Hearing a new, young management team has taken over, Katherine MacAlister revisits The Black Sheep hoping for a fresh experience

Regardless of the meal, it was too expensive. £100 for a Sunday pub lunch in Weston-on-the-Green for a family of four is extortionate, considering two had the children’s menu.

We were back at The Black Sheep, after news filtered in that it was under new management.

Boasting the kind of chequered history that would have EastEnders bosses champing at the bit, it was time for a fresh start.

In a nutshell: The Ben Jonson was bought by an American millionaire as a drinking hole for his polo buddies and renamed The Black Sheep despite strong local opposition.

On opening a few years ago, it was superb.

It didn’t last however. There was trouble at t’mill.

A revisit confirmed this – the food was terrible.

The landlord then got arrested for drink driving and was replaced with a new young team, currently in situ.

The place was packed when we arrived to try it out last Sunday; the car park overflowing, the tables full.

Dozens of people were being turned away.

Others were waiting at the bar even though there was an hour’s wait on food. Nigel Farage would have sawed off his drinking arm for this sort of trade.

“Who are all these people and where have they come from?” Mr Greedy asked as we were seated, luckily having booked.

It was a good question, but news of the fresh management had obviously travelled fast. Apart from that, you wouldn’t know the difference. Same cosy bar and dining area at the back. Same-ish menu – traditional pub grub. Same crowd, vaguely horsey, all reading the Daily Mail and looking at photos of Sam Cam in a bikini.

We sat in the window seat, rather than the large beer garden, and studied the menu which veered starter-wise from the sublime to the ridiculous – the ambitious black pudding with duck egg, toasted brioche and Merlot jus (£7) – next to the dated baked camembert with cranberry sauce, something I haven’t seen on a menu for decades.

Hoping it might have been given an overhaul, a new take on a classic, I ordered it. But no, a breaded slice of cheese with cranberry in a small silver pot and some rather brown lettuce for £6.50. Sigh.

The tempura fried squid (£7.95!) with sweet chilli sauce was marginally better, but still pretty bog standard for nearly £8.

As it was Sunday lunch we then had the roast beef. I also tried the risotto because it’s what I had last time. It was good. Creamy. Beautifully presented.

The roast wasn’t as good. Mr Greedy said for £15.50 he could have done better at home.

The meat was overcooked, the Yorkshires burnt and the potatoes hard.

But just when we were beginning to tut, the kitchens redeemed themselves with dessert. The crime brûlée was divine – warm, creamy, soft, epic although the top could have been harder.

The sticky toffee pudding (£6.50) was as deft and strong as a Canadian lumberjack and utterly delicious, while the Black Sheep cheesecake with coulis (£6.75) was pretty faultless.

Why everyone is crowding there I’m still unsure, but considering I’d chosen such an outrageously busy service to review, it was an improvement on last time.

Even so, for £100 for two adults and two children, so it should have been.

The Black Sheep,
Weston-on-the-Green,
Bicester, OX25 3RA
01869 351153 blacksheepweston.co.uk