Kalamata

Possibly the best eating place in Cowley! The restaurant is the same as before, run by the same people but some sort of magic happened and it changed. The food was delicious, very inventive with little personal touches from the guys in the kitchen. We had ouzo and meze, then a couple of main dishes to share... it was a good night! As the evening went into the early hours, we got to meet Antoni and Ari the two chefs, they are cool characters I must say. If you're in Cowley I would recomend it.

reformedouzodrinker (Unverified), 13/11/10

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Just moved to Cowley last month. Checked out the amazing array of eating places and possibly found the best place to eat in Cowley. I've been in several times and I'm hooked on the slow cooked lamb with cinamon gets a 10/10 (even though its not Greek). To the two guys I met on Saturday, Aris and Adonis A++... check it out!

Ouzomouzo (Unverified), 09/11/10

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What a lovely stumble on! Nothing pretentious about this little gem – rustic from the outset, menus initially confusing but the staff took the time & effort to explain, despite being extremely busy. Food was great, lots of original dishes to try where the ingredients where fresh and nearly authentic – I had the squid, which was excellent – often overcooked, but not so at Santorini’s. Would highly recommend and we will most certainly be returning!

14/08/10

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A truly excellent restaurant! Good, tasty, fresh food, served beautifully. The staff are very friendly and welcoming, and the price is more than right.

09/08/10

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Santorini is quickly becoming a favorite for dinner in Oxford.

Took 25 people in last night for a birthday celebration, including vegetarians, vegans and other assorted special dietary requirements. We had the 'set meze' which was excellent. The food was extremely good, and vast quantities of it. Everyone (including some quite 'picky' eaters) really enjoyed it, and had the chance to share and try new dishes.

Great service, very friendly, and an extremely reasonable bill. Lovely atmosphere - totally unpretentious. The food all arrived together, and quickly - which was amazing considering just how many of us there were, and how much food appeared! The complementary birthday cake was a nice touch too.

So a big thank you to the people of Santorini for a really excellent evening. I'll certainly be back, and by the sounds of the feedback in the pub afterwards, many of my friends plan on returning too.

SuzyJane (DI User), 25/07/10

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Excellent!

We went last night to Santorini on the Cowley Road. Had been wondering about it for a while as the place looks so cute and Mediterranean (I know, Greece is not exactly in the Mediterranean sea, but you know what I mean [Yes, it is. -Ed.]).

Shared the meze, which consists of 6 plates (3 each) plus bread, and drinks, all for £15 each. Food was tasty, varied and personalised: my partner is vegetarian (no meat, no fish) and we asked them if the meze could be made for a veg person and a non-veg, and they arranged it with no fuss. We got 1 meaty dish (amazing meatballs), 1 fish (calamari & fried fish), and 4 veg dishes. Plus the super-yummy home made bread, which in itself to me could have been a meal! I (girl) struggled to finish the big amounts of food, and my partner (boy) was very happy and very full by the end.

Lovely atmosphere, nice efficient staff.

I am from Barcelona myself so I know what good Mediterranean food is supposed to be like, and believe me this was good, very similar to Spanish tapas indeed but much better than places like 'La Tasca' etc.

So great value for great food. Absolutely recommend and will go back.

http://twitter.com/_diminuta (Unverified), 13/06/10

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Went here a week ago for the first time and LOVED it. We had the £15 a head meze selection and everything was simply delicous - especially the meatballs.

I will definitely be coming back.

Suzy (Unverified), 11/05/10

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We went here on Friday evening for the first time. It was excellent. The staff were lovely and friendly, the food was absolutely delicious and the atmosphere was great. We had a selection of meze and then the lamb shoulder and everything was of exceptionally high quality. My husband actually ate stuffed vine leaves and spinach pie and really enjoyed them and he usually doesn't do vegetables at all. We had Greek beer which was light and went down very easily. I can't recommend Santorini enough - we went home absolutely full after a delicious desert of pastries, greek yoghurt and honey and a wonderfully thick Greek coffee. I can't wait to go back and try the fish!

Vanessa (Unverified), 03/04/10

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First time eaten here. Went on a Monday evening so it was quiet. Opted for special for £20 per head, which included meze x 3 for starter with lovely bread. All tasty and very nicely presented. My husband had the lamb shoulder which was pretty much tasteless although very tender. The sauce was lovely tasting but incredibly oily. I had the mousaka, which again tasted of nothing and was really disappointed. The house wine was fine and the service was good. Would go back for meze but not for main meal.

