Royal Oak Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

Took my partner here for valentines day so she could order the "gluten free" calamari and chips. She's celiac and it's rare to find certain treats like this. We arrived and made our orders. I ordered a Chicken Parma with chips and salad, she ordered the calamari with chips. It wasnt until after we paid that we were then told that the chips weren't gluten free and so she had to order potatoes with it instead. Bit disappointing since the meal cost $25 We sat down and within the time I went to the bar to order our drinks and filled them up our meals were ready (6-7 minutes?) Now upon our meals being given to us, we were then told that the aioli for the calamari was not gluten free. So neither the chips or aioli were edible for a place that said "gluten free calamari and chips" both on their menu and website. Now for the food, my parma was dry and tasteless, in which I could only finish half of it without feeling ill and the chips were dry and undercooked. Then to our surprise, despite all the setbacks we had with the gluten-free meal, my partner began having an allergic reaction from the calamari. I'd like to note here that if you cook gluten free foods in the same oil you cook non-gluten free foods, guess what it becomes? Cross contaminated. We decided then that we would go up and complain about this disappointing experience. The girl at the desk was quite nice but had to get the manager to put through our request. Now this is the part I was most agitated about. The manager seemed nothing but annoyed about this complaint. There was no sincerity in her responses. We told her the calamari was not gluten free and in response she avoided blame and went up to the chef and asked if it was which then he replied "yes its gluten free" despite the allergic reaction. We told her the errors on the menu and website and she had no interest in fixing the issues, just wanted us out of the restaurant. She gave us our money back. Upon that I then told her the chicken tasted like it was microwaved because of how dry it was and asked her how it was cooked, she then asked the chef and he said it was cooked fresh which I simply cant believe due to our meals coming out so quickly after ordering. All in all this place cant take any criticism about their mistakes and blatantly lie when confronted about them. We went out for a nice valentines day meal and were both left with a sour experience and sick feelings in our stomachs from such terrible food. Will not...

Went Royal Oak Tuesday night for dinner in public bar. We waited 10 mins to get served as girl was writing a note. She then said we maybe too late for a meal. She made us wait ten minutes. Kitchen was still open so I ordered a chicken brioche and chips. It came out a black brioche and chips that looked like Woolworths homebrand crinkle cut chips. The chicken and chips were fried in a dirty fryer that's oil needed changing. Chicken dry and burnt and chips that were so fried no potato left. There was no mention of a black brioche. I took my meal back and the chef asked what can I cook for you. I said schnitzel and veg. He said sure love. Five mins later the older bar women handed me my money back saying kitchen closed. When I said that wasn't good enough she told me bad luck. Used to be a ok bar meal and staff used to be good but now awful food...

James and Adam are the best assets of the Royal Oak.. And now Royal Oak has lost part of their asset - James - regular patrons choose Royal Oak not for the food or because they have a fair chance of winning, or even the unattractive decor and stingy hospitality . they are drawn to the venue for the atmosphere and friendship .. And it takes a great manager to create those... Now that you have lost James the venue is not worth visiting .. We've lost a great family member and it's no longer happy times at the Royal Oak . What a shame.. Looks like the owners at Royal Oak have no idea how to protect their business... James was such an asset and no...