The Killingworth Castle - Cotswold Pub

Exquisite food! Huge attention to detail and taste. Compliments to the chef and lovely support staff. Highly considerate of allergies and intolerances. Ensured tasty alternatives were provided. Fabulous, delicious range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Top notch service from the excellent staff. Wonderfully calm atmosphere. Planning my next trip very soon. Thank you Killingworth Castle, you helped make a lunch with visiting friends exceptional!

On a two night stay, the staff are amazing friendly and very welcoming nothing was to much trouble. We have dined in a few Michelin stars restaurants but we have to say this was an amazing experience!! The food was some of the best we have eaten. The chef Adam and his crew should be very proud of their food and hospitality. My wife and I would give them 6Stars if it was possible. We will definitely be back. 👏👏👏

A Proper Gem – The Killingworth Castle We had dinner at The Killingworth Castle last night and I can say without hesitation it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. The atmosphere strikes the perfect balance between cosy country pub and refined dining. Warm lighting, charming staff, and a menu that clearly takes its food seriously. The standout dish? The veal. Exceptional. Cooked perfectly, tender, full of flavour, and paired with accompaniments that showed real skill in the kitchen. It’s rare to find a pub that delivers cooking of this calibre without losing its character. Service was spot on, friendly, attentive, but never intrusive. The wine list was also well considered, with some great options. If you’re in the area and looking for something special, don’t miss this place. The Killingworth Castle is everything a great British pub should be, and then some.

A bit underwhelming given the cost. Came for a Friday night meal. Had a couple very nice cocktails at the bar, the barman knew his trade, he enjoyed talking about and I enjoyed listening. He also let me sample some liqueurs which were lovely. The textures in the food were great but for the price and rosettes I would expect the flavour to pop a lot more, no woah moment really. Fresh baked bread and butter was very good. Were given a nice cheese and mushroom croquette while waiting for starters, very nice touch. Had terrine and my partner had the egg starter. Crunch of the asparagus in the terrine was on point and it felt very fresh. I'd say the pate that comes alongside the dish was better than the terrine and also a strange pairing. Didn't feel you could really blend them, just eat one then the other so there wasn't really a proper complement to the terrine in the dish other than the chutney. Not bad by any means just a bit odd I thought. My partner enjoyed her starter, I had a small bit. Nice creamy texture with some pickled crunch. Good flavour again but not boom. Had veal for main, sauce very pleasant. Did struggle a little to cut the meat with the standard knife so I reckon it was either tougher than intended or I should have been given a better knife. I asked when ordering if I should have a side to fill out the meal as I didn't see any carb in the description. I was advised that yes I should and that proved to be correct. In my opinion that shouldn't be necessary. Carb options for sides were basically minted potatoes or chips. Didn't want to have chips in a fancy place so went for the pots. I did expect more than boiled potatoes with mint but hey ho. Mint didn't really go well with the dish and looking at the menu I didn't think it'd go particularly well with any of the main courses. So perhaps the sides should be given a little more thought especially if the mains aren't big enough. My partner had the monkfish for her main which was superbly cooked. Pretty standard white sauce with it, felt like I could make it. Was nice but didn't bang. Had souffle for dessert. Lovely texture as you'd expect, subtle raspberry flavour. Decent. Sorbet was good. Can't remember what my partner had but she liked it. Food came out super quick. Too quick. I think we'd had our mains within 40 minutes of sitting down. Felt rushed and had to ask for a break before dessert so we could enjoy the atmosphere, the table next to us also did the same so I think this was not a unique problem to us. Our waiter was very short mannered, not impolite but not really pleasant either. Didn't check back on any of our meals. Not something that normally bothers me but we had to pour our own wine. Again, with the price and rosettes I would just expect a higher level of service. A different waiter took our payment, he was much nicer. Called back today to ask after the vermouth I tasted at the bar. Think I got our waiter on the phone and again he came across quite short-mannered which sort of prompted me to write this. It's obviously a nice place and the food was good if not great so it does feel a little weird to give it 3 stars. But for the price and for what I would expect from a place like this, I believe that's fair.

Loved this beautiful pub and the surrounding area! We had a great romantic weekend away in a lovely room and the breakfast and dinner was to die for! Enjoyed Blenheim Palace, Bicester Village and driving round the Cotswold villages. Can't fault the super friendly team who looked after us and provided lots of great local tips on what to do and where to go. And so nice to stay somewhere that's independent and not bland! We'll be back.

We stayed two nights at the hotel and had two dinners and two breakfasts here. I wish I could give it 5/5 but the details didn't quite justify the high prices. The room was nice but the bathroom was a bit run-down and had no surfaces to place any items. The shower was tiny and the drain was quite slow, causing water to overflow the drain pan and onto the bathroom floor. The hotel is set close to the road so there is some road noise, but this can be mitigated with the interior shutters. A very bright green safety light over the room's door could be distracting if you are a light sleeper. The pub area is beautiful, with several dining rooms and a wood fire. The food was well conceived and mostly well executed, but with strange variations in seasoning. Some carrots we ordered seemed to have no salt at all. Lamb belly arrived perfectly cooked but it was so salty we could barely get it down. That said, the desserts (I had the duck egg custard tart) were perfect. Overall, the food was very good but unfortunately at the current prices it's not worth travelling for. Service was excellent, very friendly, professional, and genuine. However, we were approached by the dining-room host after dinner and he tried to sell us his self-published books and his paintings, literally placing two of his books on our table. I didn't mind this (artists have to hustle!) but if it sounds uncomfortable to you, you may want to avoid.

We stayed here for my wife's birthday and had the most incredible food, staff were very warm and welcoming table service was excellent. We stayed in room 5 which was beautiful the bed gave me probably the most comfortable nights sleep I've ever had, it's very quiet and peaceful so no disturbances at all. Woke to glorious sunshine and a full and very tasty English breakfast. Toast and jam or marmalade, sausage, mushroom, tomato, bacon, black pudding I chose fried eggs the wife had poached and they were cooked perfectly. Fresh tea or coffee with a choice of fruit juice. Again excellent service thanks to all the staff at killing worth castle, you don't always get what you pay for but here everything was outstanding. Worth every penny.

Lovely, definitely recommend. Room was very nicely appointed with a lovely bed, Bramley toiletries and "little extras", including homemade biscuits and a little decanter of Sherry. Staff were really friendly and breakfast was absolutely superb. A really lovely "pub with rooms" in a beautiful, peaceful setting.

We stayed here on vacation in 2018 and it was magical. We will certainly be back on a future trip! The room was so cozy, and the pub was great. Dreaming of visiting again!

Great country pub. Cosy and casual, excellent seasonal menu complemented by Yubbington ales on the handpull.