Malmaison brasserie in Reading

Good food and great value but best of all, fantastic friendly and professional service from Yvette. Always good to see her when we visit and nice to have the consistent familiarity. We will be back!

We visited Malmaison today for an afternoon tea to celebrate a colleague’s retirement. From the moment we arrived we were greeted with a friendly staff and Yvette who introduced herself as she would be looking after us. The quality and variety of the food on offer for the tea was excellent! Yvette was more than attentive and made sure we all thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon. The tea represented good value for money and we left full up and with ‘doggy-bags’ to take home! Definitely recommend 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Afternoon Tea with my friend, to celebrate the end of January. What a lovely way to spend sometime on a Saturday afternoon. Yvette was delightful and helpful, as well as charming and chatty. The food was plentiful and rather delicious. I ate it all! Lots of lovely Taylors Teas to chose from as well, soo plenty of variety. Definately recommend, excellent value.

Had a lovely afternoon tea here. The savoury items were amazing - the cakes and desserts were also amazing! Scones we warmed up which is a great touch Lots of different teas to choose from. The waitress Yvette was great. Very attentive & friendly. Happy to swop out one item and have it replaced with something else for us. Very happy with the whole experience

Popped into the Malmaison Bar in Reading for pre-Christmas drinks with the Team. Yvette was amazing, very welcoming, attentive and made us all chuckle. Great service, and I loved the ambience! Thanks Team!

Disappointed in the whole experience, had enjoyed previous malmaison visits but the changes to the restaurant made the meal Miserable. We booked a 3 course set menu as we were staying only to find out that there is a head office directive that prohibits any changes to dishes . Because of my dietary restrictions and this rule the only option I was initially offered was a steak with a massive supplement . As am not a red meat fan, I was hoping for the salmon without the sauce but no joy, in the end I had a burger with no bun, and a veg side. The only redeeming feature was the staff who tried to be as helpful as possible with their hands tied. At some point I was also asked to sign a price of paper which was meant to be some kind of waiver but wasn’t anything that could be considered legal. I won’t be going back and I would discourage anyone with any allergies or intolerances to go elsewhere

Excellent experience. Would highly recommend the Malmaison restaurant. We arrived slightly earlier than we booked, but were seated promptly. The staff were really attentive. We had questions on the menu and no question was too much for the staff, they were well versed on all the dishes. Cocktails were amazing and the wine recommendation worked perfectly with our main courses. The vanilla crème brulee I can highly recommend, although it was to big for me to finish after my steak. The restaurant had a really relaxing and cosy atmosphere to it. I would definitely recommend and will return.

The Bar & Grill had a good set, pleasant feeling (although dark), service was attentive and the food typical (better than most pubs) and not bad but not great and as expected.

My second time staying at this wonderful hotel. Fabulous, convenient location. Exceptional staff. Nothing is too much of an effort for them. Their customer service is brilliant. We especially liked the breakfast. Anna and Matt working the floor couldn’t be more attentive. Looking forward to making this hotel a regular stop in my travels.

This is a lovely place to swing by for a drink or bite to eat. The team working behind the bar are always on hand to help, give advice and have a good chat with. Alana, Yvette and Anna are absolutely awesome and excellent ambassadors of the company. The atmosphere is relaxed and classy, and the food is lovely. Great place!

A warm welcome by the Mal team., especially Dianne upon arrival at reception. Yvette looked after us in the brasserie with warmth and friendliness of long lost friends. We dined in the restaurant for two dinners across the weekend. Yvette was full of menu recommendations and attentive to our needs. Thank you Yvette, a real asset to Chez Mal and clearly running a friendly, welcoming and efficient team!

Inte speciellt god mat. Hamburgaren (köttet) smakade färdigköpt. Man har inte lagt speciellt stor omsorg på den. Och min kyckling påminde om sjukhusmat. Osaltad, såg knappt stekt ut.

