The Lord Nelson in Rutland

Interesting menu we had the sharing platter really enjoyed it.

Food was good but veg portions very small. No parsnip on mine but was on daighters. Boiled cabbage and leeks - leeks not detected visually or by taste. Visited Easter Sunday. Warm welcome and lots of interesting rooms. Looks tiny from outside but is like a tardis.

What a great find! Tucked in the corner of the market place. It looked tiny from the outside but when you walk through, it's huge and on 2 floors! Thought we would give it a go. This place didn't disappoint! The staff are so friendly and welcoming, the food was amazing, and there was an open mic night there too! Fantastic night! We will definitely be coming back.

This was my mum & dad’s fish & chips. The fish had no batter & looked & was awful. They won’t be going back. I’m astonished that someone actually thought this was acceptable to serve at £14.75 … disgusting!! 😡

Four of us popped in on Saturday evening,we all loved the food and the ales were in excellent condition.nice buzz about the place again,well done to all.

Great customer service. Brilliant bar servers Jamie and Luke, the new menu is really good too! Will definitely come again.

Much improved. The overalls standards have returned to how they once were. Well done everyone I look forward to being a regular once again.

Went with some family, the new menu is absolutely fantastic, the bar servers Jamie and Luke were incredibly polite and helpful

Had a great meal out it was the mother’s day roast beautiful the beef was amazing alway i would like to say how friendly and helpful the staff are they couldn’t do enough to help myself with my disabilities even on such a busy day

Terrible place to eat. This establishment has gone downhill which could be attributed to maybe a change of ownership. It’s a shame because it had a good reputation and was a nice place to eat. The place was dirty and with a dog odour and the queue for the bar was unacceptable partly due to lack of staff. There is no table service when you order food. A bit annoying if you are seated upstairs. We waited ages for the luke warm food to arrive brought to us by the most hapless, inattentive waiter you could get. There was a dog barking throughout the entire meal and having paid over £170 for a set Mother’s Day menu, we feel shortchanged. Would I go back or recommend to others? Absolutely not!

Came for Mother's Day Sunday dinner, the toast dinners weren't hot, roast potatoes were stale and reheated and the green beans had been shown to the hot water so were far too hard to eat. We'd asked for a side salad to go with scampi and chips and it came with limp lettuce and covered in balsamic vinegar. We asked for a fresh one without the balsamic and the next one came covered in salt and swimming in oil, defeats the object of a fresh side salad!! There were only 2 desserts left but no one had told us when the dessert menu was given to us and then our order wasn't taken correctly. It seemed there were only three front of house staff who in the main, were quite busy and but they could have done with more assistance and some sort of management. What a shame as this restaurant/pub looks like it could be a little gem!

We went for a 2 for 1 on cocktails and beer. Only 1 beer, Amstel, available, and the bar tender didn't know how to make cocktails, so after 1 hr, the owner showed up and made me an Espresso Martini, but now not in the 2for 1 deal

Lovely pub! Had a nice afternoon drink and chat. Very lovely atmosphere and the manager was very kind and professional! Overall inviting pub! X

Delicious Sunday Lunch ! Beautiful thick slices of toast beef a massive Yorkshire pud and a selection of fresh veg. We're away in our little caravan and fancied a roast dinner - didn't disappoint

Such a lovely pub with old style country decor. Came in for a pint- good selection of drinks and warm, casual atmosphere. So many places to sit including an upstairs and beer garden. Menu looked great- will definitely have food next time 😊

Took 45 minutes for food from order to table, on a non busy evening. Requests of food not to be served with certain ingredients ignored. Food was average at best. Nobody came over to check on the table. It was a shame to have this experience as it seemed like a nice establishment.

First time in Oakham looking for somewhere to eat a Sunday lunch, came across the Lord Nelson, popped my head through the door to check they were serving food, it was lovely and warm, and yes they were, so took a chance. So glad we did, a nice selection of real ales so that was a good start. We all (3 of us) ordered the roast beef which was excellent, and very reasonably priced,the two staff we encountered were lovely, friendly and helpfull. If ever we are passing by this way again we would have no hesitation in visiting the Lord Nelson again.

