The Royal Oak — Restaurant in London

Worst experience in a long time- and the staff simply couldn't have cared less.

I've been before and the service has been mixed but today was shocking. Please don't bother going when there are better options around.

Booked online but never got any confirmation so I called Sunday morning and left a message on the answer phone but no one bothered replying. Tried again once they opened at 11 and no one picked up so arrived on time at 12 hoping it was all ok. The place smelled awful for some reason and the staff member was sitting at a pub table when we walked in, didn't bother getting up and didn't care if we had a booking or not just told us to sit where we wanted (waved us away). I mentioned we had booked high chairs and they simply pointed to a corner and ignored us again so we got them ourselves. I then shortly had to go up and ask for menus but apparently they could only find one?! When I asked we were then told the menu on the website was wrong and we couldn't have the roast sharing board, there was no kids menu on a Sunday other than a small roast (even though visiting previously we had a kids menu on this day) and any food would be at least 20 minutes even though we were the only table in the building and it would be about 40 mins into service by then. Further conversation revealed a story that a chef had left and a new one was being hired etc but to be honest the food may have worked out but the service wasn't going to get any better so with two hungry young kids and having already wasted 10 minutes sorting out own table and menus we decided to cut our losses and left! We won't be going back with options like The Crown nearby. I wouldn't bother with this...

Having travelled quite a distance for the Rugby we purposely sought out a pub some distance from the stadium so we could have a drink and a meal. This pub seemed ideal, we arrived at 11.30 it was not very busy, we saw a number of tables set (knives/forks serviettes etc) some had been reserved some hadn't. We saw down at one of the non reserved ones and asked for a menu. We were asked had we booked? No we hadn't but presumably if the table had been set they would be serving food, no? Alas you had to book online and when we tried, the earliest booking was for the next day! Strange given the pub was not that busy and the kitchen was clearly open as food was being served. I guess in a strange way its good to see that this pub must be doing so well as clearly it didn't need my custom. So we finished our drinks and went elsewhere for food. Shame as it was one of the better pubs that we saw in the area. Hope this helps others who might be stopping by for a quick...

Worst Sunday lunch I've ever had.

I don't post reviews very often, but this Sunday roast was a joke.

Roast potatoes that weren't roasted, root vegetable mash that wasn't seasoned, a couple of straggly bits of broccoli, apple sauce tasting as if it's straight out of a bottle, Yorkshire pudding that tasted as if it came out of the freezer.... swamped in tasteless gravy....

But the worst thing about the meal..... The pork crackling.... There wasn't any ! Just a rubbery piece of fat.

Thanks Billy for your response.... "This is certainly not a regular occurrence & i hope we can welcome you back sometime to show this."

I treat myself once a month to Sunday lunch at a pub..... I was intending on spending the afternoon and my hard earned money watching the Monaco Formula 1....

Do you seriously think I'm going to risk wasting more of my limited money in these hard pressed times just to see if it was not a regular...