Za'atar Grill in Oxford

It's nice and quiet. Halal food as it's Arabian cuisine. We were the only customer tho the time we went. So had a good time. The food was a bit expensive in comparison to the portion size. But it was tasty. And they didn't take service charge from us which was good haha.

I recently dined at this restaurant and was underwhelmed by the quality of the food. It simply doesn't compare to the offerings from the place across the street (zaatar bake which has really good authentic food). The hummus and baba ganoush tasted like they were sourced from a supermarket, and the same goes for the pita bread. If you're looking for a more authentic and homemade taste, this might not be the spot for you. This restaurant seems more suited for those who don't mind a basic, supermarket-style meal.

Have never left a review before, but felt compelled to after the experience at Za'atar today. The friendly service was matched by a beautifully designed restaurant. The lamb I had was tender and perfectly cooked with fantastic flavour in the yoghurt it was served with. Defintely the favourite meal I've had in my life!

Long to serve a take away shawarma and falafel wrap, the wraps were not properly folded and the chicken shawarma was with just meat inside, would not recommend

Nice chicken, has WiFi and friendly staff

I ordered Kastaleta(lamb chops). OMG only thing I regret was not trying it earlier. It was so tender and juicy. Will definitely try again 10/10. The only thing request is to keep drinks other than pepsi, coke, sprite because some people would not like to buy these brands. Thankyou

Lovely food and customer service. Five star for the taste and food quality. Definitely recommend it.

The food was amazing and such good prices. Will definitely be going back

Very tasty food and good service.

Great place to eat out, went with a large group of 20 people and the staff were able to accommodate brilliantly! Food was excellent, would recommend mixed grill and shawarma’s. Staff were very polite and hospitable. Restaurant has nice vibe and stunning interior. Hope to see you again soon!

My mum came to visit me at uni, and we came here for lunch. It was a 10/10 experience. The staff were so lovely, kind and accommodating! They let us have our takeaway wraps inside as it was so cold outside. The food was incredible as well! Piping hot and absolutely delicious. The chef was so lovely, and when they said we are welcome any time, I know they meant it!!! P.S the best fries we have ever ever had

Not the best experience food wise, no manager available to speak to.

Spend over £100 for the 4 of us and it was very poor food . The lamb was not cooked well. Needs improvement, quite a disappointment compared to zaatar bake which I had been last year a few times

The food was delicious. Every plate we tasted was very good. The price is a bit expensive (we spent £65 for 3) compared to other fast food places around but given the quality of the dishes, it makes sense. It's not a place to go every day but for special treat days.

Good food but bad service- we went on a Sunday, place was quite empty. Ordered our food- not much just a few grills- it took forever for the food to come, I stress again, the place was not busy, maybe just 4 tables. Finally it arrived, and I won’t lie, it was good, lamb kofta was delicious, good chips, could have done with more salad on the plate however, and the bread portion with the humous was inadequate! We then had the pain of trying to get anyone’s attention to get the bill- this ruined the decent meal- staff just don’t pay attention, absolutely no excuse when the place was extremely quiet anyway.

This was so, so good! Introduced my international friends to Arab cuisine, and they and I loved the maqloba, the mouska, the tagine, the lamb shawarma, and the chilli lahme. It just incredible, and the staff are all amazing and friendly, from the owner to the chef and the waiter and waitress. A huge thank you for the love you share!

Can only comment on the vegetarian options, but the moussaka here is delicious and the vegetarian platter for 1 pictured is so tasty and very good value for money (actually better value for money than the platter for 2!) Highly recommend giving this or Zaatar Bake, a 5minute walk away (would suggest Bake for dinner over Grill as the atmosphere in Bake is really incredible and unique).

Always lovely food and friendly service

Ignorance, not careing for queue, bad service, small portion. I am traveler and waited long to have a takeaway.

Nice restaurant with good food.

We ordered chicken shawarma which was raw, not tasty, and the pieces were large. Really bad experience

I tried Zaatar Grill after it was recommended by a Lebanese colleague as the best middle Eastern food in Oxford. I have now been twice and hope to go again! The food is delicious. The small pickled aubergines are a revelation. The mutabel (baba ganouj) is an old favourite and here it’s smokey and tasty as it should be. The tradicional grills are good, but for something less popular but rewarding for your palate try the chicken livers.

