Where to Get a Great Steak Dinner in Oxfordshire

A good steak dinner is one of those meals that sounds simple but is surprisingly hard to get right. The meat matters, obviously, but so does the cut, the ageing, the cooking, and the setting. Oxfordshire is not short of places that put a steak on the menu, but the places that do it properly, with well-sourced beef and the kitchen skill to match, are fewer than you might expect.

Steak at The Old Crown

At The Ballroom Restaurant, our approach to steak reflects our approach to everything else: source the best ingredients we can find locally and let the kitchen do them justice. We work with trusted local suppliers and our menu changes regularly, but when a really good cut is available, it appears on the menu and it is cooked simply and well. The Ballroom holds 2 AA Rosettes and was named 2024 Ox in a Box Restaurant of the Year, so the execution is consistently strong.

For a more casual steak, The Pub at The Crown offers a relaxed setting with exposed beams and an open fire. It is the kind of room where a properly cooked steak, good chips, and a glass of red wine feel exactly right. No tablecloths, no ceremony, just good food done properly.

The Steakhouse Approach

If you want a dedicated steakhouse experience, Hawksmoor has an Oxford outpost in The Old Bank Hotel on the High Street. They specialise in beef from native breeds, dry-aged for at least 35 days, and the cooking is very reliable. It is not cheap, and the Oxford branch can feel a little corporate compared to their London restaurants, but the quality of the meat is consistent. For a special occasion steak dinner in central Oxford, it is the obvious choice.

Pub Steaks Worth the Drive

The Double Red Duke in Clanfield (15 minutes from Faringdon) does an excellent steak sourced from Oxfordshire farms, served in a handsome Elizabethan dining room. The White Hart at Fyfield (20 minutes from Faringdon) serves well-sourced beef in what may be the most architecturally impressive pub in the county. Both are considerably more relaxed than a city steakhouse, and both take their sourcing seriously.

The Nut Tree Inn at Murcott, though Michelin-starred and known more for its seasonal tasting approach, occasionally runs steak nights that are worth watching for. Check their website or social media for dates.

What to Look For

The best steak dinners in Oxfordshire tend to come from kitchens that care about sourcing generally, not just about steak specifically. A pub or restaurant that works with named local farms, changes its menu seasonally, and employs chefs who know what they are doing will almost always produce a better steak than a high-street chain with a standardised supply chain, regardless of what the chain spends on marketing.

At The Old Crown, that means you might find a 28-day aged sirloin from a farm 20 miles away, served with seasonal vegetables from the same supplier network that stocks the rest of the menu. It is not a steakhouse, but when we do steak, we do it properly.

Getting Here

The Old Crown Coaching Inn is in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, 25 minutes from Oxford on the A420. If you are making an evening of it, we have 14 en-suite rooms upstairs so you do not need to worry about the drive home. Book The Ballroom via OpenTable or call 01367 242744.