The Mission

The Mission Mexican Grill
8 St Michael’s Street
Oxford
OX1 2DU

Comparatively new to Oxford is The Mission, a small establishment opposite the Union buildings, where the nth Meltz in Oxford used to reside.



A pre-movies meal took A and me to finally find out what all the fuss had been about.



The menu is simple. You can have either a fajita or a burrito, with a choice of either chicken, steak, pork or vegetarian fillings. Guacamole and cheese were extra, which certainly seemed a little stingy. Tacos were also available, as well as a few snack foods such as nacho chips.



An efficient team of three people were on hand. The 1st asks your order, toasts the flour tortillas, and fills with the first filling of rice and/or beans (depending on whether you have chosen a burrito or a fajita). The second person portions the meat (or, if you're mentally retarded, vegetables). The third takes your money and smiles. Me thinks that although it seems to work very well for them, this is not the most efficient way of apportioning the work.



The room was incredibly crowded. One communal table in the room seated a dozen people, and perched on window seats were another dozen being very politely English, desperately trying not to intrude on one's neighbours.



The only difference, aside from the obvious, was that A's chicken burrito had black beans in its filling, and that my steak fajita had sauteed peppers.



The fillings were certainly plentiful, although mainly bulked up by the rice, sauteed onions, and various bits and bobs. The steak was tasty, but was far too few and far in between for such a large fajita.

And large, indeed it was. Certainly more filling than a baguette, I presume the density is to justify the £5 price for unleavened bread filled with rice.



The Cholula hot sauce suited my palate perfectly. Not too spicy, and deliciously tangy, it was perfect when doused over my fajita.



We washed down our food with two mexican beers (Desperados), at a whopping 5.9% alcohol due to the addition of tequila. The taste was incredibly sweet, and the ingredients list revealed honey amongst various other odd flavourings. Not terrible, but certainly not something I'm anxious to retry.

All whining aside, the food was very nice. If you measure value-for-money by the ingredients used, then this will come up short. If you're looking for a tasty and filling meal for around a fiver, then this is your man. A fajita and a burrito, washed down by two mexican beers set us up for the evening. In fact, we were probably well-fed enough to have survived a day of hard labour. But you talk to a Pole about hard labour, and they look at you funny.

I digress.

The damage: Two fajitas (or burritos, or whichever way you call it) + trimmings, plus two beers came to just under £20. Pretty steep for a quick and dirty kebab replacement, but I imagine that a no-frills fajita at £5 would be plentiful for a hungry student.