The food was fine but ordering my meal - I’m gluten intolerant and have a slight nut allergy - was challenging. The menu doesn’t always mention when nuts are present; my husband chose a starter which was marked as could be adjusted to be gluten free but had nuts in it which weren’t mentioned on the menu. Several items which stated they were gluten free or could be adjusted, I was then told I couldn’t have. And the main course I ended up with (fish cake which was very nice) wasn’t marked as gluten free at all. It was a nice meal but the menu needs to be sorted out and corrected.

First visit here and instantly felt welcomed by Paolo. Restaurant has beautiful decor and romantic setting. The food was cooked and prepared to a high standard. The steak and chicken tikka masala followed by creme brulee was so enjoyable. The waiter Paolo gave excellent customer service from start to finish and ensured our evening was special. We will definitely recommend.

We stayed at Malmaison for the weekend a couple of months ago. Lovely hotel in a great location opposite Reading Station, minutes from the many restaurants, pubs and bars of the town centre. Room was very comfortable and price was good especially on a weekend rate. We slept really well both nights. The only negative were the silly prices in the hotel bar. We’re no stranger to hotel bars in general but we wouldn’t be happy paying those prices in London let alone here, come on guys, no offence but this is Reading! Overall though, a very pleasant stay indeed! We visit Reading often and would happily stay here again. Iain, London

I am a big fan of MalMaison so when the opportunity came I booked a club room with dinner and breakfast My thoughts The dining room is cluttered . Way way too many tables squeezed into the space . This was early but Halloween is...

A big thank you to the lovely team who looked after us - Manu, Ioanna, Peter and Alessia. They made us feel extremely welcome and were able to make sure we had everything we needed for our cheeky one night getaway. Thank you guys and...

Very good hotel, clean and very comfortable room. Breakfast delivered to room bang on time each morning. None of the bar or other facilities open at the moment so unable to review. Staff helpful and quick. No parking, but there is a discount available for...

Ate in Chez Mal Brasserie last night and honestly sad that it wasn’t better... the service was SO slow. The service not the kitchen. We were both keeping an eye out trying to get eye contact with staff but they were oblivious (it didn’t help...

My partner and I recently had a night at this hotel over the bank holiday hope to have a relaxing night away from the stress and strains of everyday life . It turned out to be the worse night in a hotel I have ever...

The food here is very good quality and well presented. The only thing that loses a star in the rating is the price.

Stayed on 13th March Friday night deal, the evening meal and breakfast were great along with customer service. It was one of our friends special big birthday, I mentioned this when we arrived at reception only to find later that evening the hotel put a...

I stayed at the Malmaison in Reading for work and arrived in the evening and had lots of printing and other difficult requests. Despite it being late Ioanna and her colleague Akrem worked hard to solve our issues and managed to get everything we needed...

Loved coming to this restaurant with my boyfriend and little girl until I found out that I was not the only woman he was bringing here...it's left a bad taste in my mouth

I loved the lunch menu was on point and the ambience at this hotel bar with fire place just perfect on a winter day.

First night late arrival was the reason to seek a quick hamburger to fill my belly. I had a decent one in hotel's restaurant with mcDonald's style thin french fries.

Went to this restaurant after a long day and train ride. It was so close to the train station and truly amazing. Diana at the hostess stand was so kind and helpful to be able to accommodate a last minute reservation on a busy Saturday night. It was definitely not easy, as this is such a lovely restaurant and in high demand! The food was great, but the service was outstanding. Thanks for such a great meal for me to enjoy with my family!

Outstanding! Our third experience here. A beautiful night .

I organised a surprise Afternoon Tea for my mum 70th birthday with 15 guests with great help from Yvette Field who was so helpful from the first contact , the service and food was really good. Would definitely again

Very pleasant evening. Staff attentive but for a 7.30pm booking, was surprised that they had run out of the rump steak option. However the meal chosen was good quality.

Popped in for breakfast. Good service, nice porridge but the concept of the overall menu is frustrating. To offer a full cooked breakfast for £2 more than the continental (but including the full continental) indicates that the continental is more popular, but dramatically over priced.

stayed in the hotel for 7 nights over christmas every thing great very friendly staff always helpful

Great service from Diana & Erica. Made sure all our requirements were met in a timely manner. Lovely glass of Prosecco on the house as it was our anniversary! Thank you for making it extra special!!

