Wonderful visit this evening. A really special menu simple and delicious, fresh and exciting. Catering effortlessly to my coeliac requirements with friendly, knowledgeable and effortless service (in the sense that nothing was ever to much). Couldn't ask for more from a dining experience & genuinely couldn't recommend any room for improvement! Will be rushing back as soon as we can!
Food, ambience, staff, all top notch. Good veggie options and plenty for fish lovers. Only thing I'd add would be a Manzanilla to the wine list.
This is the rare occasion when a restaurant lives up to its hype. Critically acclaimed and loved by locals, Arbequina offers Spanish style tapas and creative dishes. Our favorites includes the tortilla (best we’ve had outside of Spain), roasted aubergine, and the chickpea salad. The staff was warm and knowledgeable and our server at Arbequina was one of our favorites throughout our time in the UK.
TL;DR - Highly recommend, lives up to the hype, can’t wait to go back!
Superb! Great food, wonderful staff. Came in at Saturday night without reservation and got a seat at the bar (which we loved because you could look into the kitchen). The kitchen staff just seemed to be having a great time, obviously recognized in the food. Lovely service too. Great food, great recommendations by the (kitchen) staff as everything on the menu looked amazing. The chickpea salad and the salmorejo were amazing! Thanks so much
A tapas restaurant in cowley.
The food was good, but not amazing. It was pricey, as we spent almost £50 and I didn’t think we ordered too much. I would say you can get better food in Oxford for this price.
The service was okay. One staff was really friendly and helpful, whereas the other one was quite cold faced. Hence, overall an average experience with the service.
Just a really great tapas place and just generally one of the very few great restaurants in Oxford. The dishes are unique, change regularly and just prove the exceptional ingredients that are being used. Some dishes are incredible, some are "just" good. Sadly, many dishes lack spices and thus just focus on the (honestly) great raw(/cooked) materials. Atmosphere is casual, but intimate. Perfect for a date of two; maybe not so ideal for bigger groups. You are, however, really close to the kitchen counter, which means that you will leave with quite smelly clothes. Service is really friendly and relaxed, which doesn't match the reservation system that might be quite confusing. Places seem fully booked weeks in advance and then suddenly open up again on the very same day...
Had dinner here which was lovely. Didn't have a reservation but was still able to get a table for two.
We had the whole sea bream, aubergine/whipped feta/molasses, potatas bravas and bread with aoili. This was £54 with service charge.
We were served by Freya, who was polite and professional.
We sat near the bar, and saw the manager Ben working with his staff. It was very busy in the restaurant but he was calm, friendly and professional with the staff and diners.
We were very impressed with both the food and service that we had. Will definitely be coming back another time!
We went to Arbequina for a causal lunch. Food was great, it being bit on the pricey side, service charge of 12.5% felt bit steep for lunch menu. Atmosphere was cosy and pleasant. There were few other items that we didn't order, so planning to go again. Not sure if the menu changes but considering their selection, summer menu could also be interesting
Great food, great service and great atmosphere! Would definitely come back if we came back to Oxford
It's a place where you share the food around the table more than having a separate dish for yourself so you get a lot of small dishes and can get a lot of variety. Went with my whole athletics group and we enjoyed it throughly. Food is very good, bread is the best.
Beautiful food served up by some great staff. We loved the range of options and how tasty it all was. The place is small and seems to be fully booked most of the time, just showing how great the grub is.
Nathan nailed it. Ben's wine list is exceptional. Chef nailed it. Fantastic experience - fave place in ox.
11/10
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