Modern British cuisine and own-brewed ales in a 1500s inn with period features and eclectic decor.
The Bull on Bell St in San Carlos
Description
The Bull is probably one of the top pubs in Henley. It has it all, great food, amazing location, great vibe and good music. Celebrated my 30th here and we had an absolute blast!
MoreI went to the bull pub in Henley on Thames. I had an amazing time and had a delicious. Margarita pizza. Isabel was truly amazing to us and very helpful. She really got as what we needed and the food was amazing. Thank you so much for letting me stay and eating at the bull. I can’t stress enough how much Isabel Benster was a help to us. Thank you so much I really recommend the bull it is amazing. Have a great time.
MoreTerrible experience, made a booking online, on arrival had to go find a member of staff to inform them we arrived, seated at our table and would expect a member of staff to inform us of anything on menu not available, clearly poorly trained or just couldn’t care, waitress came up a few minutes later I asked if everything was available to order told no roasts but everything else, requested a few more minutes to choose something, waived down another waitress as we had chosen - low and behold asked for the risotto and was told sorry we don’t have that either… why on earth were we not told Awhen we were first sat down, Bby the first waitress who came to take our order - we ended up walking out, why would you stay after that experience. P.S it was only 5pm on a Sunday not 10pm.Staff need to be better trained/informed as part of minimum service levels.
MoreThe Bull is a lovely place to eat, chill and have a drink. Beautiful renovated beer garden with plenty of space. Akeem was very accommodating as front of house. Would highly recommended
MoreI booked a stag party for 10 people through the trouble of organising 10 people to come together Akeem was fantastic over the phone to handle all of our requests and his manner only improved upon coming to the venue. He joined in our merriment and made our evening fun!
MoreMy friend and I decided to do the Henley ale trail. This was our 1st stop. I have to say, we were very well received and looked after. So much so, I didnt want to leave. We were served by Jen, who gave us the best example of British pub hospitality. You guys will love this place. The beer was great and the food looked amazing.
MoreReally a very nice meal, with Brakspear as good as ever.The tuna was great, cod and chips a delight. The espresso martini was a joy to tasteAll served excellently by Lilly.
MoreWas there last Saturday for a few drinks and absolutely loved it!!! The manager Akeem was so attentive and the French blond girl (Jen?made an amazing cocktail that wasn’t even on the menu 💛 I’ll definitely be back!!
MoreVisited the Bull today and enjoyed a lovely Sunday roast. Our waitress Skye was very helpful and welcoming, she had some great recommendations. We will definitely be back for to enjoy their new menu!!
MoreHad a very lovely lunch at the bull, the manager Akeem was very attentive and welcoming. Service was super quick. Izzy was amazing and smiley! Liv was also another amazing waitress Overall amazing experience topped off with incredible food. Would highly recommend and can’t wait to be back soon.
MoreThe food was good. The service massively lets this place down. I went with 8 friends for a birthday dinner. The way youre greeted (even though our friends were there, you kept at the door by security), the time to order a drink at the bar was painful, even though we had pre-ordered food, it was chaos. Finally after spending several hundred pounds (and behaving - were in our mid to late fifties!security came along telling us to leave (rather than a friendly ask from the staff whod been serving us). Poor
MoreNice place for a drink and good location. Since the refurbishment though, the food and service is now awful. First time eating there since the refurbishment, we waited over 45 minutes for our food after chasing it and it came out luke warm.Decided to try it again and I was charged £15 for two thin over grilled patties, a soggy piece of lettuce and tomato, in a soft bun. The table service was again very bad and the bar area was filled with smoke because of where the grill was setup. Shame but a good meeting place for a drink.
MoreHad a lovely lunch here, we were especially happy with the wonderful service from our waitress Jodie, who was both friendly and efficient! Great food although not all our choices were available, lovely decor and a great vibe. We’ll be back!
MoreWhat a wonderful pub! Definitely the best spot for eating and drinking in Henley. It’s beautifully (and newlyredone inside and outside, the food is absolutely superb, and the service is extremely friendly and quick! What more could you want? Dog friendly too :-Special thanks go to to my waitress Isobel, and the manager Akeem who were both very kind, very smiley, and very helpful. All round great experience, I will definitely be back!
