Gusto Italian - Oxford — Restaurant in Oxford

The place itself was cute, and had tons of plants in the windows - which is what brought my partner and I in (along with a craving for a nice Caesar salad). We were seated immediately by the host, but it took our server around 15-20 minutes to even acknowledge us and take our order. He only offered us still or sparkling water choices, and we were charged for the still water, even though the table next to us was able to order tap water (which we would have been more than fine with).

He didn’t allow my partner to order two starters for lunch, versus choosing a starter and a main. It was a bit confusing. So he ended up going with a carbonara and the calamari to share. I ordered the Caesar salad and was very much looking forward to it. We also got a couple of beers - and thank god for those beers in hindsight.

The calamari came out first. It was a small serving and of course we weren’t given side plates so we had to awkwardly eat from the one bowl. I ended up having to hold my cutlery in my hand for so long since there was no way to rest it anywhere. Multiple servers walked by and would have noticed, but no one came by to check on us. Our actual server was completely MIA.

A family came in and were sat next to us (along with side plates and tap water) and they were served faster than us, even though we had been there earlier. I had to go looking for our server when another coworker (finally) came out with our meals. He must have left for the day without saying anything. Bye I guess.

My salad was probably the saddest salad I’ve ever seen. See attached photo. Words won’t do it justice. I’ve never had full blown anchovies hanging out on top of uncut Romain leaves, but here we are. I couldn’t dare to bring myself to eat the croutons, but my partner took the plunge. Lo and behold: they were soggy and soft. Not what is ever expected. My partner’s pasta was better looking but was severely undercooked and unseasoned. A travesty.

This place is not worth the money. We were lucky enough to eat at some incredible restaurants with impeccable service that weren’t as pricey as this. I joked saying that we were paying for Gusto’s aesthetic washrooms.

I will always make sure to read reviews...

On Wednesday 6th December we went to Oxford for the day and wanted to visit the historic MITRE restaurant. it's a shame the name has been changed on such an historic building but anyway, we ordered: pate starters / duck breast and The Italian gusto burger for mains..with a small lager and a glass of water this should only have totalled around £40 AS THE MENU LISTED. The meals were awful and arrived thus: Pate with very small thin slice of toast / Duck breast meal literally consisted of two tiny slices of gristly duck, ( one of which burned) and a table spoon dollop of mashed potato! absolute rubbish..How can they ruin a straight forward order of burger and fries costing over £15 you may ask, well they serve it as a 6 inch high burger held together with wooden skewer, on a wooden kydney shaped bit of wood. there is NO WAY you can pick the thing up to eat it, and you must dismantle it on the unhygienic porous wooden surface of these tiny wooden boards. it's a joke, especially when the actual burger is better described as lumps of loose minced meat which inevitably fall off the stupid wooden base. it's NOT A GOOD BURGER and having it served as they do is insulting. As usual, waiter waits until one has a mouthful of food and THEN asks ; "is everything Okay" I replied "not really, how can I eat this when I need a plate! "Oh I sorry" was the waiters reply,.." you second man not like this!" in broken English, As if that was some kind of excuse or explanation. LOOK in England English people ACCEPT RUBBISH FOOD all the time, and I just left it and asked for the bill. THE BILL WAS OVER £50 AND INCLUDED NOT ONLY A £7,50 SEVICE CHARGE, for being served an awful burger on the equivalent of a small chopping board) BUT ALSO THEY INCLUDE A POUND JUST BECAUSE THEY FEEL LIKE IT , SO SAY FOR CHARITY..HOW DARE YOU GUSTO ITALIAN. WE WILL NEVER DINE HERE AGAIN. YOU HAVE RUINED THIS LOVELY RESTAURANT WITH RUBBISH FOOD , WORSE SERVICE, OVER CHARGING AND ADDING THINGS TO A BILL WHICH YOU HAVE NO LEGAL RIGHT TO DO. AND SERVING FOOD ON TINY POROUS UNHYGENIC WOODEN PLATTERS! DISCRACEFUL IS THE WORD...no news there then for English...

After getting in 10,000 steps and finding myself on High Street it’s time for a little more than a bowl of rice crispies topped with a banana and 2 cups of coffee.

I am on my own now because Margaret and Victoria have headed off to Paris yesterday.

I am outside of the Gusto Restaurant and I wasn’t sure until I walked in. I looked at the menu, but I decided it is time for a bit of sirloin .

This is the first time since I’ve been in the UK that I’ve had table service.

I miss being escorted to my table when I go out to dinner, the fact that happened made me think I was in for something special.

I also miss the person who comes to the table to take your order.. back in the old days we used to call them waiters or waitresses. I know there’s a debate that a waitron may not be proper and considered disparaging as opposed to server. Well what if the person who takes your order is not the same person who delivers it to your table, are they still considered a server?

The Meal

Everything that came to the table was hot. Oh, by the way, it was served by a different person than the person who took my order. The sirloin was pink and delicious the roast potatoes with a bit of a skin from the roasting , a good size, Yorkshire pudding with extra gravy, hot carrots, chives, hot cauliflower, beets, and a bit of a hot cabbage type coleslaw.

Dessert

The sticky toffee pudding was my choice and without any exaggeration, I can’t remember ever such a tasty dessert. The combination of the chocolate on the fluffy cake along with the sticky toffee was an amazing combination.

The Service

The staff were very attentive. The waitron / server Laura who took my order seem to keep an eye on my table during the course of my meal. She was very pleasant and had recommendations for items to try. Great service. Thanks Laura.

A 12.5% service charge is automatically added to your bill. I didn’t have any problem with that. It was...