Delicious food and kind people. A pleasure to eat here, we will surely return to this restaurant next time in Oxford.

Bad experience, extremely rude male waiter. He didn't have even basic manners about how to treat customers. We ate a cake slice ( which we brought from outside), with the food we ordered. The waiter seems to be like scolding us: why you brought it from outside. Should have said this politely. Will never return to this restaurant.

the only place i've found in oxford so far that does shawarma the authentic way. the toum is to die for 😍

The food was so tasty! The batata garra was delicious. The atmosphere was pretty and the establishment was clean. The server was friendly and we would recommend. (Lots of vegan/veg options which were clearly labeled).

£16.50 for this? Nah. Go to antep they are actually generous. This is paltry

The best labenese food. The taste is so good and the staff is nice. Good overall service.

Guy working on till rude and very slow

I’ve tried a fair few shawarmas in my time and the chicken and lamb ones here are out of this world. Full of flavour and done authentically Middle Eastern style. Highly recommend!!

Food itself is pretty good, but 3 times I've been left waiting for nearly an hour or more for food at the takeout section, just for a kebab wrap. Once I even booked ahead of time to avoid that, only to arrive to find they hadn't even started my food. Chronically under-staffed. It's definitely not worth the price either - you can get twice as much for half the cost elsewhere on the road. I don't plan to eat here again.

Outstanding!!!! First time trying this kind of cuisine. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Our party if five all found something amazing to eat. Beautifully presented by the loveliest of waiting staff. Highly recommended!!!

Really nice Arabic food love the mutabal and the baby chicken.

The food is okay, but too expensive for the portion sizes. For context, a shawarma wrap normally is £7.50, with bread, rice and sauce, it’s £15, and the sizes are no different. But what’s really disappointing is the service. The guy at the counter takes forever to actually serve you, and then when he does, he wants to argue with you and be rude to you. No one is going to come to the restaurant if the customer service is bad. He was truly awful to me.

Picked up some take away dinner. Delicious falafel wrap and tasty chicken with humus. Friendly staff.

Not only the food was delicious, the host with his team of servers made the whole experience so much better. It was a time filled with so much of joy and laughter, needed it. Thank you 🙌 Adding a short video taken by my friend - showing our order.

I have many comments about this restaurant. First, the portion is very small and not worth this price. second, the kabsa we ordered was not the kabsa, was a plate of microwaved rice with stale chicken which was also microwaved. Also they don't have choice to just order a shawarma sandwich. They add onion and call it a plate for £15. In general it is too expensive.

Got very excited when I saw a Za'atar Grill was opening as I take my BBQ meats very seriously. Disappointed with the size and lack of creativity of the £18 mixed grill. Expected more from the owners after Za'atar bake after frequenting for many years. I will update this review for a longer more detailed one later describing the experience.

Service was poor and very slow. More than an hour wait for food to be served from the time it was ordered and still missing half the order. Restaurant was half empty and staff seems lost.

حعطي ال review بتاعي بالعربي ومره بالانجليزي من كتر سعادتي بالمطعم . اليوم كان أول يوم زياره ل za'atar Grill لتناول وجبه إفطار رمضان كنت حاجزه قبلها بيوم وكان الترحيب بالحجز بالتلفون ممتاز جدا . وعند وصولي للمطعم كان الترحيب وتنظيم مكان الفطار رااااااائع يا عيني على كل الموظفين جدااااا حبابين وخدمه اكتر من ١٠ نجوم عطونا تمر وبعدها بدء الاكل يجي والاكل حكاااااايه ثانيه يا الله جربت مطاعم كتير بس الطعم في za'atar Grill غيييييير سخن ونظيف وتتبيله رووووعه ويا عيني على الخدمه بعد الفطار جابولنا بقلاوه وشاي ضيافه من عندهم والله حبيت المكان وبنصح فيه بشده وحزينه ان ما أخذت اساميهم لل staff لأنهم بجد يستحقون كتابه اساميهم وتشكرهم واحد واحد بس بتمنى يشوفوا رسالتي واقول لهم برافووو عليكم والله يعطيكم الف الف عافيه ويسعدكم زي ما اسعدتونا. Farida فريده

The employees are very rude with the riders that work with delivery. Totally without respect.

