SHIN Japanese Kitchen & Bar in Oxford

Both chinken and beef Bento box are delicious. Tempura ramen is unsavory. Sashimi is not fresh and delicate enough. I don't recommend. It accepts cash only.

Looks nice sadly I didn't go in there .but always looks busy

We enjoyed the creative and delicious food so much that we ate here twice during our 5-day stay in Oxford. The waitstaff were mostly helpful and friendly. One or two had a negative attitude. They confused our 4-person reservation and booked us into a 2-person table, then they were annoyed that they had to find a larger table to seat us.

The food here was great, service was fast and friendly. Prices also make it great value for money!

Today was my third time visiting SHIN. My first two visits to the restaurant were great, the tonkotsu ramen was fantastic with great portions sizes and the noodles cooked perfectly. I'm very sad to say that today's visit was extremely disappointing, we ordered the beef gyudon and the pork tonkotsu ramen. The ramen noodles were overcooked , the broth watery and lacking flavour and had a mystery nut or seed which my partner had the displeasure of eating, the beef gyudon was one of the worst I've ever tasted, extremely watery and tasteless. We couldn't taste any sake or mirin at all and after adding lots of soy sauce and chilli oil we still struggled to get any flavour out of the dish, they also forgot to add pickled ginger. The glasses smelt extremely bad so we didn't drink any of the water, we weren't asked how our food was so all in all the restaurant left a bad taste in our mouths. They were close to closing but there's no excuse for these kinds of mistakes, please hire chefs that know what they're doing.

Menu looked good, but room for improvement in the service. Unlike other tables, we weren’t asked about any allergies - had they done so, we’d have explained we don’t eat meat or shellfish, and they wouldn’t have served us pork and prawns with our salmon dish…

Why should you go to Shin when there is an excellent choice of different food cusines in Gloucester green market just in front- simply because it is rather sublime! Delightful restaurant with lovely decor. We didn’t have a reservation but didn’t have to wait long for a table for 3. Service was quick and friendly. Only one big eater amongst us otherwise we would have ordered a lot more! We had the chicken yakitori - which was delicious and cost £7.50 for 3 skewers. Two of us chose the chicken karaage bento box- in hindsight maybe we should have chosen one of the other protein. Bento box was a good portion size of crisp chicken, seaweed salad ( thankfully tasty and not slimy!!), two pieces of sushi and generous bowl of rice. It came with a bowl of miso soup. Substantial meal with soy sauce and chilli condiment on the table. Would have liked a little more wasabi and pickled ginger. My son had the pork Yaki soba and refused to allow me to photograph it. Because it looked delicious, tasted super and deserved to be treated with respect - not subjected to silliness!!! We didn’t have dessert or drinks. Really good meal. Fun fact- the rice should be close to you while eating bento- which is similar to when you eat traditional Indian food in a thaali or banana leaf!! The only downside was they only accept cash which is clearly advertised on the door so no excuses- 4 stars because it seems so anachronistic to not accept credit cards in restaurants.

It was served quickly, it was full of flavour. I recommend the lobster ramen, but it is cooked from frozen so the texture is compromised due to this. The ramen with fried chicken on the side had delicious spices in the batter.

A great restaurant, wonderful food

Recommend the Sukiyaki hot pot! Great value for money for Oxford. Been here many times and would come back.

Amazing food and wonderful staff! Its truly an oxford gem. Highly recommended the sushi and hotpot!

Lovely restaurant, welcoming environment and all staff were efficient and friendly. Food was amazing 10/10 definitely go again

Gets the job done. Had a nice Tonkotsu ramen on a cold Jan day and nice sushi box in the summer. Nice solid option.

Authentic Japanese food, which is rare! Highly recommended if you want the real deal

Lovely restaurant in the heart of Oxford, our go-to place when in the city and craving ramen for lunch. We've tried their hashimaki and takoyaki for starters, both of them very tasty and well presented. For mains I'd recommend trying their tonkotsu or champon ramen, both are delicious, with silky smooth broth and full of veg, meat etc. Definitely worth a visit when in Oxford.