Arrived at the restaurant really tired and ready for a quick steak before a very early night. Ended up having a couple of cocktails, olives, prawn starter for 2, glass of wine, a couple of steaks and got to bed an hour and half later...

Firstly, if you book via Open Table then call the restaurant and confirm they received your booking. There doesn't appear to be the option of feeding back on Open Table's App/service. It is a regular complaint that Open Table bookings aren't received and people are turned away, I am told. The restaurant itself was pretty good. Good service and the food was good. The bar area was very rowdy (Saturday night), so there was the background noise from that, but the restaurant itself had a good ambience.

Staff were excellent. We were eating early and restaurant was quiet but the staff made us feel relaxed and welcome. Food was good and good value.

When we got to the restaurant they didn’t have our reservation, but luckily there was room for us. Given this was a special evening it didn’t start well. Food was great, service good.

A nice place for lunch - we had the lunch (set) menu which was great value. Tasty and very filling.

Wasn’t very happy as they phoned the day before to cancel our reservation as were overbooked.

Enjoyable evening with great staff looking after us

We ended up going here as a last resort and I am so glad we did. One worker recognized that we were first timers, and helped us along for the whole time. The staff was so nice. The food was amazing as well. Would come back again for sure!

A very good meal and excellent service

So disappointed booked for my husbands 65th when arrived at Malmaison was told restaurant was fully booked will never use this company again so angry why did you confirm this booking don’t use this website they lie

Very disappointed. Booked through open table and also rang to confirm the booking three days earlier as previously had issues but they still didn’t have our booking. Front of house staff was abrupt. The manager tried to help but was only able to give us a table for two hours and one member of our party hadn’t arrived so we left. Not impressed with the service as we have come here for several years. Meeting up every two months for Sunday lunch so thought the staff could be more polite. Will not be returning

Showed up for our booking to find that they had a function on and whilst I had proof of our booking, they were unable to honour it.

The food and service and ambiance were excellent. Our waiter was attentive and went out of his way to make our meal enjoyable. The restaurant was also easily able to cater for my lactose intolerance. I highly recommend.

Although the ambience was good and our waiter very nice, we were very disappointed having finally made it to Malmaison. Our starters took around 40 minutes to arrive and there was still a long wait for our mains after that. We were brought complimentary bread and olives after about 20 minutes, but assured the starters were 'on their way now', which turned out to be another 20 minutes. In addition, I was very unimpressed that, in an upmarket hotel/restaurant, two of the Ladies' toilets were out of paper and the third had probably just enough for me and the next visitor!

Very professional staff offering a warm and relaxing service, food excellent as usual.

Surprisingly quiet for a Friday lunchtime, so a bit lacking in atmosphere, but the food and service were both good. The waitress was well informed and communicative, explained the dishes if the day and winter menu etc. We enjoyed our meal and would return.

We had a lovely Xmas meal. It was Tuesday so it was very quiet. But the service was excellent. Main and starter were fab. Dessert was disappointing though. I love it here so will def go back.

Planned a brunch with friends and whilst it is in a great location, and the starters and deserts were fab the roasts just didn't quite live up to expectations. We will try again in the future though!

Nice location but lacking in any soul! The dining experience at lunchtime was ok, the food was alright and the service was so-so. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the restaurant but the slightly clueless staff (the girl had no idea how to take a bill payment from a card machine) and very empty dining room meant that atmosphere and enjoyment was just ok!

Superb food and good service nice place the malmaison

Good venue, food ok but over priced

The food was very nice, and the portions were big so in terms of value for money that was good. The waitress was lovely, and very cheerful and funny which was nice however the head waitress was quite rude when we went arrived and was really annoyed that I hadn't confirmed my booking but they hadn't called the right number. Also, finding the actual dining room was hard as it isn't clearly signposted at all. As it was Mother's Day, the Sunday Lunch menu was £10 more than usual - I appreciate this is a celebration day but serving exactly the same as every week for £10 more is a bit steep. As a side note, all Mother's got free gifts on the day and there was a man coming round with a polaroid to take pictures - He went to every table except for ours and it really upset my mum that we didn't get a polaroid as it seemed unfair and we have no idea why we didn't quality.

