The Oakleigh in Southend-on-Sea

Quality establishment, food is great and staff are friendly and helpful.

Why they don't open the bar in the 'vip' area is beyond me

Great atmosphere and reasonably priced drinks

A local bar, best to go early evening as gets a bit louder as the trendy set arrive.

Didn’t have food but booked a booth for my Hen doo and it was fantastic drinks are fabulous and the dance floor was on fire 💃

Amazing Team Night out, food was excellent, service was amazing - thanks to Karl who looked after us all evening (until we hit the dancefloor). Great venue for a work night out or just a night out ... try the food, you wont be sorry!!

Live saxophone, was a fantastic evening!

Lovely decor, ambience, service and food. And best Sunday roast in Leigh on Sea! Also great veggie option.

Went in the evening. Nasty atmosphere - music ridiculously loud one or two of the staff quite rude. Soon left.

Saturday night is a no go from now on. Absolutley rammed, door staff should not be letting that many people in. Took ages to get a drink and wall to wall with degenerates from what i observed. Nice during the day though for day drinking.

I organised a surprise 70th birthday meal for my mum. The lead up through emails and discussing food menus etc. Was simply outstanding. On the day the staff were excellent from the warm welcome to making sure we had everything we needed. Even singing happy birthday with the cake. We all had such a fabulous time. And thanks to the team. My mum now has an amazing memory thanks to everyone involved. I would highly recommend this warm caring kind venue to anyone and everyone and I can not wait to go back. Thank you again guys. You went above and beyond. X

Fabulous place for brunch, a night out, dancing, food whatever! I love the fact you can pre book a table too! See you next weekend!

Great food great staff nice drinks dog friendly which is great highly recommend it really is 10/10 lovely outside space

My sister, her dog, and I were staying in a nearby Air BnB. Went here for drink at about 9pm on a Monday, but the doors were locked. A lady came out and said they had closed early as they were not busy. We went back the next evening. The dog was welcome. We had a nice meal, sonecbeer, wine, and a couple of cocktails. The lady we had seen the previous evening was chatty and friendly. She told us the pub was usually more busy over the weekend, with a younger crowd. Hopefully things will improve when people have more money to spend on going out.

Relaxed mood, great service and delicious food

Violent abusive bouncers. Family members of the staff caused a scene by dropping their glass on the floor, started flicking the glass onto bare legs, asked her to stop she screamed back and incited a fight. 3 girls on 1, I go to intervene sober and driving that night , and the bouncers all go for me. Awful place steer well clear!

Really lovely pub with lovely friendly staff

We celebrated my husband's retirement here this week, and the staff were second-to-none: helpful, fun and efficient. Sue - and her team - thought of everything and worked so hard to ensure we all had a great night. The food was delicious too. An all round excellent evening, enhanced by a wonderful team! x

Sunday lunch, very quiet but food was great, nice sized portions

Sad to say I will not be going back. The first time was in July 2023 and it was great back then! Went back in Nov 2023 and the menu had become a lot more restrictive. Having gone back now in January 2024, I had an awful experience. My wife and I went in for brunch on Sunday to find there was only a special Sunday menu active. A bit annoying but I know that some places do this, just know that this is one of them, no regular menu on a Sunday. We each went for a bar snack. Hers was alright, though a bit expensive to charge £8 for a Yorkshire pudding with a couple trimmings in it when a couple quid more would get one a full roast in other establishments. Mine on the other hand was awful. £6 for what was listed as a honey mustard gammon bap. What I got was a slider bun with way too much mustard and and some sad looking ham. I'd perhaps have looked past it and just made a private note not to return, until my bill came with a service charge. At no point were we informed that there would be a service charge, not the least for a couple of overpriced bar sides, especially when mine was ruined with a mustard overdose. The long and short of it is, whilst I've enjoyed this establishment in the past and whilst the staff are friendly, I'm afraid they've lost my trust and won't be seeing me again, as I'll be recommending others stay away too. Always feels really insulting to be treated poorly and then ripped off to boot, which happens all too often with dining in this country. If you sat on the floor at Sainsbury's eating a meal deal, you'll have a better time than you'd have had here.

Our monthly lunch today, very kindly staff as usual Happy New Year to you all

Too many people are allowed in during weekends. Waited over 30 minutes to get a beer. Bad atmosphere. Poor management. Won't be back

Spent a lot or money to have a great new year's eve party....dj's played club 54 screechers for over an hour....even asked them if there was anything without screeching women that pierce the eardrums. They looked at me like I'd appeared like dog poo under their feet. Hope they pick it up, can't certainly go down. Happy new year Oakleigh...

Great bar. I really like the space because you never feeled cramped when at your table.

