I’ll admit like a bit of a geek I booked here because i was hoping to see a unicorn at the Unicorn inn or at least the staff dressed up as one (maybe with those unicorn headbands that all the kids wear these days. Which lets be honest just look like dicks, load of little dick heads running around pretending to be unicorns haha) Did we see one? Did we fuck!
Recommendation
One of the members of the family ticket free chat group recommend this to me (it’s ok your safe) so I called up yesterday and booked us in with no problem (1st worry)
We must have turned up looking like a right bunch of twats thanks to Clark, only realising once we’d arrived that he’d put his jeans on back to front! Couldn’t be arsed to get him changed so instead we made him walk backwards everywhere for our own entertainment.
First impressions
We rocked up and my first impressions were “oh shit” I’ll just say now the outside looks shit. We were booked in though so too late to turn back plus I was nursing a hangover and i needed to eat it away!
As soon as we walked in all of my worries had gone. The place is cute! It’s an oldy worldy type of pub and it was busy in the bar which was a good sign.
Went passed the bar entrance down the corridor to the restaurant. We were shown to our table in the restaurant are and its a lovely room! Really fresh, comfortable, modern, clean and cosy. Things were really starting to look up!
Service
The young lady who started off serving us was lovely. We wanted to see what they did for kids which I forgot to ask over the phone. The kids menu was just a smaller version of the adult roasts which for us is crap because our kids are annoying when it comes to food. We had to order them chips with the intention of giving them some chicken of the adult roast. (This isnt a moan about them but more us moaning about our own kids)
The place is ok for kids not great the staff member was lovely though and interacted well with the kids. They didn’t have any typical kids drink options like fruit shoots etc so we ordered them juices instead .
Garden
I had a nosy round while waiting for the food and I had a look at their garden. Now it’s definitely no kew gardens but I can imagine in the summer it’d be nice to chill out there. It’s all enclosed so the kids can’t run out into the road trying to chase down cars with their heads.
The food did take a while but I’m assuming that because we were the first people in so they had to warm up the kitchen etc. At this point people started to pile in. Normally I’d get shitty about waiting for so long but the kids weren’t being arses for once so we just chilled out and chatted away.
At this point the lady that was serving us at the beginning had been replaced by a young lad who was nice enough but he seemed to be a bit stressed with more than one table. I saw one family get totally ignored and could hear them getting more and more pissed off. I felt their pain.
Food
The food arrived (adults first, pet hate but I’m being a bit ott here) my food looked ok the beef was overcooked to my liking, there were only 3 anemic roast spuds and the veg was ok but I’m not a huge fan of cabbage. My food was good, not great and by no means shit. I think we’ve been spoilt for Roast dinners recently which is maybe why I’m not as glowing about this one. It did the job I was happy and I was satisfied which isn’t an easy job to do if I’ve been drinking the night before.
The husbeast on the other hand wasn’t impressed. To be honest his “roast chicken” was a bit of a piss take. It was a chicken breast cut in half. Maybe it’s me but that’s not the type of chicken I expect on a roast. Pretty poor show if i’m honest. He didn’t like the watery gravy but I thought it was fine and he wasn’t impressed with his veg either.
Best Yorkshire pudding
One thing we both agreed on though was the Yorkshire pudding was the best Yorkshire we’ve had yet! Unfortunately that alone isn’t enough to draw us back just yet….
I say just yet because the huge sign outside indicates the pubs under new management so maybe they’re still finding their feet. The place has huge potential its a lovely looking pub (apart from the outside) and I’d be chuffed if that was my local. I can imagine the normal food menu might be good but for now I’d say they have a bit of a job to make it a destination pub for a roast.
Unicorn inn Stats:
Distance from Bicester: 24 mins
Sat nav: Market Pl, Deddington, Banbury OX15 0SE
Wheelchair friendly: yes
Equipment upkeep: 7/10 just the exterior letting them down
Cleanliness: 9/10
Food hygiene rating: 3
Value for money: 7/10
Child friendly rating: 5/10
Conclusion
The roast itself is pretty decent value at only £12.95 it makes it one of the cheapest we’ve been to yet. Personally I’d rather spend the extra and go to either the Bull and Butchers or the Butchers arms.
Sorry guys this is only my opinion so bear that in mind. This isn’t really a bad review but more of a meh review. Like my teachers always told my parents on parents evening. Has potential but could do better.
You can find their website HERE
