Royal Oak — Restaurant in Adelaide

Wow what a visit. Our booking for lunch was for 1215pm but a prior appointment finished early so we arrived early abound 1130 thinking we could maybe sit inside and have a cold drink out of the heat of outside it was already 33 degrees and what unfolded was downright disrespectful and rude. The front doors were not open so we went around to the gaming entrance to find that entrance to the dining area also to be closed so thought maybe while we waited for the dining area to be opened my wife and 8 yr old son and I could just sit quietly in the corner of what I thought was the waiting area as there was no where else to sit and wait. Well the gaming room attendant made it known very loudly and very clearly and very rudely that we cannot sit there with a minor. In fact he was so aggressive and rude that he completely ignored his customer and would not listen to my question. He kept saying rather loudly you can't be here you can't be here My question was if we can't be here where can we wait for the dining room to open coz it's too hot outside. His reply was a rude and abrupt you can't be here. I asked him not to be so rude I'm simply asking a question of where can we wait and he even tried to justify his rudeness that we were in a place we could not be in. This scenario could easily have been avoided if there had been somewhere else to sit for the dining room area to open as the gaming waiting room area was the only option I could find I was really surprised the dining area was not open in the first place but the most disappointing aspect of the entire saga was the rude, aggressive and dismissive behaviour of the gaming room employee as he would not listen to my question of another place to wait or provide any assistance whatsoever thru his rude and aggressive behaviour. I really wish I got his name so I could make a personal complaint to the hotel management but I guess people reading this review will just have to do. And for the record we never made it into the dining area. We were never going to eat there after that experience and it would take a miracle for us to even contemplate...

Terrible Customer Service. As someone who works for the ALH group and know the standard of customer service expected, it was appalling to experience the behaviour I dealt with on a Sunday night at this pub. I am from Melbourne, I heard raving reviews about this pub while visiting SA, except from my close friends who had similar experiences to mine.

We had come for the advertised $15 Steak for Sunday night, and after ordering some drinks, my group and I agreed we all wanted the steak. When I went up to order, I was confronted by a very unwelcoming greeting from a bald man who seemed like some sort of management. I asked for the $15 special and he snapped back with 'no more rump steaks available'. Now at this point I was very confused as this was 7pm and there was not many people in the venue. So I went back to my friends and searched for the special and nowhere does it say 'until stocks last'.

So I returned to the bar and asked if we could have another steak in replacement as any normal venue would do, and was snapped back again saying that he will not give us any other steak for the special price, it would have to be full price. Now I had not once had an apology for the waste of my time going to this venue especially for the $15 steak. The 'manager' then further added a pitiful excuse for not offering any different steaks, saying it runs over 3 days and they were busy so they ran out of the $15 steak. Understandable if it was the only steak on the menu, but the fact that we weren't offered a smaller steak or just a different steak at the discounted price to keep your customer happy is just poor customer service.

Pro Tip. If you offer a steak night, and run out of the specific steak, offer another steak for the same price, since it's not the customers fault you ran out of steaks, or offer another steak for a discounted price. Management need to take some...

While it is pleasing you have a vegan menu it it was very very poor. Be aware that the "Smashed Avocado" is like they spread less than a hair thickness on part of a giant foccaccia. Basically it was giant pieces of bread with nothing on it at all. Literally no "smashed avocado" in sight. The Mushroom Stack is the same. A loaf of bread with an mushroom. Basically a loaf of bread with nothing on it. I wish I could have sent it back at the time and should never ever had paid for it. With the eggplant parmigiana....is whoever prepares the food aware that eggplant must be prepared 100% of the time if it is to be eaten? I'm sick of having to tell places that serve food this as you shouldn't be licensed to do so if you don't know the basics. Eggplant must be sliced and salted n then left to stand for 20-30 mins, rinsed and dried before cooking. If you do not do this....it's not something that can be served.....it's akin to ordering a bowl of chips and being served a brushed raw potato in a bowl. What did you expect us to be able to do with a raw eggplant albeit crumbed??? I will tell the entire Adelaide vegan community to forget the Royal Oak....your vegan menu is a complete con and you're actually...