It was a nice night out but way too over packed with people and got very crowded. And what's up with the toilet heaters being blasted in blazing hot. Also why was the garden closed and yet the smaller smokers area was. Overall good vibes but expansion is desperately needed.

Really poor handling, I was accused of being too drunk that I could not stand when clearly I could.. I was advised to leave not allowing me to take my coat or bag and I was so confused to what had happened. I will be asking this morning for CCTV footage. Rude, arrogant and disrespectful in my opinion. I have never been asked to leave a place in my life apart from once when I was about 18. I ve been to numerous bars around the world and never experienced anything like this. Ever.

The manager is very friendly and fun and woj is very friendly xozoz

Booked for 13 of us for my husband’s birthday, we had 2 courses all of which was fresh and tasty! Plenty of drinks flowing with great service all round and a Dj on so a great party atmosphere, highly recommended

Love this bar! 🍹 Staff were really friendly and there was no bad atmosphere with the people who were inside, all having a great time dancing and drinking away 💃🕺🎶 the dj had great music too which was fab! I will definitely be going again! 🤩 From what I saw I’d say ages between 20 and 45 I reckon 🫶🏻

Used to be my local until a few idiots had a go at me and my wife, that was last year so thought I'd give it another go, sadly the food was not the same as it used to be,

I've always wanted to visit here. Got there about 10pm. It was extremely busy. I bought a drink. Didn't seem to take too long. Music was fantastic. But there were far too many people in there. We were packed in like sardines. People were knocking drinks everywhere, and everyone was knocking into each other when dancing. It made me feel uncomfortable, and after 2 hours, I had to leave. It was a shame as it would have been a really good night

Nice outdoor space away from the road, good food, friendly staff. But a pity about the Biffa bins...

The nut roast most definitely is not a nut roast! It’s a whole sweet potato with a few nuts pushed inside. Really disappointing! Yorkshire pudding was spongy/undercooked, roast potatoes were average. The rest was ok. I won’t be returning for a roast.

Travelled from Brighton to come meet friends that live in Southend on sea , they said the Oakley was a brilliant night out so was well up for a golden night out…. Upon arrival I was asked for I’d which to be honest i Do look young so that was no problem - bouncers were very polite and chatty! We was having a fantastic evening buying drinks and dancing, when we got served at one point some barmaid done one of the drinks wrong so we questioned it to which we was told to “go get fuc*ed” we couldn’t believe the rudeness of her! I then asked to speak to the manager as was so angry being spoken to in such a manner , to which she replied with “well I am the manager tonight I’m in charge and if you don’t like it get the fu*k out of here you cu*t” I did wonder how she was a manager considering she looked very young and clearly very immature! Us girls was totally disgusted and decided to leave the establishment with utter disgrace! I can honestly say I will never be returning here again after that!!! Such a shame as we was having a fantastic night before hand!

Sue especially is excellent. Friendly and attentive at all times 😃

Friendly and welcoming staff, really good service, all three of us enjoyed our lunches very much.

Didn't eat here but had a couple of drinks sitting in the sun in the beer garden. Would recommend.

I have been to this place many times and each time I do I try and forget my last experience as it’s so close to home and I’d love it to be good but a place with no identity and next to useless staff and management just isn’t for me and makes for a terrible visit sadly. The staff in this place are 95% female and don’t you just know it. The fake eye lashes should have a “long vehicle” sign attached to the owners make up caked face and the uniform seems to be a theme of “wear as little as possible without being arrested”! It’s like a scene out of an Ibiza dance tune parody music video from the 90’s but what’s worse is, the staff are just so rude with it. They make you feel like you have interrupted their house party or a deep and meaningful chat with each other. They serve food which isn’t as bad as Wetherspoons but good luck finding a menu or ordering it, it’s all just a mess and that’s because the bar live off their monthly “party nights” which are disgusting. Wall to full of scum bags and desperate women listening to terrible DJs and everyone paying for the pleasure to be there. Mental. When I say lack of identity, on any given day you can walk in you’ll find the big tv above the bar on with anything from hollyoakes to countdown on with subtitles, walk 5 meters to the right and the football will be on with sound on a screen that has been rolled in and just behind that you’ll be in the “restaurant” area where people are meant to enjoy food and then just the other side of the entrance a Dj will start playing “summer vibes”! This is all happening at the same time!!! It actually happened to me while I was eating one day, I couldn’t believe it. It’s so badly run that on the hottest days of the year the very large outside area is empty because it’s just so unappealing. The bad management is evident everywhere from the staff uniform and attitude to the tv situation to the state of their social media. It could be good but sadly isn’t and I hope they read this and sort it out. 1/10 from me, sort it out guys, your monthly nights should be a bonus, not all you have. Concentrate on 1 or 2 things and do them properly, stop trying to everything and doing it badly. I’ve been to better bars in Benidorm.

