Duke of Monmouth

Would thouroughly recommend a visit. Extremely good value food and drink. The staff are efficient and incredibly friendly. We visited Oxford for the weekend from Devon and left wishing this could be our local. You lucky people!

The campers in the corner (Unverified), 20/05/12

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The Duke of Monmouth has changed hands and is getting completely refurbished. It's going to be bright, colourful and modern. A lot of work has gone into really opening up the space inside.

The new owner will be putting on a menu of traditional pub food. (Steaks, Sunday Roasts, burgers, Childrens Meals, etc.)

There will also be Sky Sports, a Pool Table and Darts.

OPENING: FRIDAY 18TH NOVEMBER

Mark (Unverified), 05/11/11

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My family came to visit me a couple of days and I wanted to take a nice place where we could enjoy a good meal and have a great time. A friend recommended this place telling me that the food here is very good and could go to enjoy dinner with the family. The day came and we went to have dinner with delicious dishes. I enjoyed exquisite perfectly cooked meat, potatoes and vegetables delicious grilled Mediterranean style, my mother was very satisfied with onion soup and salad, cheesecake and my father loved trout and vegetables all cooked on the grill with a delicious lemon sauce and almonds, and delicious herb butter bread. We congratulated the chef and she very nicely talked with us but she was really busy. Without a doubt I am very happy to have taken my family there, the waitress very friendly and the bill was not expensive.

Dav (Unverified), 19/08/11

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We were staying in Oxford, in a B&B just up the road from this pub. We decided to have a meal here and were so glad we did! The service was fantastic. The staff could not do enough to help us. We had a baby with us and the manager held dinner up for us, as she saw me feeding our little one and trying to get her to sleep. We were sat in the garden and the barmaid brought the drinks out to us.

The food was fantastic, we had starters to share made up of cold meats, olives, artichokes, tomatoes, garlic bread etc etc etc. The main dishes were plentiful and hot. The food is really interesting as it has a Swiss twist. The pub had a couple of real ales on which was lovely. You would not know the pub was a Greene King chain - the only give away is the occasional poster for their current promotion.

After we had our food the chef came out to have a chat to us and make sure we were all happy. My dad was even offered a jumper when the sun went in! I cant praise the lady manager enough, she has got so much right with this place and goes to show that a chain pub can break away from the usual burger and pint culture.

Thea777 (DI User), 27/07/11

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The DOM looks a bit dated from the outside but do not be deceived. The pub is under Swiss management and is kept very clean. One of my fist visits I was amazed to see the staff cleaning skirting boards with a toothbrush! They sell a small selection of real ale and really make an effort for it to be kept well with regular pipe cleans and drawing off between sessions. I have had some of the best pints here to compare with most CAMRA pubs in Oxford. I am a foodie and have eaten at most of the better places in town. The Sunday lunch is very nice and good value. Perfect roast potatoes and flavoursome vegetables (not stewed like some places). The pork crackling cannot be bettered. Service can sometimes be slow due to staff multi-tasking but hey a small price to pay for good beer and food in a friendly environment.

apbg60 (DI User), 23/03/11

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We were staying locally overnight and decided to have an evening meal here. It was clean and friendly and the food was tasty - but the service was very slow. We did voice our concerns with the waitress and she said the kitchen was very busy - but we counted a maximum of 15 customers eating so I have no idea how they would cope with a full pub! Still: clean, friendly, good food.

Oxford visitor (Unverified), 24/02/11

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It's a homely, peaceful pub for good English and Swiss food, and does a great Sunday lunch. Buses stop right outside every couple of minutes, which is fine as I'm disabled. I've tried a long Swiss brunch there and read all the English newspapers (they have German ones also), and loved it. Three real ales, from Greene King, but nothing is perfect!

roybarker (DI User), 13/12/10

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It rather takes you aback at first: a familiar red-brick suburban pub with a sign outside offering ‘Swiss Cuisine’ is nothing if not unexpected, and definitely makes an intriguing addition to Oxford’s already fairly wide repertoire of international dining opportunities. The experience becomes no less surreal as you enter the pub – it’s just so normal; carpeted, a bit quiet in that ‘slightly out of the centre’ way, with friendly local staff. And yet the owner, we were told, is Swiss, and a small raised section of the main area hosts a handful of white-clothed tables, with an unusual pub menu.

We arrived with the express intention of trying everything of Swiss origin that we could lay our hands on, an objective which ultimately proved incompatible with the capacity of our stomachs, but was great fun anyway. The pub’s menu helpfully labels all the relevant dishes with a Swiss flag, which was very useful; while we would have got the hint on the rostis and fondue, the smoked trout mousse and Italian style dishes might have been overlooked among the more traditional pub beef burger, fish and chips, and curry. Being only human, in the end we ordered the trout mousse and the gruyère tart to start, followed by a cheese fondue, and a meat fondue, with a cheese and bacon rosti as a kind of insane side dish.

