Aziz Pandesia Restaurant & Bar
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New Aziz venture with a mediterranean twist |
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1 Folly Bridge Useful links: Oxford Restaurants Oxford Hotels Oxford Pubs & Bars Oxford Gig venues Oxford Concert venues Ads by Daily Info:
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We visited here looking for a nice, relaxing meal after arriving in Oxford. The venue was nice and the food acceptable (nothing special). Please note however that it is not particularly good value for money and the service is the worst I have ever seen. When we ordered things, they would take forever to arrive, items would be omitted and the waiters seemed indifferent as to whether the customers enjoyed their meal. Don't visit this place, you can find a much better place that will value its customers. james, 05/10/07 We were almost put off by some of the bad reviews above. Thank goodness we weren't because we had a lovely evening at the Pandesia yesterday. Vegetarian curry choices were excellent and the setting romantic. We sat on the pontoon watching the sun go down over the river. The service was friendly and good and the bill about par for the course for Oxford restaurants. We will certainly go there again lots of times! Jenny, 05/08/07 Fantastic Night! Celebrated my 21st here and couldnt have asked for a better evening. Large group of about 25 of us and in the end, 24 very happy heads that will be going back and 1 head with a slight hangover! We chose the set menu and I couldnt beleive how much food we had, was so much but hungry students managed to polish it off! The Staff were wonderful and catered to us very well. Oh, and the cocktails were as good as I've had anywhere else in oxford! (Gulsens Wish) my recommendation. All in all a fantastic evening in such a beautiful location. None better in Oxford. S.Chamberlain, 10/04/07 What a disappointment! A restaurant with amazing potential in a beautiful location but let down by just about everything else! We had booked well in advance and arrived to find our table was not ready yet, we were given no time scale as to when it would be ready and were not offered any drinks whilst we waited etc, or even made to feel welcome for that matter! When our table was ready, it was a table for about four with seven of us squeezed on it. Everyone had to get up if the person on the end needed to get out and the table next to us were also squeezed in very tightly, meaning both tables spent most of the night apologising to each other! We were never offered drinks and always had to attract the surly waiter's attention. When the food came it was awful and extremely salty, resulting in one dish being returned. The bill was ridiculously over priced for what is a below par restaurant... Needless to say, I won't be going there again! JM, 10/03/07 Highly disappointing. The service was appalling - five of us had to wait over an hour for any our starters to appear and there was another huge wait for our main course. When it came it ranged from so-so to downright awful. I don't recommend ordering anything from the Thai menu if what I had (Thai soup and Pad Thai) was typical. The Indian food was ok but unspectacular. We were billed for someone else's drinks as well as our own, and at a final total of £150 for 5 it was really poor value. Jane Darcy, 18/02/07 Absolutely amazing. Can't put it any better. Staff were very well trained in the art of service. They responded to our every beck and call with such a high standard. Each member of staff greeted us and indulged in conversation with us all which is possibly the best thing, especially when you are nervous about taking your girlfriend's parents for dinner! For the first time! Bartender made the other half a superb cocktail which she still speaks about today! And the food was almost perfect, only problem was, I couldnt finish my plate! So full! Towards the end of the evening, the staff made us feel very relaxed...might have over stayed our welcome a little bit BUT you wouldn't notice. James Brack, 31/10/06 A number of varied reviews for Aziz on Folly Bridge. I've been meaning to visit this restataurant for the last 3-4 months, so I took my parents down. First we came into an unusual but elegant setting, overlooking the river. We were well greeted by a member of staff, even asked how our day had been!! The menu looked like any other menu I've seen in oxford, however the food was delicious! We had a great night and were well looked after considering how busy it was> It felt rushed at times, but this was due to it being a Friday night I suppose! We will be back! Stefan, 11/10/06 We went for a meal at the Aziz Pandesia on Saturday the 16th September, it was a leaving party for a friend. The restaurant is situated overlooking the river and the decor inside was nice and pleasant. Parking was difficult. The menu was very simple and boring, food was not up to standard and service was c**p, you never got a smile out of any of the waiters. We tried the Thai menu as well and that was not up to standard, you are better off going to the oxford thai house. Overall I rate this place 1 out of 10. Don't bother going there, you are better off having a proper Indian food at any of the rest in Oxford. Aziz Pandesia is over rated and over priced. Dr KI, 05/10/06 Quite a varied selection of reviews. Well, I'm one of the positive ones. I have always liked Aziz on Cowley Road but mainly for their amazing food. The service has always been appalling and we've been known to have competitions to see if we could get the staff to smile at least once! Needless to say, mostly we've been unsuccessful... I somehow resent going to a restaurant where you feel the staff don't really want you there - regardless of how good the food is! This new restaurant was quite different. Amazing location. Amazingly stylish. The minute we walked in we were greeted by the bartender and promptly shown to a table with a view over the river. The poppadoms were on the table before we knew it with an impressively large tray