Below average roast. The portion size was a joke, I thought I had the kids one by mistake. Small handful of soggy potatoes, no crisp whatsoever. Hard chewy cabbage/kale. At least spend a couple more pennies and add some carrots! Beef was nice and rare/soft but that's about it. I know it was small as my 93 year old nan cleared her plate! Very disappointed. Service was excellent.

Babyshower event was what brought me here. Fantastic food, friendly staff and good level of organisation

OakLeigh is a youngsters or young at heart pub/club. Staff pleasant, atmosphere good and they have a separate smoking area for those who do. Overall it's OK but the ladies toilets were awful (hence the 2 stars), dirty, wet all over toilet floors and no toilet paper in any of toilets. Cannot comment on food as didn't have any and drink prices were what you'd expect them to be. However, I remember a time many years ago when none of that would have bothered me as far too busy dancing and getting drunk. So for youngsters - go for it, more mature - avoid unless you are still 18 at heart and toilet expectations low 😉.

It's very noisy, very busy. Drunk women fighting, shouting... Classy. The kitchen was closed because they were overwhelmed. The toilets were dubious but not terrible. The door supervisors were excellent; great communication, vigilant, teamwork was good and their actions were proportionate to the situations. Might be better to visit at a quieter time!

Great cocktails and the food is pretty good too. Large outdoor seating area which is mostly in the sun.

Great place to finish of the evening after a birthday party or any occasion. Bar service a bit slow, but they must be doing something right as packed with people of all ages....

The food was great, the service let it down. I would suggest the staff read the menus before bringing the food out.

Entertainment excellent staff nice, nice surroundings but food poor but beer music good

Great food (very fresh) worth the money .....friendly staff I have eaten here alot over the years always been good quality food cooked to a high standard and served beautifully the taste even better .... And their puddings are delicious.... highly recommend

The Sunday Roast was excellent, one of the best in the area. Very relaxing atmosphere. Will definitely visit again.

Great relaxing pace. Very friendly staff

Lovely food and staff, however we had to wait a while for our meals due to staff shortages!

Nice food, good drinks and good music in evening

Great bar staff and outstanding door supervisor's

Only 2 slices of wafer thin lamb with roast. Nice Yorkshires and came with cauliflower cheese, but overall fairly average roast. Service was great and staff are lovely.

I’m very pleased with my recent visit at this pub Very friendly staff especially lady who is the manager Thank you we had a fantastic time

Nice big pub with a good selection of food and drinks

First off I would like to say that the food was low quality I could tell some of my food was microwaved and frozen. The service was really slow and cold. They gave me a small portion for a large price which is unreasonable. Overall I think it needs improvement.

Nice place to catch up with family and friends. Reasonably priced food and friendly staff

Friendly staff, lovely ambience.

Great place if you can get in. Won’t let anyone in after 00:00, even though people are coming out.

Violent security staff over reacted , lied about the incident and tried to steel mobile phone. Also saw them pin someone else to the ground

Nice Pub with good food and good value

Had an all round excellent Sunday lunch experience on the 13th Nov. The meat was tender, the roast potatoes were lovely and the cauliflower cheese was a triumph - add to that plenty of gravy, perfect savoy and red cabbage, all the condiments you could want and top notch service right from the kitchen to the floor staff…ridiculously great value and felt looked after - hubby and I opted for the lamb and son had the chicken, recommend both. Be coming soon!

Very good, well behaving staff. Dont have a huge variety of drinks . Seafood not available. Suggested for family

Lovely meal with non-alcoholic drinks options. Dogs are welcome and there is a lovely dog station equipped with bowls ,toys, blankets and treats for doggy customers to use.

Visited here a couple weeks back. Pub is nice. Only down side is the bouncer that was clearly on a substance strutting around like he is the Rock. Bar staff are wonderful and serve with a smile but after my experience of the front of house staff member i won't be going back.

Great establishment with great staff. Lovely interior design and a great garden. Wide range of drink selection and good food menu to choose from. Music is always on point. Lovely mixture of a friendly people to enjoy the day and night away.

Staff were really professional, prices moderate , well worth a visit !

Can get really busy but nice atmosphere

Nice pub in the day, nice little club at night

Had a great lads night out, nice security, great atmosphere .

I took my husband and son here yesterday for fathers day lunch. We had a lovely relaxing and hearty meal, very tasty we will definitely be back.

Music very noisy and beer very expensive

Spacious bar with friendly staff and decent "pub" food a beer garden too what's not to like...

Plenty of tables available despite it being a hot day. And regardless of people thinking The Elms is massively cheaper there's not loads of difference in price, and at least its not full of kids here!