Had a lovely meal in here with a nice pint to celebrate finishing the Viking Way. Lovely old pub with a lot of character.

Attitude from bar man absolutely stinks. Empty pub on a Saturday, yet no interest in providing any level of customer service. His response to our request to eat: “if you want”. Beer ran out mid-pour - no attempt to change the barrel: “you’ll have to have another”. All drinks poured in Peroni glasses despite nobody ordering a Peroni. We finished our drinks and left without eating. This place won’t last long with baldy behind the bar.

Limited menu but ciabatas were good. Not many patrons so lackig atmosphere but very interesting building.

This is nice ..wood go back ..all about the big man..Lord Nelson..good pub nice and big and old ..

Dissapointing, had roast chicken and it came as half a chicken on the bone and was quite dry. No cauliflower cheese available. Minimal veg and no mash potato only roast. To be fair they did bring extra veg when asked but gravy was tasteless and cold and roast potatoes were cold. 2 of us had belly pork which was soggy. Friendly staff but I doubt we would go back 😢

Always good food and service and a warm welcome.

A really nice pub, great food and brilliant atmosphere. Lots of nooks to find a seat in and with a bit of luck you'll find an open fire to sit by.

Mini reunion of Uni chums from the class of 1976. Booked us into a separate room. Great catch up. Excellent food, drink, service and atmosphere. You were all so kind and attentive. This was in honour of one of our number, who lives in the USA, who lost his wife recently. A very emotional gathering of life long friends. Thank you for making the day special. It was our second visit. We may have to do it regularly now we are getting old.

Very disappointed. We booked a table in advance for our annual family Christmas meet up and meal here and we're very disappointed when we arrived. They informed us that the chef had broken down and would not be in until 6pm, when we had booked a table for 10 at 12:30. They did not ring to inform us and we travelled one hour to get there and we're hungry. We also had to preorder all our food when we booked our table, even without ordering from the Christmas menu. They offered us a round of drinks on the house for the inconvenience, but I am disappointed that they did not inform us sooner. We were lucky to find somewhere else for food at such late notice and for a large group.

This place has gone right down since they got rid of their front man paul ,the staff are rude obnoxious and canot cook the full time chef thinks he’s all that but can just aboutnuse a microwave ,they should have got rid of the rest of the staff and perhaps kept the one person who actually cared about the place …typical one little bully in the place and the rest all followed …shame on you red cat ….

It's a nice pub. We spend time every Saturday. The pizza is really from the wood fired oven and very tasty

Was in Oakham for the Christmas market, we normally go to the Grainstore as I’m an ale fan but tried the Nelson for a change. No booking but the staff accommodated us for a Sunday Roast. Staff very friendly and chatty, the ale is excellent,...

Booked Sunday lunch for family birthday celebration. It was very busy & we waited quite a while first to order and then for the food to arrive. All the meals were cooked to perfection and even though we had not complained I was given a 10% discount off the bill. All in all a pleasant experience with helpful & friendly staff. Happy to recommend.

Booked a table for 1:00pm Sunday lunch. Took ages to get seated. Not many vegetarian options was the only downside. Also things on the menu that were vegetarian weren’t even available which was a shame. Then our food did not arrive until 2:30!!! The staff came over once and said ‘five mins, just plating up’ after about an hour, but it turned out that was for the table next to us and ours took another 20 mins to arrive. We were so disappointed. The only saving grace was that the food was lovely when it finally came. When it came to paying, the staff offered us discount for the wait and explained it was due to the fact there was no chef, however if we were told prior to ordering, we would have then known to leave. Such a shame as the poor staff were left to clear up the pieces. Seems a case of very poor management.