The trout mousse, sourced from local Bilbury Trout Farm, is wonderful, and the gruyère tart dainty and delicious. The fondues were good – but more an enjoyable sociable experience than a gastronomic triumph. We were brought two dishes, kept warm at the table with little burners below. One held a tasty but heavy cheese and white wine sauce, with unlimited crisps, bread, pickles and chips for dipping, the other a hot red wine concoction for cooking wafer-thin slivers of raw beef on a long-handled fork. Portions are more than generous. The rosti, which we’d fondly imagined might arrive in the form of a few delicate patties, like little fishcakes, was the diameter and twice the thickness of a fair-sized pizza. It was a little bland, though it would probably have been much better appreciated on an emptier stomach at that point.

The bill, with drinks, came to just over £100, but it should be noted that while there were just the four of us, what we ordered would easily have fed six. It’s true that this isn’t the most exciting food you’ll ever eat in terms of mind-blowing flavour and original concept, but it’s hearty, fun, decent quality, and something just that little bit different. It’s food for building you up after vigorous exercise or too much fresh air, a perfect place for the end of a day spent hiking round the gleaming glaciers and mountain villages of South Oxfordshire, or skiing on Boar’s Hill. Wear yourself out: run ten miles, row (or better still, swim) up from Nuneham Courtney, then, with a clear conscience, dunk your piece of bread in the pot of melted cheese, and eat the enormous rosti.

Susie Cogan (DI Staff), 23/11/10

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I have visited the Duke Of Monmouth several time by now and found it a nice place. Each time the food was enjoyable and my guests also liked it. However, service was on the slow side. But we will be back- possibly more often if they serve a Swiss beer too.

WFR (Unverified), 02/08/10

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We were quite a large party and decided to give the Swiss food a go. The food was tasteless - perhaps the chef was having a bad day? The staff were friendly and so was the owner but I didn't feel the food was worth the cash. I told the owner we would happily pay but gave her some feedback - the tables next to us frowned upon me doing this, but hey, we paid money for a certain standard of food and that was not met. Such a shame.

Review (DI User), 27/05/10

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We had visitors from abroad and thought we'd go out for a nice meal, so why not try some Swiss food at the Duke of Monmouth! However we were extremely disappointed with the food. 2 out of our 7 meals were ok. The rest were bland. The chicken was served with rice, without any sauce or veg, completely dry and tasteless. The staff were good and we could not complain about the service, but the food was not worth paying for.

Guest (Unverified), 16/05/10

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The relatively new management have made an effort to attract custom to this pub albeit with their eclectic menu and promotion of band's practice sessions rather than the gig itself. However I fear that they have become complacent and do not value their regular customers. The food portions have reduced, the food is not up to scratch and certainly not good value. My polite complaint was received with a shrug of the shoulders and an offer of coffee on the house as I had my coat on, was paying the bill and was ready to leave. I am disappointed as I wanted to support my local pub but I will make the trek elsewhere now.

ScottCat (DI User), 23/03/10

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Since the change of management in March, this pub has taken on a whole new atmosphere...and for the better. The welcome could not be friendlier, and even during their taster event back in May when the pub was run off its feet, everyone was of good cheer.

The food is very tasty without being over complicated, the portions generous and we have enjoyed seeing the menu change with the seasons. Last Thursday we warmed ourselves with a bowl of delicious soup and little rolls. Just right for a freezing evening.

Good beers too.

The pub continues to host music, and the Bluegrass and Old Time jam which used to be at the Fox and Hounds has now found a new home here.

Three cheers for Renata and staff.

Heidi (Unverified), 30/11/09

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We very much enjoyed our dinner in The Duke of Monmouth on Saturday evening. Delicious Swiss fondue and rosti (the best I've ever eaten). At the end of dinner I requested a mint tea and the waitress went outside and picked fresh mint from their herb garden. We will certainly return.

Tiggy (Unverified), 28/09/09

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We had lunch in the Duke of Monmouth today. Lovely salad. Delicious lamb, mash flavoured with parmesan and nutmeg (very Italian), and a really well-cooked ratatouille. Nice presentation. Very good service, friendly, nice decor, newspapers and extremely good value. Better than most pubs as the main course was £7.90 and would have been in the region of £10-£11 in any other gastropub.
Apparently they have a fab long brunch on Sunday. We will be back!

hobbyhorse (Unverified), 24/08/09

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We have just returned from a family meal at The Duke of Monmouth which was celebrating Swiss National Day 01/08/09. The staff and management were very freindly and provided paper and crayons to keep the kids amused. We had the special menu (it wasn't Cheese fondue!) which was lamb and polenta with a glass of wine for £5.00. The authentic Swiss food was fantastic and great vaule, and we learned that the chef had been flown in from the Italian part of Switzerland to make the polenta! The management seem to have made a huge effort to offer quality Swiss/Italian food at great prices and to offer a good ales. We would definitely recommend a visit to this pub and we are looking forward to our next meal there.

Mrs P (Unverified), 01/08/09

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This old time pub has been under new management since the start of April. The staff are really warm and friendly making it a delight to visit. The food menu is limited but very much in its early days (this week in May is their official launch week). However, the two meals I've tried to date were fantastic value and delicious, so I'm really looking forward to trying more of their Swiss Cusine, and drinking more of their guest ales.

Delighted Diner (Unverified), 03/05/09

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