Robert W.

Popped in here for the first time the other day for a post Yelp event drink with a few fellow yelpers and loved it! Spread over 3 floors, The Fable is a huge venue but still remains a good place, even if you are in a small group. The name Fable is a bit of a give away to the fact that it has links to books. On the ground floor there is one table that has a wall of books surrounding it, and looks really good. They often have book events here with Q&A sessions with authors. It is really decorated well, and the bathroom furnishings are very good quality. I would really like to return here to try out their brunch. I will definately return.

Mei S.

Went to one of the book club events, where an author comes in on a Saturday morning, and you are provided with a drink and pastries and a Q&A with the author after their talk. An opportunity to buy and get the book signed and speak to the author afterwards makes it a nice, pleasant and relaxing event run by venue, which is really beautiful, with bookshelves and walls with names of author posted on it, and one table is surrounded with a wall of books, and lots of little slogans/messages around this very roomy, three storey open spaced venue. What is outstanding is the Ladies, not put in as an after thought. It is just beautiful and modern, with seating at a make up bar, and beautiful hand basins patterned with worldwide skyline scenes. Would definitely go back to try the brunch, lunch, dinner or drinks!

Jing Shyang Y.

The Fable is a beautifully designed trendy restaurant bar that has the ability to stage everything from small 2 persons visits to giant corporate events across it's 3 spacious floors. A lot of thought has gone into the decor. Everything has a modern polish and shine to it. The place is clean as a whistle as you'd expect. The luxurious purple blankets for seating outside don't go unnoticed either. This is a place that sets a high standard for decor. However from there the stars just fall away. Yes, the staff are really nice and pleasant, but despite there being a lot of them, the place is just so big it's hard to get the attention of staff. Plus if you ask something of a member of staff doing drinks, they'll apologise, and tell you they'll send a waitress to your table, if they remember that is. Communication is hard. And when this place has corporate events going on, loud. Noise level is decent on a normal night, when the place can pretty much be a ghost town. It's heaving at the latter part of the week though. Food itself was nothing special either. Prices are extremely reasonable, but is akin to average quality bar food, nothing close to a good gastro pub or food dedicated place. Drinks are impressively presented. Get a sharing cocktail and it's served in a cute table bath and decorated with a rubber duckie, that you're reminded was sterilised before entering the food chain. Nice touch. So in all, this place is definitely style over substance. Service is pleasant, but can be slow during busy periods. Food isn't great. Drinks aren't great (despite looking great). Decor is amazing. If you want to impress somebody with the atmosphere and they appreciate interior design. This place is perfect. If you want a slightly more comfortable place to enjoy good food and have a quiet chat. You aren't finding that here, at least till all the corporate functions have left.

Rohan T.

I really really liked this place! Yer, you know what... good *HighFive! We turned up Friday lunch time for 2 people.. packed, busy, and buzzing. The restaurant is cool, to say the least. It's airy, it's 'fun', modern, and the service was good. To start we had lollipop pop prawns (Crispy prawns on skewers) and and crispy squid (If you don't like tales or tentacles- don't order). For 5/6 quid each... it's not bad. We then ordered cocktails= great. And then mains- 1 x lamb burger... and a 'Chicken in a basket' with chilli chunky fries (apparently the Parmesan herb fries are nice too). Now chicken in a basket is NOT fried chicken in a basket.. but literally a WHOLE chicken in a like a frickin' picnic basket= OK...I can do this, cut, chop, de-bone... but seriously maybe ask before you order to double check what ever you order. So yer really nice, I mean the service was a little rushed and impersonal, but look Friday lunch time, in the city, absolutely packed..what do you expect. Great place, tasty food...75 quid for two people....hmm! but what the heck it was for my birthday. Please check out pictures :)

Clèm B.

A nice and modern place which looks better for a big meal than just a latte. The atmosphere and the decoration are great, the price is ok and the waiters are nice.

Wendy L.

The Fable is one of those restaurant you go to when you want to 'wow' someone or just want to be in a wow factor restaurant with a bunch of friends and a few round of drinks. It was like stepping into a typical New York restaurant- a big 3 floor venue where the ground floor was primarily used as the main restaurant area where the kitchen resides and when that fills up the top floor and the second floor will also be used. Each floor has it's own bar area and the second floor is available to hire out for events and parties too. I don't think one will ever have a problem making a booking here. As you can see I went a bit crazy with the photo taking as every angle had it's own amazing factor. It was nearly impossible to capture it all on camera unless you go there yourself. It's a place i would recommend for drinks only as sadly the food wasn't great. I think it goes for all chain bars where the menu is too varied and there's not enough focus. The crispy calamari wasn't crispy at all and the flavours weren't really present. Our biggest hope on the Borough market flatbread was a let down as the base was too dry and grainy and did not go well with the chorizo. It also lacked a sauce or a cheese to bring the topping and the base together as it really felt they just threw a bit of chorizo and rocket on a large piece of wheatbread. Trio of chips sounded like a great novelty order but they turned own dry and weren't fluffy at all. The flavours were also bland and I rather have the katsu sauce and the cowboy sauce separately if it didn't meant the chips being damp and barely taking in the flavour. The roman chips were more successful but the flavours only came through towards the bottom of the pot. These chips just need more time to be seasoned. Mac 'n' cheese was more successful, a nice layer of breadcrumbs, sticky yet moist and cooked to al dente. The bacon and leeks really added to the flavour of the dish. Farm reared chicken breast was a mix bag. The sauce was amazing, thick and strong in mushroom flavours, seasoned well with the nice addition of spinach taking up the sauce. I was even dipping my chips in it. However the chicken itself was too dry and mushy and that was the main deal. The lamb burger was very average but I liked the soft brioche bun. We were disappointed that you couldn't pick how rare you would like your burger as it came well done and that dried out the burger and took the sweetness of the meat away. Flavours were not apparent enough either. To make things easier we finished our meal with blackberry and apple crumble and mini pudding shots which had the three other dessert options. So basically we had all the desserts offered. The highlight for most was the white chocolate creme brûlée. It was more thicker than the usual due to the white chocolate and was really smooth and creamy. Nice to have in small bites to just let the flavours melt in your mouth. I personally preferred the knickerbocker glory. I enjoyed the different textures coming together. There was a nice crunch of the honeycomb falling into the creamy chocolate ice cream before the burst of sweetness you get from the macerated cherries. It was goood. The brownie was very average and forgettable but the biggest disappointment was the crumble. It was so bland and dry that it was begging for custard to save it. It needed something sweet and thick to hold it together as the apples and berries were bland. The ice cream was too small to do anything and once melted became too runny to hold the dish together. If I was to suggest anything about the food to the Fable Bar I would say focus in the burgers, the sides and desserts as it has the most potential there. Their drinks menu and their creativeness would be the only thing bringing me back to this place as I do love the venue. It is a place I would suggest to go at least once just to see the beauty of the place but no more as there's better options out there.

Trieu L.

A really nice decorated modern bar/ restaurant in Faringdon, and probably can accommodate for most occasions, it fairly large. The staff besides forgetting and getting our orders wrong were apologetic and helpful and gave good service. And there was a variety of interesting drinks. However with all that said, what really let down this restaurant was the food, very mediocre pub food. Myself and my party just remembering that the food was salty, and portion size was small. In particularly the steak and lobster, because the lobster was just pathetic. I would rather be served prawns. I think if they put as much effort into their food as they do their venue, this would really be a good restaurant to come back to.

Milly Y.

Spread over three floors, The Fable is a large modern restaurant with a fairytale theme. I was expecting the theme to be quite in-your-face and EVERYWHERE. But instead, the contemporary feel of the restaurant combined with the touches of fairytale sweetness creates a really lovely place to eat - and the floor to ceiling windows fill the rooms with light. After checking out the impressive-sounding dishes on the menu, I chose the Seafood Linguine - featuring prawn, squid and mussels in a creamy sauce. It was AMAZING, and definitely tasted as good as it looked. The sauce was beautiful, the pasta perfect and I loved the tastes of the different types of seafood. We were served quickly and attentively, and I really enjoyed my experience eating here.

Helen C.

The sausage with potato comes with delicious source and of course the fish and chip is nicely fried. Yum! The environment and the overall deco is nice with a large bar section in the middle, and I love their cutie and very neat restroom.

Jeff S.

Their crispy squid is a pretty nice calamari with a tasty dipping sauce that isn't spicy. This is meant to be a hip and trendy place and as a result it is a bit on the expensive side. I'd come here for drinking with friends here but I'm not sure I'd come back for another dinner. There are nicer places close by for less money.