1772 Brasserie & Bar in West Berkshire

We had a fabulous evening meal at the Brasserie with friends. Freddie, the sommelier helped us choose a lovely bottle of wine which was sensibly priced. It paired very well with the starter of scallops which was delicious, and also with the monkfish curry which I loved. We finished by sharing their amazing tarte tatin with a glass of pudding wine and had a really enjoyable evening. Ed, the manager was very welcoming and attentive and we will definitely be going back to sample more of their autumn menu.

Greek night at the Retreat. A one off with beautiful Greek food and a surprise to many who went, beautiful Greek wine to match the food. Superb ambience, great staff. I hope they do other 'theme' nights, I'm in.

The food I had in this restaurant recently was AWFUL. Cauliflower ‘soup’ was a grey, thick paste. Salads were dry with no dressing, ragu was thin & tasteless. The chips were good though which was lucky as the rest was pretty inedible. The manager was apologetic and took 25% off our bill but I could not recommend this place.

We were a party of 8 celebrating a fiftieth birthday, the dinner was delicious and the staff were very efficient and charming but the whole evening was spoilt by screaming children at an adjacent table. The parents of these children appeared to be totally unaware of the impact this noise was having on other diners in the restaurant, no apology was offered and very little attempt was made to quieten said children.

I had a meal here with my teenage son and we were both impressed with the standard of food and service. The staff were friendly and attentive and made us feel very welcome & relaxed. The barman was happy to make up a cocktail for me that wasn’t on the menu and the cauliflower popcorn pre starter was absolutely delicious. The menu was varied enough without feeling overwhelming with too many choices. We enjoyed starters, main and dessert & found everything perfectly cooked and beautifully presented. We had a very special and enjoyable evening and will definitely be back!

We booked the Christmas menu as a special treat, it’s not cheap and in these times value for money is really important so we were expecting good things. The food was average, nothing special and definitely not worthy of the price tag. Service was friendly but fairly slow. Cocktails were really disappointing, I had a passion fruit martini and it was just like drinking fruit juice with some vodka in it, no body to it at all. I didn’t see it being made but it tasted like it was premixed. The hotel previously had advertised some complementary drink offers if you eat with them before Christmas. I mentioned it at the time of booking but yet still had to ask about it when we were there. It did make me feel a bit awkward asking as if we were trying to get some freebies but the hotel had advertised these offers. Why not just offer the drinks to those eligible customers? It very much felt like they put the offer on to encourage people in but will not be proactive in honouring it unless asked. We also had to ask for the mince pies and truffles that we were supposed to get with our coffees at the end of the meal. Again, another thing to make us feel a bit awkward about, and even then only mince pies turned up but by that point I wasn’t going to ask again! When the bill arrived we have been charged for the coffees we had when that was supposed to be including in our fixed price menu and the service charge that was added worked out at about 27%!!!!! Needless to say we didn’t pay the full recommended service charge!!!! So in summary we had been expecting great things, it was a special treat for us and we left disappointed and will not return nor recommend it to our local friends. Such a shame that experienced hoteliers can’t get the simple things right.

We had heard about the terrible service and though we would wait a few months before visiting. It was a special occasion to celebrate my birthday. When we arrived, the car park was full and there was a marque set up in the courtyard with blaring music. We had to walk through the courtyard to the entrance and dodge all the drunk people staggering around. There was drunken people everywhere. Luckily when we go to the restaurant it was more reserved. They had a note on the system it was my birthday and we asked to sit at the bar. The service was awful. They got out drinks wrong (twice). They were running around and not sure why as it wasn't that busy. We asked to be seated but we had to ask for menus. The waiter was so very scruffy (as all the staff were) in dirty trainers and torn jeans, not very presentable. I was so very cold in the restaurant to the point some people were wearing coats! My partner asked his steak to be medium rare but it was very rare and grisly, not worth the money. We ordered more drinks which they got wrong again. Overall the service from the staff was terrible, running around like Fawlty Towers. As we were so cold we asked for the bill and they didn't even give a birthday cake gesture. On leaving we used the toilet facilities and the party goers were hanging around very drunk and inside the ladies toilets two girls were crawling around the floor. It was a very unpleasant sight. We emailed the with a complaint but had no reply.

I went for dinner with my partner and parents and could not have felt more welcome. A lovely atmosphere, a wide range of drinks and a delicious meal. The service was spot on. I can recommend the popcorn cauliflower and sea bass. The Elcot mess is an indulgent and tasty dessert! After the meal we retired to the Atlas Room for drinks. Will definitely go again.

Wow - what a treat it was to dine at 1772! Stunning restaurant, lovely staff and the food was to die for. We had the Truffle Pudding and Cauliflower Popcorn nibbles to start - both absolutely delicious, followed by grilled trout which was cooked to perfection and gnochhi with a velvety smooth mushroom veloute. To finish we were tempted by the cheese platter but in the end went with the passionfruit sorbet in pineapple ravioli which was a tasty as it was intriguing.

What a shambles! The service was so disorganised:20 minutes to get a pre-diner drink: 30 minutes to seat us at our table: 30 minutes to bring the starter, starter cleared away: another 30 minutes for the main course arrived, fish over cooked, pork chop very good, vegetables over cooked. We waited a while before visiting to avoid settling in period. Didn’t work. Needs a lot more organisation to get the service right. Once this is done then they’ve got a chance. The bill was reasonable, but when I checked, their figures were nearly £24 out in our favour: if you have to add up the bill at least check it’s right. On this showing I would be surprised if this business survives to the end of the year..