Rafters Music and Food — Restaurant in Oxford

Having read that this was the “best brunch in Oxford“, I was quite excited to stop in. It is located in the upstairs area of a wonderful older building. As the name might giveaway, you can see the large rafters and feel like you are a part of something magical. Unfortunately the only reason this review receives two stars is the interior space.

Realizing that we are in the midst of a labor shortage, I am reticent to comment on staff. There are, however, instances where it cannot be avoided. It appears that the two hostesses on duty do not care for one another. I, and a large waiting party, got to witness some of their sniping. It appears that one of the hostesses, also charged with bussing tables, was not thrilled about working this day. Her efforts are wiping the table consisted of one spray to a tiny corner follow by random swipes with a rag. Our waiter seem to be an earnest young man who wanted to get through the basics of his job. This at least allowed one of our party to get a refill, but I was not so lucky.

We ordered the chicken and waffles, and the adult grilled cheese with fries. The crust of the chicken is actually quite tasty. It has just the right amount of spice and is thick and golden. The rest of the meal was terrible, mostly because it was ice cold. No one in the history of the world has ever had a decent cold grilled cheese sandwich. Maybe it was just an off day for them, although they didn’t seem to be overwhelmingly busy. Based upon today I must disagree with anyone who claims this to be the best...

I went in to meet my daughter. Ordered a beer, realized my debit card was not in my purse. I paid for my beer with a credit card and quickly asked the bartender to to hold my beer behind the bar while I went to the previous bar to ask for my debit card. I return and I'm told I'm not allowed back in because three people said I bumped into them (it was shoulder to shoulder). So that was my last chance to see my daughter before going back to illinois. I literally did nothing. I wasn't in there long enough...

I've come here in the past, and the food is always good. Today, though, we waited for an hour and a half and never got our food. We also never got a water refill. We did get our appetizer, so we did pay for that and eventually left. This is not to say that Rafters is a bad restaurant because the food and drinks are good! Like any restaurant experience, sometimes there are bad service days and today was...