A HIGHLY rated Syrian restaurant in Oxford's Cowley Road has shut out of the blue for a refurbishment. 

The Pickled Walnut near Tesco has been dogged with technical issues recently and has now closed temporarily for an unspecified amount of time.

Owners have repeatedly been unable to open over the last few weeks, posting a notice in the window on numerous occasions that the restaurant has been forced to take a day off due to technical difficulties. 

Now the windows have been covered in newspaper and a new notice has appeared. 

This states: "Dear customer. After a short break for renovation and refurbishing, Pickled Walnut will be re-opening very soon. Thank you."

Oxford Mail:

The restaurant opened in August 2016 and promises authentic Middle Eastern cuisine. 

It has employed Syrian refugees to work in its kitchen.

Owner Ahmad Mohamad, who also runs the Lebanese restaurant Pomegranate and Beetroot cafe and deli, named the eatery after his childhood memories of growing up in Damascus, the city now ravaged by a long-running civil war. 

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A house full of women pickling walnuts ready for the Makdous (stuffed aubergines) season was one of his earliest memories, he told the Oxford Mail last year. 

The restaurant is rated 173rd of 477 in Oxford on Trip Advisor. 

Our restaurant reviewer Katherine MacAlister called in 'enormously welcoming' and a reminder of what a 'colourful, vivid, rich, cultured country' Syria was before war broke out.

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Despite the promise to return soon, Google is listing the restaurant as permanently closed. 

In the past, businesses in Cowley Road have said the Westgate Centre opening has had a significant impact on the prosperity of the famous Oxford street. 

Restaurants have trialled a number of deals and innovations to tempt customers back.