The Royal Oak in Tonga

The food lived up to expectations; the puddings were really good (I can recommend the rhubarb dessert). However, the service could have been better.

Love this pub, only reason I gave four stars is because its a little expensive and not enough space for just having a drinking session. I know they want the place to be a dining only pub but you cant be expected to do e at their prices three times a week.....

Good food, small menu. No chicken

Disappointing. The starter was lovely. The venison was of poor quality and tasted as if it was just away to turn. The vegetables were nothing to write home about. The bread was average and tasteless, even though it smelt great. Restaurant staff were in a rush, and didnt seem to care. Even to the point of making fun of the food intolerance of one of our party. Bar staff however were engaging. Not a place Ill rush back to. Over priced, poor quality and lacking in anything special.

Always a joy here. This is our go to place for a special occasion, important business lunch, etc. A good lunch prix fixe menu and wine list. The atmosphere is informal, but the food/wine/service is very smart. Deserved Michelin status. Recommended.

Wonderful place for a dinner. Never had such a delicious fish main and gorgeous looking dessert. Stunning 👍

Hummm. Gone downhill. Our red wine was cold. Staff, although nice, were not fully trained and not fully familiar with menu. All acceptable if it were not for our higher expectations of this place (and the price).

Weve never had anything but great meals here. Smart, comfortable surroundings with welcoming and knowledgable staff. Food is always well-thought-out, with flavour packed into every mouthful. Always a real sense of occasion about a meal here. Fabulous restaurant.

My roast came twice cold. The staff couldnt of been more apologetic. My food was removed from the bill. My partners food was delicious and hot. Mine was lovely eventually although my Yorkshire on the 3 plates that i was given, tasted a little burnt 😔. Maybe just my own personal taste. Its a little bit pricey but the staff and surroundings are quite lovely, hence the prices.

Wow! The food was fantastic! You can tell the chef takes a lot of care in his food! Nicely presented food and every mouthful was bursting with flavour. The portion size was good also. I had the pork belly which was amazing! It was beautifully cooked and had a lovely crisp crackling! The restaurant offers a very cosy environment and very inviting. This is not your average pub lunch, it is rather expensive but you are paying for local ingredients and well crafted menus. I would love to go back again! I would highly recommend this restaurant. The staff were also great!

Exceptional meal! Served up with an excellent service from Scott and the rest of his happy smily team. Also a very warm greeting from Nick as soon as we walked through the door. Well definitely be back.

Excellent service, food was good. However, not Michelin star level. Probably because we went there with a large group for our Christmas lunch and had to preselect the menue. I presume that the a la carte menue is better.

We have been wanting to eat here for ages. Lovely Place with a fine dining experience. Food was as good as expected but for me it didnt have the wow factor I was possibly looking for. Service was good although when I asked the waiter for some pepper he disappeared and was never to be seen again. A nice evening out, not so sure about the 12% service charge which brought the final bill to £133.00. We would probably visit again but wouldnt rush back.

First class menu and very pleasant surroundings. Service extremely attentive and professional in restaurant. Would highly recommend.

This was one of the worst dining experience I have ever experienced Not only was the food mediocre, it was expensive. The ambiance was cold and uncharitable. We were even rudely and wrongfully accused by a young cocky boy of not paying our bill. If that was not bad enough the male manager, who clearly thought he had arrived, defended his underling by saying on on 3 separate occasions: "the little darlings have worked hard tonight". There was no apology in sight, and to top it all said "I must support my staff". This place bears all the hallmarks and staff attitudes associated with a sinking ship. My star rating is a zero. Actually, had it been possible I would have added a minus. I recommend a wide berth.

I had wanted to visit the Royal Oak for a long time.We finally went for my wifes birthday.Ive been a numerous one, two and three star restaurants before - but this didnt have that feel.Ok, I thought, its more a pub style, lets see what the menu and food is like.I was a little disappointed that there didnt seem to be any kind of tasting menu.The menu and food itself was good, but not up to the standard one might expect.I was left feeling a little deflated by the end.There was nothing wrong per se, but it certainly wasnt up to the standard of a 1 Michelin star restaurant.Shame.

Had a delightful Sunday Lunch here with friends from overseas.Excellent menu, tasty food and polished service. One of the best wine lists containing many surprises. Beautifully decorated giving an ambience of tranquillity and comfort. A great place to treat yourself.