Four of us were looking for a decent reasonably priced meal after a day out which is what we got. The consensus of the group was that the quality of the food was very good and was value for money. Will go again the next...

Went here after a walk around Rutland Water. The food was excellent, and very reasonably priced - ended up paying £50 for 2 people (shared starter, 2 mains, 2 desserts, soft drink each). Would definitely go back when we're in the area. Also dog friendly

Having one chef on a Saturday lunch time was hectic waited ages for food. No complaints on food tho it was good although we were starving so anything would have been good

Don’t bother!!! Only gave a 1 star as there wasn’t a zero or a minus!!! Ordered a drink and lunch and took a seat, there we sat and sat and sat! Forty minutes later went and asked where our lunch was? Was told some rubbish...

Kitchen not open til 2pm at lunch time??! I thought the pub may finally have its act together, so took some friends there for lunch... however, its so unpredictable still. The girl behind the bar saw us all walk in and just called across '...

Absolutely lovely pub tucked away in a corner food was delicious and out host was exceptionally pleasant defo go bck

Went here for a birthday with family we had the roasts and food was fabulous again we have been before but never for a Sunday roast but we will definitely be returning for another Sunday roast cooked by Harry and the staff paul and Luke...

So where do I start… Booked a table for 8 at 7.30pm. So many things on the menus were not available which was actually started to get funny as pretty much everything we asked for initially wasn’t available. In the end we all managed to order something. The food actually wasn’t bad at all. We were then asked at about 8.30 if we would like to order dessert which we all did. Bearing in mind half the mains menu wasn’t available we suggested he found out what wasn’t available on the sweet menus before we ordered. He came back saying everything was available so we all ordered. 10 mins after ordering the lad came back and said the kitchen was closed and we could have no desserts!!! We were then told that as we had a child with us that we had to leave by 9pm. This was a few mins before 9pm. Bear in mind we had booked a table in the restaurant not a pub or bar so the 9pm law is irrelevant. We explained this and also politely let them know that we were not going anywhere until we had finished our drinks that we had paid for. So then the manageress with the blonde hair turns up and gets really moody and asks us to leave reiterating that it’s the law as we have a child with us. Clearly she wanted to go home. This girl has clearly no idea of what good customer service is. The other staff were embarrassed by the way she spoke to us. Then from the other side of the room a lovely lady who overheard the conversation told the manageress that the Nelson was once the best place to eat and drink in Oakham and that it’s been ruined but the current owners/group and the only reason she and her husband went there in that night was to watch the rugby as they knew it would be quiet. She went on to say that she could not believe the waiter took out order off us and 10 mins later said the kitchen was closed. The local lady then said she was embarrassed that us out of town visitors had experienced this and suggested we should have gone to the wheatsheaf instead. Just in case the owners read this. The lad with the curly hair was very pleasant, as was the slim girl with dark brown hair. The blonde manageress needs to be replaced.

Homely log fire warming a traditional British pub which is focusing on quality products served with great service. As regards food, I would highly recommend the gammon. Good selection of ales and a recent Camera award winner which shows.

How does this place keep getting it so wrong?! What has happened now? It used used be a great pub before it was taken over by redcat - always busy and the heart of the town. Then it went downhill... then they got a new...

The roast dinners here are amazing! And I can’t fault the staff, they’re all so lovely and accommodating, will definitely visit again

Had a Sunday dinner here. Food was good and Paul on services was really helpful. Was a little bit quiet but we enjoyed it

Used to be one of my favourite places but since new ownership the food is rubbish, was served the wrong meal, then a cold meal, ended up getting a refund. Won’t be going back. EDIT- Had response from owner asking me to email them to put it right, I did - twice and never heard back… just felt like a way of showing face to other review readers which was even more disappointing.

Endroit très convivial. Personnel tres sympathique et cuisine délicieuse

Lovely tucked-away pub in the centre of town. Full of history. Great place for a pizza and pint!

