Arrived at 2:45 with party of 6 for Sunday Lunch - All ordered at same time - yet paid in 3 groups. While my wife was ordering - The table next to me asked the waitress to chase their order as they had been waiting 45 minutes (uh-oh, I thought). She came back a few minutes later, apologizing as they had just run out of the roast beef - this table were extremely unhappy understandably. This shortage was then actually communicated to the bar staff/order takers. So my wife ordered me the chicken instead. The first couple's food arrived quite quickly - in 15 minutes. However, there was no Yorkshire puddings available - so they had given them extra roast potatoes. The only veg they gave though was peas!!. The second couple with us then received their food another 12/20 minutes later. Again sans Yorkshire and with only peas. Some 20 minutes later, the waitress then came to inquire about our pre-ordered desserts. It was at this point we informed her that we were still waiting for our mains. Some 5 minutes later - guess what?? Yep. No Roast dinners left. So it took then over and hour to "notice" that they were out of roast dinners and we had to inquire before they could be bothered to let us know. We ordered salmon steaks instead. This duly came - with over cooked salmon in my case, with a jacket that was clearly not reheated properly - and the veg? Yep. Just peas.
The staff were apologetic and did offer free hot drinks and refunded the costs of our desserts. However, not once did any of the management bother to get involved in this atrocious service failure.
This systematic failure of communication and service at the most basic level is the most appalling I ever seen - and I have been in this industry for over 25 years.
All of it was preventable with good management and good management systems. Yet as this is not the first time I have experienced poor management and poor delivery of management systems, I have to conclude that Weatherspoons simply do not care.

I used to enjoy frequenting Four Candles on George Street for casual pub dinners, and the cheap English breakfast spreads back when they were 2.99 served with a drink. The staff were always friendly and accommodating, especially when once our steak orders had be to be cancelled as the grill was not functioning. I went again yesterday in the hopes of trying out their Tuesday Steak Club deal, but I'm sad to say that I will never return to Four Candles again because of an incident with one of the bartenders yesterday on 14 June 2011, around 7 pm. I ordered steak at the counter, and the member of staff who served me for some reason assumed that I could not speak English and proceeded to mockingly, in broken English, explain in a bizarre accent, "no steak" (the grill is still not working), "no more" "go back" "order new", gesturing with a crossing of her hands and pointing to the upstairs tables. Needless to say my skin and hair colour probably had a factor in her judgement and mocking of me.

I was initially shocked and thought that she was not a native speaker of English until I realised that she just thought I was another "tourist" who didn't know English. I reported the incident to the manager at the time who seemed indifferent to the affair.

I will be not visiting Four Candles again -- if not for the rude and condescending service, but also for the grill which hasn't been fixed for the past three weeks!

I go to Oxford University and my mates and I often visit this pub. The food is great and the drinks are cheap. A pitcher is roughly £7 and are great when you're out with a group of people. Every time I've been there they've been very quick to serve us and all the dishes I've tried have been good. I would recommend this place to those on holiday and those living in the Oxford area.

I have been in the four candles on many occasions.

Twice have i ordered a real ale, and twice has it been off, the staff are rude, the tables uncomfortable and glasses and crockery are left on the tables for hours.

they also seem to run out of things a lot of the time, they have a menu, but ask for anything off of the menu and there's a 50/50 chance that they possess the drink, and even if they do, it takes a long time to get served, and then once served as stated above, the staff are rude, and very slow and argumentative.

unfortunatly this was not a one-off either, i have been here many occasions, and on many times have i seen the same manner by the staff, the same messyness and the same lack of stock.

i would suggest missing this venue, although very cheap(a round for 3 people shouldn't exceed £6-7), you get what you pay for, poor quality drinks, rude staff and a messy drinking/eating area.

Awful pub.