Up there with the very best!!!!!My husband and I tend to eat out once a week and almost always at somewhere with at least one Michelin star and rarely go back to the same place twice. That probably tells you a few things about us 1. We are food snobs 2. We have eaten in nearly all the london and south west Michelin starred establishments and 3. We know our food.I don’t usually review the places we visit but this was outstanding. Up there with it’s top london counterparts. Food was perfection from start to finish and even now I fail to find a single flaw despite my fussy reputation.Great snacks (the eel especially was delightful), beautiful seasonal starters and perfectly cooked mains. We had the pork and the venison and both cleared our plates despite being uncomfortably full!Yes it isn’t particularly innovative but nor does it pretend to be. It 100% delivers on its brief of good food done to perfection. It knows what it is and the absence of both ‘foam’ and ‘snow’ only made me love it more.Wine was also great and service excellent - friendly, knowledgable and most importantly in my opinion understated.I saw another review draw comparisons to the waterside inn (most overrated and overpriced restaurant in this countryand the Hinds head (fine, just fine- to me this was the best of the three. I thought the quality of the food was the best and I thought the price point was completely fair in comparison to its peers (I mean it’s easy to google the price list and clearly see it isn’t waterside in prices).We will definitely be back and soon! X

Excellent fine dining pub/restaurant. Service is reassuringly slow, as it should be - it takes time to prepare food this good. Wide choice of wines, many of them available by the glass.

Great pub atmosphere/star restaurant twist. Perfect food, service, and entourage.

Not as amazing as they think. I have been several times, I was a recurring customer, but I do not think this is as great as people think. Price-wise it is more expensive that the Hinds Head, quality wise, yes the food is good but it is overpriced. If we compare with what is within 5 miles radius, there is the Crown, the Hinds Head and the Waterside In. They are charging Waterside Inn prices for less that Hinds Head quality food. They are very child friendly, but nonetheless, so are other local pubs. It seems that it holds its status purely because of the small group of repeating customers. A foodie though would think twice before visiting again.

Fine dining, but in a relaxed, pub style atmosphere. Staff were very attentive and kind. Food was excellent and of the quality youd expect from a Michelin starred restaurant. We liked all the interesting art on the walls too.

Always excellent. Fantastic quality of service a must go to place. For a Michelin starred restaurant it is very well priced. Staff, surroundings and quality of food was impeccable. Highly recommended.

Great food and service. Quite expensive

The food is exceptional. The pork belly was delicious.

Everything we expected, just brilliant. Staff lovely, food quality amazing. Lovely surroundings, just perfect. Thanks to all the staff for making our wedding anniversary so special

We were celebrating our wedding anniversary. Absolutely amazing food & extensive wine menu. Gorgeous cocktails to start with: Cosmopolitan & Whisky Sour then a delicious Albarinio. Yes we will return.....

Went to the Royal Oak with friends to celebrate a birthday with what we thought would be an exceptional meal at a Michelen star restaurant. This establishment does not warrant a star based on our experience.We were greeted by a young and rather indeferent receptionist who was not experience in front of house skills. She was strugling to cope with the phone, arriving guests and bookings. We were not offered a drink when waiting for our friends to arrive. Although the staff are mostly friendly and polite, they do seem to lack experience of customer service and attention to detail. The poor quality of service was consistent throughout the evening with the exception of the young maitre de who was polite, charming and attentive and the only person who seemed experienced in running a busy restaurant. We had to continually ask or remind staff for forgotten items and the bill at the end of the evening. Finding that my partners expensive coat had been dropped on the floor of the cloak room at the end of the evening didnt help our perception that attention to detail is lacking. I make the above points because it costs north of £100 a person for a three course meal with wine at this "Gastropub" - you expect 5 star service when paying 5 star prices.The building and decor are very pleasant, the lighting and layout reasonably relaxing. Its an old pub tastefully converted to a restaurant. The location is approximately 5 miles from Maidenhed near White Waltham, about a £12 to £15 cab ride from central Maidenhead.Our food was not bad but it wasnt great either. Where a restaurant offers a small menu, you expect the dishes to be spectacular because the chef and their team can concentrate on, imaginative high quality and delicious creations. Our meal was simply bland and to be blunt, a bit heavy on the palette, not fine dinning at all when compared to other similar establishments in the Maidenhead area in the same price range.The overall impression was it was an average Gastropub with an over-priced menu. As an example; twice fried chips work out at nearly £1 a chip! Drinks are astonishly over-priced: a single gin and tonic is £10. The wine list was safe with a lot of labels familiar from popular off-licences and high-street wine merchants. No problem paying a mark-up on drinks but the service must justify the premium. On this ocaission, we were disappointed, its worth noting that there are many good reviews of this pub but on the night we were there they would not be justified.