MoreNice experience when dining... terrible booking system. Tried to book via website & waited 48 hrs with no confirmation. It would be so much better than get an instant booking like all the other restaurants. I had to ring twice (no answer 1st timeonly to be told they are full. If only they had let me know without waitinf 2days!.
MoreBeautiful pub with loads of seating. Had a couple of meals here this week which were lovely. But credit to your bar staff who are brilliant, watching them fix the table orders with multiple cocktails was great fun. They are a credit to you.
MoreLovely food, especially the desserts. It did take a while between courses but it is a very large restaurant.
MoreEnjoyed lunch here. The ambience of extended courtyard is amazing. Staff served us well. The pub food is good. Worth a visit. Very clean kept too.
MoreService was quite slow, food took a while and was very staggered. The people behind us had the same issue. After the slow service, the burger was no better than average at most and for £16:50 (cheese added for a pound as not included with the burgerit was far from worthy of the price; the cheese added to the burger was minimal. I’ve had burgers for less or equal price that have been worth the money and a lot better. After eating, some plates were cleared some were left with us at the table. After being offered desert menus, 60 seconds later another waiter came over asking for us to order, give us a chance!!. Dessert took an awful long time for £5 of vanilla ice cream. The place itself is lovely with plenty of plants giving it a nice look, the food quality and service just let it down.
MoreReally nice food, welcoming and friendly staff. Very happy to have accidentally discovered The Bull on Bell Street. Oh and had a really nice Appletons Rum too
MoreSky, Akeem and Charlene were wonderful, always had a smile on their face which was nice ti see and we had great service! It has a lovely At atmosphere and I would definitely come again. The food was delicious
MoreReally slow service. There were 3 of us on a Saturday, we arrived at 2:30pm, the service was so slow it took is 3 hours to order a pizza and pay! Appreciate food takes time but getting the bill took over an hour with 6 staff in the courtyard and only two other tables there. Very disappointed with service as a whole, and we had to ask multiple times to pay.
More2015: Not sure what has happened to this place, everyone in here (Sunday 27 Novis complaining about the food. After getting ours I can kind of see why. The two kids lunches from the Kids Menu were tiny, 2 minuscule chicken goujons, a few chips and peas. Our roast sharing platter was decent but veg was undercooked and stone cold.. will not be coming again.2022: Went back after hearing about the refurb. 4 for late afternoon lunch in the new garden. Waitress was great and food arrived quickly and was really nice! However the drinks took forever! Had to cancel the second order as it took so long. It wasn’t even busy so no idea what was going on in the bar. Took the shine off a nice afternoon and venue. Still 3 stars!Aug 2022: Went with friends (our recommendationas assumed the issues previously were teething problems after the re-opening. Obviously not! Waited 35 minutes to get a drink! Ordered another round shortly after which never came, complained and waited just shrugged and said “well do you want a drink then or not?” Again the food is decent, the venue is amazing but the service is so shocking it’s an embarrassment. So if you are going; go to the bar and order your drinks yourself!!! Now knocked down to 2 stars
MoreFantastic find. Lovely old pub, popped in early Friday evening and so pleased they could seat us. We sat in the courtyard which was modern and recently extended/ revamped. The interior of the pub also looked, clean, smart and modern.The menu was refreshing to see and we had sharing board for two which was delicious but huge! Our main was also great and good value. Great atmosphere and great service, a very pleasant evening
MoreHad high expectations for Sunday lunch at The Bull having reserved a table for seven online, but the whole experience from start to finish was absolutely atrocious. The table had only been laid for six people when we arrived - an ominous sign of how shoddy the service would be. It took 20 minutes for our drinks order to come and we ended up waiting an HOUR for our food. We twice asked where it was, and one member of staff said we should have expected an hour delay, which we werent told about at the time of ordering. We tentatively ordered a few more drinks but again they took ages to come. When seven Sunday roasts finally emerged they were cold, the Yorkshire puddings (could you even call them that?!were eggy, flat and looked more like undercooked pancakes. The meat (beef and lamb in this casewas chewy and tough and the roast potatoes rock hard. It beggars belief how they could charge £19 for a roast dinner of such poor quality. We ended up not paying for the food at all because it was that terrible. Despite our obvious disappointment there was no offer of a discount on the drinks bill from the manager. While waiters were apologetic and not to blame, it was clear the place was severely understaffed. Definitely wont be going here again.
