Old Tom

Went here for a pint and dinner. I won’t repeat what others have said about the combo pub/​Thai menu, so straight to my evaluation:
Location: 5 (2 minute walk from Carfax)
History and Atmosphere: solid 4
Food: 3 (had Pad Thai and the individual components were cooked well, but overall it lacked flavor. Had the chicken and it was tender).
Ale: 5 (fresh Guinness on tap!!)
Bar tender: 5 (helpful and friendly)
Prices struck me as reasonable, 3.60 for a pint.

Just down the road from Christchurch, where you can see The Tom Tower. Nice to see it’s still doing well. Used this pub quite a lot with my old friend, Grif. It still has its’ magic and for me so many happy memories. Does a very good Thai menu, but tradtional can be obtained. Still has it’s little, but charming garden. Good selection of ales. Happy and friendly staff will attend to you with a smile on their face. What a nice change!
Well done, Tom and a BIG thankyou.

The Old Tom works for me. Good Thai food (chef appears to be Thai) plus real cask ale. The location is an old English pub and the experience of eating Pad Thai and Thai green curry with a hand-​pulled pint in a 200+ year old Oxford pub is bizarre indeed. But the food is spot on! Prices are ok. Lunch was served very fast.

The Old tom is… all right. In lots of places, it would be a thriller, but in Oxford, there’s stiff competition, so it gets drubbed down.
Named after the Christ Church bell, and making their money from tourists, you feel like this is a place you’d have popped in with Morse. For a pint. Except it’s dirtier.

#447 Unfortunately, I haven’t actually gotten around to trying anything from Old Tom. Why? Because we showed up around 4:15PM on a Saturday, spent about 15 minutes scouring the Thai menu, and got really excited about our choices ONLY to find out that the kitchen is closed from 4−5PM on weekends. They’re also closed for 1.5 hours at some point during the week days, but we can’t remember what the bartender said exactly because we were too busy being bummed. However, I will definitely keep Old Tom on the list because I am getting myself that Pad Kee Mau and glass of dark rum on the rocks before I leave!

Old Tom is great when there’s live music. the house band doesn’t really know what they are doing, but if there are some knowledgeable guests in the crowd it can be a lot of fun.
They don’t mind if you dance on their outdoor tables. At least no one said anything when I did it.
Bar is pretty standard. The outdoor section is great, but a little small. I hear you can get a snakebite here, but I don’t know from experience.

If you look around for a classic pub in Oxford, The Old Tom has been sitting in that spot since the 1700’s. It look like an English Pub, smells like an English Pub and has the history of a true English Pub. But walk in and you’ll find that the menu isn’t quite what you expect. You’ll find that the fish & chips are there, but not much else in terms of your hearty pub food. Instead you’ll see that the majority of the food is Thai.
And you’ll probably be puzzled…
You’ll wonder what’s going on…
You’ll feel a sensation of displacement.
But not to worry, you’re world is not topsy turvy. The chef (from what I can tell) is Thai. For Oxford standards and Pubs, I think it’s one of my favorites. There’s pad thai, green curry and an assortment of other classic Thai dishes. It’s somewhat surreal, definitely quirky and decent food. What I love is the atmosphere combined with the food. So if you think the food isn’t with the 4 stars, I give it .5 for the quirk.
It’s going to be hard for me to write up a place where I truly enjoy the food in Oxford, but here we go! Stay tuned, kids.