Door 74

We just came back from a wonderful experience in this restaurant. Really fine food. Friendly and professional service. And £80 for 3. Really good value for money. I would definitely recommend it.

cha753 (Unverified), 22/11/11

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After reading so many fab reviews, I had high hopes. Dashed! Against a unpolished, gritty wall.
Food was definitly average. Ordered a beetroot/walnut salad. Not much of the beet nor the walnut. Yes, I don't expect it to be awash with the aforementioned but still a little sparse. The main was OK. Not great, not bad. In short, the price you pay isn't matched by the quality of the food. The service was good though. And the ambience pretty fly as well.

Anony Mouse (Unverified), 27/10/11

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Came here recently for breakfast/brunch - I had the vegetarian cooked breakfast, my boyfriend had corned beef hash, and we shared serving of bubble and squeak. All were delicious and beautifully seasoned. The service was friendly and the other customers were all very relaxed, having a Sunday morning coffee or early lunch. Much recommended!

VickyJP (DI User), 24/05/11

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Four of us visited last night at 8.15pm with a booking. I started with the simply delicious lamb and aubergine spicy parcels with red pepper houmous. Friends had the ham hock terrine that came with heavenly home-made piccalilli. Then the trouble started. Twelve people, aged about 20, arrived with a booking and at varying stages of intoxication. One of the men couldn't even stand up properly. The group sat down and started shouting incessantly at each other. Someone from another table asked them to quieten down as did my partner. Both requests were effective for about 30 seconds. Even the staff tried, without success, to quieten the group. Our main courses arrived and were delicious - I had the steak and it was cooked (very rare) to perfection. A steak knife was not needed as it was so tender and succulent. The lyonnaise potatoes were also excellent and the house red complimented it nicely. Sadly it was like eating in the middle of the trading floor of the stock exchange. We couldn't actually hear each other speak. After the main course I said to the waiter that the food had been lovely but that it was just too stressful to stay in a small place with such a loud party completely destroying the atmosphere. We were given a 20% discount and went to George and Delilah's for pudding which was a shame as I love the puddings at Door 74 and had been looking forward to the lemon and blueberry possett. Moral of the story – if you book, make sure you ask if there are any large parties booked for the main part of the restaurant!

Tony Brett (DI User), 14/05/11

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I booked the function room upstairs here for a hen party and it was fantastic – exactly what I was hoping for. The staff were friendly and relaxed even when faced with 20 hens in fancy dress! The food was excellent, the burger and steak particularly went down well, the service was excellent and the price was extremely reasonable; 2 courses with wine (lots of) came to £30 per head including service. We didn’t feel rushed at all and we even got some handy tips from staff about where to head to next which was much appreciated as we were all out-of-towners. This venue really made the evening a success and I would definitely recommend it.

hswift101 (Unverified), 03/05/11

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I went here based on the reviews and was not disappointed. We had the three course set lunch menu which was excellent value and extremely impressive. Home made pasta was delicious, desserts to die for and service excellent. It was a nice surprise to eat out in Oxford and have no complaints! I was surprised it was so quiet at lunchtime as the food exceptional - highly recommended.

doris (Unverified), 26/04/10

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I've been here for both lunch and dinner on multiple occasions, and the food has always been exquisite.

My husband and I recently stopped in one morning for a sunny full-English. From the field mushrooms to the grilled bread, stewed tomatoes, and the beans (which were actually phenomenal - cooked with a touch of cream, taking the humble staple to a whole new level) to the amazing black pudding and meat, this was one memorable breakfast indeed.

The coffee was delicious, and although we didn't have a Bloody Mary that day, the tray that was brought to the table next to us looked incredible. We'll definitely be back - again and again.

14/03/10

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Door 74 is (in my opinion) one of the best restaurants in Oxford, serving a reassuringly small selection of contemporary British food. The wine list is respectable, and most of the wines come in at under £25/bottle.

The restaurant itself is not too big, although there is a private dining room available upstairs.

What I love about Door 74 is that it's not too fussy. It's a great place to go with friends in a relaxed atmosphere and the food is really good. The burger is always good, but I'd normally go for something like slow-cooked pork or duck confit.

The Worm (Unverified), 04/01/10

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My parents came to visit me in Oxford last weekend, and our Friday night dinner at Door 74 was so good that we went again for brunch on Sunday! The food on Friday night was fantastic - my lamb and aubergine wraps, and red snapper, were both amazing. I finished off with pannacotta which was to die for. Sunday brunch was really really good - lots of classic brunch dishes really well cooked, with a twist. My Eggs Benedict was lovely, and my boyfriend had the all-day breakfast which had all the staple parts of a fry-up but with top-class ingredients and cooked really well. The atmosphere at Door 74 is really friendly. I can't recommend this place enough.