We haven’t been here for a while but the Lord Nelson is still a decent pub. It’s a comfortable pub to sit in; the service was good and our beers went down a treat. Add a bit of rugby on the telly and it was...

Food freshly cooked and delicious. Staff and service excellent. Will definitely go back there again. Earlier on this year they hadn’t got it together. It seems as if it’s coming together now. Keep these standards. Then the rest will follow.🌟

Turned up late and the staff were very helpful and allowed a wedding party the time to have a drink before closing . Thank you.

We came as a family of five for a celebratory meal. We sat around for a while with our menus to find out we had to go to the bar (we assumed anyway!) then starters took so long to arrive. Plates taken away quickly and...

Lovely meal and fabulous margarita!! Haven't been hear since before the pandemic when we were a regular customer. Will definitely be back and recommend. Bar staff excellent.

I really love this pub and 100% would recommend. Staff were extremely friendly and ale selection was amazing ! We tried there new ales and even though I am not a fan of dark ales, it’s was smooth and had chocolate : coffee notes. I...

Nice pub in the square. Quirky with a series of rooms as opposed to a usual pub. Olde worldy decor. Pub with age and character. Decent selection of ales. Good menu not bad also does meals 2 for £14 Monday to Wednesday. Not advertised very...

We went tonight as we are having a new kitchen so have no where to cook , the food was absolutely fabulous thankyou to the chef ,the staff were so friendly and helpful ,and we will definitely be back very soon the menu was great...

The food was good and so was the service.

Food is always good and plenty of it. Staff are friendly and helpful Lovely place to meet up with friends and have a few drinks .

At the time we visited they were not serving food due to no chef, the pub is lovely and staff friendly, beer very nice

Good beer nice place expensive for oakham

Complete contrast between visits. Visited last Tuesday and the food was great. Really happy. Returned this evening (Tuesday 18:30) we booked a table as Im in a cast and cannot get upstairs. It was confirmed we would have a table reserved. We arrived no booking has been made. Thankfully there were tables free to sit at. The service was really slow. It took 40 minutes for the food to come out. Initially we were told there wasn’t any fish and chips. Then five minutes later they had it. We ordered it with garden peas but when the food arrived there was mushy peas and we were told they had ran out. The fried egg on the gammon egg and chips was burn to a crisp. The mash potato was flavourless worth the bangers and mash. My mum ordered a Belvoir sparkling elderflower and it was flat and we were only charged £1 (completely different price on the menu) it almost seemed to be elderflower cordial mixed with water. The barman assured us this was the Belvoir. There was a mix up with the bill and we were initially charged for additional items the table next to us had. The price for three mains and four drinks was reasonable. However we did not feel it was up to the standard we usually receive at the Nelson. We have returned to The Nelson multiple times in the 8 years we have lived here. But this is the first time we have been disappointed. With such a contrast from our visit last week we hope it’s just a few teething issues.

The pub has changed hands and is now, alas, not what it was. Still beautiful architecturually however. Suggest you pop in for a drink or two and then eat elsewhere.

Great pub that is tucked into the corner of the Oakham market place that is a real tardis. There are rooms off the bar downstairs and upstairs if you want a quiet beer, or if the weather is good you can sit outside in the beer garden, that has another access to Burley Road. We didn't eat so can't comment, but the pizzas that passed by looked and smelt really good. The staff were very friendly and efficient when serving.

We stopped in for lunch on market day, the food was lovely, it all tasted homemade from quality ingredients. The staff were friendly and couldn't do enough. Very nice to have dinner in the courtyard there. We spent £50 on 3 meals and 3 drinks.

We stopped in for lunch and were not disappounted. The staff were all super friendly and the food was really good. Homemade wood fired pizza and good burgers with all the trimmings. Will definitely be going back to try the rest of the menu.

Great pub for some drinks and a meal with friends. Booked and visited on a Sunday. Really enjoyed the food and drinks. There was six of us and three dogs and we were in a room on our own. Excellent service by the staff. The menu had a good choice of dishes including home made pizzas. Would definitely visit again.

