The Royal Standard of England — Restaurant in Great Britain

I've reviewed this pub many times over the years, having grown up in the 90s in Beaconsfield and been drinking here since then from time to time. Here's my Christmas 2024 review.

Headline: atmosphere is always 10/10, and staff are usually excellent. Some real food failures though, which were bordering on complaint territory - but we didn't go there as it was Mum's last Christmas (of about 35 years) in Beaconsfield so just wanted to leave peacefully.

table of 8 for Christmas dinner, £100 per head plus drinks. some mains came about 6-7 mins after the first lot delivered, leaving the polite people on our table to let their food get cold - NOT ok interior looked good as always, staff responsive Our food orders were submitted a month in advance as requested We were seated 30 mins before serving as requested by the time the main course arrived, told there probably wouldn't be any cranberry sauce left. Someone came over with literally less than half a teaspoon worth. Those who chose traditional Christmas roast were greeted with a very basic dish, TWO pigs in blankets - small ones at that, turkey and stuffing, potatoes that had clearly not been cooked in house as they had no weight to them like the rubbish ones people buy in M&S then reheat. Fake crunch outside and like air inside. Also carrots, but wow - they tasted plain. Zero finishing touches - no glaze, no honey roast, just plain. Really disappointing though was the complete lack of any trimmings. No bread and butter pud, no brussels, no honey roasted parsnips, no red cabbage, no cauliflower cheese (sacrilege!), no chestnuts... really very minimal and basic

But yes I draw the line at "running out of cranberry sauce" before anyone has even started their Christmas roast! This was the first sitting! What a show!

For a special day like this, the trimmings are very important. I've had better food in old people's homes!

Why not put the trimmings up front and centre and have a dedicated service tray that someone goes around with and tops up the trimmings? It would make service a breeze, and make a lot of people a lot happier.

Given we had to make our food choices about a month in advance, I really think the lack of planning for this meal was not okay.

We chose to come out for Christmas dinner as tired of cooking at home for so many people and wanted a year off - but it would have been really easy to knock up the kind of stuff we were given so wish we'd done that instead.

We spent the best part of £1k on this experience, and I'm sorry but I'd expect quite a lot more love being put into the food. I do really like this pub, but this was not its finest hour.

Again, I'll mention the service staff were lovely on the day, but it doesn't make up for the awful food...

We visited this pub expecting a pleasant and quirky experience. The setting is indeed beautiful, and the place has a lot of history. It was a typical rainy Saturday. The pub was fairly busy but definitely not full, with plenty of empty tables available.

Unfortunately, the service was chaotic from the start. There’s a sign at the entrance asking guests to wait to be seated. We waited for 15 minutes and even asked a member of the bar staff for help. They told us to wait for a floor staff member, but no one ever came. Eventually, we seated ourselves.

A waiter eventually came over. They were friendly and took our drinks order, saying they would return shortly to take our food order, but we never saw them again. Despite the poor service, the food was actually delicious, albeit overpriced, as were the drinks. The quality was genuinely excellent, which was a real shame given the overall experience. Sometimes you don’t mind paying more for excellent quality, which it clearly is. Another issue is that allergen information on the menu is poor. It says to speak to a waiter but we could not find any. The bar staff too were not up to speed on allergen info.

I feel bad for the staff, who were mostly polite but clearly overwhelmed. This seems to be an issue of poor management and understaffing rather than staff attitude.

The pub claims to be dog-friendly, which was part of the reason we brought our 12-week-old puppy along for some gentle socialisation. Unfortunately, this didn’t go well. The resident sheepdog immediately came over and growled at our puppy in a clearly aggressive manner. I understand it’s the resident dog’s territory, but if the pub advertises itself as dog-friendly, it should not have an aggressive dog freely roaming the restaurant.

To make matters worse, the pub dog urinated on our tables legs and another close by. Presumably marking territory. Our puppy was on a lead and minding its own business, but the resident dog kept approaching, growling, baring teeth, and raising its hackles. When we told a staff member about the dog urinating indoors, the only response was, “That’s the pub’s dog.”

This experience was disappointing and stressful. If you’re considering visiting, especially with a dog, be aware of the potential issues. This pub might have charm, but it is let down by poor service, bad management, and a supposedly “friendly”...

I had my wedding reception here on the 31st of May for a party of 35 people, and I have to say Emilia and Myles and the team at Royal Standard made it the perfect day! The process was entirely seamless and exactly what I was looking for, given I was having a very small celebration and there were going to be many children attending. As the Royal Standard a pub we frequent, it was the perfect place to celebrate and we felt right at home.

It was a beautiful day, so everyone started off with champagne and canapés in the garden, with lots of the kids around this was perfect. We hadn't planned this to be the case, but once we showed up, it felt just right and Emilia and the team went into action getting it all set up for us.

Then we went in and Emilia had the back room so beautifully decorated, and it was amazing that I could rely on the team to do it all as I didn't really want to have to do it myself. It was such a pleasant thing to have this part done for me as a part of hiring the hall, as I really got to fully enjoy it. Furthermore, inside the hall was perfect as in character with the rest of the pub, there's many little nooks and crannies for kids to explore and play in, including two fully separate areas, one for the children to do their activities and another for their food!

About a week and half before, I sent in my drinks and my guest's food orders, including canapés, prosecco, champagne, cocktails, wine, and non-alcoholic. They were able to accommodate for all food allergies (which was amazing as we had quite a few). The food quality was, as always, fantastic. Food all came out at the right time, there was no wait nor delay which is very impressive, given we all had a sit down meal!

They were also very accommodating as we wanted to bring our own cake, and they'd set out knife and plates for us all to use!

Overall, my guests and I had a fantastic time. The wine and drinks selection is amazing and food was fantastic, the decorations were beautiful and the service was FLAWLESS.

If you are looking for a way to celebrate, I can HIGHLY recommend having your party here! :) I mean just look at that picture of my husband and I cutting our cake, how beautiful is this place!! Big big thank you to Emilia who did it all. Can't wait to come back for a drink and some...