Great meal out with friends. Delicious food, really enjoyed the mixed grill platter and veggie mezze platter. Very good service and Ahmed very friendly and entertaining. A fabulous evening, thank you.

We booked a table for 6 of us at 7.30pm , the restaurant was fairly quiet. We were met by the owner who is a fantastic host for the resistant, friendly, honest about dishes and very welcoming. The food was very good, veg and meat mezze were both great, lots of food aswell. Also had the chicken livers which were excellent. All in all a meal I would definitely recommend

I won’t be ordering here again. Fine to let it off the first time, maybe the second but the third time?? Slow, unreliable and mediocre overpriced food. Shouldn’t really take 1.5 hours to deliver wings and falafel, i then called in and they said to pick it up myself. I just paid £7 in “delivery and service fees” 💀

The place is beautiful and the workers are nice. The food is good.

Very tasty food. The employees were very kind and smiling. I will definitely go again☺️

Loved my chicken shawarma, great flavour. Bulgar wheat was a nice accompaniment. Some salad or something in the box too would have been nice, or perhaps being able to add a veg side as part of a meal deal, but the meal overall was thoroughly enjoyable.

Supportive Service if things go wrong, they will try to help where they can to keep their customers. ....and good customer service is rare nowadays.

When we came in- expectation became a bit low, as very bright light, it was empty restaurant, but great service and EXCELLENT FOOD paid off👏❤️😊👌😍❤️ recommended 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Average! Chicken shawarma, very bulky and overly filled, no taste, cold and soggy! No salad found! This is not Mediterranean, this is raw flesh! Everything fell apart from the wrap. I ordered to eat, not to feed my lap!

Delicious food and super friendly staff

Delicious food & lovely staff! Best mixed grill I’ve ever had!!

Wow what a find on Oxfords famous Cowley road. Went for the 2/3 sharing mixed grill and it's massive. Comes with a choice of fries, white rice or bulgur wheat. In reality there enough for 3/4 people. Skipped a starter this time and lucky we did as it was alot of food. Nice background music and attentive staff. Went on a Friday evening and it was busy. Don't forget to book ahead we did not and had to wait for 25 minutes for a table to become available.

I had a rap was overpriced, not testy and waste of money

Big fan of Za’atar Bake and, dare I say it, this was even better - I only popped in for a chicken schawarma wrap but I was blown away - best kebab wrap in Oxford - wrap itself was light, chicken was fragrant and not oily or greasy, pickles and sauces were lovely and it was done in about a minute - lovely guys behind the counter too

My favorite restaurant for authentic Arab food in all of Oxford. It's pricey, but a GREAT evening out with good ambiance, and delicious food.

We have eaten at Za’atar bake often and I’m glad to say this is just has good , excellent staff and brilliant quality can’t wait to go again .

A meal out with family in November Good atmosphere with a multicultural clientele. Very attentive staff and proprietor. Delicious food. Good vegetarian options and reasonably priced wine. Will definitely go back when next in Oxford.

Bought a couple of Shawarma wraps, chicken and lamb to take away - they were delicious! Thank you

Delicious food made with fresh ingredients. Thank you Ahmed for the lovely service. A must visit!

I been there today on my birthday with my family and my son birthday same time lovely food amazing staff very friendly loved it 😊 thanks guys 👦 and the staff sing me happy birthday all customer joins in amazing experience 😀

Fabulous meal. Ahmad was a marvellous server. Delicious food.

Good customer service experience. Ordered the humus, chicken liver and lamb chops. All dishes were very fresh and tasty. Customer service was good. Will definitely try again.

Takeaway is great here! Probably the tastiest kebap around. Price-wise they are alright, but they could be bigger (even if they were a bit more expensive). I also had lunch inside and it's great! Excellent service, and everything is super tasty. I fully recommend!

My first and last takeaway from this place. Greasy and thoroughly unpleasant. Avoid. I wanted to vomit after this ‘offering’.

