Taberu — Restaurant in Oxford

The outward appearance of the venue made the restaurant appear smaller than it is. However, those frequently visited the place, will get the chance to be seated in the upper section, away from the front of the bar area. The front area, allows seating for 3 couples and a table fit for 4. The section on the upper seating area will allow few groupings of 4. It's a modern setting for ambience, similar to having a bite inside a capsule hotel. However, if you have a big group thinking of making a visit, to avoid disappointment on seating, call in advance to book your seating and let the management know how they can accomodate a group i.e. more than 4 people! ✍

Tend to visit the restaurant for lunch, so far, not disappointing, the waitresses there very attentive and will try their best to help, my advice is simply ask them early with any kind of enquiries in regarding the menu or allergies that need catered for and things will be done. Notably, waitress named Alice been very polite and cheerful, which was pleasant. 🙂The upper section is away from the bar, so requests would not be as fast compared to seated by the front of the bar. But now and then, when a waitress passes through, take your chance to make requests.

Not really a person that drinks alcohol, so the eat in drink menu seems a bit wasted on the likes of myself. But typical cold drinks on offer, there is iced green tea, oolong tea or bottled ramune that worth a note. Along with other typical soft drinks. Menu update is the Kyoto Green Tea no longer same brand, but from Pokka. Maybe, the restaurant should consider their Iced Coffee!

Dessert menu, mostly ice cream mochi with few flavours ranging from black sesame, green tea matcha and chocolate. The apple gyozas with vanilla ice cream seems more appealing and its probably the better choice out of the rest. Those not acquainted with mochi, my suggestion may just be the one, as it is similar to eating apple pie served along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a strawberry split into two halves.

The bill when eating there with 2, often amounts to £40 or slightly above but likely under £50. I would at least ordered drinks twice for 2, some sides and 2 mains. FYI, no service charge applies to the bill unlike many restaurants which automatically put 10% charge on the bill. I would say, its not that pricey for its worth. Since most dishes would be well presented and tasted exceptional. It beats most franchises out in the town. Just don't expect top end quality, like a fine sushi restaurant you can find in LDN or JPN. I would usually round up my bill and take no change as a tip or at least offer £2 to £3 as a tip, as a gesture of goodwill. The waitresses do carry a lot back and forth, so tipping is really just a thank you.

When it comes to sushi, tend to pick Uramaki just to share, 8pcs on the platter. Taberu and Cowley Roll worth trying there.

The side menu, Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki tasted very similar. The difference is presentation. If you fancy being Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid movie, pick the latter and off you go with the chopsticks, try clamp those balls. The former, you get it in skewers, and its like ice lolly sticks. Therefore, its friendly for children and those less acquainted with the art of eating with chopsticks.

Tried Chicken Katsu Curry here, the Chicken is not overly done with the frying, so keep it up guys. Crispy n Tender. But what Sushi Mania or Wasabi did better with the curry is the addition of chunky potato cubes, made a difference. Giving it the texture.

Tempura wise, soft shelled crab and king prawns is usually my regular choice when it comes to a light fry up in a Japanese restaurant. However, consistency could be an issue with different cooks. My 1st visit, their tempura king prawns was presented as few literally straightened up fried prawns, comically appeared like Pocky Sticks... My expectation would be slightly widened and fluffy king prawns which is the generic standard. Other than that single occasion, nothing too critical. As most times,...

A week ago I celebrated my 21st Birthday with the loveliest dinner in the upstairs private dinning room - I truly can't recommend this experience enough!!

I called the restaurant to book which was a smooth and easy process which to my pleasant surprise did not require any deposit despite it being a large group of us (the room has a capacity to seat 16).

Upon entering we were led through and up the stairs to a the room which was nicely decorated and not too stuffy as to allow for a comfortable experience although there were 16 of us in the room on a summers evening. I was then introduced to our lovely waitering staff for the evening: Lila and Abhijit. They were dedicated to ensuring that our party were as comfortable as possible and did their upmost best to accommodate all of our requests. Their service was impeccable and the evening was magical because of them.

I had eaten lunch at Taberu a couple of times prior and the food had always been top notch. The dinner menu similarly did not disappoint!! My particular favourites were the fried vegetable gyozas (some of the nicest I've ever eaten) and the Cowley Road sushi roll.

To top it all off, the staff accommodated that my parents pay us a quick visit in the middle of dinner to make a toast and to cut cake. My parents called prior and the staff were incredibly helpful and nice to them so it ended up being a surprise to me (a testament to the smoothness and skill of customer service as Taberu) !!!

Thank you Taberu for making my 21st celebrations...

Just arrived back from the U.S., East coast. After a long international flight a good meal was much needed and Taberu was highly rated on Google Maps. Finding parking was a nightmare, but we eventually found parking near the church several blocks away. It was a good walk to be able to see what's in the area of this side of Oxford. We missed the 11AM-12PM lunch crowd as it was not busy at the time we arrived at Taberu. The hostess was welcoming and she promptly got us to a table of our choice. The server was also courteous and welcoming and he was helpful to share his knowledge of the menu. The menu had a good variety and had a few dishes of some of our fave Asian restaurants back home. I looked forward to eating an Asian noodle dish. We were served our drinks and given some fortune cookies while we waited for our meals. The atmosphere was energizing with the sound of Latin dance music playing. Our food was served nice and hot. I was so hungry I forgot to take pics of our dishes. I took a pic of the menu at the front store window before we left Taberu. The only negative is the decor and restaurant table furnishings need updating and the latrines are located below the restaurant/underground. Overall, a decent place to eat Asian...