Sarah (Unverified), 27/10/09

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Great restaurant - small and always busy; a fun place with an eclectic mix of customers. The food is great, simply plated and diverse - looks good, smells good and tastes - wow!
Well worth a visit. My only criticism is that the menu could do with changing a bit. Currently it's a little bit pricey for what they're offering. I agree that the old faves need to stay but a steak or seasonal fave - something new - would make this the best little eating house in town. Perhaps I might go tonight and sample again to make sure! :)

Chef henri (Unverified), 15/10/08

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Door 74 is an engaging little venue, intimate and unfussy, but with a good selection of interesting, high quality dishes. To a certain extent it has the feel of a tiny Parisian bistro, with its high bar, slim furniture, and forgivably cramped atmosphere, but the menu is possibly high-end English (with a little bit of everywhere thrown in) rather than French, and the staff display none of the formidable attitude than can characterise the bistro experience. Instead this place displays a curious informal elegance which makes it a cut above many of the chains and takeaway joints on the Cowley Road.

For just over £60 we had three courses, coffee, two glasses of wine and two beers. Starters are bite-sized, which is good, I think - a starter should give you a light taste of something interesting, without compromising the main course or, heaven forbid, the pudding. We had half a tiny, succulent quail with a light potato salad, and a melting black fig with parma ham and honey. The main courses are more robust, but still, fortunately, not overwhelming in size. The lamb cutlets, with yoghurt and mint dressing on a bed of salty, garlicky mashed potato, were good, tender and well seasoned, though a little bit in danger of being over-flavoured. The free range chicken breast stuffed with wild mushrooms and marscapone on courgette and carrot linguine was delicious: a plate of contrasting flavours and textures which worked really well together. Pudding; light, sharp lemon meringue ice cream with strawberries, which wasn’t cloyingly sweet, and chocolate semi-freddo, which was, just as it should be.

The staff here were a bit overstretched on the Friday night we visited, but it’s hard to see how you could have another person working the little restaurant floor without it getting rather full. But with a short delay all our needs were met, and our waitress paid attention to detail, sorting out a wobbly table without being asked – something we might not have bothered to correct and which made all the difference to the dining experience.

There are some lovely places to eat in East Oxford, and there’s a lot of rubbish. This is one of the worthwhile ones: quiet, interesting, and fairly reasonably priced, it deserves a look in and will certainly get repeat business from me.

Susie Cogan (DI Staff), 26/09/08

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Just fantastic. Great food, great atmosphere and great staff. We keep going back. Best cheesecake I've ever eaten!

Nick (Unverified), 31/08/08

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My favourite place in Oxford by a long, long way. Absolutely sensational food ( which seems to get better by the week), lovely relaxed atmosphere and warm friendly staff.

The organic burger will knock the socks off anything else you will find on the Cowley Road.

I shall return again and again, as I have been since it opened.

Charlie 1975 (Unverified), 17/07/08

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Forget anything negative you may have seen in the past about Door74! It is now June 2008 and it is, at its price, arguably the best restaurant in Oxford and certainly in East Oxford. The vegetarian food is so delicious that I was seduced by it even though I am normally a strict carnivore. Plenty of choice though, even when I am in a carnivorous mood! Some lovely wines too. Go and try it! You will be wowed! Nice staff too.

Moxy (Unverified), 09/06/08

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A little gem of a place!

J (Unverified), 16/05/08

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We stumbled on this place by chance after the recommended restaurant for the evening (Polish restaurant closeby) was no longer open. We had the chicken liver parfait and carrot-fritters for starters and they were delicious as were our mains: potato cakes and risotto. The haloumi was not noticeably present in the potato cake but I am sure it was in there contributing to a fantastic experience of flavours.

After two courses we were quite full but had to try the pannacotta and the semifredo. I was a bit confused when the semifredo turned out to be a pot of hot chocolate cream/pudding (I was expecting ice cream...). But it was lovely!

The bill came to £38 and we booked a table for tomorow night on the spot.

Best eating experience we had during our stay in Oxford. And the staff were wonderful!

Moa (Unverified), 01/05/08

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This place is a bit of a find. Good organic food, cooked simply and well, and their summer lunch deal - 1 main from the selected menu plus a drink (house wine or beer, or soft drink) for only £5.95 - is very good value. The decor is quirky and interesting, the fruit smoothies are absolutely delicious (though I'm sure I should worry about the amount of cream in the banana and strawberry), you can read a daily paper from their rack while you wait, service is friendly and polite, the wine list is decent and helpfully, accessibly descriptive for the non-wine-buff...it all adds up to a very pleasant experience. Sit at the front two tables to watch the Cowley Road human traffic while you eat, or lurk at the back underneath the sparkly lights if you're feeling romantic. Recommended. :)

Liz Graham (Unverified), 07/08/07

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I really like Door 74 and think it deserves more praise. it's up against some stiff competition at this end of the Cowley Road with Cafe Coco, Kasbar, Joe's and Fisher's amongst a number of restaurants fighting for trade but it still makes for a cosy intimate meal in a non-pretenious, trendy atmos.
I had a very good Prawn Linguine on my last visit and my lady friend had an above average mushroom risotto.
Recommended.

Joe B (Unverified), 30/04/07

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Lunch at Door 74.

