Oxford 152 — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Overview The Oxford 152 is a popular pub bistro in the heart of the Bulimba dining and entertainment hub, on the corner of Oxford and Wambool Streets.

Food My wife and I dined, and we kept it simple, ordering a chicken supreme with a side of fried onions rings, and a poke bowl. Wow, this food was sensational. The chicken was tasty, plumb and tender and cooked to perfection. It was accompanied by an interesting and varied selection of sides including sundried tomatoes, camembert cheese, chat potatoes, fresh broccolini, with the whole dish drenched in a creamy lemon thyme sauce. The poke bowl was a winner too. It was chock full of wholesome and nutritious ingredients, including rice, carrots, avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, sprouts, spinach, pickle ginger, sesame seeds and mayo. The onion rings were nice and crispy on the outside. Serving sizes were generous. For our liquid refreshment, I ordered the beer special of the night, which was a schooner of Hahn Super Dry, and my wife ordered her favourite pina colada, which was a bit of a disappointment, as it was only half full.

Service The staff at the Oxford 152 are a credit to the ALH Hotels Group, to which this venue belongs. They were smartly dressed, professional in their attitude and provided excellent service. We were warmly greeted by the friendly maître d when we arrived, and our booked table was ready for us in a nice spot against the back wall. Despite the crowds, the drinks and food were delivered quickly, and all staff members including the security guy at the front door, were helpful, polite, and patient.

Ambience We dined on a Saturday night in early January, and the place was pretty full, giving it a fun, lively, and energetic vibe. There are multiple dining areas, inside and outside. It’s bright and well lit, with an airy, spacious and comfortable ambience. However, we were placed next to a rather loud and inconsiderate family table, which made it a bit noisy, but I guess that this is to be expected on a Saturday night during the holiday season.

Cost After our Monty’s Rewards Club discount of 5%, and the 1.5% “card processing fee”, we paid a touch under 80, and that included two beers, a cocktail, two main dishes and one side dish. That’s not bad value for money in this era of hyperinflation, given the extremely high quality of the food, outstanding service and pleasant ambience.

Toilets The venue has clean and well maintained toilets just in front of the gaming lounge, with ample male and female cubicles.

Parking Being a busy Saturday night we struggled a bit to find parking. After driving around for a while, we eventually found a spot about half way up Wambool Street, a rather steep street, so it was quite a hike on a full stomach afterwards. It would be useful if the venue put up some parking info for first time visitors, on its website.

Summary Overall, we had a fabulous night at the Oxford 152, and everything ran smoothly for us. The food was outstanding, the service was fast, friendly, and polite, and we loved the cool, relaxed, and casual atmosphere. We would definitely consider returning to this venue...

We had a terrible experience and the staff were awful and lacked any compassion. I was meeting my sister here and we both have young children and require pram access. I couldn't get in as the usual pram/wheelchair access door was locked. I went to the front entry trying to get staff attention until I could ask someone for help. The only other access is from the back of the building which involves stairs. Unfortunately, when my sister was trying to get in she used the back entry and lost control of her pram and her son now has 2 busted teeth and a bruised face. She had 2 staff walk past her when this happened and had to call out to passes by to help. To make things worse when I spoke to the Manager Bernie, he showed no empathy or compassion- I had to point out to him to drop the attitude and his excuses were unhelpful and maybe start with an apology. He cited that they had a faulty lock on the door which was getting fixed, its a busy Sunday and there is access at the back of the building - despite having to go down stairs before getting to a ramp. When leaving the staff unlocked the door and opened it so we could leave. Obviously the door could be unlocked and open to allow safe accessibility. It is not good enough.

Just to update the owner in relation to their response - I have contacted you the hotel - you have my email and mobile number but have not...

I’m writing this review because I had a very poor experience with your staff.

I pre-ordered a burger meal and chips at 11:10 AM, and was informed that the kitchen opens at 11:30 AM. However, by 12:10 PM I still hadn’t received my food. The restaurant wasn’t busy when I pre-ordered , so I don’t understand the long delay.

I approached a teenage waitress to ask about my order. To be fair, my attitude wasn’t great—I interrupted her, because I felt an apology for the delay should have come first, rather than her just going to check with the kitchen. What made it worse was that she never came back to update me.

I understand my tone may have upset her, and I take responsibility for that. But she is a paid staff member, and I believe customer service should still be professional—even when a customer is frustrated. Your pub also added a 10% surcharge for the Ekka public holiday, which makes me question why service wasn’t better.

Eventually, our food was brought to the table by a different waiter, who just placed it down without saying anything. It seemed like no one had communicated about the earlier issue. A simple apology would have made a big difference—I think I wouldn’t have left feeling so disappointed if someone had just acknowledged...