Royal Berkshire — Restaurant in England

Me and my partner stayed at the Royal Berkshire for my girlfriends birthday. We arrived at the hotel and greeted by a friendly receptionist on the Saturday afternoon. But the stay soon started to turn sour. I had spoken to the reservations team about it being my girlfriends birthday and they had said would be a little something in the room for us but to my surprise nothingwas there. Even the tea box was barely packed with no english breakfast tea or any other tea for that matter. Rang down to reception who sent up some spare tea bags.

We had a dinner reservation at 8pm, We where ready 15 minutes early so are our way down. We waited at the lectern to be shown to a table but I was mistaken. We where told the restraunt was full and we could sit in a separate room being used as an overflow. We had a look and it was depressing four tables at the corner of the room with no decorations so we asked to wait to go to the restraunt we had booked.

We went and waited in the bar hoping to geta drink. We waited 15 minutes at which point I was starting to get annoyed at lack of service asked for a drinks menu. Then took 15 minutes to get service as could not order at the bar due to covid-19. After 40 minutes we had a drink. All be it from a very rude waiter.

It was soon approaching 8:50 with the government guidelines of restraunts closing by 10. I left the gar to investigate. To find a restraunt with many free tables even after being told they would come and get us when table became free. I asked to speak to a manager to explain, to which his response was to offer some champagne nice gesture but I explained that we were not big drinkers so wouldn't want a a bottle of anything. I also asked for us to be able to sit down and enjoy what was left Of my girlfriends birthday dinner.

However this was almost impossible as the staff kept offering free wine that I had already turned down. And they couldn't get the service right at all asked three times for some water for the table. My drink was empty once the starters had come out and didnt get offered a new beer. When we got our main course the waitress asked if we wanted pudding before we had started our mains. I have never been so rushed to eat three courses. The whole experience was worst service I have ever seen rude rushed and no care so much for 4 star hotel is disgusting.

To top off the whole evening we asked for a baileys coffee and a brandy to which we were asked if we had booked through secret escape( which we had as the hotel didn't match the offer online) and how long we had waited as if to see if we had gone through a bad enough evening. Even though I was going to pay for the brandy.

The only good parts of the stay where the sausage at breakfast.

Poor throughout do not stay even at the secret escapes rate...

Where do I begin with Royal Berkshire Hotel?

In summary, I had a birthday party organised for around 85 guests in December and it was a great decision to use them! I had a beautiful lady Le Tran support me every step of the way. She bent over back to make sure my event was organized to the way I wanted it. She was extremely polite, patient and she listened. Very important.

Prior to using them, I was very nervous as I had been totally messed around with Denham Grove hotel. I'll review them later but my advice will be stay clear of Denhame Grove to avoid disappointment!

Back to Royal Berkshire Hotel,  on the day, staff were available to ensure everything was a success. The FOOD was Amazing! All my guests were impressed by the flavor, quality and quantity. It tasted delicious. There was a young guy (i think Anthony) who was on ground with the manager in charge to help with ensuring my event room was arranged to how I wanted it. Thank you! The bedrooms were also beautiful. Everything about this little gem of a hotel made my day so easy. Nothing seemed like too much trouble and all the staff I met were helpful and friendly. My guests took over 20 rooms in the hotel and we were able to have breakfast together. Again, there was a good selection of breakfast options and staff were able to accomodate our party size and available to support. My guest were really impressed by the hotel and their service and will highly recommend for weddings and larger events. We met one of the morning Chef (Nicky) and it was lovely for myself and a couple of my guest to chat with her. Staff look like they enjoyed working there from those on reception to the waiters. We didn't feel any form of discrimination or hostility. If I need to, I will certainty use them again in the future and will certainly plan a mini break back there....

Notably my stay at the hotel has not yet finished, so this review isn't complete. I will begin with my first impressions of the hotel. The entrance was a bit hidden on the road, but we were able to manuever into the grounds generally easily once we knew where it was. The parking spaces were sparse later on - though a wedding was on that day so this could be excused. The staff were polite, friendly and helpful at reception, giving us our room key without long processes like I've seen at other hotels. I was glad for this. Unfortunately, they gave slightly wrong directions, or rather, directions that were complicated compared to another way we found when coming back from our room.

Our room was clean, tidy, our only concern being the previous stayer had kept their key in the card reader which activated the lights. We wondered if we were entitled to come in, or they still had things to collect, but due to the tidied, suitcase-less state of the room we decided that they must've left it by accident. We handed it into reception, then proceeded back to our room to pack.

After packing, we went to the polo bar and ordered a meal. The staff here, quite like the receptionists, were helpful, friendly and ready to take our orders within five to ten minutes. Unfortunately, due to other reasons we didn't have much time and only ordered drinks. The prices were as we'd expect them for a hotel of this class. Though the meal we had later on was definitely delicious.

After attending the leisure area, our room card (of which we had two, the other being given to the husband of the family) and me and my daughter were stuck outside of our room. She went with the key and got it scanned so we could enter the room again. This was a real concern but it should not happen again...