The Bombay

The Bombay is my favourite Curry House in Oxford. When ever I have been there the service has always been to a high standard. The waiters are friendly and attentive without being in your face all the time. The curries I have had from there have been delicious (though I have never tried a korma as I like my spice). The fact that you can bring your own drinks is also great as it instantly cuts the price of the meal. I would definitely recommend this to all my friends and family.

01/09/10

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Wow, the korma here was sooo sweet, I could have eaten it for dessert! After all the great reviews, I was a bit disappointed with the curries. I should know a good curry - I'm from Delhi! Though the poppadums in the beginning were good...

AZB (Unverified), 13/03/10

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Do NOT order the chicken or prawn korma - it was RIDICULOUSLY sweet...you could just eat it for dessert. After all the great reviews, I was pretty disappointed with the curries. I should know - I'm from Delhi! The best thing about the meal was the poppadums in the beginning.

AZB (Unverified), 13/03/10

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Had a great dinner here last night. Lively atmosphere, swift service and very good food. Well worth a visit and the fact that you can bring your own booze is an added bonus - beer of your own choosing at half the price. Strongly recommend.

Ben (Unverified), 05/09/09

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It is pretty good here - the service is friendly and fairly prompt. You can bring your own wine which obviously makes the whole evening much cheaper. They have a big table at the back too which means big parties don't really disturb other people. Nice place.

Will Stockland (DI User), 15/12/08

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Takeaway on a busy Friday night turned out to be something of a letdown.

For a start, after being told that the meal would be ready for collection in 25 minutes I had to wait for a further 25 minutes before it was actually ready. A lack of waiting facilities means that you're just by the door, in the way of the loads of people coming and going.

The food when I got it back home was also disappointing. Pilau rice was very greasy, spinach bhaji was dry, both curries were swimming in oil. All were underseasoned and, I hate to say this, quite bland. Popadums were at least fresh and breads were good.

I really wanted Bombay to be good, especially as it's now my local (I have just moved) and I chose it above other restaurants as a result of reading the reviews on here. I won't be going back.

JP (Unverified), 24/11/08

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I have tried to think of a readable review that will do justice to the Bombay but have entirely failed! Instead I will say this;

The Bombay is by far my favourite Indian restaurant, and not just in Oxford. I have many, many curries from curry houses all over the place - I have had food on a par but never what I could confidently describe as "better". Combine this fact with experienced staff, a welcoming atmosphere and superb levels of hygiene and you have a champion.

By the way, the fact that you see a lot of Pakistani and Indian people eating there surely says something?

Stuart (Unverified), 29/02/08

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This place is excellent! We went last night with a big group on the recommendation of a friend and had a great meal. A few of us ordered the Chicken Shashlik and a few others ended up wishing they had. You get a special plate if you order this, which comes with a bit of salad, a lemon wedge, and a little bowl of pink yoghurt-looking sauce. A few minutes later someone comes out from the kithen with a sizzling platter of grilled chicken, onion and green pepper which he unloads onto your plate in a giant mound. And it was excellent. In addition I ordered a paratha which I also highly recommend. My husband had Chicken Patia which I thought was great - a bit spicy, but I have to agree with him that the portion was a little on the small side. Maybe that's because it was sitting next to the giant shashlik though. I sampled a dal (can't remember what it was called) and the sag aloo - both of which were also fantastic. The atmosphere was nice, the staff were attentive and polite, and the toilets were impossibly clean. Without question the cleanest public toilet I've seen outside of Switzerland. Also you can't beat the BYOB with no corkage charge. There's an off license right next door too. We'll definitely be going back.

JJ (DI User), 07/08/07

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Well, as I go to the Bombay probably more than any other asian restaurant in Oxford, that may well tell you what I think of it! I was there this last Saturday with a friend of mine, who grew up in India. I took her there some time ago as my housemate, and she said it was the best asian food she'd had in Oxford. I also went with a friend from Pakistan, who said it was the best tasting asian food he'd had in the UK! I always think that the quality of the food is great, and warmly received when I go! The fact that you can take your own wine and notbe charged corkage is great,so enjoyed my Esporao Reguengos onmy birthday last year greatly with the food. My companion that day does not like spicy food, but I ordered something for her especially, which she loved.

Just go and have a fun time for quality dishes.

M-A (Unverified), 27/05/07

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The only qualm I have with the Bombay is the service. I went with around 9 friends and when one didn't turn up the waiter was appalled and made us feel quite awkward about it, even though there were loads of empty tables. He then was persistantly rude throughout the meal. The food was great but we really felt unwanted, and left as soon as possible.

T.R (Unverified), 06/01/07

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If I were to briefly describe the Bombay, it would be as one of the 2 best Indians I've ever eaten in. I say best 2 because there is another Oxford restaurant (Chutney's, St Michael's Street) that has proven to be equally stunning. Having eaten Indian food all over the country, I can tell you that Oxford is blessed with some of the country's best Restaurants. The Aziz on the Cowley Road probably belongs up there with the Bombay and Chutney's but as I don't frequent it I can't really write an honest review.

