Shezan — Restaurant in Oxford

Went for a group meal arriving 8.30 in the evening; the resteraunt only had a few customers on tables. The first thing we noticed was that the resteraunt was incredibly hot & uncomfortable.

We ordered our beers (Cobra) and when they arrived several of the glasses where filthy!!

On perusal of the menu it didn't have the traditional Indian food one would expect bhaji's, madras, vindaloo etc. They where prepared to cook off menu (reluctantly) and the waiter did state that their madras would not taste like a traditional madras that you would get elsewhere. Deciding that time was against us the group ordered only a main course.

Well the waiter was right; the madras was somewhere between vindaloo and a phal!! The taste was overwhelmed by the amount of chilies that had been added. The garlic nan & rice where both cooked well. The rest of the curries where cooked to a reasonable standard to their credit.

The toilet facilities where filthy, looked like they hadn't been cleaned for weeks; dust on all the surfaces, no toilet roll or hand-drying facilities. If that's the state of the toilets which where appalling one can only imagine how bad the kitchen is!!

The service was rediculously slow we arrived at 8.30 and left at 11.10. It took them over 2 and a half hours to serve us 2 rounds of drinks, poppadoms and a main for a group of 12!

A very...

Very bad service. The staff is very condescending. The owner is a raciest.

We were a group of 8 people (two families from India), on a road trip in England this summer. We decided to visit Oxford at the end of the trip, naturally having four mid 50's people in the group craving Indian food. We ended up going to Shezan (in High Street Oxford). My parents, aunt and uncle all love biryani. Hence we all ordered biriyani, my aunt asked if they served "Mirchi ka salaan" (Some ethnic gravy that goes with the biriyani). The owner replies, "This is not Hyderabad, its High Street Oxford".

I thought the owner was a very offensive and was rude while taking the order. He was very dismissive of us when we asked details of the cuisine. At one instance my dad asked one of the staff member if he understands Hindi, the staff member who was actually speaking to the owner in Hindi replied in his British accent that he does not and understand what my dad was about to ask for.

Over all, we were treated very badly, and I would not recommend Shezan to any one. After all one deserves to be feed...

So this is my first review of a restaurant and this place deserves it.

As an absolute foodie who tries multiple restaurants in a week, holder of Tastecard for over 5 years, I have visited a fair share of restaurants. Last night I stumbled across this one in the heart of Oxford and boy it was the best thing!! I have been trying a vegetarian diet recently and their Chana masala and Mutter Paneer was out of this world. I have not tasted such freshly cooked food outside of India. It was well balanced and the flavours just burst in your mouth. The wait for the food is rightly justified because they make it all from scratch. No two curries will taste the same and no reheated sauces like most Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants do. I ended up asking for extra naan bread which literally melted in my mouth and also ordered more food for home. Also they played the best Hindi classic songs which was then replayed in my head through the night until i went to bed. what a great atmosphere!!!

I'd be going there again and cannot recommend this...