Food: Spicy Chicken Salad, Linguine in White Wine Sauce with bacon and prawns, Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake.
The salad was fresh and crisp, the chargrilled chicken was cooked perfectly (crisp and coloured yet not burnt) however it could have been a tad spicier but that is just personal preference. Linguine1 was rich, creamy and delicate. Cheesecake was very delicious - the biscuit base was good - crunchy yet not crumbly. The cheesecake had a raspberry top which made the cheesecake more-ish and not sickly - a very balanced cheesecake. Portions were good for lunch.

Price: around £16 - our dishes were off the lunch menu, each were £5.95 including a drink - very reasonable.

Service: one waitress - very pleasant and kind.

Environment/atmosphere: nice and relaxed and clean. Ladies toilet was nice and clean.

All in all a very nice place to eat - highly recommended.

VW (Unverified), 06/03/07

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I arrived at a packed Door 74 on a Friday night with a couple of friends and, while I agree with previous comments regarding the lone (but friendly) waiter and the consequent slow-ish service, I was blown away by the quality of the food and would very much recommend this place for those wanting a night of fine food and who don't mind paying a little extra than usual for it. Indeed, our bill, before tip, came to £75.80 between three but we felt the quality of the food reflected the price. For our money we got a delicious bottle of Chilean red wine, 3 starters, three mains, a side of chips and two desserts, plus a round of alcoholic drinks on top. For starters, two of us had the Beetroot and onion Borscht with creme fraiche, whilst our friend had the whole mozzarella wrapped in pancetta. The Borscht was lovely, flavoursome and creamy but not too much so. Judging by the soon scraped-clean plate on which the mozzarella came, that went down a treat too. After much indecision, we all chose different mains: I had the prawn and smoked haddock rissotto, while my friends had the chicken patties on couscous and the barracuda with a watermelon salsa. We ordered chips between us, as these sadly do not accompany the mains. We all tried a little of each dish and were 'wowwed' by the tastiness of each one. A special mention goes to the barracuda, as none of us had ever seen this fish on a menu before. The presentation of each dish was also top-notch.
I was too full for a pudding but, after seeing the tempting semifreddo mousse and the chocolate espresso desserts that my friends ordered, I will make sure I have enough room next time!

Grizla (DI User), 06/06/06

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We visited on 29 April, 2006, to find a small but packed restaurant with only one waiter on - on a Saturday night.

The tables were rammed quite close together, and they'd squeezed us into a spot too small for a party of our size. The seats themselves were awkward - the banquet seats along the wall were too high for the table, while the dining chairs the rest of us were sitting in were too low and rather uncomfortable.

The menu was written on a chalkboard on the wall, gastropub-style, but in really tiny handwriting you had to strain to read. We weren't given the cocktail menu with the winelist and drink menu, and when it did arrive there were only four or five choices (all of the uninspired, 'pina colada without the coconut cream just to be a bit different' variety) and no prices.

I had a caramelized red onion and ricotta tart with mixed leaves and a sundried tomato dressing to start, and it was good, but not quite good enough. The onions had been oversugared during cooking, presumably to speed up the caramelization. There was nothing tart on the plate to compensate, which made the dish a bit cloying. The ricotta had been herbed, presumably to give it flavour, and while I could see what they were trying to do, the dish would have been far simpler - and more effective - had they used goats' cheese instead of the ricotta, as a strong one would have worked beautifully with the sweetened onions. The mixed leaves were fine, but the whole party agreed that all the salads had been underdressed.

For my main course I had what had been described as 'homemade potato-cake stuffed with mushrooms, halloumi, pine nuts, and spices, served with a yoghurt and mint dressing and a tomato and olive salad'. Minus points for presentation, generally. More minus points for sending out burnt food. Further reductions for the complete absence of halloumi from the potato-cake and olives from the salad, which instead was full of raw onion.

Everyone else was similarly disappointed with their food, although we all agreed it would have been fine had the food been slightly cheaper. But when paying over a tenner for a main course, I expect cooking of a higher standard.

The service was crap all night - not the fault of the waiter, who was friendly and enthusiastic and running around like a mad thing, but of the manager, who'd only put one member of staff on for a fully-booked restaurant - they were turning people away in droves, which surprised me, as I'm not going back - on a Saturday night.

stompyboots (Unverified), 30/04/06

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Door 74 is the newest eaterie on the Cowley Road, and its simple, chic style is reflective of the types of bars and restaurants that are creeping in to this area with ever increasing regularity.

The atmosphere on a Thursday evening when I dined with a friend was relaxed, and the staff were friendly. There is not a great deal of choice on the menu, as the emphasis seems to be on quality rather than variety - vegetarians, or those who like a great deal of choice, may struggle a little - but both our meals were delicious. We chose to share two different dishes: the burger with chunky salad and onion marmalade (£7.95) and the salmon served with rustic mash and a ricotta and sorrel-based salsa verde (£10.95). We were both very impressed with the food - the burger was the best I have tasted in a long while, and the salmon was fantastic. The bottle of house white we had with it was most palatable and very reasonable at £8.95. My only slight disappointment was that the price of the salmon was a little high for what we got - but neither dish was lacking in quality or flavour.

I would very much recommend giving this café-come-restaurant-come-bar a try; it would be perfect for a romantic meal or a sophisticated supper with the girls.

Nicki Sneath (Unverified), 27/10/05

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