The Bombay Restaurant
Price guide: Budget
82 Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford, OX2 6EA
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#23 of 27
expert-rated restaurants in Oxford- Recommended for:
- Backpackers / Students, Families with teenagers, Families with younger children, First-time travellers, No fuss
Expert review of The Bombay Restaurant
The best 'bring your own bottle' Indian restaurant in Oxford.
There’s nothing remotely pretentious about the Bombay. It opened in 1955 in an old Jericho shop and now extends back like a long thin corridor of white tablecloths and red carpet. The staff are mainly from Bangladesh and they work hard keeping everyone served. There’s virtually no room to wait – just a chair and a small table with a copy of today’s Times – but that doesn’t stop people queuing to get in.
Me Ali Ashrat, the gentle manager, is always in attendance and seems to remember everyone. Given the mark-up on wine these days, the 'bring your own bottle' policy makes the place very popular and there are two off-licenses nearby where you can stock up on chilled wine or beer.
Food and drink:
Standard Indian restaurant food with Halal Bangladeshi specials and a few baltis too. The tandoori mixed grill is copious and excellent and the restaurant has twice won Oxfordshire's Curry Chef of the Year title. Fresh fish dishes are also recommended as are the vegetarian side dishes. In fact, it's difficult not to recommend everything!
Ambience:
Friendly and easy going but can be noisy. The one problem with being such good value, so tolerant and operating a corkage-free BYOB policy, is that you can be unlucky and coincide with a long table of very noisy, very drunk Oxford students who will politely say “terribly sorry” if you ask them to keep the noise down... and then go back to yelling at each other. The staff make no attempt to police these hearty creatures. I love the Bombay, but tend to avoid Friday and Saturday nights in term time.
Service:
Quiet, amiable and efficient.
Location:
At the north end of Jericho just past Walton Street Cycles and the gated entrance to St Sepulchre’s Cemetery. All this land used to be Walton Manor Farm. In the 19th century, Eagle Ironworks was built on the canal-side and the was cemetery created behind it because Oxford’s churchyards were overcrowded with corpses from epidemics. Many of the Victorian great and good were buried here until St Sepulchre’s was also full. Worth having a look if you have a few moments before your meal.
Price advice:
Main courses cost around £10-£14. It's all a question of whether you can resist over-ordering!
Tables to book:
In term time try to keep to the front of the restaurant. Noisy student parties tend to be put in the second section, towards the back.
Other useful branches:
This is not part of the Bombay Brasserie chain.
More information on The Bombay Restaurant:
- Price guide:
- Type:
- Restaurant
- Food:
- Indian
- Address:
- 82 Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford, OX2 6EA
- Telephone:
- 01865 511188
- Serves:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Opening times:
- Mon-Sun noon-2.30pm and 6pm-10.45pm.
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Reservations:
- Suggested
