Despite disappointing food and service in the past, Katherine MacAlister gives this lunch spot another chance to impress

I’d stopped going to Kizzies despite its wonderful, hidden, waterside location.

Perched on the edge of the Lower Heyford canal, primarily to cater for the endless tourists and Oxfordshire Narrowboats workers, it served simple lunches and teas, and had people flocking for miles, meaning it’s garden was permanently full.

But recently the service had got so bad, it had spoiled the whole thing. You could grow a full beard waiting for your food to arrive and when it did it was often disappointing, which was awful to witness. So I gave up.

Then word filtered through that Annie, of Annie’s Tearooms in Thrupp, was back, and had taken over, that decent food was being produced again, that you could have lunch and be back at work before nightfall, and that order had finally prevailed over the chaos of yesteryear.

Kizzies Waterside Bar & Bistro is the result and we ventured in on Friday lunchtime, sitting in the gloriously sunny riverside garden. There were two other tables of customers there, but otherwise the place was disappointingly quiet. The previous caterers have obviously put off most of the regulars.

But Annie isn’t worried, she knows that once word spreads they will come flooding back. In the meantime she can rely on the constant stream of holiday-makers who come down on the train to walk the canals and take to the waterways in their droves.

Annie and her husband Tim, (who no longer run Annie’s Tea rooms) have smartened the place up, given it a lick of paint, cleaned it thoroughly and are running Kizzies as a proper cafe again. Open seven days a week from 9am-5pm it’s a brilliant place to pop into any time of day, especially when so many other places close mid-afternoon.

We pitched up and were tempted by the menu on the blackboard – sandwiches, paninis, salads, hand-raised pork pies and tarts, jacket potatoes, as well as full cream teas and breakfast. There was smoked mackerel salad and a bacon, onion and tomato tart served with new potatoes, salad and coleslaw, a BLT club sandwich.

But the best test of a country cafe is its ploughmans, so I ordered one (£8.95), my friend choosing the smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, and we sat back and soaked up the rays as the ducks paddled past and the narrowboats prepared for the weekend changeover.

You queue, order, choose your own drinks and then wait, but as our pot of tea was served almost instantly, we were reassured.

The cheddar ploughmans which followed was perfect. Nice chunks of fresh bread, a generous hunk of cheese, lovely creamy coleslaw, a salad dotted with fresh strawberries, sliced grapes and orange, a pickled onion and some delicious, earthy, smokey pickle. Fantastic.

The smoked salmon was a similar treat, generous slices of fish on brown bread and lemon, with some more delicious salad on the side, all for £5.95.

Time passed too quickly meaning we had to pay and leave before we could try the home-made cakes on offer. But I for one am delighted that Kizzies is back in business, bigger and better than before. Welcome back Annie.

Kizzies, Heyford Wharf, Station Road, Lower Heyford
OX25 5PD 01869 340348