MoreThe food and atmosphere are great. Several vegan options cooked in proficient way.Didn’t gave 5 start because the service was very very slow. Much more than acceptable.
MoreReally enjoyable experience. A good selection of food and drinks. A lovely environment and ambiance! The food and drink was very nice! Competitively priced. I would certainly recommend a visit.
MoreWaited over three hours for our food, I understand that it was a Saturday and the weather was nice, but we weren’t kept informed about the whereabouts of our food, we had to keep getting up and finding the server to get any updates. We had only planned on being there for and hour and a half tops, but we were there from 7pm til 11pm and it was getting rowdy.Our server was a young man who got us money off, but wouldn’t recommend going there for a weekend meal!
MoreThis is a lovely bar and restaurant. The food and service was excellent.The changes to their beer garden since I last visited before lockdown are nothing short of impressive. A fantastic place to enjoy a Gin & Tonic and a nice meal.I would highly recommend The Bull on Bell Street. 👍🏻
MoreWaited over half an hour for a much anticipated Sunday roast which turned out to be very disappointing.There were only two tiny roast potatoes and the gravy was so salty it overpowered the chicken.Would not expect such poor standard of food from even a substandard gastro pub
Morecame in and sat down, beautiful decor. my boyfriend got the drinks, and was told he couldn’t be served as the manager thought he was with a group of boys who were being kicked out. however, once he showed he wasn’t, the manager came out and apologised, explaining the situation and the issue with some troublemakers. she gave us free drinks and apologised! really impressed, and pleased that she accepted her wrong and made it right. really pleased. lovely place :)
MoreReally super refurbishment. I can see its been designed, not just furniture moving, and a lick of paint. Good menu, and great service.Congratulations, and I sincerely wish them future success
MoreIt has a great atmosphere. The location looks really good after the recent refurbishment. Food and drinks price tag reflect on the location, som expect to spend a bit more than normal... And also have bigger quality than your local Wetherspoon.
MoreUpdate: Unsure whats happened, but revisiting in July 22 is a different experience. Food and drinks are still delicious but service is incredibly slow. 40 minute wait on a drinks order.Good experience overall. Ordering was smooth and efficient using the app, food and drink waiting times were generally snappy. Staff friendly and polite. Atmosphere was great.Had the double rib burger which was delicious. Great quality meat and cooked perfectly - Pink in the centre and not charred to oblivion.Prices on the steep side at ~£5 a pint and ~£10 for a cocktail. It is a Brakspear afterall.
MoreWe went here with a party of around 30. The private room caters for 25 so we had the conservatory area instead. However given the hot weather we requested another area and were relocated. The meals were all roasts for our party and were very good. The beef was a little stringy in parts but nicely cooked, I would go back again.
MoreWe have been here several times for a drink and it has always been great, thought we would go for a drink and food tonight (Tuesday 19.30we asked if we could sit anywhere outside, and we were told that we could to drink but they were not taking walkins for food. The place was empty there must have been no more than 6 tables with people eating, less than a quarter of the place outside, (and no one inside). We asked why we couldnt eat, the young girl replied by saying they were full, when we questioned this she said they can only cook for the amount of people they have in currently.Well we will not be going here again, very disappointed!!!!!!!!!! Wonder if the owners know people are being turned away when the place is empty.
MorePub itself is absolutely lovely - the building, layout, bathrooms, outside area - so nice and this pub could be AMAZING! Our experience was so so - food was okay (roast was average, pizza decent). Service (and this is where I am scoring it downwas awful. Drinks ordering took far too long and then 20 mins to arrive (my wife had to go collect them). Food was chaotic - waiting having to walk around asking if you have ordered xyz - it was a chaotic scence to watch and a little distracting watching staff tying to figure out which tables order they had. For some reason front of house decided to be rude to a table that had asked for an extra seat to be added to their table - I do not know what had happened previously but from what I saw, it seemed to be a polite request and staff were quite rude. The upshot for everyone else was to witness an ongoing argument between staff and customers - again not a great environment. In short, lovely pub, okay food, terrible service.