I noticed that in Alison Hook's previous review of the Bombay, she was mildly disappointed by over-priced food and slightly less than generous portions. This is a complaint that I can appreciate in a sense (portions do tend to come up a bit smaller), but the Bombay isn't about "goin' down the Indian fer a fat curreh'" - It's far more about genuine, restaurant-quality Indian cuisine and in that respect they do a fine job.

To say the menu is "fairly typical" would, I think, be fairly accurate (you can get a vindaloo, a madras and all the other stuff that piss-heads favour) but the specials are indeed, special and there are a number of them. The sheer number of plaques and awards for various curry competitions is a good indication of just how high the food quality.

What makes the Bombay's food stand out is the perfection to which the spices in all the dishes are balanced. Hot dishes are never too hot - even the Vindaloo which is _incredibly_ hot still lets all it's flavours come through. Patia, Rogon Josh and an odd one called Nariayl Chicken are, for me, the stand-out dishes. The Bombay even does a mouth-watering Bhuna which traditionally has to be the most boring dish in Indian curry history.

On another note, I don't think the Bombay has had a change of staff of any sort in the last 4 years. I have never walked in and thought "ahh a new waiter" and if I find myself thinking "where's that chap I saw last time" you can gurantee he'll turn up.

I'm struggling to find something to say about the Bombay that is going to make readers of this review grab the phone and book a table for this evening as soon as they can - hopefully you will anyway.

S.M. (Unverified), 21/05/06

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The Bombay on Walton Street is yet another Oxford Indian restaurant, of which there are plenty; but as with most Indians in Oxford, it has its own charms, and therefore serves its purpose on the right occasion.

Two friends and I went to the Bombay late on a Friday evening, without having booked. Despite it being a fair hike up Walton Street, away from most pubs and bars, the restaurant was still packed to capacity and we weren't the only group made to wait for a table. This said, the wait was only a matter of 5 minutes or so, and we were led to our seats. The restaurant looks more 'upmarket' than most Indian restaurants on Walton street, with a smart interior of white cotton tablecloths, napkins and silver cutlery and wine glasses already out on the tables. The walls are all painted white, with a smart monotone carpet, and the whole atmosphere is one suited to a slightly more 'formal' occasion than many other Indian restaurants I have eaten in in Oxford, making it ideal for a cosy meal for two. This said, there were at least 2 large tables holding approxmately 10 people each, proving that this is also a restaurant to bring friends for a more party-like occasion.

The one thing that drew us to the Bombay was its Bring-Your-Own policy, with no corkage charge, which instantly cuts the cost of the meal dramatically. With Co-op and Threshers on the way when walking from town, this was absolutely ideal for us poor student types! The restaurant doesn't have a licence, so taking your own alcohol is compulsory, assuming you want to drink with your meal.

Once seated, we were attended to straight away, with our wine opened and glasses brought across for the beers. We ordered popadoms and then turned to the menu. The popadoms were served swiftly; I was slightly disappointed with the small dishes of relishes that accompanied them, but otherwise the popadoms were of reasonable size and filled the holes in our stomachs until our food arrived!

We didn't order starters on this occasion, but for main we ordered a vegetable biriani, a Chicken Tikka Masala and a Chicken Balti, with pilau rice and a peshwari naan to accompany. The rest of the menu was fairly typical; the House Specialities were unusual in places, and definitely the option to go for if you are trying to eat in a cost-efficient manner, being in the range of £6.50-£8.50 for a main course, while items from the rest of the menu (eg: Tikka dishes, Balti dishes, Seafood dishes) are generally from £8 upward.

The food took a little longer than average to arrive, but not painfully so - the restaurant was absolutely heaving, and people were popping in to order take-away at the same time, so considering, I felt the service was very good. The food, when it arrived, was piping hot, though not the most generous of portions. Everyone enjoyed their curries - the vegetable biriani was cooked perfectly, with a creamy vegetable curry on the side. One thing that had impressed me was that I was given a choice for the spiciness of my vegetable curry side dish; I asked for medium though could probably have taken it a little hotter than it came. However, it was delicious all the same, and both my friends also said that their dishes were very good; the only complaint beng the portion size.

We didn't fancy any of the sweets on offer at the end of our main courses, and so asked for the bill straight away. However, those wanting a dessert at the end had the usual choice of Indian sweets: kulfi (Indian ice cream), fruit salad and fritters for average prices of £3-4. For what we had actually eaten, we felt the prices were rather steep - we paid £10 a head for a popadom and one main course each; the mains were from £6.50 upward, some as high as £10, with rice and naans each at approxomately £2 - £2.50.

I think that I probably wouldn't return to the Bombay Restaurant myself, simply because although the food was nice, I have eaten equally as nice elsewhere, and probably with larger portion sizes at less cost. However, if atmosphere is important to you, then I think that this has to be the smartest BYO Indian I have come across in Oxford, and so if both the interior looks, and the option of a BYO are important to you, I would still recommend that you give the Bombay a try.

Alison Hook (Unverified), 08/09/04

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