Turl Street Kitchen

My favourite place to bring visitors to Oxford — delicious food, wine, and coffee, and a great ambience.

Stopped by this place while studying abroad in July 9f this year, and it was awesome. The food and service was good but what makes this a 5 star review is the chocolate brownie dessert. It’s the best chocolate dessert I have EVER had. The brownie was moist, warm and buttery, while the chocolate sauce was rich and gooey. The warm brownie slightly melted the home made whipped cream, which made a wonderful type of new sauce when mixed with the chocolate sauce. The fruit on top created a nice tart and refreshing bite, complementing the rich dessert perfectly.
If I go back to Oxford, it will be for this dessert alone.

No variety for breakfast. No eggs???
Service was uncaring
Coffee is weak
Go elsewhere!

Turl Street Kitchen is a quaint working space that also offers food. The Kitchen is split into three areas – the restaurant is to the right from the main entrance, bar is to the left, and the café (sitting area) is upstairs. I didn’t sit down to eat at the Kitchen restaurant, but I did order an iced americano and a muffin to bring upstairs and accompany me while doing some work. The muffin was meh (American muffins are the way to go, y’all, haha), but the coffee was strong and delicious.
There were a large handful of people on the couches in the café area, and it was rather quiet. Free wifi is definitely an added bonus!
Tl;dr — nice place to recuperate and/​or get some work done if you’re in Oxford.

Good food, nice setting, pretty quick service, little pricey, constantly changing menu.
I’ve been here a few tines and the food has been good every time. The location is great. The service has always been quick and friendly. The style of food is a good mix of classical, modern and local. The options on the menu are usually good, if limited for vegetarians.
The problem can be the changing menu. If you book a table for Sunday afternoon, you have no idea what’s going to be available. I don’t really like this as I quite like to plan ahead.
It’s a little bit pricey, but the food is good and money goes to student services so can’t complain.

Amazing. The hour I spent drinking tea and eating soup and bread made me want to move to Oxford immediately. Absolutely visit this location. It is quaint, the people are lovely, and the atmosphere is delightful. I cannot wait to go back!

Super friendly atmosphere and workers. Delicious fresh ginger beer. And very tasty local, fresh food. Menu changes daily. Last night I had the beet root/​Gorgonzola/​mixed greens salad (yum!) I don’t know what the dressing was, but it was so tasty! Then I had the squash lentil stew, also packed with flavor. When I asked for bread, I was charged an additional 1£ but it was well worth it. Fresh baked, whole grain.
I have 3 nights in Oxford for a conference and I think I will go back for another meal before I leave!
Also, as I was alone, I sat in the more casual area at a table I shared with a stranger while he read a paper and I passed some time on my iPad. Free wifi.

The atmosphere at TSK is commendable. Lots of people working and using the free wifi. Many spaces to work and people will generally share tables with you. There is more sitting room upstairs as well.
I did not think the filtered coffee or espresso was anything to write home about. The filtered coffee tastes like it had been brewed many hours prior. Both the coffee and espresso were unpleasantly acidic. My guess is that the milk from cappuccinos and lattes masks the poor flavor.

The soup was terrible, thin, and overly doused with cilantro – yuck! I couldn’t even finish it. Service was inexcusable. We had to ask TWICE for the check and then waited about 15 minutes for them to run our cards. Apparently they only have ONE credit card machine. Waitresses were very rude and inattentive. We will not be back.

People always complain about British food. They just don’t know where to go. TSK is a meat and potatoes kind of place, but the meat is fresh (probably never frozen); the side veggies are unique, fresh, and organic; and the menu changes regularly. The ambience is also very quaint. It feels like you are sitting in a living room with a fireplace. Frequently, they will have local singers do a show at TSK. They also have a bar and several beers on tap.

Summary:
+ Great ambience
+ Food is hit and miss
+ Vegetarian dishes are usually good
+ Breakfast is rubbish. Don’t go.
+ Lunch onwards are much better
+ free WiFi
+ Staff a little arrogant
+ Still a lovely place to enjoy the ambience
(Review based on breakfast)
Overall:
This charity-​ran restaurant is always crowded with local people and students who seek for little break from their busy daily chores. The rustic wooden floor and matching tables and chairs add warmth to its cosy dining space.
I have had lunch here a few times and had generally pleasant experience although the quality of food seems to be a little inconsistent. I guess that’s the risk of changing the menu everyday as they do. But I still admit there is a certain charm to this place that makes me want to forget about the minute details of my previous visits.
Menu:
I studied the menu as the person in front of me places his order at the counter, which is located in the front of the restaurant. I was slightly disappointed when I saw that there were very few items to choose from. Also, none of the items on offer seem to be filling enough for my big appetite. The menu included fruit granola, selection of pastries, and DIY toasts. I need a big breakfast with at least three eggs to keep me going for the day. It occurred to me that they probably don’t open kitchen at this time. Nothing in the menu requires cooking. Granola is just about mixing. Anyone can boil eggs. And DIY toasts, well, that is like an ultimate form of service outsourcing. Perhaps a pastry person comes in early morning to do the baking. Or they even source that from another bakery in the area. The breakfast menu is uninspiring to say the least. I mean, no eggs for breakfast? I would rather they didn’t open for breakfast at all.
But I quickly decided to shift the scope of my expectation to go light on breakfast and have a substantial lunch later on to make up for it. After all, it’s not everyday that I get to have a relaxing breakfast in a nice café in this picturesque town. So I ordered a granola yogurt with fruit and an almond pastry with a cup of tea.
Food:
The granola mix was slightly moist and the berry sauce was refreshing. The almond pastry was nice and crispy on the outside and soft inside. But neither of them was particularly impressive.
Overall, the breakfast at Turl Street Kitchen was very disappointing.
If you need to have a filling breakfast like me, and don’t fancy paying for the sort of «complimentary breakfast» that is served in a budget hotel, this place is not for you.
This place is highly overrated but breakfast is particularly bad.
I would still recommend this restaurant for its lovely ambience. But please, not breakfast.

