The Pink Giraffe

Ok strolled down the Cowley Rd Thursday 17th November 2011 we have two targets Red Star ... full! again. Mario's second target full! Staff stressed and full! So down..... deep....down to St Clement's .....

The Pink Giraffe

[dont ask!] but yes it's Chinese/and a bit Thai.....

Through the door and it's dingy dark but almost pub ish........ but a Restaurant. The staff are starchy to start! The table is laid before us ..... menus placed Linen table cloths! Linen napkins! This is old school!

...... I like it.... I smell the air.... hear the wok being bashed mmmmmm food..... good food ....wine Menu simple and inexpensive.... coke for the big kids 2. The order - God it's expansive and full nooooo way but the order is given and 4 hungry diners enjoy a simple well cooked well presented Menu. From rice to table was ...... spot on! Puddings are a bit out of the box but otherwise wow! Fresh taste nice to eat and from the Wok. As for the starchy staff ...warmed and so nice and speak great English and humour!

Will we go again? Only if we can get in! Guys & girls, great meal, good service, keep it up.


Message to all Restaurants! 

If I've been in your Restaurant in the past year, it's good. Older than a year and still showing? Then I have not been there and the restaurant could be not so good. xxx

I check old reviews and if Restaurants are using my review since my last visit..... and it's old.... I might be back to review! I will be back to expect a good service, great food and good toilets.... so important as a diner. In fact.... I am going to add a prize to toilet of the year in Oxford and Poo! toilets of the year! You have been warned, all will be tested. It might not be me who comes as some of you know me!

Chef Henri (Unverified), 18/11/11

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We visiting the Pink Giraffe on a busy Saturday night and the service was just awful! Despite booking a table earlier in the week we had to wait a good twenty minutes to be seated and another half an hour to receive our drinks and actually order something from the menu with absolutely no apology from any of the staff.

The food when it eventually arrived was pretty decent but once again perhaps because the restaurant was short staffed there were long delays between receiving the different courses and I left feeling far from impressed.

On a side note make sure you wrap up warm if you visit this restaurant because they obviously don't believe putting the heating on!!

beachbum (Unverified), 06/11/11

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Was in Oxford for a brief catch up with 8 other school pals and decided to give this place a whirl a few weeks ago. Absolutely amazed with the food and service of this place. It was a very cosy and nice setting. Most impressive that the manageress had a brilliant sense of humour, as we were on the verge of thinking she'd tell us to quiet down or kick us out. Ribs and wings were to die for, and I highly recommend for the chicken satay sticks! All in general, thumbs up and nothing to complain, although maybe having sweet and sour pork would be a plus!

DAN L (Unverified), 19/04/10

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Loved this place and it's great that they do a wide range of veggie food BUT you need to tell them beforehand that the veggie food is for an actual vegetarian because otherwise they may bring the vegetarian food out on the plate with meat products. It's not vegetarian if it's got a BBQ rib cuddled up with it is it?

Winkle. (Unverified), 31/03/10

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I am a meat eater but my wife is a strict veggie. The Giraffe offers us both the chance to have a decent meal out. It's fair to say the "eat as much as you like" menu needs a lawyer to work out, but the staff are friendly, and do help you work things out!
I would recommend this restaurant in particular for parties, especially for those with a mixture of meat and non meat eaters.

15/01/10

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They charge you 50p for using a debit card to pay!!!

05/07/09

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I visited the Pink Giraffe this weekend as we were staying the night in Oxford – it wasn’t what I’m used to but I found the staff very helpful when we asked if we could change tables. Then it was downhill from there, when a menu states ‘All You Can Eat’ I don’t expect there to be small print on the back telling you what you can and cannot eat – not amused. The place was not packed so I don’t expect to wait 20 minutes for a starter (that’s 2, I might add, as per the small print). When my partner had the last tempura prawn it wasn’t completely covered in batter so we found the vein had not been removed (no excuse). Crispy duck – not enough pancakes when more ordered told it would take 3 minutes which felt more like 10! And then waited ½ hour for the main course whilst people came in to order takeaways were being served and getting their food before us and another table! When the main course finally arrived I asked for a fork – 5 minutes later I had to get up from my table and ask another member of staff for a fork as the guy I’d originally asked was on the phone taking an order! This is one restaurant I would not recommend to any of my friends when they visit Oxford.