Great selection of delicious foods. Seemed authentic.

I was in Oxord for a week and tried three different Ramen places and found their Tonkotsu the best. Both the matcha dessert and their green tea was also very enjoyable. The place only accepted cash. I don't know if this was a temporary thing or general.

Brilliant and quick service, food is delicious. I had the teriyaki glazed eel and it was a thing of beauty

We had Ramen, and it was very good. The Ramen portions were generous and contained fresh leaf I gredients.

We found this place last minute on our trip and it didn’t disappoint. It’s tucked away behind the market. The menu had all the good things and it’s expertly prepared. It really is good. We came in for sushi, but the lobster ramen looked amazing. We had a healthy amount of sushi and a couple of flasks of sake and it came to about £75. Which was great value for what we had. Recommended!

We had the beef on rice (Gyudon). The Gyudon is certainly not Japanese style, which is fine, but it can be less oily and the cut of meat could be better… I’d recommend searching for recipe online if anyone is interested in cooking Gyudon at home - very feasible to replicate a good and authentic dish.

The food is average, too salty… one of the waitresses is extremely nice and helpful. One middle aged waitress with short black hair (who is in charge of assigning table) is extremely rude: asking “one hot pot for six people” in a sarcastic manner and rolled her eyes. When being replied “we ordered other stuff” she went chitchat with her colleagues loudly “the chinese need to chill out”. So not okay….

Gorgeously decorated interior. Incredibly quick service with delicious, generously portioned food. This place is stunning - the tables are decorated to look like they have water running through them, and the painted walls and decor are exquisite and calming. There's an ocean theme which reflects in the care given to all the seafood dishes. There don't seem to be any tables meant for more than four people, so keep in mind that this is meant to be more of intimate dining experience for couples or families. I had the takoyaki and salmon nigiri, and both were filling and delicious. The salmon was extremely fresh, although (personal preference here) I think a lemon vinaigrette or something similarly sour (or even more sushi ginger) would have further improved the rich flavors in my dishes. The restroom is also cash-only, so be prepared there. But otherwise, really lovely experience!

The Bento ‘tea ceremony’ Box is incredible value for £16. Great atmosphere … very buzzy. Attentive staff . Recommended

Easy to forget you're in Oxford, felt as though we were actually in Japan. Even though it was busy we were served quickly and the food was excellent quality. Nice atmosphere and friendly staff

Lovely welcoming place to have decent Japanese food in oxford. Service was very friendly, very reasonable priced. High recommended.

Nice Japanese food, tonkotsu ramen soup is really rich and tasty

Not local to Oxford and we were struggling to find somewhere for Sushi that was more restaurant and less of a takeaway. We stumbled across this restaurant and thought it was fantastic! Both the Sushi and noodles were delicious with staff helping us choose what we wanted.

A very pleasant, authentic-feeling Japanese diner-style restaurant with relaxed ambience, generous portions and eccentric decor. Well worth a visit if you fancy a laid-back and hearty meal; decent location for other Oxford amenities too.

Fantastic restaurant that I will be sure to visit next time in NYC.

Lovely choice of dishes. Ramen is recommended; amazing selection of appetizers. The service is always super-friendly each time we have visited. This is the ramen place to visit while the tourists queue for Ramen Kulture.

Very good quality food and well priced.

Having missed the bus we were resigned to waiting an hour for the next one but I noticed an enticing smell coming from the extractor fan by the bus station so I suggested to my fiancee we could pass the time by having lunch here. Great decision, the food was absolutely delicious and the chefs were working non stop producing exquisite dishes. Can't wait to go back there.

We ordered two Karaage chicken ramen and a chef's selection sashimi. We both agreed that the ramen is disappointed. The broth is tasteless and the ramen noodles isn't authentic too. The chicken is nicely fried though, very crispy in a Japanese style. The sashimi is more disappointed because only the salmon and tuna isn't too bad (still, not very fresh), others are not very nice. Therefore, it's certainly not worth the price (better order salmon / tuna only). Also they are shortage of staff. We've been waited for a long time to pay the bills after we alerted the waiters, but they were busy welcoming other customers and forget about us. The restaurant is pretty small, the tables are small and close to each other, we have to put some of our foods to the adjacent table because there isn't enough space.

