The Volunteer — Restaurant in England

The Volunteer is a traditional pub in the heart of Theale, Berkshire. It has a warm and inviting atmosphere, with exposed brickwork and a traditional fireplace. The menu features a wide variety of pub classics, as well as some more modern dishes.

We started our meal with sticky pigs in blankets. These were perfectly cooked and the sausages were juicy and flavorful. For our main courses, I had the chicken curry and my partner had the steak and ale pie. Both dishes were delicious. The chicken curry was rich and flavorful, and the steak and ale pie was hearty and filling.

The service at The Volunteer was excellent. Our server was friendly and attentive, and he made sure that we had everything we needed. We also enjoyed the selection of beers on tap.

Overall, we had a great experience at The Volunteer. The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the atmosphere was warm and inviting. We would definitely recommend this pub to anyone looking for a great meal in Theale.

Here are some additional details about the dishes we ordered:

Sticky pigs in blankets: These were made with pork sausages wrapped in bacon and cooked until golden brown. Chicken curry: This was a rich and flavorful curry made with chicken, onions, peppers, and spices. It was served with rice and naan bread. Steak and ale pie: This was a hearty and filling pie made with steak, onions, mushrooms, and ale. It was served with fries and peas.

Polly our waitress was very friendly and helpful, she is a credit to the pub....

A Sunday Roast to Savour! My husband and I are regulars here, both for food and for drinks. Tom's Sunday roasts are fabulous! He normally cooks up roast beef (served medium to well done) and roast chicken, with good to large sized portions. We had the roast beef here a month or so ago (ours was served medium-rare, and we were provided with fairly thick slices that were tender and full of flavour), but decided to have the roast chicken here the Sunday before last. The chicken was nicely herbed and roasted, beautifully tasty and moist, served with a Yorkshire Pudding (nicely fluffy), chipolatas, cabbage and carrots, the carrots and cabbage both having some "bite" to them (hurrah, given that a lot of pubs seem to provide vegetables that have been cooked to death and are mush). In addition, there were roast parsnips and roast potatoes that had been seasoned with herbs. The roast potatoes are absolutely fab - soft on the inside, crispy on the outside. Tom's gravy has a real depth of flavour. If you haven't tried the Volly's roast Sunday lunches before, you are missing out.. The price is pretty good too, particularly given the portion size. The service is friendly and the atmosphere welcoming, not just from Tom and his staff, especially Hayden, but also from the regulars. The pub has a brilliant back garden with plenty of seating which is nice to sit out in during the summer or better weather and ample car parking...

On a long drive day (Kilkenny to Kent), we almost went to the motorway services for dinner, and to wait for the M25 traffic to calm down before we continued. Decided to look for a pub dinner instead, and choose The Volunteer hoping we’d find a relaxed, local place. We got that right! The parking was easy, we walked in just a couple of minutes before food service started at 6:00. There was plenty of comfortable seating inside, but we were able to sit outside where we could keep an eye on our car. (The area looked safe enough, but we’re on tour and can’t risk the instruments.) The staff were friendly, the service was quick enough, and the food was excellent. So was the cider! We were surrounded by trees full of songbirds, amused by the rooftop antics of gulls and crows, and even had a couple of kites hunting nearby. The only disappointment was that the smokers were using the back patio, right in front of the no smoking signs, rather than take a few more steps to the actual smoking area on the lawn. But we got lucky - no one came out to smoke before we finished our dinner. We got the scampi and chips, which came with garden peas and tartar sauce and was plenty of food for two of us to share for a light meal, so even with our drinks, it was very affordable. All that and nice, clean bathrooms, too. This was exactly the break we needed before getting back on the road to...