I had never used Malmaison or opentable previously and never will again. Booked the table. Received confirmation email from opentable. Then got call from Restaurant saying the booking was cancelled and should never have been taken. Call received 1/2 hour after email confirmation. Promised a follow up from James at the restaurant. Received an email next day saying it would be looked into and someone would come back to me. Nothing received from either party. Atrocious customer service from both parties. Very embarrassing for myself and my guests. All in all a horrific experience. Very poor customer service. Still awaiting a response from restaurant. Bad! Bad! Bad!

This visit did not start very well. I arrived with a new business client to be told they did not have my booking and the restaurant was booked out for a private function anyway. reception told us they had converted a meeting room into a dining room for guests and we would eat there. While not ideal we chose to stay. The rest of the visit was fine. The food (steaks) was good and our waitress was excellent.

The wine of choice was not available chilled. Air conditioning was too cold. Swordfish overlooked Fish ale portion size too small Burger and chips were beautiful

I booked for Father's Day at the last minute having no idea what to expect and being a little surprised that there was still room. Two of us travelled by train, and it was next to the station. The five of us were all delighted and ate too much. The soup was nice and spiky, there was a massive choice for the help yourself second course, the mains were all as we wanted, and the desserts suitably fattening. Service was excellent and I, as dad, was given a little bag of goodies at the end. Really charming. We'll be back. Well done.

Malmaison Reading let OpenTable confirm tables, but then do not honour them when you show up. We booked, got confirmation, was sitting having a drinking in the bar only to get a call from the receptionist saying that they couldn't seat us until 9pm (when the booking site had tables available from 1945 onwards in 15 min increments). Totally rorting the system if they won't honour a reservation made on their preferred booking platform.

Very slow service, waitresses weren't really paying much attention to us even though we were the only table in the whole restaurant. They quickly took our order however our starter took forever to arrive. They then cleared half our plates and again our main took forever to come which was strange as it was hardly busy. The waitress was quite rude too and didn't understand what we were ordering, had to check the menu. I don't think I will return after this.

Have dined here several times previously without any issues. However, on this occasion the restaurant was being refurbished (no mention of this at the time of booking) & the tables were located in the bar area. Service & ambiance were dire, any of the high street chains would have been better than this.

Maybe I should have known that eating out on Valentine's Day was a mistake. If I didn't know before I do now. Service was slow - a five min wait for a table even though I'd booked. Standing in a doorway isn't a great start. Waited an age for my starter, and when it came I had to hunt for the microscopic bits of tuna under a sea of salad. Main course (fish cakes) were dry and barely warm. The sweet was mass produced and charmless. Another thing we chose not to drink alcohol and we were offered a complimentary alcoholic cocktail. Would have been a nice touch if we'd have been offered non-alcoholic alt or even had cost of first orange juice taken off. It's the most expensive and disappointing meal ever. But it was Valentine's Day!

I booked through Opentable and received the confirmation email. When I turned up I was told by the staff "we always asked people to phone us to confirm. Really?! Missed that memo...doesn't that defeat the object of booking through Opentable?! Anyway, I was told they actually didn't have any availability at all and they'd been calling me "all day". Needless to say there were no missed calls on my phone. So off we went out into the night!!! My advice; don't book Malmaison through open table as they ignore the booking and the availability of tables is a nonsense.

Second visit with my wife this year. Wonderful atmosphere and pre dinner drinks in the bar always a treat. We both had the steaks which were perfectly cooked . One minor gripe ....service not up to scratch. I mentioned this to the manager when i went to the till to pay the bill....no checkback on the meals either.. We will be back though , thats for sure.