5 star service, 5 star food and great atmosphere!! 👌

Only had a coffee but the place was warm and comfortable and uncrowded. Friendly staff

Don't go here often but when we do there's always a friendly welcome. The food is good and surroundings are pleasant.

Have been here several times and it is always a pleasant experience. Last visit on Saturday 11 December was as brilliant as ever. Fantastic food, fantastic drink and exceptional service. I can't praise this place enough. A brilliant pub/bar for a great night out. Love it.

Popped into The Oakleigh on Sunday for some drinks. We elected for table service and were greeted by friendly staff who were extremely attentive. Having seen some Sunday roast dinners coming out of the kitchen, my wife and I decided to stay for some food. Our order was taken and our meal arrived within a timely manner. The food was as good as it looked and priced reasonably. I would recommend a visit to The Oakleigh where you will be looked after by friendly, attentive staff.

We often pop in here for drinks and staff are always attentive and friendly. We decided to have the roast today as it always looks inviting. We weren’t disappointed! We both had the turkey roast. A very generous serving with lots of veg and meat. Great service as always from Martin, Frazer and Sinead despite it being a busy Sunday. Would highly recommend!

Sunday roast cold and sent back. Potatoes not crispy, veg messy, cauliflower underdone without the expected cheese sauce. Disappointed

Very nice Sunday lunch good value and staff very good

Thank you to all the wonderful staff for the lovely roast dinner this is our Second time.my husband and son had the triple roast and I had the roast with out meat. The potatoes was done lovely this time nice and Crispy. Thank you all again for a lovely roast dinner.

Very friendly and helpful staff 😊

Good service great food. Head chef Sarah came out to see us and have a chat!

Brilliant night reasonable prices

Wonderful place😀 Fantastic decor and comfortable. Pleasantly atmosphere. Nice Terrace. Services efficiency. London price for a Gin tonic. Very limited choice of vodka. Very clean. Definitely a return.

Title says it all really!!! Staff and management where very attentive and chatty etc.The roast beef was absolutely lovely.I woulddnt normally go to a pub for a sunday roast,been let down soooooo many times BUT it was really nice. Definately recommend it.

Catch up with one of my girlfriends, best Porn star martinis and the food was fabulous we had the nachos and a side to nibble, Martin really looked after us, thank you!

Excellent Sunday roast with the family this Sunday! I haven’t been here for a while and I was pleasantly surprised. Generous portions and fairly priced. Staff were very accommodating (I have a picky eater) and they also let us bring our puppy in too :) Highly recommend and we’ll be back

We came here for an engagement party and had a brilliant time! The head chef is so lovely and she and her staff put on a huge, delicious and well presented buffet/spread for the party (the photos don’t do it justice!) Everyone commented how good it was and took boxes of food home too. I’ve noticed previous comments on here about the doormen, well for us they were nothing but polite and happy! It’s a shame they are needed but that’s just how it is in towns! We felt safe anyway, and had a brilliant night there. Highly recommend for a party venue! We are looking forward to returning to actually have a meal here. Thank you once again!

Despite the pub being mostly empty and the bar being on downtime, app service took 25 minutes to serve a few drinks. Food was ok, cocktails weren't.

Mojitos were a lot to he desired

Fantastic food ,first class service

2nd time we have ordered from hot dogs here. Great value and really tasty dogs, lots of topping. You know it's good when you need a lot of napkins and a fork to finish off the meal. Garlic rub fries are out of this world good too.

Good food, relaxed atmosphere. Helpful, attentive but not over powering staff. Parking is an issue. Level access. No banging tunes at lunchtime. No pressure to buy alcohol, happy to keep the coffees coming

3 of us in our 50s/60s visited for drinks and food on the Friday before lockdown fully ended. None of the staff (indoors or outdoors) wore masks. Bouncers patrolling around looking menacing when practically all of the tables were groups of ladies or middle aged men out for a quiet night. My double burger was so over cooked and dry that when I cut into it, it crumbled into pieces and fell of the wooden platter. Definitely don’t visit for the food. In fact, I wouldn’t visit the place again as the vibe wasn’t good. Having now read previous comments about this place, it seems to be a recurring theme. Good luck.

Good service, reasonably priced bar.

Spend your money elsewhere. Bouncers were aggressive at entry regarding NHS track and trace, understandable to make everyone sign in but pushing and shouting at people before even entering the pub left a bad taste . They then assaulted an innocent group of football fans. They were throwing punches and getting young lads in choke holds for celebrating England scoring. Bouncers seem dangerous and out of control. My group didn’t feel safe and we won’t be returning. Plenty of other lovely locals bars and restaurants with pleasant door staff, not on a power trip!

Fantastic staff great night,service was brilliant Considering how busy it was will be here Sunday for the footie 🍺