The Oakleigh — Restaurant in England

This was my first and last visit. Friends had been here before and been happy.

Maybe I chose the wrong meal initially, a bacon and cheese burger and I opted for no bacon. The burger arrived with no cheese, that was minor in the scheme of things. After a few mouthfuls of the burger I realised that it tasted nothing like beef. The chips were cold. I wasn’t going to complain however my friends said that I would be leaving hungry. The young waiter whom took our order was pleasant enough however the second waiter didn’t want to hear what I was saying about the meat although fair play he offered to change the meal.

I ordered gammon, egg and chips. My friend had ordered this and it looked fresh and tasty especially the two fried eggs. It took a while to be served and obviously by now my friends had both finished their meals. Unfortunately the eggs underneath and around the edges were really crispy, dry & dark brown in colour. They had obviously been over cooked. I was able to remove the hard yolk from both eggs leaving what looked like an indention. The white of the egg was dried up and cold. I was able to eat the yolk of the egg (only). The gammon was a thick slab of meat that I couldn’t cut. When mentioning about the eggs he basically said that these were how eggs were cooked, in a frying pain with oil. This second waiter was actually a manager and he continued ‘nobody else had complained about the food’. Poor customer service especially coming from a manager! We wanted to order a dessert however the manager bought only two menus over and then asked me ‘ oh you want a menu then’. I was made to feel uncomfortable. In receiving the bill he had taken £2 off for the eggs, even though he said sarcastically that they looked fine and telling me that eggs are cooked in oil! As if I didn’t know.

I’ve never posted a review for a restaurant however I don’t want anyone to be made to...

Sad to say I will not be going back. The first time was in July 2023 and it was great back then! Went back in Nov 2023 and the menu had become a lot more restrictive. Having gone back now in January 2024, I had an awful experience.

My wife and I went in for brunch on Sunday to find there was only a special Sunday menu active. A bit annoying but I know that some places do this, just know that this is one of them, no regular menu on a Sunday.

We each went for a bar snack. Hers was alright, though a bit expensive to charge £8 for a Yorkshire pudding with a couple trimmings in it when a couple quid more would get one a full roast in other establishments.

Mine on the other hand was awful. £6 for what was listed as a honey mustard gammon bap. What I got was a slider bun with way too much mustard and and some sad looking ham.

I'd perhaps have looked past it and just made a private note not to return, until my bill came with a service charge.

At no point were we informed that there would be a service charge, not the least for a couple of overpriced bar sides, especially when mine was ruined with a mustard overdose.

The long and short of it is, whilst I've enjoyed this establishment in the past and whilst the staff are friendly, I'm afraid they've lost my trust and won't be seeing me again, as I'll be recommending others stay away too.

Always feels really insulting to be treated poorly and then ripped off to boot, which happens all too often with dining in this country.

If you sat on the floor at Sainsbury's eating a meal deal, you'll have a better time than you'd...

My experience of The Oakleigh had been generally good until yesterday, when I took my family there for a fathers day meal. We were one of only two tables in the whole restaurant but the service was terrible. We had to constantly remind our server about missing drinks orders and the childrens meals, not bought out with the adult starters, didn't arrive at the table for an hour after we'd ordered, leaving them hungry and ill tempered. The food, when it finally arrived, was actually rather good, with large portions and quality ingredients. Just a shame the experience was let down by lazy front of house staff that spent more time chatting with each other at the bar, than doing what they were supposed to be doing. Overall would not recommend you go out of your...