Oak Room Restaurant & Bar in Tonbridge and Malling

Only one beer, poor service and stopped serving before 10 pm, unfortunately I made the same mistake twice. Don’t be me!

A group of 23 of us enjoyed a Christmas lunch on 1 December 2022. The Oak Room looked very festive with a Christmas tree and decorations. We were placed at 3 circular tables, which were nicely decorated with crackers, hats, streamers etc. It really made us feel to be in the festive season. The service was prompt, but not rushed. A perfect place for a Christmas party.

Went here for a simple lunch with my parents. Food was good and reasonably priced. Not of the highest quality but you get what you pay for. Service was fantastic though which led to an enjoyable lunch time meal. Quiet dining area.

Sunday afternoon visit. Lovely food, great choice of roasts, great price for 2 or 3 course. The exceptional service made our day. Relaxed bright clean dining area loads of character, we will definitely go back.

We ate at the Rose and Crown for dinner (early evening so was fairly quiet), seated in the Oak Room. Our selection was Beef Pie and Salmon - served with vegetables and potatoes. The food was high quality and delicious. For dessert we chose Eton Mess and Summer Fruit Pavlova. A good wine list on offer.

We had a great Christmas Day Lunch for 7 family members. The food was well cooked, really fresh and tasty and the service great. The waitresses were friendly and efficient.The table looked lovely and really good quality crackers. The only annoying thing we’re the party noise blowers. Not appropriate spoilt the atmosphere and I nearly ripped them out the mouth of the man on a table next to me who stuffed 3 in his mouth at once. We had 3 elderly relatives who just didn’t enjoy the stupid noise these things make.

Stayed here before, but this review is really about the restaurant. Allthough firmly on the High Street for hundreds of years, this quirky old hotel is definitely overlook. The current chef turns out excellent meals at resonable prices but for some reason is overlooked by diners who seem to head to the nearby restaurants. Service is quick, food nicely presented, everyone enjoyed every dish, in very pleasant surroundings. What more can you want? My only small gripe is that a previous owner tried to modernise the interior, which I think is a mistake for an old coaching inn, but this does not detract from enjoying the meal. Do yourself a favour and test out this restaurant when next in town.

We were booked in for a Sunday lunch, but it turned out - at 1:30 - that they were out of food for pretty much the entire menu. We were only told this after we'd ordered drinks and had spent about 15 minutes looking at the menu. All the staff were 15 year old children and despite it not being particularly busy the small amount of service we did get was spectacularly slow. Having our one round of drinks, finding out they didn't actually sell food in their restaurant and then obtaining and paying the bill took around forty minutes, and during each of the huge waits between anyone coming to the table the child-waiter was literally just wandering around the room looking confused. The whole thing was actually fairly funny, but if you're a fan of actually eating when you go out for lunch then it's not somewhere I'd recommend.

be it breakfast lunch or dinner I have never been disappointed. there is not a long menu but what they have is always very well cooked and thoroughly enjoyable.

Front of house lady was very rude and offhand, made me feel like our booking was an inconvenience, and when I tried to reorder food (as we normally do) she was even worse and told me chef was very unhappy (what! Cooking for 8!) she could definitely do with a bit of extra customer service training. I asked her if she would prefer us to go elsewhere, which made her a little more pleasant. I was going to give one star only but as the food was prompt and reasonable, I gave 2. Will not be returning.

I order the lamb which was cooked just right. The vegetables were fresh and not overcooked. The Eton Mess dessert was very nice. Excellent friendly staff.

Nice bar,the restaurant needs looking after.The white wine should be cool ,the meals have to be well cooked and prepared with more concern for the guest.It cannot be that the fish is not quite through and the pie just some stew with an unconnected bit of pastry on top -so it appears.

Good and friendly service from all the staff there. We had a meal for two and on another night we joined a party of 16. One again good food, good service and excellent value. Great to have a town centre hotel/restaurant with a good car park - certainly a plus point.

A very well thought through menu with variety and at a reasonable price. Although some reviews suggest that the restaurant staff are not great we were served by Elaine who provided us with a great eating experience.

Great pub atmosphere? Large serving of baked chicken in thyme and veggies with gravy. Would recommend.

Attracted by the Saturday Special promotion, my husband and I ate here for the first time in years. The deal was a meal and bottle of wine for 2 for £25 and we were not disappointed. The restaurant has been pleasantly updated and is very comfortable, with a decent bar serving good beer. Both meals were extremely good, especially the starters which we added to our deal. They also served one of the best Irish coffees I have ever had in a restaurant! Service was efficient, friendly but without being intrusive. The total bill was £42, which, for what we had, was excetptional. We will certainly return (probably on a Saturday!)

