San Marzano Witney — Restaurant in West Oxfordshire

UPDATED AUGUST 2025..Monday night, anniversary dinner. Put at a table for 2. Asked to be moved, after 5 minutes, as the front door was kept open, creating an uncomfortably cold draft. Told to stay at the table, a staff member closed the door. After having starters, 1 hour later our mains turned up. I was forced to chase up where our main course was, hadn't appeared., getting up and approached the bar where 3 members of staff were organizing drinks for customers. Told it would be 2mins, which turned into 10mins As we were not very impressed at the 1-hour wait, we decided not to order anything else. We were offered complimentary limoncello, as it was an anniversary. But we were by that point just wanting to pay. Appreciate that 2 cocktails were not charged for, as a gesture of good will because of the long wait for our main course, and no service charge.

I have previously given a glowing review a few months back. But something has changed. The waiting staff are very young; there used to be three Italian guys who were excellent customer-facing waiting owners/staff. Not English students age

Although the food is very good. There was a chaotic 'faulty tower' background of service going on. Waitress was doing her best, the guys were going around, apologising that cetrain menu item were not available, after the Waitress had taken orders. Add in other issues, other customers too hot etc opening the door, draft issue wars began. Then I noted a staff member turn air-conditioning on.. problem solved. Why it wasn't on anyway at opening, I don't know..And finally music was way to loud. Overall, good food, but not the best anniversary evening.

........SEPTEMBER 2024.Monday night, birthday dinner for my wife at San Marzano Restaurant was an enjoyable evening.  The quality of the food was excellent. Full of flavour and obviously cooked from fresh on the premises.  We both had the soup of the day, tomato & basil. Really good quality tomato soup, that was perfectly hot.  This was followed by my Salmon con Crema. Very generous potion of salmon, served with new potatoes, tomatoes,  peppers, etc.  Absolutely delicious.  My wife had Pollo Con Funghi, also a generous sized chicken breast, cooked in white wine, mushroom cream sauce. Also served with sautéed new potatoes.  All of this was followed by the most perfect Tirimisu.  The customer service was genuinely caring that customers were having a good experience,  which I felt was the reflected by positive comments from the others in the room. For a Monday night,  a good 40% of tables taken, which is a sign of popular restaurant.  For such good quality food and standards of customer care,  the overall cost was very reasonable. I particularly like that service charges were not included and are at the discretion of the customer to chose an option on the card machine. A big plus in my opinion. (Service charges added on to bills, is a particular hang up of mine. I will get it taken off. It's a customers choice,  to leave a gratuity they feel is appropriate)

Overall,  a delightful evening, lovely food, great staff and definitely will be returning, with friends to try some of the alternatives...

We went for lunch on Saturday at this Italian restaurant. We didn’t have a booking, but since we arrived relatively early, they were able to accommodate the five of us (3 kids and 2 adults).

For the kids, we ordered plain pasta with cheese, a Margherita pizza, and spaghetti carbonara. The plain pasta was simple but tasty, and the Margherita pizza stood out for both its flavor and size, even though it was from the kids’ menu. We can tell they use quality ingredients, and the taste was excellent. The carbonara was prepared the authentic way, with egg yolk (not cream) and an Italian cured meat instead of bacon, which gave it a fantastic flavor. Each dish was between £7.50 and £8.50, with the option of adding dessert for £9.95. One thing that could be improved would be to include a drink in the kids’ menu.

For the adults, we started with burrata, which was the only dish that could be improved – it came with just two tiny slices of bread and really should have been served with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil. As mains, we had penne al forno (highly recommended!) and penne arrabbiata, which really surprised me with its delicious, slightly spicy flavor that still allowed the other tastes to shine.

The only thing I missed was having more staff available, though Jack and Oni did an outstanding job. The two of them managed to serve the whole restaurant during peak time, and everything came to our table exactly as ordered thanks to the teamwork with the kitchen.

Overall, this is definitely a place to come back to: excellent ingredients, fair prices, and VERY...

This was our first visit. Apparently the restaurant has only been open for 14 months.

The restaurant itself is cosy, the staff are welcoming and clearly passionate about what they do. The love comes through at every level.😊

They had lovely menus for food and drinks; including a mocktail menu (which as a non-drinker I really appreciate.) I had a berry based mocktail which was very flavourful. There is an extensive wine list and other alcoholic drinks too.

We had a zucchini salad to start. This had a lovely amount of all the ingredients in perfect ratio. It was well seasoned and was nice to share; you can order a small or large portion size. Large was great to share as a starter.

I had the Bolognese and my husband had a pizza with spicy salami, mozzarella and black olives. Both dishes were beautifully cooked and the portion sizes were perfect.

Pudding for me was chocolate and pistachio cannoli and for my husband a banoffee pie. The puddings were home made and we're just delicious.

There is a set lunch menu which offers 3 courses for £21 and 2 courses for £18. It's a limited menu compared to the main menu, but is still delicious and is friendly on the pocket and the tummy.

We hadn't planned to eat at San Marzano and just walked in without a reservation. We are so glad we did! We will definitely be returning.

Thank you for a...