Terrific food great cocktails and attentive and courteous staff

Went here on a fairly quiet Sunday evening for an anniversary with the other half. Food was good, albeit rather expensive for the standard. Decor wasn't what you'd look for in a romantic evening and the service although good was too slow (nearly an hour wait between starter and mains). Would only revisit if either prices went down or food quality goes up.

Go there at your peril. Be prepared to be conned when the final food and drink bill arrives. They are masters at disguising the true cost of your meal.

Unfortunately, we didn't even have a chance to have a meal. Restaurant was designed for couples on a romantic night out. A group booking of 5 ladies just wouldn't have been appropriate for the ambiance . Very disappointed.

Fantastic dining experiance , such a stylish place to eat. Food quality fantastic and the service from the staff first class. We then had coffees in lounge bar next to a roaring fire. Perfect romantic location. Loved it !

Excellent meal in quiet surroundings, close to the station.

Service started off very slow and took ages to get just water and a drink. The starter was then quite prompt and the main followed pretty rapidly after. Balance of service required.

Unfortunately our experience was not a good one . There was 6 of us. However, 3 people had a poor main course. The risotto dido not look appetising and it tasted worse. The beef stroganoff was tough. I have to say I had the steak and that was cooked perfectly and tasted great. But with 50% of the party not having a good meal it dampened the whole experience. Whilst we complained nothing was done and we did not even get a reduction on the bill. So won't be going there again.

Malmaison has a lovely atmosphere and the staff go out of their way to make the dining experience good. We booked a special deal which included two course and a bottle of wine between both of us. The wine was good enough for our taste and the food was excellent. It is well worth while looking out for special offers which are very good value.

We booked the set menu but ended up having the a la carte. The food was good but a little expensive.

Celebrating a special occasion - the staff were attentive and the food was good with good good portions. Can get loud with large parties, but was fine as we were in high spirits too.

Enjoyed good value lunch even if we felt somewhat isolated in empty Restaurant. Flavoursome Oriental-style starters and mains with decent house white. Will return on similar deal.

Excellent meal in quiet surroundings, close to the station.

As I dined alone, relatively early on a Wednesday evening it was relatively quiet with only a handful of other diners in the place. Food (steak frites) was delicious and arrived in less than 10 minutes from ordering. Lovely bottle of Loddon's ale too. Not cheap but it's a reasonably classy place with a nicely subdued and darkened atmosphere which makes it preferable for lone dining.

Had a first date at the Malmaison. Food was not exceptional but good. The decor was pretty cool too but it seems to be slightly confused as to what it wants to offer. I had booked it because it came under the fine dining section but the bar was open with a friday night feel and loud music - which is fine but not for an establishment wanting to be recognised as fine dining. So if you are looking for a night out, good food and some fun afterwards....definitely a good choice. if you on the other want a night of elegance and sophistication....wouldnt be my first choice. I must say though..the service was exceptional.

We had a special night for our anniversary. The service was excellent.

3 of us went to Malmaison for a business dinner. The service was very attentive and food delicious. It was quiet enough to conduct business as well as general conversation.

Having not even realised that Reading had a Malmaison Hotel, I was delighted to find the Brasserie Malmaison lived up to other Malmaison establishments I have visited. The food was excellent - my "Lollipop" starter selection was lovely and my main course special of confit duck leg and mash was melt in the mouth delicious. The service was good - we booked our table through Top Table just an hour before and unfortunately though it was not in their booking system, they found us a table and ensured we were out in good time for our theatre performance. We will definitely be back to Brasserie Malmaison.

Good food & a peaceful oasis of a dining room, even though it's right by the station.

Quiet on a weekday lunchtime so ambience was muted. Seervice quite efficient and food good

Food average but not bad. Bar/cocktail area ruined a little by TVs. A little overpriced for what it is, needs to raise the standard for the price charged.

I had booked via top table but when I arrived they had no details of my booking this was quickly sorted and we were sat down. It was really cold in the restaurant so wasn't a great start. My starter came out the prawn cocktail which for £8.00 was really disappointing it was just really a lot of lettuce and really expensive for what I got, my partner got the chicken satay and again it was just unseasoned rubbery chicken not good!! For mains we both ordered steak, they brought out my partners and got the order completely wrong, when we told them it was not the right order they treated us like it was our fault. Would not recommend this place to anyone was totally disappointed and was not of the standards of other malmaisons I have eaten in.

