319 Fayetteville Street
Downtown Raleigh, NC
http://www.oxfordraleigh.com/
Lunch/Brunch: $9-14
Dinner: $9-19
The Oxford is a gastropub in downtown Raleigh with a posh, yet relaxed atmosphere. It's a large space that's divided into three rooms, one with a huge television, twinkly-starred ceiling, and the Union Jack on the wall; one that's more of a traditional dining room with gold crests on the red and black walls and black shrouded chandeliers; and one that is the bar area with high-top tables and comfortable red leather chairs.
There are also a few removed booths in the back of the restaurant. Our service was slow enough to note but there was a wedding reception being held at the time.
I started with a cup of tomato and stilton bisque, which was really good. The stilton gives a huge amount of flavor to the thick bisque and I loved every bite. The accompanying sesame cracker was fine but didn't really go with the dish.
My BLT with herb aioli, fried green tomatoes, and applewood smoked bacon on ciabatta came next. The description sounded great but it was too greasy in reality. I think that with an oily aioli and fried bacon, the fried tomato pushed it over the top of my acceptable grease allotment for one sandwich. The tomato was flavorless, which also didn't help, but the aioli was great and the ciabatta was perfectly made. Of course, I also opted for the pasta salad, which turned out to be oil-based as well, but it was good, especially the strips of roasted red bell pepper.
This place has great potential if the rest of their dishes more closely resemble the bisque than the BLT. I loved the atmosphere regardless.
Reviewed 9.19.09.