I was invited to a round table (?) meeting where a set meal was served and it was uniformly good in quality, taste and quantity.

He alquilado la sala de eventos de Rose & Crown dos veces, y en ambas ocasiones el hotel ha sido complaciente y comprensivo y amable. Recomiendo encarecidamente teniendo en cuenta el lugar para otros eventos y mis clientes son siempre me sorprendió lo bien la comida. Gracias especiales a Helen toda la ayuda y trabajo duro.

We came for a work Christmas Party (there were 46 of us) in December. The service was first rate and the food was as well. The price was good value for the quality of food and with the special offer (£13.00 per bottle) on the red and white wine, this made the cost of the evening fair. I had the beef for the main which was perfectly cooked and the delicious orange posset for pudding. Everyone I spoke to was completely satisfied. I have been organising the Christmas dinner each year for the past six or seven years and this was the best one yet. The décor of the Market Suite was super. Will certainly go back next year.

Good food and excelent service. I had the cod and chips which was absolutely delightful, big portion of fish and Chunky chips! My partner had the Duck leg which fell off the bone! He spoke very highly of it! Would 100% go again!

Had pie, fish n chips, brownie and ice cream. All decent. Ale was good which inc sussex best, late red and whitstable bay lager. Service was attentive but not insistent. Overall very good compared to other hotel food ive had.

My wife and I wanted to get away from the usual Friday night of TV slobbery so decided to give the Rose and Crown a try after a gap of several years. I suppose the style of the restaurant is simple gastro pub with not many frills and niceties but the food was very good and the service from our young waitress and waiter was very friendly and efficient. We had 2 courses, main and dessert. The confit duck leg in a mildly spicy sauce was well done as was the cod with a bean and chorizo cassoulet. Desserts of yoghurt pannacotta with summer fruits and black forest cheesecake were very nice too. With an acceptable bottle of Aussie white our bill was a very reasonable £55. The ambience was quite quiet, which suited us, and really this restaurant deserves to be chosen above some of the other offerings in the town!

Stayed a few nights and only ate once in the restaurant. Mistake should have eaten there instead of the place up the top of the hill. Had steak and ale pie and it was tremendous, lots of meat fresh veg and new potatoes only gripe no butter on the spuds but that helped with the diet.

Can thoroughly recommend this quaint old English coaching inn / hotel for a large family gathering delivering excellent food, hot and expertly cooked, to a good number of people. The menu choice offered for our 80th birthday celebration was broad and covered all tastes for young and old. The separate dining area was well laid out and the service for 24 people was prompt and discreet. Thankyou Helen and the team who served us.

Dinner good and a choice however breakfast not worth the price in my opinion.I felt that two poached eggs on one piece of toast for £12.50 a little expensive.

Very nice restaurant in such an old building I was staying at the hotel so I had to try the food. Really good quality food and local drinks but the best thing is the service the staff are so friendly,

I would walk past the old Rose and Crown as its reputation preceded it!!Now they have a new chef and have done the old place up very tastefully. We attended with 25 others and the food was good and service good too.

For the second year running we recently held our Dinner and AGM at The Rose & Crown, for 41 members plus the Mayor and Mayoress. Helen Shaxon organised the event with her usual enthusiasm and skill, and her staff looked after us very well. The Dinner was excellent - everything cooked to perfection: our compliments to the Chef. The evening was described by one of our members thus: "What a perfectly splendid evening! Fabulous dinner and so well served and excellently looked after by the nice attentive staff."We shall certain come again in 2015.

We discovered this restaurant by chance, sheltering from the bad weather for a quick coffee, we stayed for lunch and will definitely return. The food is fresh and traditionally English which suits the setting of the oak beamed restaurant. Very reasonably priced, the staff were attentive without being intrusive and left us to chat without us ever feeling rushed or pressured to leave.The fact that this restaurant is in a hotel must put off a lot of people but give it a go because it is a charming place - a little oasis of calm in the middle of the bustling High Street.