I really like this restaurant. Seems authentic to me judging by the clientele. Not too expensive and good service. Cash only is a bit of a pain and they don’t have a proper website. They gave a Facebook page but not all of the menu is properly posted.

Fantastic Food, very friendly staff. Lovely independent restaurant, look no further for very very good japanese food.

The restaurant has a unique and comfortable atmosphere to it and has friendly yet straightforward customer service. The food was quite delicious alongside great presentation, especially the bibimbap and katsu curry. The hot pot was good with a lot of content in it, though as a first time for me, it seemed underwhelming. Regardless, it was a good experience. Only accepts cash, though there are a couple nearby ATMs to withdraw from.

In my opinion this is the best Japanese restaurant I've been to. The staff are very attentive and courteous and the service is great. The food is amazing, fresh and cooked to perfection. I'll be visiting regularly

We have been craving ramen for the longest time, and this was the third ramen place we tried in Oxford, and by far the best! The atmosphere in the restaurant is lovely. It is spacious and the decor is stunning. We ordered two Tonkatsu ramen. The broth looked a bit lighter in colour than what I am used to but it was so delicious and filling! I loved everything about it! Perhaps add an extra slice of pork next time, but 10 out of 10!

Love food definitely coming again!

Reasonably priced average tasting Japanese food. Cash only the night we were there.

Been twice now, always very good food at a reasonable price. Very clean in there, which I always look for. Only issue for me is no card payments but they do accept bank transfers, so that was ok.

Amazing food! Such spicey and nice Japanese food. Lovely staff aswell ❤️

Had a beautiful Japanese meal here! Staff are friendly, and the service is quick. The pumpkin croquettes were to die for!!! The prices were very reasonable too! Would definitely visit again!

Lovely food and friendly staff. Good portions and really tasty. Highly recommended!

Food was ok, we arrived by oxford airline bus and was pretty hungry and want to find a quick bite, price is ok average about 12 per dish. I am surprised this place takes cash only, hmrs please check this place.

Everything was so delicious, great portions and totally reasonable prices! What a gem of a place, I look forward to going back for more.

The service was lovely but unfortunately the food wasn’t that great… we were a bit disappointed

First of all, the food was really yummy, especially the karaage chicken. And the salmon there are also very yummy as well. Second of all, the staff was nice and polite.

This is the best ramen I have ever had! Amazing restaurant. Rated 4 on service as they did bring my wives food over with an allergen in it, however, this was very quickly corrected.

Tasty food, good atmosphere and quick and friendly service. Better on inside than looks on outside!

Great experience with excellent sushi

Tonkotsu ramen + extra pork belly (started eating already) 😋

Awesome chicken katsu curry! Takoyaki was a fun starter but a little mushy for my liking. Prices were good, cash only! Will be back!

This is an amazing and authentic place which I highly recommend. It’s very pretty inside and when we attended it was full of Asians which gave me even more confidence this was the right place. The food was delicious from starters to sushi and mains , all incredible. Fresh and super tasty. I highly recommend to try the octopus balls. The service was fast, staff was very friendly and professional. Will definitely come back and recommend to all my friends.

Ordered via deliveroo and have allergies to sesame. There are no notes section to write down allergies (there sure to be, but not anymore) and so I always call the restaurant. Fair enough they were busy so took 15 mins non stop calling to tell them about the alleriges, they told me the food was ready to go, but they'd sort it out. When the food arrived, there was still a small amount of sesame in one of the dishes ( looked like they'd picked them out but left a few in!) Deliveroo wasn't very helpful at all and I know the place was busy, but I've called other places before and they've picked up to accommodate for allergies. Food is good, but service was very poor, won't be ordering again.

