In January 2018, the restaurant manager Fetai Karabulut said he was left ‘shocked’ after getting a one-star grade.

In 2018, the inspectors found a range of problems, including a dirty kitchen and walls, a risk of rodents entering the premises and unsafe food.

Beef carpaccio, which is raw, can only be served if a restaurant uses a method to ensure its safety, such as controls in the supply chain, or ‘sear and shave’ which sees the outside of the meat cooked then shaved off.

However, Oxford’s Grill did not have any methods in place to ensure it is safe to eat.

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They also found two packs of smoked salmon beyond their use-by date of December 31, 2017, which was 10 days before the inspection.

At the time of the 2018 inspection, manager Fetai Karabulut said: “Originally the inspector said it would be a three so I was shocked.

“I have been serving beef carpaccio for 10 years and never had any complaints, people know what it is and they want to eat it.

“We were told to call the council in two to three months once we had made improvements and we have been doing that.”

At the inspection restaurant management were ordered to make improvements immediately while they were given a week to sort some of the lesser offences.

Low level cleaning in the kitchen was branded ‘poor’, accumulations of dirt were found at the wall joints and wall surfaces were dirty. The environmental health report also found ‘gaps of sufficient size for rodents to enter’.

On December 3, 2020 Oxford City Council revisited Oxford’s Grill and rated it ‘very good’. The Cowley restaurant scored the highest mark, which is ‘very good’, for food hygiene and safety and scored ‘good’ for structural compliance and confidence in management.

The restaurant has dramatically improved its food hygiene and it was refurbished in December 2019.

The Turkish restaurant reopened after the second lockdown on December 11. However, the manager was not available to give an update on the latest improvements.

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