We were told there is a new Chef, food much improved, we were tired after our house was flooded and it was nice to have good quality hot food. The Pie of the Day was mouth watering. Breakfast was great as usual

Had our office party here. There were around fifty of us and at £28 each we were expecting some good food. How wrong we were!! As we walked into the room all you could smell were Brussels, it was overpowering. We soon found out why. The starter came out and was mostly fine if a little carelessly put together. When the dinner came out it was the stuff nightmares are made of. The Brussels, whilst perfectly formed appeared to have been stewed all day (perhaps all week). In fact it was amazing they had made it onto the plate I one piece. They were so mushy we could have sucked them up with a straw! The stuffing looked like it had been cooked the week before and left on the side to dry out ever since. The vegetables on the other hand were practically raw, whilst the roast potatoes had been cremated. They were black on at least one side. The desserts were equally rubbish and the Christmas pudding was cooked to within an inch of its life. The terrible food was the talk of the office for days. Imagine the worst school dinner you ever had and times it by 20,then you'd be getting close to how terrible this truly was. The service was little better. A few of the male staff had really really bad body odour, not what you want when they lean over you. The food was brought out haphazardly, some people had stopped eating (I'd say finished but no one ate it), by the time they brought out other people's mains. I would never ever go there again. Interestingly, I told a friend we went there and she had also been there for a works lunch and they had been served mouldy bread!! Very overpriced and disgusting.

Christmas office party went without a hitch. Well organised friendly staff, decent food for mass production. No complaints at all. A very good night had by all. Drinks a little pricey, but this does keep the unwanted away

Have dined here a couple of times since Christmas and it's been a pleasant experience both times. Often quiet in terms of atmosphere (I walk past a lot too) but the food is excellent with a good varied menu and fair prices. The portions are expceptionally generous and the waiting staff are knowledgable and attentive.

So if you dont fancy Indian, Chinese or Thai or weatherspoons ( I wont go in the slug and lettuce ntilt hey sort their disgusting toilets) you are stuck for options in Tonbridge high street. but then I discovered the restaurant in the Rose and Crown. What a nice little bistro this now is - they have a daily specials menu, a normal a la carte and a steak menu. Nice range of dishes, well pepared at a decent price ( £40 for two courses for a couple). they also do lunchtime specials and snacks. They dont really advertise this place but they should - its great. Again though they do need to keep an eye on cleanliness in the toilets because the public are disgusting!

I went here for the first time this year for our work Christmas do. It's always difficult catering for large numbers (around 150) but this effort was worse than poor!My starter was a lump of shop bought pâté with a single soggy sliver of baguette and some very tired looking salad. The bread roll they had put out was rock hard and so useless in assisting me with the pâté. My main course was roast beef - well, two overcooked slivers of beef with a tiny triangle of burnt potato dauphinoise, three Brussel sprouts and two carrot sticks.....filling or tasty it was not. Dessert was a little better being a chocolate roulade but also tasted shop bought. My colleagues who had other choices were also disappointed with the standard of their meals and there were a lot of left overs.The staff however were friendly and efficient, the place was generally lean and I'm told its decent enough to stay in overnight though I have no personal experience of this.On another note the ladies toilets were all broken, not one would flush!

I went for a meal on Saturday evening and may I say new fresh menu looked good a wide choice to please everyone and I think it caterers for most dinners.I choose the duo of fish to start with was a good size portion look really fresh and clean and tasted lovely,I followed that with the chicken and was really impressed It looked amazing on the plate and tasted great.I would defiantly go back for a meal if I am in the area again.

I'm a Tonbridge resident, and on St George's day my girlfriend and I decided to eat there for Sunday lunch. We arrived at around 1:00pm - peak time - to find the 60-capacity restaurant had just three other diners in it. This made me suspicious.The £16.95 St George's Day menu offered a choice of average starters, from which we both picked the leek and potato soup, some 'English' main courses - I picked battered cod and chips, and the missus picked roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and roast potato - and some 'English' desserts - we both picked the jam roly poly.The starters arrived after about 15 minutes - and they were adequate. The soup was fine. We finished that, and about 20 minutes later the main course arrived. Things went downhill fast.My cod fillet was wafer thin, and the batter was soggy. The chips were fine - but then, how hard is it to get chips wrong? My girlfriend's roast beef was wafer thin, and burned. The potatoes were soggy. The small heap of vegetables were a grey colour. Her Yorkshire pudding was blackened, and solid. Absolutely rigid. Cutting into it was like sawing wood.The jam roly poly was manufactured. It was crammed full of preservatives and MSG - it was, in fact, so bad that the pair of us spent the afternoon on an MSG high. The whole lot had clearly been microwaved by a chef with no talent. It became clear pretty early on why the place was deserted. We'll never set foot in there again.Whatever you do, don't eat here. It's abysmal. It gives English cooking a really bad name. Within 5 miles there's twenty superb pubs or restaurants, and somehow this place survives. Don't ask me how.