The lamb pieces were tough, chewy and sinewy. I make better moutabel at home and i'm not even Mediterranean, a recipe I learnt from one of my Ottolenghi cookbooks. The chips accompanying the grilled meat were hot and fresh, but fried in old oil and very apparent in flavour...yuk! Definitely not from that day, because we went for lunch and their was only two other tables. Not enough to make the oil taste so stale. There was also a lot of commotion there - workers with large steel ladders, shopping trolleys forcibly being pushed in from the front entrance, a worker vigorously relieving an itch deep inside his ear canal with the aid of his little finger, and a professional photographer taking pictures of supposedly good food. The waiter asked us at the end of the meal how we found the food, I told him how I felt, it was obvious their training doesn't surpass their initial question.

We are big fans of zaraz bake, so couldn’t wait to try this one. The place did not disappoint. Even their take away wraps are simply another level. Best grill in oxford!

little bit pricy, lentil soup was extra pricy but generally speaking taste and comfort good. toilets are clean which is a huge plus. 😅

Delicious food and very happy with the service 😊.

My friend and I ordered vegetarian/vegan wraps and were told it would be a 15 minute wait. We waited 40 mins (in plain view of staff, who did not apologise for the delay or make efforts to solve the situation), as many other people ordered and left with their food. While waiting, we saw that the meat and vegetarian dishes were being prepared using the same grill and other implements (since the kitchen is in full view for the customers), so please be aware of this if you are a strict vegetarian/vegan. After waiting for 40 mins, we queried both our waiting time and the cross-contamination of the meat and veggie dishes with the staff member. He walked away without saying anything to talk to his manager. He came back and abruptly offered us a refund for the cross-contamination, which my friend took. A few mins later he asked (abruptly) again if I wanted a refund. I asked why and he said they’d ran out of the halloumi wraps. They let me order the food and wait for 45 mins before telling me there was no halloumi, and then did not even apologise. I have really enjoyed the other branch, zaatar bake, but this service was terrible.

The food was tasty when it came but service was extremely slow. Shame to be served with shop bought bread when the Zaatar bake bread is so delicious! Hopefully these are just teething problems. Also the platters on the menu are not available yet. I will be sticking to Zaatar bake for now!

Very friendly staff, the food is delicious and we didn't have to wait long for it. A great selection of food and everything looks amazing! Fresh and fair prices! I loved !

I went yesterday the food was amazing Everything was perfect

The grill menu is wonderful, i’ve had their sharawmas everyday since they opened. great other food as well.

Honesty the best experience, the food was amazing exactly how they do it back in middle east but even better, would definitely recommend going here to try the food, and the vibe was just great!

Excellent food, great service and ambiance. Truly enjoyable experience!

Being big fans of Za'atar Bake, my partner and I were very excited to try Za'atar Grill. It did not disappoint! Lovely, warm, friendly service and a lively atmosphere. Lots of veggie-friendly options - hummus, foul, cauliflower, french beans all delicious and plenty of Lebanese bread too. Looking forward to returning soon!

Off Cowley road , you’ll want to step inside here . You will see gherkins pickled chilies in jars at reception. It’s appealing . You spend 20£ for wraps and only to get chicken and onions with mayonnaise . I couldn’t understand why it was so bland. I have had these wraps before , this one was the worst . Not worth the cash . I don’t really write reviews . Robbed in day light . Get the wrap once and you will relate . Peace

You open beautiful restaurant with not experience chef and staff paid £15 waiting half hour for 2 shawarma all night my stomach hurts shame this is sandwiches imagine you order main course I have pictures but didn’t have option for upload to here!!

Went as it was a new place and zataar bake had always been good. Waited 40 mins for starters today, with multiple dishes coming as wrong or having to wait for things we’d expect to come all together. Not great for an opening night, if wanting customers to come again! Music was also abit too loud! Service today was not great as we had many workers coming to our table rather than having an assigned waiter/waitress taking orders and bringing food to our table.

Went for opening night so our bill was 50% off, food was ok but not amazing and definitely would not pay full price. Service was long (we waited ~40mins for our starter!), Then they got our mains wrong, and then they put sauce into the food even though we asked for no sauce due to allergy reasons. The music was also incredibly loud it was hard to hear the person opposite! Such a shame because the original Za'atar bake was and is incredible!

Tried the food at the opening today- the service was amazing and the food was fantastic. The menu was pretty unique with some dishes I haven’t seen at restaurants before. Will definitely be returning and highly recommend.

Amazing halal food 😍😍 They have dine in and take away. We tried the Laham Laban and chicken shawerma. Both were amazing but the Laham Laban was on another level😍