"After a busy Christmas, cooking for elderly parents and family, my husband thought it would be nice to treat me to meal out. We had been to the grill room in the Royal Oak previously and had a very nice experience. We have recently moved...to the area and my husband Made a reservation for the two of us. I always like to start on the positives. This place is clearly taking Covid compliance seriously are the restaurants at screens segregating all the tables. The decor of the place and the Christmas decorations were simply divine. However, let’s get onto the food. My husband‘s meal was absolutely fine. To say that mine was a lacklustre was an understatement. The starter was meant to come with an Asian salad, slices of cucumber and raw tomato with a little bit of red onion is not an Asian salad! I had ordered a rump steak to be cooked medium with a side order of garlic butter and a side order of onion rings. When the meals were brought out, My steak, when I tried it was rare! Very rare. The sidedish that was supposed to come with it was a corn dish. Instead, it came with a mini corn on the cob. The waitress was really really nice, and took my food back. They offered to keep my husbands food warm whilst they further cooked my steak. We know from past experience that if a medium cooked duck breast is kept warm, it’s not very good! He continued to eat his dinner whilst My steak was correctly cooked. The onion rings which I had ordered as a side dish were left on the table, I thought it prudent to eat them while they were still warm. Sadly none of the oil has been drained from these correctly. There was so much oil in them and were not nice. My steak was placed back onto the grill And brought back out. Sadly, not all of the steak was brought out. Secondly no corn. The garlic butter was now inedible, it has completely melted and now resembles soup. The waitress explained that they were very shortstaffed and it had been a busy day. They had clearly run out of some of the food that they should’ve been serving and the substitute was not up to standard. Establishments should make diners aware of this before they take their seat. Had we have been advised of their staffing issues, we would’ve taken our custom elsewhere. The bill was £88. This was after they had taken off £3.50 for one of the side dishes that we had ordered as an extra. To be honest the compensation hardly made up for the lacklustre dining experience. Will not be rushing back to this place. That I’m much better places to eat locally. Such a pity as this place could be something special."
