The Stables — Restaurant in England

We had our wedding here in Cantley House Hotel and ever since we’ve celebrated our anniversary here at the Stables. However, we’ve recently dined at The Stables for my Birthday and we’ve had the worst experience ever at a restaurant.

The service was slow. We’ve waited 30+ mins for the 1st course, which was supposed to be the “snacks” - we ordered the squid and crispy halloumi BUT we’ve been served our main dishes instead! We then told the waiter that we’ve not had our starters yet. So we waited another 15 mins or so for the correct food.

We’ve finally received our starter- the squid was served with a crispy seaweed garnish (without any lemon or sauce!) halloumi with sweet chilli sauce ( no garnish whatsoever and the sauce tasted like it’s been bought from a shop!) We called the waiter and asked if squid was supposed to come with a sauce or lemon (as it usually do) and the fact that my halloumi was cold! We also kindly ask to make sure that they do not serve us the exact same main dish and to prepare fresh ones. We had our starters and tried to forget what happened and enjoy the rest of the evening.

However, after receiving our main food- i have noticed that the food looked like it’s been sitting there for a while and been reheated. My food was BLAND AND COLD, pork was dry.

We’ve brought this to the attention of the waitress who we think is a trainee just a few minutes after receiving our food and expressed our disappointment. At this point we just wanted to get out. We waited for someone to tell us what’s going to happen..but the final straw was the manager didn’t bother facing us to apologise for the service and a very disappointing food. We got given the receipt to pay for the full main course! The waitress have highlighted the fact that they’ve given us a discount, which was very insulting! WE HAD A TASTE OF THE FOOD- barely eaten! But again- no apologies from the chef or manager.

I would highly recommend to not visit this place especially if you want to celebrate a special occasion to avoid any dissatisfaction. We will not be coming back in the future. This place has definitely gone...

Despite overall quite solid reviews, I was pretty disappointed with our visit.

First, the good bits: the staff and service are good - friendly and on hand. The garden setting is very nice, enclosed by the buildings making up the indoor part of the restaurant. The wood-fired pizzas, made in a kitchen near the entrance, are also good.

On the downside, the pricing is upscale gastro-pub but most of the food doesn't reach anywhere near that level. My go-to order of fish and chips, usually safe when the menu is dull, was utterly naff - soggy, lifeless and small. The little pot of Tartar was fine, but next to it was something that looked like mayonnaise that had separated into solid and watery parts. We ordered some truffle fries mid-meal to supplement small portions. Another dish that's hard to screw up but again, really disappointing. It is also worth pointing out that for a 7:45 reservation they had run out of my wife's first choice for starter and main course.

The place has a cocktail menu, but the cocktails are made from pre-mixed bottles. While priced like one, it is not a bartender mixed cocktail bar. The wine list is fine, just 20% more expensive than similar wine lists in other places nearby.

The other thing that irritated me about drinks in the garden was that while the food is table service, they ask you to go inside to the bar. Most gastro-pub setups seem to cope with table service for everything but here it doesn't suit them for whatever reason.

My overall experience was likely also affected by the crowd we had at the next table. Four or five young men swearing noisily and drunkenly. Half way through the meal one of them fell backwards off his chair onto the ground, helping to muddy the waters between nice dining and everyday pub grub experience.

Wokingham has an abundance of quite nice places to eat. Despite a very attractive physical setting and nice staff, it feels as though unimaginative and extractive management stops this from being...

Really disappointed. Over priced and underwhelmed!!!! 2 of us came here for lunch. Was a quiet day and only 2 in the restaurant. We ordered a chicken burger to share and some picky bits of baked cambert, bread, hummus, hallomi. We only had water to drink. When the food came it was a chicken and veg dish and not the burger and chips we ordered. A waiter did whizz by and ask if all was okay but my mouth was full of food so I just nodded and then waited for him to come back to explain I ordered a burger. He never came back so we ate it. It was nice but an odd meal to share between two. The bread came with the cambert was just cold toast and the hummus came with soggy carrots and dips. Not a great meal but thought nice little location. Waited for someone to clear our plates and ask for a bill but nobody came around. ( only 2 of us in there, so lazy staff) we went to the bar to pay and mentioned to the girl the meal was nice and we aren’t complaining but wasn’t what we ordered… she didn’t seem to care much said sorry and put on a 12% service charge…. Over £65 for a bottle of water, chicken and veg dish (which wasn’t that big or what we even ordered) and some cold toast and cheese!!!!! I’ve worked in customer service my whole career including restaurants and this was really disappointing they put over £10 service charge for wrong dinner, no service recovery, and not even clearing our plates afterwards! Shame I thought I found a little gem but was rubbish

Don’t bother going it’s a...