The Royal Oak — Restaurant in Bolsover

My wife and daughter pre-booked a table as a Father's Day treat for myself. We had used the place numerous times in the past, and had recommended it to family and friends. BUT NEVER AGAIN.... Arrived at 6:45pm as per telephone booking. The restaurant was NOT busy... perhaps 3 or 4 tables occupied. Ordered our drinks (6:55pm) and meals from the not-too-impressive menu (7:05pm). The drinks turned up at 7:00pm. At 7:25pm I caught the managers eye and ordered more drinks as we were still waiting for our starters - 2 x prawn cocktails and 1 x garlic mushrooms. At 7:35pm - still no drinks... our starters arrived. My wife opened the lid to her garlic mushroom bowl and found what looked like one medium size mushroom quartered, and a little garlic sauce. The 2 prawn cocktails arrived in what I can only describe as metal cocktail glasses, and had approximately 4-6 prawns (the kind you buy in Iceland for £0.99 per big bag) - I KID YOU NOT. The mushrooms were about £5 and the prawn cocktails about £4.50. Absolutely disgusting prices for such menial amounts. Called the manager over and told him to forget it... HOW EMBARRASSING The table of 8 next to us had just arrived, and they looked gobsmacked as we walked out in disgust.... needless to say - we didn't pay anything. What a shame.... the place used to be so popular, but now.... We wont be going back there. Having read the previous reviews regarding the managers wife - I can honestly say we didn't see her... but if the attitude of the manager himself is anything to go by then I can understand why the comments were made about her - he just did not have a clue... cannot comprehend how they manage to run a business..... and his demeanour as we departed his company told us one thing - he was used to it happening. Had a fantastic dinner down the road...

I have visited this place many times but today I was badly let down not by the sevice I had, but by the kitchen. Today I brought my two sisters and husband for dinner at 5 pm, at two meals for £17:99. I aways have the cod, at a supplement cost, and pushed this towards my sisters explaining the size and quality of this fish and the batter is amazing. But NOT this time. On ordering we were informed they only had one tikka, one mixed grill and so on, which caused a rethink as two persons were going for the tika, so one of my sisters decided on the chicken pasta only to be told 5 minutes later they had no pasta either, so she decided on the cod. When our meals arrived the fish was half the size that I have been used to over the past two years. In fact it looked as if they had only one fish left and had cut it into two much smaller portions, ie a fish bite size. After eating my dinner I had to mention how disappointed I was, after seeing the usual size fish I was accustomed to going to another table. We were both offered another fish which was declined. This shouldn't have happened as I didn't complain to get a reduction in my bill or a Freeby, but just to let them know it wasn't acceptable to vary the size of fish from one table...

Used this place for a recent family function, post funeral in fact, and while the food wasn't all too bad (we of course had a buffet put on) the attitudes of the management left a lot to be desired. I had no real problem with the majority of the staff, they seemed fine and helpful, the manager's wife however had a horrific attitude even to the point of being somewhat aggressive towards members of my family who, as she knew, had just come from a funeral. They also told us that we had 2 hours maximum in the room as it was the restaurant room and they obviously wanted to push us out in favour of other customers. From what I was told the women's bathroom was also in an appalling state, one of the toilets was flooding the bathroom and the bin was overflowing, they were told of this but in the time we were there they made no attempt to rectify it. When we complained to the manager about his wife's attitude he seemed unapologetic and dismissed us with a "She's my wife, she has as much right as me." which is no way to deal with complaints from paying customers. My family and friends put a lot of money behind that bar and that was the service we were given for it. Definitely will...