Charles Dickens Pub — Restaurant in Woodstock

If you've read any of my previous reviews, you'll know that there are three main components that my wife and I look for when we're on the hunt for a good meal: food quality (of course), ambience/atmosphere, and finally, the customer service experience. I’m happy to say that Charles Dickens Pub succeeds on all fronts!

After spending the earlier part of the day at the Oxford Renaissance Festival, we were looking for a satisfying meal to end our trip. Woodstock was on our way back to Toronto so after a quick Google search, we were impressed by what the Dickens (am I allowed to call it that?) had to offer.

Upon arrival we found the vibe of the pub instantly appealing - rustic yet fresh, warm and inviting. Our server, Kristine, seemed a down-to-earth, no nonsense person - a genuine character -who made us feel as if she were inviting us into her home. Her easygoing attentiveness made us feel as if our dining experience really mattered to her. It's that kind of service that scores high marks for a restaurant and will keep us coming back.

The menu had much to tantalize but my wife and I both settled on The Yorkshire Pudding Bowl: my wife went with the Roast Beef version while I had to try the Toad In The Hole - 3 English Pork Sausages, Fried Onions, Gravy, and Garden Peas. It was a massive undertaking but one I felt confident I could manage. And true to my word, I cleaned my plate and did not regret a single bite (nor bring shame to my family by not finishing).

While this meal left little room for dessert, we managed to squeeze in a Deep Fried Mars Bar, something I'd always wanted to try. Served with vanilla ice cream and caramel and chocolate sauce, it was a decidedly naughty experience!

And a pub meal isn't complete without a satisfying beverage to wash it down. My wife is a cider drinker so she was happy to see Strongbow on the Draught List. I prefer a good malty brew, so quite enjoyed a couple of pints of Smithwick's.

My ONLY quibble with the food was the side veg. Many places treat this as a formality, a required accompaniment, a necessary filler. While an appreciated addition, our vegetables were simply steamed and unseasoned and could have benefited with a warm-through in some seasoned butter (tarragon/garlic?) or the like for some added colour and flavour. (Everything's better with butter!)

But other than that, our experience was exquisite. And learning a bit about the family history of the pub only added to the friendly vibe and warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Living in Toronto, we wished this place could be our local, but we will definitely find excuses to venture out to Woodstock again and pay another visit to Charles...

The atmosphere is great, traditional English pub style. Very comfy. The coconut shrimp starter was great. Everything else was god awful. I ordered the pan seared lemon pepper haddock as my main and I just have no words as to how bad this was. The fish was not haddock, it was not fresh, it was not pan seared. It had clearly been cooked from a cheap frozen cut that may have been in the freezer for 6 months or more. It seemed to be baked and was severely dry and over baked. The seasoning on it was done with the heaviest of hands. Yuck. Inedible and thats exactly what happened. I didn't eat it. The vegetables were not even cooked. The mashed potatoes were just OK. To top it off, we waited about and hour and a half for our food to come out. So, basically waited all that time to not be able to eat or be satisfied. Highly disappointing. The waitress asked how things were and I told her not great, but I won't send it back because I don't want to wait that long for food again. We were offered a discount or a free dessert. I decided to go for the free dessert because I was starved by that point. Took it to go, brought it home, and lo and behold that dessert was also inedible. Sticky toffee pudding? It was dry cake with a sickeningly sweet molasses sauce. I've just had about enough BS for one evening, I'm not cooking now, so I will just go to bed hungry. I highly recommend just going elsewhere. Maybe some things on the menu are good and worth a shot if you don't mind waiting ages, but whatever you do, DO NOT ORDER THE PAN...

What a good time! Its not all about the food all the time, its about enjoying yourself and the people around you. That is what we do, enjoy ourselves what ever we do and where ever we go. It really wasn't hard to enjoy yourself here, it was busy and very lively, a lot of nice people also having a great time. It was Friday night and it was busy but we grabbed a drink at the bar and had a seat in a couple of minutes, The staff were very friendly and as busy as they were in a full restaurant they did very well. They have a great selection of beers on tap and a nice selection of appetizers. We ordered the spinach and artichoke dip, wow that was good. The menu is great, don't see that selection anywhere else. Its not just burgers and wings, they even have perogies ! I wanted some comfort food, roast beef mashed potatoes and gravy and even was hoping to find Yorkshire pudding. We had the meatloaf, the cottage pie which was similar to shepherds pie but so much better and then the mashed, roast beef in a Yorkshire pudding bowl with onions and mushrooms, oh geez everything was so good. Then we had the desert, the lemon meringue pie cheesecake. One of the best cheesecakes you will ever have! We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and will be back for sure. Go, enjoy, take someone you love to be with and have a great time because the food is great and I hope you have great company to share this with....