Saint - London (Unverified), 04/05/09

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Absolutely love the food and discovered them in Jan this year. However, ordered 2 mixed soya meat noodles this evening and were delivered 2 meat noodles. Phoned them and were scrutinised about the order; they didn't believe us that we were veggie and sent a person to collect the order so they could inspect and check, without a single apology. They then didn't deliver the replacement until over an hour later than planned and still didn't apologise for delivering food we couldn't eat and didn't even sound in the slightest bit bothered.

9/10 - their food is amazing and the service great, but this experience has certainly left a bitter taste and I'd have to seriously consider my options before ordering again from here. Veggies be warned!

Annoyed Temple Road (DI User), 22/03/09

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Good food and a real kick start for the night. You just can't help feeling up for town after the good service and delicious food, or maybe a case of an excuse to go clubbing to dance it off? Yes - a right good food place for hungry lads and lass, go for their fresh cooked buffet menu for good feedings that are well worth it!!!

Errie (Unverified), 12/09/07

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I love Chinese food, but I am often very fussy and don't often find what I really like on the menu. The Pink Giraffe was perfectly excellent service-wise and provided me with a decent feed. I will be coming back again and again. The price is a bit higher than most restaurants in the area (Cowley), but you get what you pay for and that phrase absolutely applies here. Go for the all you can eat menu, as it'll fill you up for two days!

Hoody (Unverified), 04/05/07

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Just been dining in The Pink Giraffe yesterday night and we have to say it was wonderful as usual with great food and smiley staff! And just to defend our fave restaurant, we have to say that it wasn't cold at all - it was packed and the heating system on the ceiling was blowing out a perfect amount of heat! We were sat half way down the restaurant, past the bar. The main door opening was the only problem causing a slight draft, but no way as serious as freezing cold or heaters not working! We're not just saying this cos it's our favourite favourite dining place in town, but just a bit of an unfair comment of not visiting again, considering the freezing temperatures we've had! Thumbs and toes up for our pink zoo restaurant!

Timothy (Unverified), 11/02/07

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We ate at the Pink Giraffe for the first time this week, with expectations of nice food and service etc. Unfortunately we left feeling disappointed, and are unlikely to head back again. We were sat at the front near the door. The entire restaurant was freezing cold and we were not the only diners finding it so. The door kept sticking, the heaters did not work, and when our food was brought to us the plates had not been heated and so our food too went cold extremely quickly. The dishes were nothing special for the most part, although we did really enjoy the crispy duck for starters and the way that it was shredded for us at our table. Unfortunately the hoi sin sauce suffered in the cold of the room and went extremely hard and gloopy which spolit the duck just a little.

All in all, while the staff were pleasant enough and the food was by no means awful, this place did just not have enough nice touches to make us consider going back at a time when the restaurant might be warmer... A shame, as we had read such good things about them.

ALS (Unverified), 25/01/07

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Is The Pink Giraffe the best Chinese restaurant in Oxford? It’s not the swankiest or most fashionable, and it doesn’t feature designer décor - but if you’re after terrific food backed up by super-efficient service, then head for St Clements immediately.

We discovered the Giraffe by accident a couple of years ago, having been turned away from the nearby Thai Orchid. We’ve been going back regularly ever since, and have never been disappointed. If consistency is key to a restaurant’s success, then the Giraffe has it in spades. We’ve yet to have a bad or so-so meal, yet to find a dish we didn’t like, and yet to be kept waiting or suffer a mix-up over bookings.

Last night, dining with friends, we opted for a couple of set menus, which included crispy duck to die for, a selection of spot-on starters, and a variety of classic meat and fish dishes. All excellent, and all – not always the case in other restaurants – served sizzling hot. You’ll find it hard to go wrong whatever you choose, but I’d mention that the £15 ‘Eat As Much As You Like’ menu, which allows seconds if you want them, should really be named the ‘Eat As Much As You Like And Still Have Enough Left Over To Fill A Large Doggy Bag’ menu. Superb value.

