Arbequina — Restaurant in Oxford

What a welcoming experience. Sometimes it's difficult to dine alone. Not for us solo diners. We enjoy food, travel alone, travel for work. But some restauranteurs somehow find us less important. Before heading to Arbequina I had just such an experience at a neighbouring restaurant where I was asked to sit on a bench (alone) while the hostess cleaned the worst table in the house, sandwiched (shoehorned) between two noisy parties of four, then got distracted and forgot about me, so I left before having to say I'm not sitting there. So I wandered down the street to Arbequina where the host welcomed me warmly, indicated she had a seat at the bar which she'd get ready for me (the restaurant was otherwise full, and that seat was essentially dinner theatre as I watched the chefs prepare the beautiful food) They offer four colours of wine, listed by colour: red, white, pink and orange. I had never seen orange wine. Apparently it's made of not fully ripened muscadet grapes and fermented with skins and seeds. It's bitter and unique and was a real complement to my meal. Benimaquia Tinajas, Moscatel, 2015, Alicante The restaurant offers small plates. I had Salt pork with mojo verde and Roasted cauliflower with coriander, pomegranate seeds and bread crumbs I Googled and learned mojo verde is Canarian green sauce with coriander, garlic, olive oil and cumin. To me it was reminiscent of chimichuri sauce that I'm more familiar with. The salt pork had a beautiful crispy outer texture and was delicious. The cauliflower was a revelation. Roasted, then grilled before serving, served on pureed cauliflower, topped with pomegranate arils and breadcrumbs cooked with paprika The contrasting textures, the vibrant colour and the delicious flavour made it a sensual delight. Dessert was chocolate 'salami', cookies made to look like salami with a similar texture to salami. The flavour was cocoa and almond. The chefs were fun to watch and answered a few questions for me when I was curious. The host was also my server and she checked in through the meal. I was in Oxford 4 nights and went back a second time. I ordered a beet dip with walnut and feta with a bread basket. It was a pleasant flavour but probably a better dish for a group of four to share, than a meal item for one. I had softshell shrimp with aïoli and lemon. Deep fried. I know they're a popular dish, but I did not enjoy the texture. I'm not complaining - I'm sure that's their texture but it felt strange to me. Dessert was a raspberry custard tart. Not beautiful, but the flaky pastry was a revelation. Go! Sit at the bar if you can, and watch the show. And if you like bitter flavour, try that...

I’m not the type to leave bad reviews. But I was so outraged at the management of this restaurant and felt a need to express. I’ve been wanting to visit this place for months. And it is advertised as a ‘Spanish’ restaurant.

Having lived in Andalusia, Spain for a year and having been to some of the best tapas bars of my life. The fact they wouldn’t allow a mother and her child into a restaurant at 8pm in the middle of summer to eat felt like another level of DISCRIMINATION.

Whats amusing is that in Spain this would never happen. In Spain children are welcomed in public spaces and they generally have a welcoming attitude. So funny that of all the places in Oxford it’s the one claiming to be Spanish that refuses a mother to eat at 8pm. Seeing the irony in this situation helped me to let go how awful this man made me feel.

When approaching the restaurant I was met with a moody waiter. He could have been the boss or manager. Maybe not. But he was unfriendly to say the least. He was very blunt and said I wasn’t allowed in with a child - who was sleeping dare I say. Now I would maybe understand if this was a bar. But this is a restaurant primarily. I have never been refused entry to a restaurant or a pub in the evening with the desire of getting dinner.

If the man had been friendly and gentle in his approach. I wouldn’t be leaving this poor review. He didn’t even say I could come back at lunch or explain why the restaurant wouldn’t allow mothers in. They said some stupid thing about a license.

My attitude is that if pretty much every restaurant in Oxford is capable of getting a ‘license’ to allow mothers to eat then why this place isn’t capable I have no idea.

Turns out this place is trying to get a Michelin star. Well I went to the best restaurant of my life in wales a few weeks ago. Now that was Michelin star quality and they didn’t make me feel I couldn’t enjoy an evening meal with my child being there. Everyone in the restaurant including the staff and customers absolutely adored my child and nor did she interrupt anyone’s meal. I suggest they re-assess this ridiculous rule.

You never know who will be deciding which restaurant gets the star ;) every customer should be treated with respect. Period.

I felt outraged and angry. Mothers of all people who are breastfeeding especially should be welcomed in to restaurants to eat and even encouraged to eat. I’ve only had kindness from every restaurant I’ve entered since becoming a mum.

I suggest the restaurant re-assesses this grumpy somewhat sexist man being front of house as he clearly has the wrong attitude to what customer service...

A real disappointment. We came here for a special occasion and left blown away by the limited selection, bang average dishes and how unbelievably overpriced it was. Drinks first - they have two beers on draft starting at £3.50 for 275ml which is already pretty expensive even by Oxford standards, but is also, to my knowledge, illegal to serve in that measure. It isn't even half a pint! Wine comes in small 125ml glass, 'carafe', or bottle, but the carafe is a paltry 375ml and is priced at what you might expect to pay for a bottle elsewhere. The menu is pretty limited and even for tapas the portion sizes are small, especially given the prices. The £13 chicken thigh was two small, thin thighs in a tomato sauce with a couple of spring onions. In many places along the Cowley Road, £13 would get you a full main course. The pork belly was even more expensive and even more meagre. It bared no resemblance to any belly pork I have had before; it was small, dry and lacked any real flavour. The sobrassada was probably the biggest joke - £8 for a single very burnt slice of toast spread with a layer of sausage meat so thin that it was undetectable by taste. The honey did little to complement this. The crispy chickpea salad was the only notable dish in terms of its innovation. It was genuinely tasty and the chickpeas were cooked in a really novel way. The other dishes we tried: sardines, betroot borani, aubergine, roast cauliflower and octopus were all fine but largely unremarkable, which would be forgivable if it weren't for the sky-high prices. Service was good, cocktails were tasty and the main room where you enter had a nice atmosphere, although we were seated off in the side room which was pretty dingy with little in the way of decoration save some small prints on the wall and the saddest string of hearts plant I have ever seen. I presume this place must have been much better in the past as I find it hard to see how it would have gained such popularity in its current state. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I won't be rushing back. There are plenty of better tapas places in Oxford, even on the...