The Double Red Duke, Cotswolds — Restaurant in West Oxfordshire

Mixed result for our extra special Xmas day meal! Good and not quite so good. At £185 plus drinks and wine and service charge of 12.5% per head the DRD did not live up to the expectation of its marketing and price, notwithstanding the normal premium for eating out on Xmas Day. This was more expensive than the likes of the Woodspeen, The Vineyard, and the Donnington Spa hotel of which we have had food experiences previously and stand as excellent benchmarks. It was the attention to details that were the minuses and hence only my three star rating.

Food was very well presented although not as hot where required, and not exceptional in quality (Tournedos Rossini was chewy..not to the point of a complaint though). We had to preorder our choices and were served one dish incorrectly. Fortunately our email confirmation was to hand on my phone and proved our case thus it was rectified with no problem. We ordered a bottle of wine and the waitress had to return and ask us to point out which one it was in the wine list. Our table was a small round bar table in corner the Garden room. Our seating was on cushioned banquette seating that put us virtually side by side. My wife reasonably stated she needed a conventional upright table chair which was provided after being advised we should have put that in our confirmation email !!!!!! Really!!! The tables and seating had three in our location tightly packed in with our allocated one very close to the open fire that we declined for the very reason the couple who did sit there had to subsequently move due to heat. Our table was circular and too small for a dinner, more in keeping with being bar item furniture, not an 'upscale' restaurant dining table. Crackers were not even Pound shop standard, cutlery was canteen standard, and after a brief conversation upon asking, we were told that we were in the first wave of diners and that second wave ("we are very very busy"!) would be coming in at 2-00pm so we had the table for two hours!!

The staff were friendly and helpful and gave us no reason to refute the 'discretionary' service charge however.

Overall our experience was not awful just disappointing on what was for us a very different Christmas to many years past. It didn't spoil our day and I just think that the DRD needs to be more critical in reviewing how it deems to aspire to be a destination of quality, high standard, and choice given other high standard competition that exists in high end dining within a...

Lovely stay in the Cotswolds. The rooms are stunning really nicely laid out. All the dining areas were amazing as well the layout was really unique. Only criticism with the dining area is that you are almost on top of each other with customer almost touching table to table which isn’t very nice when your trying to have a cosy meal. However I do appreciate that they need to make money and get the customers where they can. The food was amazing the crab dish, soufflé and duck where stand out dishes with incredible flavours. Over all service was good however they do put a service charge on the bill now in my opinion if your putting a service charge on the bill you are implying that the service is perfect and deserves that amount tip. However little mistakes did add up over our stay. For example ordering a basil and pepper cocktail and getting something completely different to what we had had previously in the day. And the barman saying it was just different amount of basil now if that is the case then there’s a lack of consistency in cocktails which also shouldn’t happen every cocktail that goes out should be exactly the same to the last consistency is key. They did however make a fresh one which then replicated the first we had which we did appreciate. A couple of times waiting staff had to come back and double check what we had ordered. Now while I appreciate them checking if they can’t remember wouldn’t it be better for them to write it down rather than constantly double checking. Lastly when we came to pay we were given our room bill which didn’t show the items we had only the cost of dinner and the cost of the afternoon drinks and the massages we had had. Now luckily I asked to see the itemised bill because they had actually charged us dinner for the table next to us which was also completely different. They had also charged us for a round of drinks we didn’t have. And for breakfast that I had already prepaid for. Now I completely understand mistakes happen and I believe they were having trouble with there system. However when the stay wasn’t perfect there shouldn’t be a service charge. Other wise the staff were amazing very friendly and...

I booked a dinner here with some friends who were visiting England and the Cotswolds for the first time. Like many others, I booked based on the ‘reviews’ of the many #gifted #pr posts that had popped up on social media.

We were a group of 4, we were celebrating and ordered generously. We were let’s say an ‘international’ looking clientele and maybe that’s why we received such a sub par service.

When asked if our food was alright, my food was actually incredibly salty and inedible, it was tasted by everyone on the table who were in agreement, so I politely mentioned this when asked. The server took it away and then came back rudely and slammed the plate back on the table and said ‘the chef has tasted it, it’s not overly salty- there’s nothing wrong with it here’s your plate back’. Who would taste someone else’s food, after they’ve received it and then return it and expect me to eat it? The whole table had never experienced such a thing in any establishment and I was quite frankly embarrassed.

I did email the management, last year when it happened and the response was, ‘we investigated the matter and found that our chef and staff indeed acted correctly’. I’m sorry but this is totally not professional and I’m surprised at the amount of glowing reviews. Perhaps if you’re not an international traveller or don’t have a large social media following then this is what you can expect.

There are plenty of independent and charming pubs and restaurants in the Cotswolds that really show off the generosity and beauty of the area. This one sadly lacks professionalism or curtesy at top tier prices for the area. I felt awful that my guests had to experience such a rude interaction on what had been such a lovely and charming weekend. I understand that bad service can happen on an evening, but the total lack of interest or follow up from the management when I provided feedback was the final nail in the coffin.

Not all that...