The waiting staff are fast and cheery, the atmosphere is lively, and the restaurant is almost always full. The tables are close together, so if you’re feeling romantic or discussing state secrets, it might not be ideal. But otherwise, The Giraffe towers over the opposition.

Nosher (Unverified), 30/11/06

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Veggies and vegans of the world unite and go to the Pink Giraffe. They serve a wide selection of delicious vegan "meats" which will make a meat eater cry. For more.

We were specially pleased with the chicken with pineapple and cashew nuts - a subtle and original take on the sweet and sour combo. The "chicken" is fairly obviously pillow-soft soy that will have you checking for the tog number (in a good way) but the beef is texturised to mimic actual cow-flesh with cunning verisimilitude.

Carnivores are well-provided for, with traditional Thai and Chinese fare, but why stick to meat when you have an opportunity to strike up a whole new relationship with vegetables? You'll be stealing your vegan friends' "meat" anyway. The stir-fried veg is a small masterpiece of contrasting textures, with melting mange-tout pods and water-chestnuts of a stunning tender succulence.

Definitely try the PG original sauce: spicy sweet basilly loveliness that will have you sucking the plastic container.
Be prepared and order lots of rice (or, as we did, cook your own while waiting for your main dishes to arrive): there's some intense spiciness in these dishes.
Six people were exceedingly well-fed (with a saucepan of rice that we made at home) for £30.


*Home delivery is free over £30. We were told to expect them in 30 minutes and they appeared in 10!

Nyebie (Unverified), 08/01/06

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It's not until you get quite close to the Pink Giraffe on St. Clement's that you realise just how - well - pink it is! Although garish outside, inside it's very cosy, and the fairy lights at the window made it a great venue for a friend's birthday bash. She'd invited twenty-four people, and we were to be accommodated in the upstairs room, unfortunately on two tables of twelve, which divided us somewhat, and oddly, there was one other table for four in the room, so its occupants were forced to sing along to ‘Happy Birthday' and try not to look out of place.

Getting twelve people to choose from an a la carte menu can take forever, especially when it's a long and varied menu like the one at the Pink Giraffe. Fortunately, they operate a much simpler Eat As Much As You Like system for parties of any size. For £15 a head, you get to choose a selection of starters, two ‘First Courses' and a selection of ‘Main Courses' from a pared-down menu. You can then order more if you want it (although you probably won't – they are very generous). This is a great idea, especially as at least half the menu is suitable for vegetarians and a selection is vegan, so everyone is kept happy. We were not kept happy, however, when it took twenty minutes for our drinks order to arrive and a further ten for the missing items from it to appear. Luckily for their tips box and our sanity, the staff were a little quicker to take our food order. After all the gushing about how great it is to have such a varied menu, non of us are actually vegetarian, so the choice was a little easier, and with yours truly the nut-allergic vetoing Satay, we made our choice. For starters, we had spring rolls, prawn crackers, sesame toasts, deep-fried mushrooms and chicken wings. All were delicious. After that (and following another long wait for drinks), the ‘First Courses' arrived. The crispy duck with pancakes was superb, although they were a little stingy on the plum sauce. In contrast, the deep fried crab claws were artificial looking and tasteless – they were variously compared to crabsticks and supermarket value-brand scampi.

Chinese food is always quite filling so we took a short break before our Main Courses. Large bowls of rice were brought out, and our selection of dishes placed on hotplates to keep warm. Beef in Black Bean Sauce is my absolute favourite, and here it was tender, slightly spicy and just right. That disappeared rather swiftly! We also had chicken and mixed vegetables, sweet and sour prawns (yummy) and chicken with pineapple and the dreaded cashew nuts, which I avoided but was apparently excellent. We were all stuffed after that, and while I'm sure a dessert menu exists, we certainly didn't want to see it.

With a couple of drinks each and a service charge which was rather hefty given the tardiness, the bill came to £280 for twelve of us. The food is great, but if you want a drink, you'll need to be persistent.


PS. A note for nut allergy sufferers: nowhere guarantees ‘nut-free', but the Pink Giraffe are very good at labelling which dishes contain nuts, seeds or nut derivatives, which is probably of some help to people trying to avoid them.

Becky Simms (Unverified), 03/11/04

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