The Randolph, taken over by Graduate Hotels, has had an entire, almost two year long, makeover. To celebrate Oxford’s grand hotel reopening, and the restaurant reopening as ‘The Alice’, the venue held a fantastical launch event. Bitten were given an opportunity to test out the facilities with an invitation to afternoon tea, the launch party, and overnight stay followed by breakfast the next day.

In my ten years of food writing, I cannot say I’ve been to a better launch event. We love an ‘undercover’ opportunity to check places out though, so I visited earlier to see what it’s like when they’re not expecting us 😉

Be warned – I took A LOT of photos, so be ready for a photo dump of epic proportions.

So what’s new at The Randolph?

As one staff member told me: “they’ve refurbished everything apart from the lifts”. If you’d been to The Randolph in previous years, you’d be familiar with its traditional, grand styling; it was the perfect place to take an older relative for afternoon tea, but that’s as far as I’d ventured in. Well, apart from the spa, but it was so tiny my one visit barely counted. Stuffiness has since been blown away, without losing the classical grandeur of the building. Beautiful pops of colour have been interwoven with more traditional prints, fabrics and wood panelling; bringing together classical and contemporary in a rather stunning way.

The new design offers more than a subtle nod to Oxford’s history. Alice in Wonderland details are found throughout, from the restaurant name itself to a huge stained glass panel in the private dining rooms, and details on bedside lamps. You’ll also find Oscar Wild, William Morris and – of course – Morse himself throughout the building.

The Randolph bedrooms are a melody of clashing patterns…

…attention to detail and high quality cotton bedding. Ours was beautiful, with a separate dressing area and en-suite, comfy bed, black out curtains that genuinely block out all light, and functional necessities.

Check in was a warm welcome and service throughout was five star, with good facilities, a perfectly clean room, comfortable touches and a reflection of the local area.

Would I recommend a stay over? Absolutely, I would. My stay timed well with a friend visiting from Scotland, and was ideal for a girls’ break. Perfectly positioned for shopping trips, meals and drinks in venue, and a gorgeous room to boot. It would also be great for a corporate stay or romantic city getaway.

The dining room, now named ‘The Alice’…

…is a vision of vintage pastel, with new pink booths, ice cream shades in the Alice-inspired art, and beautiful big chandeliers (a feature that appears throughout the hotel). The bar at the end has been opened up to create a larger space, with yet more grandeur from the marble bar, leather stools and towering ceiling height.

Lunch during my earlier visit was pretty exceptional; much better in fact that I had anticipated. Staff at the time were still ‘green’, but clearly being taught correct etiquette. Our meal, consisting of three lunchtime courses for £29pp, contained some beautifully cooked and presented food; with crispy on the outside oozy on the inside eggs, sublime lamb rump, garnishes that genuinely added to the dish and sauces that complimented each mouthful. I wasn’t hugely keen on my companions ‘mushroom custard’, but it’s not something I’d order out of personal preference anyway.

Would I dine here again? Again, absolutely, I would. I’d happily return with family, friends, business colleagues and clients. I might not bring my other half, but he much prefers a traditional pub! The vibe is classy, fancy but modern; much more welcoming to a broader audience.

Afternoon tea, served in ‘The Drawing Room’…

… is quintessentially English. Tea arrives, as standard, with bone china and three tiers of food; present are finger sandwiches, scones, and cakes. Additions to the mix are slices of warm black pudding sausage roll – warmly welcomed in my opinion. The setting is stately, with rich tapestries and beautiful upholstery.

The tea choice was plentiful – classic Earl Grey for me, lychee and something else fruity for my guest. A beautiful sparkling wine from Hampshire was served alongside the tea, an utter joy to discover, and one which continued to flow throughout the launch event (told you it was good)!

The food part of the tea was on point: good finger sandwiches; those lovely warm black pudding sausage roll slices; fluffy scones (fruit and plain); and delectable cakes. Wait though, that’s not enough said on the cakes; they actually were fantastic, in particular the macarons, which matched the decor wonderfully.

Afternoon tea costs £35 per person
Champagne afternoon Tea costs £45 per person

Full link to The Alice Afternoon Tea menu here.

Side note – we put the whole Devon v Cornish Cream Tea debate to the test with the scones.

For reference here, Cornwall spread the jam first, followed by the cream. Devon spread the cream first, followed by the jam. Personally I’ve always been #TeamDevon, and as you’ll see from the image below, I am 100% entirely bloody correct. Look at the state of the one with jam first! The cream is the butter in this situation, and you don’t make a jam sandwich by spreading jam first.

Anyway, back to the topic.

The evening affair turned out to be a rather fun silent disco, along with yet more drinks, and a chance to finally catch up with a bunch of brilliant Oxford peeps I hadn’t seen in ages (shout out to Rosie, Tilly and Tim).

Jump forward to the next morning, and after a very comfortable night sleep, I had a bit of a hangover. Needless to say, I didn’t manage a full English (though I’d have loved to try it). Once the ibuprofen kicked in, I enjoyed a plateful of toast and soft scrambled eggs (nice work on those, from a scrambled egg perfectionist) and a bucket load of English breakfast tea.

It really was an excellent stay. And you know full well I’m happy to tell you if somewhere is rubbish. It was not. Go check it out – for lunch, for cocktails, for afternoon tea, for stay-overs. I would, and I’ve been telling all my friends that too. Just try to avoid a hangover, so you can tell me what the full English is like!

As a rough guide, Graduate Exec double room ranges from c£180 per night to £c371 per night depending on the day of the week.

There is still a spa on-site, though we didn’t get a chance to check it out while we visited, so you can find out more here.

Bonus tip – the Morse Bar is a gorgeous wooden panelled, log fired, gentleman’s bar to sip your drinks in, but weave your way round to ‘The Snug’ for a cocktail or hot chocolate for an uber cool lounge retreat from the bustle of the city.

Let us know in the comments below if you visit The Randolph, or if you’ve already been since the reopening! We’d love to hear what you think.

We visited as guests of The Randolph, all views remain our own.