Absolutely awful. Incredibly sad to see how a change in ownership can ruin a pub. The food (the stuff they still actually had in stock) was terrible. We waited for a long long time for any of it to arrive - after they changed our order three times having realised they didn’t have in the things we ordered My wife then got food poisoning. Avoid like the plague

Quirky old pub. Good ales on tap.

Lovely quaint pub with great food.

Absolutely shocking experience here today. 6 of us turned up for a table we’d reserved. Ordered food. Two roast beef dinners came out. But we were waiting at least 20 minutes for some more meals to come out. The final meal came out about 30 minutes after the first meal had been bought out. Reason given was that they had run out of chicken and had to cook some more. They didn’t even come out and explain this and offer an alternative. The food was literally one of the worst Sunday roasts we’ve ever had. Burnt Yorkshire puddings. Gravy like water. Most of the vegetables were hard. Definitely not worth the £13 for each main. We asked for a refund on the final meal that came out last which was refunded for us. We didn’t bother ordering a pudding and just went elsewhere for a pudding. The venue itself is really nice and full of character. But not good enough for us to want to return here unfortunately.

Friendly staff, nice atmosphere, nice choice of cocktails, food menu looked good and the food we saw smelled lovely. Clean and very relaxing place with lots of rooms to sit and chat across both floors

Good food and a nice range of drinks. Not the cheapest but lovely atmosphere

Amazing staff, delicious food and service was incredible. What a lovely experience x

Excellent food and service. Friendly atmosphere and beautiful building, full of character.

Wonderfully food and drink and staff were really good

Great atmosphere, good bar staff

Been a few times, food was excellent. Genuinely a refreshing experience of some British cuisine. Thoroughly enjoyed our meal, staff were lovely and attentive. Went a second time on a weekend and they were clearly flustered and overstretched. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay to wait for my meal and found that the restaurant could be cleaned better. Definitely worth a visit, just maybe go on a weekday when it's not as busy!

Good food great service will be back again thanks a lot

Absolutely lovely pub in the heart of Oakham consisting of lots of smaller rooms giving it a cosy more intimate feel. Staff were amazing. Food was great. Good choice of ales. Would highly recommend.

Normally love this place and make a point of coming with my children for a birthday lunch. Today we were kept waiting for over an hour for a couple of kids’ meals and a couple of starters. Kids were bored and we had to buy more drinks and extend our car parking while we waited. Complained. As compensation, asked if we wanted more drinks, which were the last thing we wanted. Real shame! Will probably go elsewhere now!

Been in a few times for lunch with all 5 dogs on week days. Made to feel very welcome with water brought for the dogs and a full jar of treats for them. Plenty of space for them, food for us is nice and service good, hense our return visits.

A warm welcome by the staff a nice pint delicious food

Chaotic and amateur. Staff make it up as they go. Sometimes you get one stamp, other time more, Sometimes Peroni is available with a full card then it isn't. Sometimes there is a rule where you can only get a max of 2 stamps on any one day. Sometime you can carry the free beer on to another night, sometimes you can't. No clue ! Some staff are not trained to used the coffee machine. Food availability is shocking. Last night, no burgers, fish and chips or scampi. Sometimes no ice ! No frozen water in a pub ! Should be because the heating is rarely working. Served me a Sunday dinner with raw vegetables. Sent it back and was offered a free dinner that I couldn't be bothered to put myself through. Regularly see the food being sent back or given away or items being substituted without the person being given the heads up. Staff constantly walk past tables full of empty glasses - hopefully the pub will find its feet, but it's currently poor to say the least. I once sat in the pub when overly loud explicit music was being played. You couldn't make up ! Eventually the manager (I guess) noticed and addressed the issues, but other staff hadn't clocked it at all. Lots of locals have moved on and I will be following them I'm afraid. I anticipate it will close before too long.

