I’ll definitely go back to the Eyston Arms though — great food, good ambiance, and the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful!