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Closed by Oxford Council, May 2009.
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Went to Oisi master last week and all in all I was not impressed. I'm no expert when it comes to sushi but it was clear that the people serving/preparing our dishes weren't either! The rice was far too sweet and a particularly bad nori was used. The sashimi was a plus point, it was pretty fresh and quite tasty despite being desperately overpriced. The drinks list was extremely limited so opted for a simple iced green tea which was served in a beer glass which was slightly disheartening as a beer would have been nice had it been available! All in all the service was fairly slow and unusual as the waiter was in jeans and a dirty old t-shirt, food mediocre and expensive, drinks list extremely limited. Not a complete waste of time as it was still an interesting meal with some good points to it but in future try somewhere else. Tim Fire, 22/04/09 Visited recently with a friend. Neither of us are sushi experts, having really only had it previously from the supermarket chiller cabinets, but we both consider ourselves daring gourmands willing to try anything in the search for something new and exciting. Overall the food was generally good. We ordered a sashimi selection and a sushi selection (combined price £35) - not cheap, but as this was a one-off tasting experience we were prepared to fork out. I had noticed a sushi preparation station at the front of the restaurant on our way in, and sure enough the female chef came out to prepare our food at this counter. Our sashimi (just raw fish, no rice) came first, served on ice and consisting of salmon, tuna, mackerel, prawns and yellowtail. The fish tasted quite fresh. The sushi (fish or veg with rice - the vinegared rice is actually the 'sushi' part) came next and was a mixed bag. There were some interesting things which I'd not come across before with my favourite being the flying fish and salmon eggs. There was also a slightly sweet battered affair with prawns and a something which the waiter identified as spicy tuna (though after tasting we were still not sure). Most of the delicate fish was un-done by overly sweet rice and my friend thought the nori (the seaweed sheets wrapped around the rice/fish) was slightly overpowering. The drinks menu was limited, my friend's iced green tea was rather bland and my coke was flat. Overall, we weren't sure whether what we had eaten was good or not. In future we may try Edamamé (Thursday is sushi night) or Yo! Sushi in town - as those seem to be the only other options for sushi in Oxford. Other than that it's a trip to London! Joe B, 17/04/09 When we went, even though we were basically the only people in the restaurant (which should have been a sign), the food took ages to prepare for some reason. For four people, the bill came out to £100 - too overpriced, in my opinion. The nigiri rice was overly sweet. So much so that I couldn't enjoy the sushi. If we ever go again, I think we will try the Chinese food instead since the Japanese food there, though nicely presented, was terrible. M, 02/10/08 We went to Oisi Master on a Friday night in February, having never visited before. It was a little ominous walking in as the place was practically deserted, with just one or two couples squirreled away in the back quietly eating. The first thing that struck us was that this is not a place that reeked of atmosphere - the decoration lacked flourish and you kind of wondered how they made a living. Our food, one of the set dishes that Oisi Master offers, arrived quite promptly - and the sushi was delicious. At over 50 pounds, without alcoholic drinks, for two people you couldn't help feeling that the food at Oisi Master is overpriced for what it is. It was pleasant, but too expensive. The food simply wasn't good enough to justify the high price. Which is a shame as it would be nice to have more Japanese dining options in Oxford. Captain Jack Harkness, 29/02/08 As the chef at Oisi Master I would fully recommend some special maki / rolls here: Jerry, sushi chef, 20/11/07 We tried Oisi Master for the first time last week and were tremendously impressed by the food and the service. I haven't had such good sushi and sashimi in the UK for a long while. The salmon and tuna sashimi were magnificent and so elegantly served; my favourite sushi was the mackerel, which glistened and positively oozed taste. I had quite a few of those.... We couldn't make up our minds quite what to order at first so the staff made helpful suggestions, offered us nice things not on the menu (like oysters and bespoke California roll), and didn't seem remotely bothered that we planned to order a few things at a time so as to gauge our hunger properly. Hot sake and a curious but very tasty soya drink brought the bill to just under £50 for 2, with service included, so it's not a place we'll eat weekly; we probably will eat there as often as we can afford, though. RV, 05/05/07 At the risk of writing an exact duplicate of the review from a year ago, I think it necessary to mention that we returned for an almost identical meal and that the extremely high standard is still being maintained. Miso soup, hot and sour soup, and king prawn tempura were all faultless, and the sushi set (from the special menu) and the temaki set were just as good as we remembered. Everything very fresh and beautifully prepared. In short, still highly recommended. 25/04/07 All my previous experience of Oisi Master has come from working in an office just round the corner, and participating in the extraordinary group indulgence which occurs when the drones decide they need a treat. On those occasions dreadful excess, mainly of prawn toast, has left us groaning and dysfunctional. So dropping in for a civilised dinner on a Tuesday evening promised to be a completely different experience. And so it was. We arrived a little after seven to find it not packed, but pleasantly busy, and were shown to a table in a welcoming fashion. Oisi boasts both a Chinese and a Japanese menu, and daily specials on the board. We decided to stick with the Japanese, although past experience of the Chinese, especially the soups, has been positive. For starters we ordered Miso Soup and Vegetable Tempura, followed by two different Sushi sets, and amused ourselves with the horoscopes on the table and a Red Bean Ice Punch until things started to arrive. The Librarian knows her miso: this one was good. Adjectives as forceful as “cracking” were used. The tempura was piping hot and worryingly generous, but I triumphed, with a little assistance. Sushi followed swiftly. First came the Temaki set: four huge cones of rice wrapped in seaweed with the featured items protruding from the top like the flake from a 99. These were faultless and polished off rapidly. Then came the Sushi set, offerings supine on rectangles of rice, arranged beautifully on a wooden board as if sailing in unison in the general direction of South Park. I should confess at this point that I’m generally a bit of a philistine. Subtleties of taste tend to pass me by, and I’m frequently more concerned with quantity than quality. So when I tell you that this sushi set was exquisite, please be aware that I do not use such words casually. The amazing thing is I’ve eaten the same item before, as a take-away, and enjoyed it without being astonished. Maybe it is a sign of the quality of the preparation that something is lost when this food travels in plastic. I can only suggest you probe this mystery for yourself. At about £50, without drinks, for two people, this is not something you’d do every night. At first there seems to be something slightly incongruous about such a total in a place where people are popping in for bags of take-away. But put simply, it’s well worth it. The food is that good. Up to the hammer indeed. Ian Threadgill, 20/06/06 Oisi Master is a very nice restaurant The sushi and the Chinese food are both very good as well... especially the spicy stuff. Anyway, Oisi Master---The taste up to the hammer!!! vasabi girl, 02/04/06 Oisi Master is a small oriental restaurant specialising in Japanese and Chinese cuisine. We went specifically to try out their sushi, as both of us are very big sushi fans, and we were not disappointed by the Oisi Master Sushi Set. This was £18.50 for about 16 pieces for 2 people and beautifully made with a variety of salmon, tuna, fresh scallop, octopus and fish roe sushi, along with some cucumber ones on the side. You could also order individual pieces from £1.30 per piece. All the sushi is hand-made by the chef, who you can see working in the front of the restaurant. This was followed by stir-fried squid Japanese-style, with some extremely delicious Japanese seafood fried rice. We also ordered sirloin steak with Japanese soy, which unfortunately arrived late (we had already finished our rice by the time the dish arrived, but in recognition of this the chef gave us a bowl of rice on the house - a nice gesture). In general however, service was good, and the dishes were nicely presented. The Chinese menu consisted of dishes you would usually see on a Chinese restaurant menu, although there were a few dishes that were new to me, such as seafood rice with XO sauce served in a bamboo steamer. The Japanese menu looked more interesting, with dishes such as Shabu Shabu (a mixture of vegetables and meat cooked in a large pan on a small gas stove placed on your table). Oisi Master doesn't serve alcohol (a drawback, in my opinion), but they do have a good choice of non-alcoholic drinks, from the traditional green tea and fruit juices to a variety of iced coffees and teas. They don't serve desserts either (but since the restaurant is very new, they may add them to their menu at a future time after gauging the demand). Generally: this is a lovely place to eat, with fresh and tasty dishes. Definitely recommended for casual dining. Yunyee Tang, 02/04/05
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