Beautiful setting, amazing food, wonderful service. Best steak I have ever eaten!!

Nice atmosphere with friendly, knowledgeable staff. The chef, Craig, the winner of Master chef gave advice on items on the menu that were Gluten and dairy free for me and the food tasted delicious. A very enjoyable lunch.

As far as gastro pubs go the royal oak is the bees knees! Fantastic wine selection,second to none service and world class food. Cosy surroundings made for a brilliant winter night out. Winner.

I went with a group, and everyone were really impressed with the food. I had the crab starter and the Brill main course, and both were delicious. Would love to come back and try some of the other items on the menu 😊

BAD COMMUNICATIONI booked a table at the Royal Oak for my husband’s birthday dinner for 9 January on December 21 on the restaurant web site. I received a confirmation email from them. On 9 Jan we went to the Royal Oak to discover it was closed for refurbishment. I did not receive any notification or communication of any kind. I was very upset that my plans were ruined although we did go for dinner elsewhere. Please double check that they are open before travelling!

Warm & welcoming, delicious food, extensive wine list. Arguably overpriced given other restaurant offerings (particularly in Londonwithin the same one Michelin Star category.

Nice pub in the middle of nowhere. Food very good if a little pricey. £200 ish for 3 course dinner for 2 with wine and dessert wine. Service a little disjointed and sometimes you feel a little rushed. Need a nice relaxing service that flows. Lovely old room a little dark in places. £25 approx for a taxi from Windsor.

Great food but service a little patchy - for the prices I would expect them to pay a bit more attention to where the customer is in their meal. We elected to sit outside, but this meant we were rather ignored .. it took about 15 minutes before anyone took an order for drinks, and after that we had to pop in to ask for someone to come back out to us. We had told them we would probably come in for mains or dessert, since the sun was going down. When we came in for dessert we had to find our own table, and subsequently learned the man who ignored us when we asked where we should sit, was the owner.When we asked for a taxi to be called he was very brusque and interjected loudly from across the room as we were talking to our waiter. I like the food a great deal, but we didnt feel particularly welcome, despite spending over £200. There are other local restaurants that are friendlier, with more attentive service, for that kind of price tag. On their website they say "The service is friendly, efficient and non-intrusive. Theres no standing on ceremony, we want you to relax and really enjoy your visit to the Oak so you feel at home and keep coming back for more" ... I would not describe their service using any of those terms sadly.

Delightful pub, with a great seating area next to the bar and a good collection of drinks. We didnt eat here, but will definitely be back to try it.

Tasty food well presented in a lovely comfortable setting. Good relaxed service too. 4 stars from me though because it is only what i would expect for the prices.

Lovely setting, amazing food! Same price point as Hinds Head in Bray. Enjoyed this a little more. Glad to have both nearby.

Excellent food, good service and a nice restaurant with character. A really enjoyable lunchtime meal from a varied menu that while not over long - had choices for all.

You wouldnt know this is a michelin starred place from the outside but pub is out of the ordinary. The fire, wooden beams and rugs make it very cosy. The food is fantastic and the service was very attentive. Id recommend.

Food was delicious, only had the starters as although the main courses were impressive the starter choices were more to my liking. Very happy with the choice.My partner had the Roast Beef with all the trimings which was excellent.Staff was very attentive and the wine choice to accompany the meal hit the market.Will definitely come back.

Very pleasant experience for a Sunday lunch, the food was rich and flavourful. The best thing I had was a precisely cooked chocolate fondant with a dreamy coffee ice cream... makes me hungry just thinking about it!

If you like pub grub done well, this is the place for you. They have a great wine list and the fillet steak was done to perfection. The staff are really friendly and relaxed as well.

We had a super lunch, lovely atmosphere, food was presented well and the staff were really helpful. Portions for the kids meals were just right. Definitely going back to check out the desserts.