Angieblue (Unverified), 22/03/10

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Returned for another tasty evening here, friendly and helpful staff, authentic mezes in generous supply, good atmosphere and reasonably priced wine; thank you !

guppben (DI User), 14/02/10

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Santorini's was one of the best restaurant experience for me and my husband so far in Oxford. We had ordered the lamb shoulder, it was succulent and juicy and the best lamb we had ever had. I had ordered chicken kebabs which were also very good. We had the house special rose wine, which was again excellent.
The service was great, unfussy and friendly. Also there was some issues with our card, so we actually went back the next day to pay for our meal and the staff was very understanding and friendly over it.

I highly recommend it.

Suchi (Unverified), 09/02/10

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Good value and unpretentious!! Friendly, helpful, and attentive staff; excellent mezes served with minimum fuss; good retsina; reasonable pricing; a perfect evening! Recommended.

guppben (DI User), 08/01/10

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I just had a dinner there. Highly recommanded to everyone. You must try the lamb shoulder course. It is so amazing.

PP (Unverified), 04/12/09

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I totally recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to have good Greek food while listening to nice Greek music in a very friendly environment. I would dare say that it is the best Greek food I have had outside of Greece.

rza (Unverified), 02/11/09

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I've been twice now. The first time the food was lovely- fresh and rustic. Nicely unfussy and generous portions in the case of the mezedes. The menu is classic, all my favourites with some other stuff that I will try one day. I did however get the most chronic food envy when I saw the kleftiko (slow roasted shoulder of lamb) sail past to a neighbouring table. This alone was enough to prompt my return.

Was it good? Yes, it was AMAZING. As tender and flavoursome as it gets served with really nicely cooked rice. We're super greedy so had some spetsofai (greek sausages) too. These were lovely and went well with the bread which I also thought I'd need. I was very, very full!! Seriously very good value, delightful service, authentic decor and music. You must complete the experience with a sweet greek coffee and a cigarette on the street outside. My only gripe is the wine. Its not very good really. Would be excellent to have a corkage and BYO policy. Everybody should go.

food boy (DI User), 25/08/09

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Sweden have an abundance of Greek restaurants and being Swedish I've really missed having a good Greek restaurant in Oxford.

So, my husband & I decided to give it a go last Friday and it was great! We had a Greek salad with tomatoes that were actually sweet and tasted like they came straight off the (Mediterranean) vine and an aubergine mezze as starters. Our main courses were sea bream and souvlaki. The food was really well cooked and tasty. The service was excellent and the staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. We even got a complimentary dessert of Greek youghurt, grapes and raisins drizzled with honey. Yum!

Can't wait to go again!

DD (DI User), 22/07/09

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I just came back from dining at Santorini's. I was hesitant to go at the beginning since I am Greek and it is usually disappointing for Greeks to eat "Greek food" in the UK. However, the food in Santorini did not disappoint me at all. First of all, it was REAL GREEK FOOD and not that Englishised Greek food that Greek restaurants serve in the UK.

And it was very good real Greek food! We mostly ordered mezedes (starters) for everyone which is a typical way of dining in Greece. Everything was delicious, especially melitzanosalata, imam baildi and kalamarakia tiganita. Also, we ordered a sea bass which was the special of the day and it was excellent.

In addition to all these amazing dishes, they had real Greek music (although not live, they have live music only on Saturdays). We were singing along while we were eating and it's a pity that we couldn't dance too! Finally, the staff was REALLY FRIENDLY and smiling all the time. They warned us that our order might be a little delayed because they were very busy at that time, but in fact the order wasn't delayed at all.

We really enjoyed our time at Santorini and the food. We paid £72 for four people, including many mezzes (I think we got around 10 mezzes, we ordered more than enough and because we were full at the end we had to leave some food), the sea bass, 4 glasses of ouzo, a glass of wine, a coke and a frappé coffee. I think that the price is reasonable for what we ate and drank, also taking into account the food quality.

I totally recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to have good Greek food while listening to nice Greek music in a very friendly environment. I would dare say that it is the best Greek food I 've had outside of Greece.

Tatiana (Unverified), 28/06/09

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It just goes to show how everyone's experience can be different. I camehere on Thursday with my family and can only say that it was brilliant. The food was great and the atmosphere and service was amazing. We ordered a selection of meze for starters and were blown away with the size of the portions (any one of these bad boys could take a kazbar tapas with one hand tied behind its back) and each one tasted amazing, especially the red peppers stuffed with feta cheese. Main courses were even better especially the slow roasted lamb shoulder. Great Greek beer as well, it really was a little piece of Greece dropped onto the Cowley Road. Definitely going back

jamvic (Unverified), 14/06/09

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My only concern writing this is that 300 words may not be enough to explain just how awful this place is.

After ordering, we were told half our choices weren’t available. We then waited half an hour for the first half of the food, and a further hour and a half for everybody else’s.

