Rose & Thistle — Restaurant in Reading

I visited this pub on Bank Holiday Monday evening with a group of 5. We arrived shortly after 8pm and placed an order for food immediately. They told us there was no steak left and no red peppers for the red pepper and halloumi skewers. That was fine we chose from the menu that they said was available and settled down with a drink. Two drinks and an hour and a quarter later our food arrived. The bar man said they were very busy, we could see fewer than four other tables with eating guests. Four of our party's five meals were adequate (with generous portions but elements listed on the menu missing) the fifth, a humble jacket potato with "veggie chilli and sour cream" was a very sorry thing. The potato itself was hard and shriveled, there was less than a desert spoon of dried-up beans and the salad garnish was brown (yes brown) iceberg. There was none of the advertised sour cream. The butter portion had been put onto a hot plate (we assumed the meal had been waiting in an oven for some time while something else was cooking) so when opened the foil pack was empty as the butter had run away and dried up.

The waiter apologised saying he could understand that the meal wasn't edible and offered something else from the menu. We chose a veggie burger (there being few veggie alternatives as the salad had all gone). This was served just after 10pm ( 2 hours after we arrived to eat and after the rest of the party had finished their meal) and was simply a burger on a dry bun with some chips. No sauce of choice, no garnish, no spread on the bun. This looked so inedible and so didn't match the menu description the individual declined it and went home hungry. We were not offered our money back and were offered nothing by way of apology at that point.

I would urge anyone deciding on an evening meal at the end of a weekend not to go to this pub. They are clearly rubbish at stock control and variable in their customer care. I wish I had taken a photo of the baked potato. It would be hard to believe how bad it was...

My daughter treated me and my husband to drinks and a meal at the pub and we met up with 4 other family members the older lady behind the bar was rather rude to my nephew when he was ordering drinks she said to another customer out of tone she would be with him once my nephew has decided what he wants and the young bar girl was bit rude too he ordered food and she said do u want cutlery well if u have ordered food u would need cutlery wouldn’t u so why ask in a sarcastic way u automatically give the person cutlery then when the older lady brought the meals out she brought my nephews out last and said sarcastically and this is for the one that’s been waiting patiently my daughter had a pitcher and she had little flies in the jug of drink my niece had a pitcher and the jug was dirty in the groove all the way round the jug where it had not been washed properly also when we been other places and have asked for pitchers the jug is filled to the top but ours at this place was only half way and by time u took the ice out u would have hardly anything in the jug 3 of us had the Korean bbq chicken burger and the sauce over the chicken and in the little pot on the side was definitely not bbq sauce at all the other thing was the length of time we had to wait for our meals it was absolutely ridiculous we have never been anywhere where we had to wait so long so one came over and said sorry for the delay or anything the older woman said it was her last day she is leaving and didn’t seem very happy about it but didn’t need to be like she was with my nephew we said we would not be returning back to this pub after the first experience but then there was a lovely tall black boy only 17 was saying someone else was taking it over so maybe it will be better then the 7 of us that was 5 adults two children had spent about £200...

If you're dreaming of sipping a free summer cocktail courtesy of Rose and Thistle’s generous email… wake up. You’re dreaming. Tonight, my family and I went to celebrate the start of our holiday, lured by the siren call of a promised free drink. The food? Acceptable. The atmosphere? Fine. The drink? A masterclass in disappointment. After ordering food, I politely asked about my free cocktail and showed the barcode from their email campaign. The staff member chirped, "I’ll make the drink first and then scan your code!" Cute optimism. But alas, their magical drink-scanning machine must be allergic to actual codes — mine didn’t work, the digits underneath were rejected too, and even the manager's mystical powers couldn’t revive it. Then came the awkward interrogation: “Have you used this code before?” As if I spend my days committing cocktail fraud. Eventually, the manager (clearly auditioning for the role of Least Enthusiastic Bartender of the Year) offered me the drink anyway — with all the warmth of a soggy napkin. Her actual words? "Take it for free!" Like she was handing me a consolation prize in a game I didn’t want to play. I declined. And thought I’d settle for a glass of Pinot Grigio instead — a safe, classic choice, ready to pay fot it. But guess what? Out of stock. Naturally. Eventually, I took the cocktail. For free, yes. For joy? Absolutely not. My evening mood was effectively drowned in that glass. If their next email offers free food, I’ll pass — I’d rather not risk another episode of the Great Gatsby meets faulty...