I had high hopes for The Oxford. It's one of my favourite pubs, as a pub. It has a pretty good atmosphere. I like the outside, yet undercover area. I had a private function there for New years eve, and it was cheap and everyone had a good night. They had a private "downstairs" area, that looks kind of like a dungeon. It's cute, I like it. I was excited to see how they went for food. I wanted to see The Oxford in my top 5.
Food Choices
Ccccccombo breaker! Back to the drawing board. No options. Seriously. There was a vegetarian pasta on the special menu that was $27.50 and some sides! That was all. Otherwise, no options. To make matters worse, there were lots of meat dishes with amazing sounding (vegetarian) ingredients such as lentils and quinoa. Basically they had everything they needed in their kitchen to make something amazing, and they were choosing not to. I looked through their sides menu, and they actually had a quite a range, all for $7.
I ordered the macaroni cheese. I was pleased. Most of the dishes were over $25, closer to $30 and I wanted to cut The Oxford some slack. I was going to give them high marks for value for money, even though mostly their meals were expensive, because I was able to eat something for $7.
Food quality
But they disappointed me... In the worst possible way. The macaroni cheese had bacon in it! It's partially my fault. I should have asked if it did. That said my friend did said to the waitress when she took our order "I wanted a vegetarian dish... I guess I'll just get the mac and cheese", which implies a meat-less dish is expected. It could have been misinterpreted, but let's move on. I was able to take the dish back and get a meat-free version. This meant that by the time I had my meal, everyone else had finished eating. It also meant that I'd finished my drink, consequently drinking my calories, and thus no longer being hungry.
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| This is not an attractive looking dinner |
When I eventually got my meal I wasn't expecting much. It was pretty terrible. The pasta wasn't even macaroni, and it wasn't cooked properly. It tasted, and I'll quote my friend here "Like someone has taken some pasta and grated some cheese on top and gone DONE!". It really wasn't very special. My friend who had also ordered the same actually sent his back. I ate most of mine, but I wasn't impressed. Suddenly $7 seemed like a lot of money. I thought at first it was really reasonable for dinner, but when I realised I could get a bag of cheap pasta from Coles for 99c, and a block of cheese for a few dollars and I could make it myself it suddenly felt like a rip-off. In fact, I could make it better myself.
Overall Rating
1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3): 0.5 - 0.5 for the overpriced vegetarian dish. Nothing for the sides, even though there was lots of them. I cannot be sure they were vegetarian.
Quality of meal (1-3): 1
Value for money (1-3): 1 - Most dishes were quite expensive. $7 for that mess suddenly wasn't worthwhile
X-factor (0-1): 1
Total: 35%
Guess I will have to drink my calories tonight...
(You know, I say this ever week, but this is the first time I've actually done it!)
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