As an institution the gastropub is fast becoming my weapon of choice for satisfying my daily recurring longing for food. The mixture of fine dining yet still being at the pub is a niche which feels like it was carved just for me*.After perusing the list of winners of the top 50 UK gastropubs 2014 and seeing The Royal Oak came a very respectable 6th it seemed given the proximity to home that the only sensible thing to do was grace them with my presence and see what the fuss is about. If you were to stop reading now then the important thing to remember is all the fuss is about the rabbit lasagne, but you have read this far so you may as well indulge me a little more.We arrived on a Saturday night, just after 8pm for a 9pm table. The plan was to have a couple of drinks before we sat down to eat. The focus of the pub is clearly on dining and the actual bar area is very small. For a while I was left stood up at the bar as there was only a single free bar stool available upon our arrival and being the gent I am I let my other half have it. This was a minor inconvenience and as other waiting diners were led to their tables we soon had more seating options available while we waited for our table.Our table was ready just before 9 and as I perused the menu I initially worried I was maybe approaching gastropub burnout. You find a lot of these establishments use very similar ingredients (anyone for curly kale or hispy cabbage?and I was struggling a little to differentiate what they were offering from what I have seen on menus elsewhere. Turns out I neednt have worried, and the selection of breads which arrived shortly after we had ordered went a good way towards allaying my concern. The selection of 5 or 6 very different breads along with some deliciously creamy butter paved the way for things to come, the sun blushed tomato bread was my favourite, with the soda bread qualifying for an honourable mention.Having read the previous reviews before my our visit I didnt even have to make a call on my starter, I knew it had to be the rabbit lasagne (with a cheeky scotch egg on the side). The lasagne more closely resembled a giant ravioli parcel to me but that is by the by, the taste of it was perfection and I feel forever indebted to my fellow reviewers for their vociferous and persuasive advocacy in favour of this dish. My vocabulary is too limited to extol the virtues of it sufficiently, just order it and thank me later. The buffalo burrata was also a superbly crafted starter, the monks beard and blood orange compliment the mild flavour of the burrata well and the presentation of the dish is top notch but Im not going to get as excited about it as I did the rabbit. Unless you had some bad experience watching Watership Down as a child then the lasagne really is the smart choice.For main course we had the old spot belly pork and the smoked haddock. Again, the food was fantastic. The mashed potato was silky smooth, the pork was juicy and the haddock was some of the best fish I have tasted for a long time, with a firm and meaty texture and cooked to perfection. I could have eaten a double portion of either, or probably both.Dessert is a course I usually skip, but when the starter and main are this good I make an exception. My rhubarb trifle didnt disappoint, it was like a trifle for grown ups. Gone was the jelly layer which always spoils trifle for me, and in its place was strips of tangy rhubarb. Looking back it seems so simple, I cant believe nobody has done this before. It just works. The lemon posset was delicate and light, but I preferred my trifle.I totally enjoyed the Royal Oak. The food, the service, the ambiance all combined to make a near perfect dining experience. I shall certainly return, if only for more rabbit lasagne!*Clearly it wasnt carved just for me given the roaring success which good gastropubs enjoy. I guess Im happy to let everyone else share my niche.

Great and interesting menu. (On one page!)The food was so yummy - all of it !And the sweet french 6ft 6ins waiter could not do enough.Cant wait to go back 😊

Went expecting great things, but to be very honest, disappointing.Good points were the service, and a nice ambience.Food was over priced. £28 for my Lemon sole. My wife had the venison, which she said was a bit tough!It`s sister ship The Belgium arms in Holyport, is in my mind much better value!The only highlight of the meal were the chips and a nice selection of cheeses.One more thing, Fullers London pride was the only decent ale. What about the local Rebellion brewery?On this visit I can`t really see how it`s got a Michelin star!

another pub with star status.Is it worth it ? it was a couple of years ago, but not any more !complacency is a devil in disguise, and they need to pull up their socks to match some of the outstanding pubs that have opened in the last few years.The bar has been raised by others.

Da, apart from the famous scotch Eggs, which were superb the rest does not match any 2 stars experience expected................I recognise some others guest at the table next to us which they were elsewhere in the time than us and they didnt seems to mind the big difference of service for nearly as much???? Maybe that the problem in England with the quotation!