I visited this place to catch up with a friend over a morning cup of coffee. The restaurant/​café is nicely proportioned with plenty of rooms. The staff were also friendly and helpful. Coffee is good too. However, I would avoid the filter coffee. Very weak.
I only had one negative experience while I was there: I found the place a bit on the chilly side which completely ruined the experience for me.
Had the place been warm and the filter coffee been decent I would have given this place five stars. Would still recommend a visit.

Comfortable, friendly, and easy to meet friends in large or small groups. Bonus: fireplace and soft chairs in the lower room.

Great food. Lovely relaxed atmosphere, I recommend you eat here. You won’t be disappointed.

Turl Street Kitchen has a very nice atmosphere. It is quite relaxed, and the décor is almost rustic — it is very inviting. The food was some of the best I’ve had in my short business trip to the UK; it seemed to be prepared with fresh vegetables, and the flavors were unique but tasty.
The prices are very fair, and the service was pretty good. The only downside is that the portions are on the smaller side, and there was a bit of a wait.
Next time I’m in the area, I’ll be sure to visit it again.

The tables are rustic looking and the atmosphere is top.
Had the hugest salad I have ever seen here! It kept me going all day (took half away with me!)
The tea was lovely and the service was nice. What they are doing here is phenomenal. I was very happy with the quality of what I ate and I felt good knowing I was supporting the Hub (it’s come so far!)
Amazing job, guys :)

I’ve eaten here many times with different family and friend groups, including small grandson. I’ve had consistently good experiences, even with some odd behaviour from the boy.
Really good food, surprisingly rare in Oxford, friendly non-​pretentious staff (another welcome surprise) and reasonable prices. The menu changes daily and it’s worth going earlier for widest choice it’s also worth booking if you can be that organised. Lovely bread and butter.

The cheap and cheerfullness of this place belies the freshness and quality of the food served. I was impressed with the regularly changing menu. The soup, salad and Lamb really were good quality, decently cooked, well presented. Friendly and efficient service, a simple wine list to go with the lack of pretense, but still with a couple of high end options if you fancy it (Grand Cru St Emilion for example). Simple décor, scrubbed floors and wooden table tops, and a relaxed atmosphere. Would return.

It’s hard to sum up Turl St Kitchen, because the menu changes every day, to accommodate fresh, seasonal, local ingredients. This is great, but means that many dishes are often hit-​or-​miss. The food style is very homey, and sometimes this ends up detracting from the good ingredients. Often the food can be rather bland and a bit of a mess, which can make the mains disappointing. This happens a bit too often, I’m afraid. The sides are usually good, but sometimes they can be way too salty or way too bland. It’s very inconsistent (sensing a theme, here?). The desserts are usually fantastic. The service is also inconsistent — I’ve been seated and then waited 15 minutes just for someone to come over to take our beverage order (even after clearly staring in the direction of the point-​of-​sale system).
TSK is also a hang-​out/​tea-​all-​day kind of place, which means that it’s open late and also between meal service. You can grab a chair in their comfortable sitting/​living room and have some tea (usually quite good), a latte (decent), or a hot chocolate (appallingly terrible). I’m not sure if I’ve ever had such bitter, tasteless, flavorless hot chocolate in my life.
There is also a full bar, which gets rather busy in the evenings, but the atmosphere is a bit boring for a bar. The sitting room is a nice place to hang out and relax, and they do offer free Wi-​Fi. The dining room is quaint, comfortable, and a nice place to be, even between meal times.
I’ve had some delicious meals at TSK, and I’ve had some very disappointing meals at TSK. When you change your menu twice a day, this is to be expected, but it’s rather unfortunate, as there are some great dishes on the menu, from time to time. It’s also not particularly cheap (roughly £30 for dinner for two). Getting a table for dinner on a Thursday-​Saturday night almost always requires a booking in advance, which involves calling the restaurant and leaving a message, and then receiving a call-​back to confirm — this system is very annoying.
If the food and service were more consistent, and the prices were a little lower (or the food were better overall), it would be a four-​star place. As it is, however, I don’t see anything overwhelmingly special about this place. It’s just «OK».

#492 First of all, I am incredibly surprised that the movement behind Oxford Hubs didn’t also decide to take over Unilocal to spotlight Turl Street Kitchen. Secondly, I have to admit that I have yet to dine at this incredible place. Seriously, go to their website and check out their daily menus — I am super eager to do dinner there within the next couple of weeks. But, most importantly, I decided to drop a line about Turl St. Kitchen because the boyfriend and I dropped by just this past Wednesday around 7PM only to find the place completely packed. There was barely any room to stand, it was so full. The host was nice and greeted us cheerily. But, once he heard that we didn’t have a reservation, he looked super worried for us. Thankfully, he went the extra mile and did a quick run-​around of the place to check if there were any tables that might soon become available. But, of course, given Turl St.‘s popularity, he came back with bad news. So, having learned our lesson, I plan on putting in a reservation soon to guarantee us a spot. I can’t even imagine what the place looks like on a Friday or Saturday evening. Cross your fingers for me!