When the food arrived, it either had the wrong side dish or was completely cold (or just bad). They did, however, gladly microwave it to tepidity for us. When we mentioned the side-dish issue we were told unceremoniously “we ran out.” The bread was stale baguette with some garlic butter. When we asked for something more traditional, we were informed bluntly that this was “Greek bread”.

When one of us got up to quietly speak with the manager she was told to “Sit down and stop causing a scene!” Apparently the fact that everyone else had had to wait hours for their food and no one else had complained should have placated us. A good argument, ruined only by the fact that we'd seen other people complaining too.

When we explained the issue about the side dishes the waiter answered “we’re giving you those for free!” To which we pointed out they were included in the menu price anyway, so this was not much of a concession. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t get any money off the bill. It was painfully overpriced (£13.50 for wine we saw the waiter pour from a carton).

Painfully Disappointed. (Unverified), 27/05/09

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The place is amazing. I told all my friends about it and now it’s their favourite place as well. If you are not familiar with the Mediterranean cuisine, ask for a recommendation. They will be happy to help or even customise the meal for you.
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. The meals are full with flavour. I recommend the fish, you order fish – you get FISH from head to fin. It’s tasty and fresh.

Jas (Unverified), 26/05/09

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I've been to Santorini a few times with friends and each time we had a great night! The food is lovely. I mostly enjoyed the sea bass fish which was very tasty, and the service was wonderful - everyone was very nice! They even gave us on the house dessert and ouzo shots which was great. Prices were great - as students we can't spend too much and to be able to go out and eat such great food at such little prices is great!!!

I've been to Greece about 8 times now and l love it and going to Santorini gives you the feeling of being there again. Some of the food is even better than the stuff I've tried in Greece itself. All in all well done and keep going!

maria (Unverified), 12/05/09

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Really disappointing. Had high hopes that at last we would be getting a good genuine Greek restaurant. The freshly cooked things were OK (deep fried courgettes, aubergines, souvlaki) but everything else was dire! Even the olives were not good.

The gigantes looked as if they were a tin of butter beans with some tomato sauce poured over them. The potatoes in tomato sauce did not seem to have been cooked together but were just boiled potatoes with the same sauce.

My son ate the kleftiko because he was hungry but said it was poor. The moussaka had so much potato and so little aubergine that it was more like shepherds pie, and when the others chose baklava it arrived on a plate garnished with so much cinammon you could not taste the flavour! It did not look 'home made either. Also on the plate was an undercooked custard roll (galatoboureko).

I cook Greek food often, have lived in Greece for years, my sons are half Greek. I have also cooked for a hotel in Greece which prides itself on its food so I know a bit about both quality and cooking for large numbers. And the bill was £83 for four people - only one of whom was drinking any alcohol! Never again.

26/04/09

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It is slightly unfair for Santorini's to have their review page 'poisoned' by previous establishments on these premises. Only the reviews from April 2009 are of the current restaurant. [We believe the new restaurant to be run by the same team as the previous ones - but are checkiing! Ed]

The staff were friendly and welcoming, attentive and able to cope with a busy restaurant. We went from being the only ones to a packed restaurant, including a large birthday party (the staff set out balloons and table confetti), without noticeable drop in service.

We limited ourselves on the meze dishes because we both fancied main courses. The meze dishes were fresh, tasty and well presented. Good amounts of food, decently priced.

For main course I went for the fish - usually a good measure of restaurant quality. The sardines were very fresh, well cooked and full of flavour. My wife is a vegetarian, so settled for a dish from the veg section. What could have been a dull, lifeless selection of veg, turned out to be an amazing, colourful, tasty oven baked dish that even I liked. Wine was ok, but we did just choose the house white.

Overall, good fresh food, friendly service, decent value. We will definitely be back.

25/04/09

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Delicious food, rubbish cocktails so stick to beer! Loved the portion sizes of the medezes and the fact that they were delicious and very well priced. Food cost us £12 for medezes of meatballs, sausages, deep fried cheese, bread and olives, and this was enough to make 2 of us feel pretty full. Fantastic value. We can't wait to go back!

ALS (Unverified), 22/04/09

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OK, this is the best-kept secret in Cowley. I know it's trying to re-invent itself as an establishment since reopening in this incarnation, and they're doing an amazing job. My mates and I attended last night to celebrate Greek Easter after church services at night. We were late for our reservation, and got there late (around 11pm). Anywhere else in Oxford, we'd be hated for this. They never made us feel bad about it when we got there, whatsoever.

For £17 each, a group of 10 ate ridiculous amounts of food, and drank quality red wine. We were actually stuffed. I really recommend the kebabs, and the meatball dish in a red sauce (soutzoukakia). Their Greek salad actually had really nice tomatoes inside as well.

The service was superb. Loving people, and they treated us like family. Dessert and shots of ouzo were on the house, as was home-made magiritsa which was incredible. I tend to not eat anyone else's magiritsa but my mom's.

