We visited The Royal Oak yesterday after an evening at The Albert Hall and an inevitable hangover. We were served promptly and every effort was made to find us a table even though the pub was packed. Our food arrived without delay and was superb. The fish was perfectly cooked with a really light batter and my steak was tender and delicious. The atmosphere was vibrant with customers tucking in to their meals and obviously enjoying the experience. Having read some less than flattering reviews of this pub I have come to the conclusion that people seem to forget that this is a pub and not a swanky restaurant. I will happily return and eat here on my next trip to London.

My friends and I went to the Royal Oak on sunday and we were treated to the Worst customer service we have ever come across.After 45minutes we had to ask for someone to take our order as were conscious they wanted the table back after 2 hours, when the food finally arrived after 1hr and 30mins, it was fairly good, although 2 of the pork belly were not cooked correctly- the crispy skin was actually plastic, so chewy that they couldn't eat it, the meat itself was undercooked, we knew they needed the table back in 30mins so didn't complain, just ate the other sides. At the end of the meal the waitress came over and said "done"? We said yes however just a small criticism - the meat wasn't cooked, she went to get someone else who came over and started ranting about nobody else had complained, (it was early in the day- how much had they served?) she asked why didn't we tell her, I said that nobody had come to ask us how the meal was and we didn't have the time to wait for more food to be cooked- she then proceeded to rant that no other gastopubs ask how the food is (has she ever eaten out before???) I said that she didn't need to be so defensive and we didn't complain sooner as quite frankly what could she of done as we were due to be kicked off soon.She then ranted about the fact that she had worked there 7 years (7 years too long) and she knew what she was talking about as if we were idiots that know nothing about cooking.I told her we were merley making a remark and she should not EVER talk to her customers like that, we are doing her a favour and paying her wages by being there.In the end she walked off, gave us the bill and said "well I've taken the food off anyway"- we didn't care about paying for it- we did however have a problem with paying service charge for the abuse that she gave us, so we didn't pay the service and we walked out.Horrendous- the management need to stop thinking this pub will run on location alone- the staff are the worst we have

I called to make a booking for 7pm, I arrived at 7pm and the restaurant door was locked.

I asked the staff behind the bar when the restaurant would be opening, she answered barely looking at me "soon".

My partner and I ordered a drink at the bar as it was nearing 7:15 and still no sign of the restaurant opening.

At 7:36pm I asked another girl behind the bar when I can expect the restaurant to open she replied "in a minute".

If someone had just taken the 2minutes to actually explain the situation to me it would have been fine, but it was the complete and utter rudeness and disinterest from the staff that really put a foul taste in my mouth.

We eventually got in. One waitress serving the whole top floor. She was unfriendly, no character, shrugged at questions.

I don't even know where to start with the food. Tastless broadbean/pesto soup, might as well have given me a warm bowl of water. I had Veal escalope with a bunch of saute'd shallots, chillies and olives completely oil drenched, totally substandard food.

Avoid!

Very disappointed by the poor quality of the food and the rude staff. If service charge's are discretionary then surely you don't argue with the customer over whether or not it should be included! And the when the customer does leave a tip on the table do you then return it to the customer saying it's not wanted! Beggars belief! Never again shall my feet darken that doorway.

We went there for Sunday lunch today. While the menu was fairly limited, the food was quite decent. However, most of the staff were completely charmless and dour which created an oppressive atmosphere and would put me off returning.

Rude staff, average food.Never again.

I am always so confused by how rude the staff are at this pub. Why do they hate their clientele so much?

We were a group of girls there for a birthday drink last night. The staff were so rude and seemed more interested in talking amongst themselves or moping about in their own self loathing rather than serve anyone.

At half ten they turned on the lights and one of previously ineffectual staff managed to push an arm in and round up 4 half full glasses of red wine by sloshing his finger into each glass.

Upon our protest that we were still drinking he put them back down expecting us to down our now fouled drinks.

Its always a disappointment when a lovely pub like this is let down by the people out front.

Looks like nothing's improved since the last reviewer was here. I've never felt compelled to leave a review of a place, but this place is a joke.

Went there last night for a friend's birthday with fairly high hopes. The set menu whilst it looked a bit steep for a pub resto at £21 for two courses or £25 for three looked really good and the dining room was attractive.

However, that's where the enjoyment ended. A watercress soup had the texture of papier mache and a taste not dissimilar - no seasoning whatsoever.

The lack of salt in it was explained by a pork belly caked in the stuff but with no other seasoning - spices/herbs at all.

Lentils with it were pretty good, but the meat was also a bit dry. The real disappointment was the desset - "sticky toffee pudding" instead it was more like a school dinner sponge - all dried out, with a tiny bit of (again oddly flavourless) sauce.

I guess I wouldn't have been so disappointed if it then hadn't taken half an hour to pay the bill. A large group of 16 we payed with cash and six cards, splitting the bill exactly to make it easier.

The waitress counted out all the money (with the aid of a calculator) extremely slowly before she even started with the cards.

I've never seen that before, particularly not when you're serving a group of professionals in their 30s!

She then added it all up on the calculator and very slowly did each of the cards, each time as they were going through wandering away from the table to have a chat with her friend.

Finally she'd done it and signified this to us by just wandering over to her friend - she didn't tell us it was fine or so much as thank us!

With the 12.5 compulsary service charge added on and 6 bottles of wine it came to £36.50 pp - for substandard food and the most unpleasant waitress I've seen in my life. The bar downstairs seemed ok, if a bit full of try-hards, but AVOID TH

Went there for a meal last Friday. The service was extremely slow (we waited 20 mins to order drinks) given there were only 2 other tables. The staff (such as we saw) were rude and the food insipid.

Believe it or not the Royal Oak is a good place to go to after a Saturday all nighter. Yep, they are open on a Sunday from 8am!! The DJ plays lots of cool tunes to help you unwind.
The Royal Oak has got all the right mix of drinks and is nice and dark.