Excellent food. Pizzas were fabulous. Good service too.

Good food and good service very dog friendly

Family meal out, and thoroughly enjoyed it. :) Had a choice of rooms to eat in which was great Really good to see some different veggie options to the usual. Service was fabulous, meals very good, and the pub itself is fabulously characterful, loved the decor throughout. Looking forward to popping back in next time there's a family gathering. :)

Food was good but place needs a bit of a smaten up

Enjoyed starter,and main course,Good food and nice ales , staff helpful, no it was new years eve but did have bit of a wait for food ,

Service was painfully slow. It took an hour to get our food once we'd ordered although tables arriving after us got theirs before we did. The children's orders were wrong when they arrived. The Sunday roast was lukewarm, potatoes desperately overcooked and the roast carrots were black. Sorry, but won't be going back anytime soon.

Food was very good, when it finally arrived. Half the table was served quite quickly, then the rest of us had to wait rather a long 😴time. Such a shame. The idea is for everyone to eat together, give or take 5 even 10 minutes. The manager needs to have a chat with kitchen and service teams. Very dim and grey atmosphere upstairs, the lighting needs to be brighter but still cosy. Could so easily be 5*!

Very enjoyable food and experience. Thank you.

Poor. Ordered burgers, described as with lettuce,tomato, burger sauce, gherkin, fries and pickle. Delivered to table without tomato, burger sauce, gherkin nor pickle. Soup no better- half a bowl. Avoid.

Waiting for hours for Christmas dinner

Waited two hours for Christmas mains, food poor quality, cold and clearly microwaved. Tough meat, raw carrots and cold turkey.

We have now eaten twice here and each time we were warmly greeted. On our last occasion we both had pizza which was really amazing, proper homemade base with taste toppings would highly recommend the pizza here.

I had previously visited this place for lunch and it was awesome, this was approx.' 3 months ago. As the food was good, we had decided to go here for our Christmas meal. Before we had turned up for the meal, we had prebooked. As i had no chosen a starter i cannot comment on the food, but the starter seemed to come fairly quickly however from it took approx' 2hours for the main course to arrive, which was overcooked and cold. We had originally arrived at 12:30pm, and we did not leave until approx' 15:15. The picture attached is what was served to myself as a main course dinner for an adult, there was nothing else. Due to the time it had taken, we had left before desert had arrived.

Christmas meal was an absolute shambles, some of the menu (that we pre booked via the menu from the website) wasn't even available and the dessert didn't turn up till over 2 hours after the mains (one of the desserts given to us wasn't even ordered) and the Christmas pudding was stodgey, tough and barely edible ...But thanks for an entertaining night 😂 Oh and just to add.. some of the xmas menu that they said isn't available and shouldn't be on the menu at all is STILL being advertised on their website (and although it says red wine gravy they don't actually serve that with your dinner) this was said to me by the staff on the night

This is the second time I've had a bad experience and I won't be back. Shambolic service and dangerous cooking practice. 2.5 hours for main course to appear after complaint twice. Clueless service (had to ask twice for cutlery for mains when they arrived). Food delivered was not as advertised. Tried to serve non gluten free food to someone who had very clearly asked for GF option (advertised on menu). Never had hot and chewy prawn cocktail or uncooked Brussels. Atrocious!!!!!

Love this place. Real homely feel with plenty of beers, booze and food on offer. Dog friendly. Well worth a visit.

What a wonderful afternoon we've had... ....Excellent food, Exceptional service, Cosy atmosphere all at a really great price. Thank you so much we will surely be back.

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening. The new manager Archie was great and so where the staff. The menu was in the process of being updated so somethings weren't available but it wasn't a problem for us. The building is great as it's an array of cosy rooms with such amazing history. The outside area looked nice from the window. Well worth a visit x thanks for a fun evening x

Outstanding pub and restaurant. Manager is awesome and a great guy. Staff are perfect. Wouldn't drink anywhere else in Oakham.