Shocking food hygiene scores on Cowley Road

Is your favourite takeaway one of the culprits?


Some of your favourite places might not be as clean as you might like.

The eateries along Cowley Road have long been popular with drunk students looking for that perfect late-night snack. The Tab has discovered that some of these places have less than satisfactory hygiene levels.

Express Pizza

One of the most popular places to head after a night out, Express Pizza needs ‘major improvement’ in its current food serving state.

Ironically, students regularly report the pizzas are some of the best they’ve tasted, rivalling some of the better known take out places such as Dominoes (which got a reassuringly high rating of 5 in case you’re worried.)

The meat they serve is Halal, which means that if you’re looking for bacon you’re advised to go elsewhere. There are also unconfirmed rumours that the chicken is also turkey.

You are what you eat

Bodrum Kebab

With their close proximity to the O2, Bodrum Kebab and Bodrum Fish and Chips get a lot customers at closing time. Both establishments managed to get a 1 in the Hygiene Inspectors report. Like Express Pizza a rating of 1 suggest major improvements are needed.

Still tempted?

Café Tarifa

Café Tarifa becomes a lot of people’s local bar once they’re living on Cowley but it only scored, yes you guessed it, a 1 in the food hygiene stakes.

The Tab spoke directly to Café Tarifa who said they were under new management and no longer served food. They have also passed several bar inspections and are bringing out a new cocktail menu. Quite a turnaround from their original damming report.

Red Star

Red Star Noodle Bar is more of a pre-night out or night in takeaway option. But that doesn’t mean it scored any higher in the food ratings. It’s score of 1 could be enough to put anyone off their dinner.

The Red Star’s marked sheet

However the low score wasn’t the result of poor hygiene but old and dilapidated buildings, including the kitchen. We hear they’re looking into improving this.

Sushi Corner

Sushi Corner rate themselves as a 5 star takeaway and restaurant on their website. In reality 3 of those stars should be removed. The good of sushi needs improvement to actually become good.

If you’re looking for somewhere safe and local to take your parents when they come to visit both G&D’s and The City Arms scored an impressive 5 whilst firm favourite, Atomic Burger, took a respectable 3.

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