Royal Standard — Restaurant in Oxford

Me and my tennis group had finished a game and come to the royal standard to watch the football, my friends all ordered a drink and I wasn’t feeling like drinking so I had a tap water and we all sat down to watch the football. The bar lady (Ashley) came over five minutes later and demanded that I’d have to order if I was to stay with my friends. We were all very surprised by this as we have been there a lot in the past and ordered I just wasn’t feeling like drinking in this instance. We were all confused and whilst I was thinking of what just happened she had come over five minutes later demanding once again for me to purchase something accept this time I had to get up and leave if I did not order. We questioned why I was forced to order a drink and the bar lady had said because you can’t be in a pub and not drink due to electricity. Which confused us all, to tame the already uncomfortable situation I went up to the bar with her and ordered a pint of lager which was flat and not enjoyable to drink but I felt so uncomfortable with the prior hospitality I couldn’t bring myself to ask for a new pint. I went back to my group and we continued to watch the football. But I didn’t stop there my friend had finished his pint and had gone to bar to order another one, where he was refused service because earlier this instance had occurred. Not only that but he were all asked to leave and we would be able to order another drink even though I had accepted her demand that I order a drink. This experience was honestly unacceptable and not what I expected we were all rather shocked. We headed to the white horse where we ordered drinks and asked if this was normal and we we were greeted with a warning response that this was not normal pub etiquette and was unacceptable we had a lovely time at the white horse and much preferred the experience...

while the wife was in hospital i took the opportunity to nip into the royal standard and have a pint with a view to having some lunch.

walked in the front door and was met by a miserable short plump millenial who stared at me gone out till i placed my order of a peroni. the pouring of said peroni was carried out in silence and she placed in front of me my pint with opened hand thrust out in front, which i assumed meant "pay me"?! change was promptly returned without any further exchange of human noises or indeed words let alone a "thank you sir, enjoy your drink". conclusion: bring on the machines, they have more personality, more about them and probably pour a better pint than a millenial who thinks the world owes them a favour. put a smile on your chops love.

the best was yet to come, i took my pint to the garden, whilst considering if i wished to patronise a place where a half smile and a grunt is too much. as i mused my experience and imagined a world with friendly, polite and courteous bar service something caught my eye! perhaps the bar tenders personality had been left at home and was making a late dash through the back door?! no, I'm afraid not, the personality probably never existed in the first place. IT WAS A RAT, A BIG BLACK RAT, climbing the tree, above my head, making it's way slowly towards the pubs kitchen. my mind was made there would be no lunch and a swift exit was required, off i went but as i left my seat i thought i heard a tiny squeak wishing me a thank you and have...

I came for breakfast with expectation for a good start to my day as me and my wife used to come regularly... gosh I was wrong. Lady at the bar friendly, I've ordered full English bfast without looking at the menu. After 25min wait (I was the only one person in the pub!) my breakfast came out with no toast at brad. When I asked about it I was told it's an extra charge. I mean I don't mind paying extra and understand as I've managed 3 different hotels in my career and familiar with this kind of business so I suggested it would be nice if someone asked me if I want a toast when I was ordering at the bar!! The lady simply answered that I should look at the description next time!!!! How rude!! I have ordered the toast thinking it doesn't take long and happy to wait. I was wrong again! It took nearly 10min for the toast to come and it wasn't even toasted properly and I have to remind them about it! Come on!! That's the basics of the service! I know this is the pub not Michelin restaurant but this is very poor. I planned to have breakfast and stay for the Chelsea game as my friends were joining in. After such awful experience I just left and will never come back!! Standard has gone below the standard and it's a shame coz it's a really nice place. To add to it I do not usually review places so you can see how...