The cocktails were great albeit a little pricey. The waitress was attentive and welcoming. The food was a little disappointing. The seafood cocktail must have had half an iceberg lettuce in a bowl with half a dozen prawns plonked on top - not much imagination there! The rump steaks were not good; they covered half the plate, but were only approx 5mm thick so by the time you got them they were cold. It didn't help that the plates were cold which is inexcusable for somewhere like this. We won't be rushing back.

I ordered a £25 bottle of wine before dinner at the bar. The bartender says "I don't have any wine glasses at the bar. Do you mind drinking out of beer glasses?" I thought he was joking, until it dawned on me that he was deadly serious! I said it absolutely wasn't allright! Clearly reluctant, he sloped off to find some wine glasses from the restaurant, like it was a big favour! A bizarre incident that diminished our expectations of what the restaurant would deem as acceptable for a Malmaison establishment. Thankfully, the restaurant saved the evening, with great food across the board - seafood, fish, steaks. Good value, above the quality of average "brasserie" menus....and attentive, personal service: in a different league to the bar staff.

I had a fish dish which was perfectly cooked, and the mushrooms on the side, also delicious. The chocolate souffle was amazing, the milk icecream married it perfectly! My only comment is, I find it quite intrusive when they charge you for service when you get the bill. It should be up to the customer to decide whether to leave a tip or not... definitely leave the tip out of the bill!

We started with a cocktail and then went through for our table although they didn't have our "Top Table" booking. Was told we could eat but would only have 90 mins!! Not a great start, we had wine and lovely food and the head waitress gave us our tea and coffee for free to say sorry for imposing the time limit as it was not needed. Would definitely go back.

A good place to dine with a calm atmosphere near the station.

The restaurance was quiet when visited but we had good and attentive service and well prepared food. The ambiance is far from intimate but fine for a brisk meal.

Visited for Sunday Lunch, £15.95 for 3 courses amazing value for the quality of food on offer. Choice of 4 starters including chicken liver parfait valued at £8 on the normal menu. 4 mains including rib of beef which was fantastic quality and a choice of 4 desserts including a dish of the day which was a chocolate fondant souffle which is well worth the wait for. I'm sure that not a lot of people are aware that Malmaison offers meals to the general public as the restaurant only had 4 tables in at 1.45pm which does ffect the ambience as the restaurant is set out in almost an industrial look so may look a tad forboding but look past those minor things and you will enjoy one of the best bargains in town

One of the best places I have eaten in Reading

Reading Malmaison Braserrie.. The food was amazing.. We ordered the fillet steak with cumin carrots and potatoes, the ambience was great but they did not have enough staff hence me having to approach a staff member to place my order.. The food is great but they lack on the service.. Otherwise a great restaurant to go to for a treat but it is dear to the wallet just so you know..

We had a nice romantic meal at Malmaison in Reading. The food was generally very good and the service friendly and attentive. The only mistake being a large glass of wine when a small one was ordered...can cope with that!

Took my friend to Malmaison, Reading for her fortieth. The ambience and decor were were very good and the staff, pleasant and welcoming. The food was very good and not as extortionate as I thought it would be. Drinks were as extortionate as I thought they would be though, but I've had worse. I was not very impressed when they tried to smuggle £32.00 worth of drinks onto our bill. It pays to check it. Overall a pleasant evening and I would go again.

Good food, good service. Thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the experience. Well worth a look. I will definately will be returning

3 of us went for dinner on Saturday. First impressions were good and we liked the decor. Everyone enjoyed their starters, I had ham hock and potato terrine which was very nice. Two of us had lamb for main and again enjoyed it. It was let down by not being hot enough though, along with the sides. Only other slight complaints were that the wine list seemed quite expensive and the service was good but not exactly speedy. However we will definitely return and I will be recommending it.