Wow! Absolutely love this place. The exterior is deceiving, it looks nothing special, but the inside is quite magic ✨You won't be short of decor to look at. I had the fish bento box which was just delicious. We are coming again.

great food, excellently prepared sushi, good service. we liked the involvement of the staff...the chef came by our tables and to make sure the food was to our liking. great staff! food prepared beyond our expectations! we'll be back! the Chef is a great professional ... not to be missed! Thank you

London has great asian food but not really good japanese, however we found our japanese food in Oxford instead. LOL. They have a huge bento box, and an extensive menu. Everything you want in a classic japanese bistro restaurant. The only thing is that you have to bring real money, cash only.

Great food served quickly. Only downside was cash required.

Too hot. No credit card accepted. Food is good, though.

I wanted to share my recent experience at a restaurant that left me quite disappointed, and I thought you might find it interesting. A friend and I visited this particular restaurant and were surprised to discover that they only accepted cash and bank transfers as forms of payment. We found this to be rather inconvenient, as we were not carrying a sufficient amount of cash at the time. Consequently, we attempted to pay via bank transfer, but encountered some difficulties in doing so. To our disappointment, the middle-aged lady attending to us seemed to treat us poorly when we encountered these payment issues. She ignored us on a few occasions and made it very clear, in a rather loud manner, that they only accepted bank transfers. We found her behavior quite strange and unwelcoming, as it created an uncomfortable atmosphere for us as customers. As a result of this unpleasant experience and the poor treatment we received, I have decided not to return to this restaurant. It is disheartening to think that customers should be treated so poorly, especially when faced with an unexpected inconvenience like the payment method. Hospitality and customer service should be a priority for any establishment, and unfortunately, this restaurant failed to meet those expectations. I thought it was important to bring this matter to your attention, as I believe that businesses should strive to provide a positive experience for their customers. Hopefully, by sharing my experience, the restaurant can reflect upon their actions and improve their service to ensure that other customers do not face similar treatment in the future.

One of the best Japanese in town. Excellent starters, ramen and sushi.

This is a fantastic place with hearty Japanese food. Highly recommended the sukiyaki (pictured) that is shared by 2. It‘s an experience.

A really lovely place. We got the pork belly ramen (one with pork stock and the other with miso stock) and both were incredible! The waitress was kind and friendly as we would definitely come back. Price was very reasonable too!

Accepts only cash which is very inconvenient at the moment. And it smelled horrendous inside the restaurant. Menu is very rich, some items without proper explanation as to what they are. Food was nice and portion size fair.

Good food at reasonable prices, and lots of variety. Worth a visit! There was some confusion about whether or not my assistance dog was allowed, but they did let us come in and they treated us well.

It certainly felt very authentic and the food was perfectly prepared for my taste. A wide menu, and a separate veggie menu (but with fish!); no probs for the vegan friends who were with me.u Not too pricey. Great service.

Closed on late Staurday afternoon and also cash only.

Simply amazing!!!!! Please get their plum wine, you will not be disappointed (bit of a warning, it is very strong)

New favourite restaurant in Oxford. We love the bento boxes, the ramen is good, and they have a larger selection of sake than anywhere else in town. Service is very quick. It's cash only though so come prepared. Itadakimasu!

Nice hot pot and tap water. Their spicy tonkotsu ramen and Japanese beef curry are delicious after a 8 hour commute from Crete.

Stylish interior and great food plus friendly staff. 😊 the restaurant serves Japanese food. My friends and I all ordered Ramen with different flavours ( chicken karaage ramen, champion ramen, tonkotsu) and it did not disappoint! The flavours were tasty and it was the right consistency and balance of taste and flavour and broth. The serving was large! I believe it can be good for two people. The chicken karaage ramen was what I ordered not a fan of the chicken karaage but I still loved the ramen. We also ordered their dessert Daifuku Mochi and Cheesecake (Lotus) which was top tier! I would definitely order it again if coming back. Must try and must eat in Oxford 👍🏻 Unfortunately the Matcha Tiramisu was not available and was looking forward to try it. Maybe next time 🤞🏻

Excellent sushi and ramen. Everything was good but we particularly recommend the mixed platter of sushi and sashimi (the lemon scallop sashimi was divine), chicken yakatori, and the takoyaki. Cash only.