I highly recommend this place!

Giannis (Unverified), 20/04/09

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I was rubbish food; the most over charged place I have ever been.

Asad (Unverified), 27/01/09

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This is one of the best restaurant experiences I've had in Oxfordshire. The decor is beautiful and exotic and the food is delicious. The menu has a good mix of familiar Mediterranean dishes and more unusual foods. I stuck with the familiar, but even such standards as hummus and bread really stood out in taste and quality.

Anna (Unverified), 15/01/09

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I love the food at this place and think its good value for what you get. I would defintely agree with the other reviewers about the wine though. We asked for a house red (£11.50) and when it turned up it was Tescos cheapest Marques de Leon vile red! I thought this was a bit out of order! So be warned!

HS (DI User), 19/12/07

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Good food and good service. Pity about being overpriced though - especially the wine. Bring the price down and bit, have a wider range of reasonably priced wines and bingo. Until then...perhaps that's why it was almost empty on a friday night?

PS (DI User), 02/10/07

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I had a delicious meal... really flavoursome with plenty of delicious starters. And the pipes were a great way to greet the beginning of the smoking ban. Loved it. Although the cocktail jugs were a bit pricey.

aj (Unverified), 11/07/07

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Over-priced and cold. By the end of it we just wanted to get the hell out of there. The meze was alright but the main was a microwave job. Not recommended and certainly not a good choice at ~£25 per head. Avoid.
I recall a friend saying it was good about two years ago but I think it seems to have gone downhill since then.

Adrian (Unverified), 28/05/07

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I had a thoroughly enjoyable meal at Euphrates, the food, service and atmosphere were great. We were a group of six people. We ordered the 'set meze'- a mix of the meze dishes on the menu. The food arrived, and then more food and more.... our table was full. We had some nice wine from the region and Araq (aniseed flavor). The owner was very friendly and was informative when we asked about the Kurds. We were each given a shot of Ouzo on the house before we left. The price of the meal was very reasonable and we left with our bellies full and happy. Highly recommended.

Mary & Co. (Unverified), 12/09/06

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A little bit overpriced at 20 pounds a head, but lovely mezze (we had 8 dishes between 3 of us which along with desert was plenty to fill us up) and friendly service. The 'little pieces of cakes' mentioned in the other review, by the way, are baklava - they are supposed to be little as they are very rich and sweet!!

Benji (Unverified), 09/04/06

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I went first time last week and love the place: good food and excellent service, highly recomended to every one.

Dong (Unverified), 20/03/06

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If the upsurge in the number of Lebanese restaurants in Oxford in recent years is anything to go by, hookah smoking and belly dancing is in. The latest part of town to succumb to the pitta and mezze trend is East Oxford, with the opening of Euphrates on the Cowley Road last year.

As you walk in there is an open fire, which is lit when it's cold. The front of the restaurant is really a bar area but, if you want the stereotypical Moorish low tables eating experience, you can order food here. The back of the restaurant is more spartan but has proper height tables if you feel, like one of my two companions did, that this is necessary for the proper operation of your digestive tract.

We ordered a couple of portions of pitta bread and a selection of mezze, which we were generally pleased with. Our portion of spicy sausages married well with the jajik (a mint and yoghurt dip) which we'd ordered. Houmous was rather heavy on the techina and so tasted a bit too strongly of sesame for my taste. I was surprised to find that fried saganaki (Greek cheese) turned out to be battered, but the surprise turned out to be a wholly pleasant one. Both this and the other deep fried dish which we had ordered, of aubergine and courgettes, were perfectly crisp and not at all oily. Spinach and cheese filo pastries also had a great crunch and weren't too heavy. We ordered some interesting sounding olives, which the menu claimed were marinated in pomegranate juice, but we couldn't taste the pomegranate and they were actually quite ordinary. One unexpected delight was the Lebanese wine which we drank with the meal. Lebanon is not a country usually known for its wine but the bottle of red that we shared was light and spicy, went well with the food and was better quality than would be expected from an equivalent bottle from elsewhere.

A review of Euphrates wouldn't be complete without mentioning the belly dancer, proudly advertised out front, who performs at 9.30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. We went on a Thursday despite, rather than because of, her. Whatever your views on the desirability or otherwise of belly dancing, each time she came out to perform the music was turned up loud enough that we couldn't hear ourselves talk over it, so there was little option but to watch. Looking around at the other diners, I realised that it would be a bad place to come in the company of a red-blooded male if you want to hold his attention. This makes Euphrates the wrong setting for a heterosexual date, but for other occasions it offers an unpretentious atmosphere and good food at a reasonable price.

(Two portions of pitta bread, ten mezze, a bottle of wine and service came to £16 a head.)

Natalie Gold (Unverified), 25/05/02

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