The Mission at The Oracle, Reading
Food Feedback: The Mission at The Oracle, Reading
Published: 25 November, 2009
The Oracle in Reading celebrated its 10th anniversary at the end of September 2009. In those 10 years, it has established itself and Reading as the regional shopping and leisure destination in the Thames Valley. Its design and configuration has enabled it to become the heart of Reading City Centre, with its linkage to Broad Street, and the clustering of substantial food and leisure on both sides of the River Kennet.
Despite the recent economic turbulence, two new offers have opened in this popular location; LSQ2 Brasserie, a very smart operation complete with open kitchen, and The Mission, an informal Quick Service Mexican Grill operation with two sister branches in Oxford.
I was shopping at the Oracle with the family late on a wet Sunday afternoon – too late for lunch and too early for dinner – so we settled on The Mission, recently opened (September 09) in the former Café Italia unit, next door to McDonald’s. It was informal and a great place for a much-needed refuel.
The unit has been simply fitted out with rough wood cladding on the walls and chunky tables and benches for those eating in. The focal point of the unit is the servery counter at the back of the unit, where customer orders are taken and prepared.
The menu and pricing structure is simple offering Burritos, Fajita Burritos and Tacos with chicken, pork or vegetables and a variety of ‘extras’ including a mild, medium and hot sauce. The staff were well-drilled, preparing dishes to order in a ‘Subway’ style, moving along the counter to the till. The whole family love Mexican food, so we ordered four different dishes, all of them expertly and identically wrapped in foil.
We lost track of who ordered what, partly because of the identical foil wrapping and partly because of the extensive range of Mexican beers (from £3.20) and Frozen Margarita (£3.50) on offer. The Burritos were very good and offered great value at £4.95. All in all a good experience, although my son could not understand why you would want to ruin a perfectly good slush puppy with Tequila!