Amazing food. Staff was friendly and professional.

Delicious and reasonably priced. Highly recommended and would visit again and again!

A real surprise: the front and interior could be reminiscent of any Japanese restaurant, but it doesn't do their cuisine justice! The Miso soup is excellent, slightly spicy, nothing like the impersonal and bland soups we are used to. Tonkatsu Ramen is truly unique: I don't know what their secret is (notes of peanuts in the sauce?) in any case it's subtle and addictive. In short, a completely authentic cuisine with a real personal touch: well done

Too expensive £8.5 for extra beef (very small portion) It doesn’t worth it

Enjoyable food and nice atmosphere.

Food was amazing, definitely recommend

Closed at short notice without reason.

I had the Champan Ramen, Salmon and Avocado Iso and Kimchi for about £37. Thoroughly enjoyed the kimchi and Iso. The ramen was packed with a great variety of seafood and pork balls. Had to add a lot of chilli and kimchi to the ramen as the broth was bland, but that really brought some much needed depth to it.

Good Japanese food with a wide selection. Cash only

Amazing food and great atmosphere. The prices were very reasonable, especially for the portion size and quality of the food. The staff here are very polite and helpful. Definitely a hidden gem in Oxford and I will be returning!

Doesn't take card, so you lost my business. It's 2023 every restaurant should take card, unless you are like the Tories and are tax evaders.

I ordered cutlet curry and bibimbap. The cutlet curry was a little less filling, but the bibimbap had a lot of rice, and the chili oil was delicious. There was also a Japanese clerk. Also, the takoyaki was delicious.

main course good but desserts were wrongly described in the menu and service so so

The restaurant is closing at 3:30pm but it’s not mentioned on Google.

Sashimi poke bowl Good, fresh sashimi; very comforting meal; the poke oddly has hot sauce, apart from that, will definitely go back (and request them to leave out the hot sauce) Restaurant run by a very friendly and attentive staff; they’re Japanese

The tonkotsu ramen soup tastes like Marutai Ramen powder. The toppings were good, so if you don't mind paying £11 for the hassle of making it at home, it's worth it.

Good value and delicious . Highly recommend the Snow crab hotpot !

My first time at Shin in Gloucester Green, Oxford. The first problem was the entrance way. It was blocked by stuff which made accessing with a wheelchair very difficult. Then there was the temperature inside the restaurant. It was absolutely freezing. Apparently the air-conditioning / heating had not been switched on early enough so when we arrived at the restaurant shortly after lunchtime opening, the ambient temperature in the restaurant was still only a little warmer than the outside (0 degrees C). The waitress did offer us all a complimentary tea drink which was a good gesture. Food was actually really good but difficult to taste as my teeth were still chattering and mouth numb with the cold! The access to the only toilet in the restaurant was difficult for a wheelchair - I would recommend to the management that they move the boxes and not use the passageway to the toilets as a storage dump.

Excellent service, so fast and attentive and the food was delicious!!!! 😀👍🏼Friday’s dinner was such a great experience.Thank u so much, guys!Dessie

Lovely place, delicious Japanese food especially the ramen, they have vegetarian choices, big potion!

I had ramen delivered at home with chicken pretty decent but not something special lacking differentiation from competitors around. The experience in the restaurant might be different! A big plus is that noodles came separated from the soup!

Great food, atmosphere and service. The takoyaki and bento are my favourite.

Great little Japanese restaurant. Everything is really tasty, fantastic bento boxes and rice bowls. Sushi is great too, even if a bit pricey. Don't forget to bring cash.

Delicious food with a nice environment and awesome service. It has a reasonable price and good location next to the bus stop. Definitely worth it.

Best restaurant in Oxford! Every dish is a new experience! Great food, great service

Absolutely amazing restaurant! I enjoy every meal I have here, it is the only sushi place I go to in Oxford. One note for the restaurant is that their website has a very odd mistake, when you click to view their menu, you get redirected to a different restaurant in the USA. Hopefully they can fix that so their actual menu is on their website!