of sauces. But the best thing about it was the food! My partner had king prawns and pumpkin in an Indian style sauce. I had chicken in ginger and tomato sauce (with green peppers and tomatoes). Both were out of this world! We didn't see that there were 'normal' Indian dishes on the very last page, which was good. This made us order things we wouldn't normally have done. A big thumbs up from us. We're definitely going back! DD, 20/09/06 Having visited the restaurant when it was designed and run by an Italian couple, we were intriqued to see developments under Aziz. The decor had not changed but the ambience and service had - sadly for the worse. Service was slow and poor. Ambience was typical of a subdued Indian restraunt you would find anywhere in Oxfordshire. Menu diversity was not international but offered few diversions from the normal range to be found around Oxford. Aziz states Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine but in fact it is largely Bangladeshi. Parking is awkward requiring a long walk from the nearest cark park. Eurochef gives it a 2 out of 5 stars. To make a claim of offering international cuisine mixing east and west, it needs to raise its game in service, menu and style. eurochef, 12/09/06 Having read the reviews above, I was a bit apprehensive, as I'd already booked a table for 18 people for my birthday. I had a brilliant experience, and feel perhaps the reviews above were just teething problems when the restaurant first opened. The restaurant itself was fantastic and the service was good, as the waiters were trying to be extra careful about ensuring they understood everyone's orders. The service wasn't fast, but I think it's better than being rushed through dinner and out the door. With so many of us, the time flew by as we all talked anyway. The food was gorgeous, with lots of options to choose from. Vegetarian options weren't as limited as the above reviews suggest, as many of the curries gave the option of having a vegetable version instead. The booking experience was good as well, as the staff took care to explain when I needed to reconfirm numbers, the menu options available to me and recommendations on whether to sit outside on the pontoon or not (thankfully we sat inside, as if we had sat outside, we would have had to finish up by 9.30pm). I give Aziz P. a wholehearted thumbs up. AQ, 11/09/06 Lovely location. Food was OK. Service was terrible. Waiters ignored you, one of them was rude to the table next to us, and drinks ordered during the starter came at the end of the main course. Had to eventually get up and hunt someone down inside to be able to pay. Won't be returning. Anon, 07/09/06 Our second visit, since they opened much improved from when they started intially. We sat on the pontoon, and enjoyed a delightful evening. The Service has much improved since June, last time we visited. Well Done 'Aziz'. Sammy, 07/09/06 We didn't get to experience the food - but did experience the extremely poor service. After being left on a sofa in the bar for the best part of 10 minutes we walked out in disgust. Andy, 07/08/06 Food and location great, service terrible. Anon, 01/08/06 3 of us ate at this new restaurant last night. Bearing in mind the previous comments on this site we were a little apprehensive. It was superb!! The service was excellent, food was probably the best Indian we've eaten in a long time and the location was sublime. We really couldn't fault anything (except maybe the coffee could have been hotter). We sat on the pontoon all evening and it was like being in a differnt world. We would highly recommend this restaurant for food, location and service and are definitely going to visit again. Karen's gang, 28/07/06 Three of us went to the Aziz Pandesia on a beautiful evening last week. Sadly, the weather was the best thing about our experience. On arriving we were ushered towards a sofa and then left for an age before receiving a lengthy speech on drinks ordering and the rules of the pandesia. When we actually made it to a table we were given one menu between us. The starters were very dry and bland. The mains were tasty but of tiny proportions. On the whole I thought the menu too short and extremely dull. The staff were offhand and at times irritable. We had to ask for the bill three times, at which point we had had enough. We will not be returning! Buffy, 05/07/06 I went to the Aziz on Folly Bridge the very first night they opened, and at the time the restaurant was serving just the buffet. However after ordering from the la carte menu, yestaday, to my delight i had a wonderfull meal in beautifull surroundings. The staff seemed busy, but we were served and made welcome. The new dishes avilable on the Aziz menu, were different. I liked the dish they do, similar to a kurma but with cashew nuts and fruits! Christanio, 30/06/06 I ate at Aziz Pandesia on the 17th June 2006 having been given its number by the older Aziz on Cowley Road (consistently good), which was full at the time. The restaurant is in the lovely site of what was Aquavitae and has changed little. It has a pontoon over the river with several tables with parasols, many more tables inside, plenty of windows, a light and airy paint job and an abundance of glass and shiny metal. All-in-all very modern. Food-wise however things fall down. On the day I went things were entirely buffet-based with: * Few vegetarian options (only two main dishes, one of which was more like an Uncle Ben's Sweet & Sour). * An abundance of deep frying and extra oil -- even more so than a normal Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant. * Only plain naan breads, plain rice and poor labelling of several of the dishes. Furthermore: * It was expensive for what one got. This was especially true of the drinks and deserts (of which most were not available) * Service was very slow and drinks orders were going to the wrong tables all over the place. Conclusion: Go to Aziz or another curry house on Cowley Road unless you must suffer for the lovely location g, 19/06/06
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