Introduction
So we’d heard that Ask Italian on George Street had been undergoing a big refurbishment which included some indoor planting reminiscent of Italian al fresco dining and Josephine Hicks had just finished applying an amazing bespoke mural inspired by Bologna, chosen for its similarities to Oxford (historic university and canals).
I have to admit although people quite understandably prefer independent restaurants I have nothing against a restaurant part of a wider group if it offers decent service and food, so we thought we must go and see what the new refurb looked like! I haven’t eaten here before too in all the time I’ve lived in Oxford so now was a good excuse to change that.
I must say the outside really caught my eye, it had a fresh, modern and eye-catching new sign.
As this was their re-opening night after the refurbishment everyone was treated to some live music and a glass of prosecco to anyone that wanted one on the house.
The atmosphere was bustling, lots of groups having a good time and it was bright and airy.
Food and drink
So we ordered the following:
- Peroni gran riserva (a Peroni which I had never seen or tried before).
- Garlic bread speciale with balsamic onions (an amazing folded cheesy garlic bread).
- Calzone carne piccante (a calzone with Pepperoni, fresh chillies, ham, beef and pork ragu, sautéed mushrooms, tomato sauce and mozzarella).
- Pollo Piccante con Pancetta Prima (chicken, peppers, chilli and spinach).
One of the nicest bottled beers I’ve ever had and was nice to try something new from Peroni, quite strong as well at around 6% I believe.
This folded cheesy garlic bread was amazing! It came out piping hot so when you cut into it the cheese was stringy and went so well with the balsamic onions.
I tried some of this calzone and it was awesome. I love how they come out looking like big Cornish pasties! Very filling from the couple of bites that I had.
And then there was my pizza. This picture does not do its size justice, I struggled to get the whole pizza into one picture! I’m going to guess that this was probably about half a metre in width! Tasted incredible too.
I decided to take another picture after eating some of it so you can see the pizza a bit closer up and so I could get it comfortably within a picture.
Conclusions and final thoughts
So to conclude, I really liked how Ask Italian have refurbished their restaurant. It felt very classy and somewhere ideal to go with a group of friends/colleagues/family. It could both be for a nice occasion or even for a meal before heading out somewhere such as the theatre, for drinks etc.
This is one of the few times I was so full from the starter and main that I literally didn’t have room for dessert which I don’t think is a bad thing!
If you haven’t been down there since they re-opened after their refurbishment (Since 16th July 2019) I’d definitely recommend checking it out!