MoreWent for lunch with friends for Henley Regatta and had a fabulous table in the garden. It started to rain and the roof closed! So we asked if we could move 5 paces to some very comfortable sofas for coffee and cocktails. Left 5 hours later, after several more bottles and drinks and a thoroughly good time. Didnt see any of the Regatta!
MoreThe place itself looks fantastic ie surrounding but dont be fooled.Me and my wife waited more than 50 minutes for are food. Plenty of staff but no one told us they had issues in the kitchen.Plus if you choose to sit in the conservatory like we did the service you recieve plays second fiddle to the diners in the pre booked outside area.Service/communication needs work.
Moreomg this place is huge! Great food, cocktails, ambiance
Good decor and great ambiance, service was decent but the food was decent Sourdough pizza was slightly doughy but otherwise portion sizes and food quality was good!
MoreGreat atmosphere and stylish decor. Food pretty good albeit run out of mint sauce for lamb roast and served apple sauce for one our party eating beef. Roast Potatoes bit hard but all in all good roast. Will return in the hope of mint sauce available. Happy with visit.
MoreSpacious bar/restaurant located in the center of Henley, ideal for summer cocktails/dinners/events. The bar is indoor, whereas the spacious restaurant is in the backyard. Food ranges from typical British to pizza and pasta. Good service, recommended
MoreWe went for supper with our family at 7pm. The refurb is beautiful and we sat outside which was lovely. I would have given 5 stars but despite our waitress being lovely the service was awful. Not her fault at all, it seemed that there were not enough staff at all so they could not help everything being so late. This poor waitress had been working since 8:30 am! Maybe management could sort that out and then it would 5 stars!
MoreWouldn’t recommend if you’re younger than middle age. Me and my friend both 20 were denied entry by a third part bouncer for being under 21 despite having a group of friends who are 18 who were already in there. The venue was dead as usual, staff then allowed us in but were asked to leave in a hostile manner by the same bouncer despite being granted entry by the pubs staff. A Regular with my family but will not be returning due to ridiculous policies. Lost the friendly pub charm it had before its overdone refurb.
MoreI appreciate when a pub/restaurant visibly puts time, money and effort into refreshing its appearance and menu. Shame they couldnt put the same effort into the training of their staff. Never before have I had to tell 5 separate members of staff that theyve got the wrong table, or be asked when Im midway through my second course if Ive got a tab. I also had to ask for a spoon to go with my dessert, and had to explain to a waitress what I meant by beer on tap.As for the food it was a little hit and miss. We had to send the meaty calzone back as it contained no meat. When it came out again, it did have meat, but the tomato sauce had no flavour and tasted like plain passata. My coffee was also delivered cold, but then again I had waited 20 minutes for it, and by that point I couldnt be bothered to complain again. The desert, once I got my spoon, was very tasty.Sadly, not enough to make up for the comical service. We shant be coming again
MoreThe food was lovely and good value. It was just a shame about the service; 10 mins to get menus but missing drinks menu, asked for drinks menu for waitress return without a few minutes later, ordered food but she was about to put the wrong order food through the system and ordered it to the wrong table number. Also whilst ordering got very very close to us and felt a bit strange after 2 years of COVID to not respect peoples personal space.
MoreGorgeous interiors and the garden is beautiful. Menu was a little uninspiring, but the food we had (pizzawas nice enough. Not the cheapest, but its Henley so to be expected. Lovely for a Sunday afternoon chill
MoreReally nice place , very tasty food . I had the light bite steak and chips and the wife had chicken milanese both were excellent
MoreGreat pub, very rustic look and lovely selection of roasts (both meat and vegetarian). Dessert was very tasty (though I wouldnt say the crumble portion was to be shared). Staff were nice and service was quick.The only two issues were parking (staff parking was empty, but it cant be used by clientsand the app- really not convenient having to download an app to order food. Otherwise it was a great Sunday meal.
MoreWant to order over the phone?
Call +44 1491 576554