Branca Bar, Restaurant and Deli — Restaurant in Oxford

No Longer As Consistently Good As It Used to Be?

Branca (or "Brancas" as it is normally known) was a synonym for consistency, you always knew you would get a well-prepared dish. Well that is my experience based on many family visits over the last couple of decades, although admittedly they have dropped off a lot over the last few years.

But based on last night's experience some cracks are appearing. It wasn't a good start when at 6:15 (on a Friday) there was only one barman working, it took quite a while to get our first drinks at the bar. And with only one person working front-of-house meant another wait to get a table. And the table wasn't one of the nice old small round ones which make for what I think is a more intimate experience but a much more boring lighter brown square one that looked quite out of place. The bread is still very nice though, as were the two starters we shared, the crispy fried squid and the king prawn bruschetta (which is particularly good).

I ordered one of my two favourites, the smoked haddock risotto, as did my wife. Here is where the real disappointment began, it was well over-cooked with no "bite" whatsoever in the rice. We said it wasn't right. Unfortunately it seems it can't be served less over-cooked, and apparently no one else had complained. As an alternative I ordered my other all-time favourite which is the rare-grilled tuna. This arrived looking much different to usual. Instead of a flat "slice" of tuna I got very chunky pieces, so you get a huge block of rare tuna in a relatively thin seared surround. Not such an enjoyable experience (I did eat it), and when this was pointed out afterwards there seemed to be agreement that this wasn't how it should have been served. We got the bill, we were charged for what we ate, no deductions for the issues suffered.

On the way out I noticed that there are now diners placed on several tables in the bar area which I don't remember being the case in earlier visits. One table overlooks the spiral staircase down to the toilets, another is pushed up against the bland wooden hoardings covering the adjacent hotel construction work, the tables seem remarkably close to the outside door and whatever cold drafts will result from the many comings and goings during a cold evening. When either the bar is busy or it is cold outside I wouldn't want to eat there.

It wasn't all bad by any means, other dishes were very good (as they always are) and there are many worse places to eat, but here's hoping overall consistency returns. And apologies for not having written a better review during those...

I visited this place a week ago with my girlfriend (August 1st 2020). Although the food was good, we didn't enjoy the experience and the reason is really poor application of Covid-19 related measures. There was hand sanitizing liquid at the entrance and tables more distanced than usual and that's about it. Waiters were not wearing mask or face shield. When serving they were bending over our table talking while doing so. Excuse me guys, what's so difficult.. just wear a mask, when you serve, if you want to ask something do so from some distance, then serve without speaking in our face. Furthermore you could see waiters just working next to each other speaking into each others face, guaranteing that if one of them is infected all others will be too. Also mingling with customers, most of whom are too cheerful to worry about Covid, then going around the tables to serve and chat a bit more, like bees on a mission to "pollinate" all of us. Before we leave we asked a waiter if they are tested regularly, to our surprise he said no and... after a couple more questions he said that if one worries about Covid, they shouldn't be eating out. I am sorry guys, such recklessness is inexcusable. When nonsense like "Eat out to help out" has become a goverment policy, you should be doing the basics to help yourselves. If you cannot integrate some simple heath and safety measures to your work you are just unprofessional and should close. Anyway, as you imagine the night was not very enjoyable for 2 people that are worried about Covid and try to stay safe. 2 stars instead of 1 because otherwise the...

We went to Branca for dinner. We had high expectations, however were not very impressed.

We ordered the bruschetta to start - it was quite small and overloaded with too many ingredients. They had cherry tomatoes, olives, onion and garlic sautéed as the base, with a large piece of mozzarella and a scoop of roasted red pepper pesto on top. It was a confusing dish, with too many flavours going on.

As a main I had the burger and skinny fries. The burger was cooked medium - which was great - however the toppings were sparse with no sauce.

My partner had the aubergine pizza. It was way undercooked, and not in the Neapolitan undercooked way. It again had way too many ingredients, and made for a confusing dish. It had a tomato base, too much cheese making it greasy, a plethora of roasted vegetables and pesto on top of it all. You were unable to discern the flavours, making it over done.

Finally, we had several of the side salads which were extremely small and over flavoured, taking away from the simplicity of the ingredients.

I don't know what Branca is going for with these dishes, however I don't think they know either. They need to pair down the ingredients list and let the food speak for itself.

Unfortunately we...