The Oaks Highcliffe in Christchurch

Great place for a catch up with friends. Great service from the moment we walked through the door. Lovely food with plenty of variety

As a first-time visitor, I was excited to try somewhere new, and The Oaks didn't disappoint at all. I'm not a vegetable-ist, but the Halloumi burger was good enough for me to consider it. Prawn and crayfish cocktail ticked all the boxes as well. Staff were friendly and attentive without being intrusive, and there is a good buzz about the place, still plenty of pub atmosphere without being too noisy, but also plenty of restaurant feel without being stuffy. Well done, The Oaks!!!!

Nice pub, friendly staff. We had the Rump steak= good, Beefburgers & chips =good, Halloumi burger & chips= good and the Tribute steak pie & mash = underwhelming (tiny pie and nothing special) the small tot of Tribute beer was a nice touch though.

Amazing stuff team. Food is very, very tasty, and it is served by very friendly and professional servers. top notch x

Lovely food , drinks expensive ,decor lovely staff great so altogether decent place for food and drinks

Friendly staff, lovely beer garden and dog friendly. Great food and good menu (see pics). We will be back!

Brilliant service and delicious food. Thank you to Tim and the team for a really lovely evening and experience!

Great and dog friendly as well.

Our first visit - and thoroughly enjoyable. Great food & service. And thank you for the anniversary 'gift' which was very generous 👍

Had a fabulous Sunday roast here yesterday with the family. It was very busy, so glad we had booked in advance. Food was amazing and cooked to perfection. Will definitely return another day. If you have not been then you must go.

Had a fabulous lunch here. Great service and food.

Always great food and service. Dog friendly.

A Lovely meal in this dog friendly gastro pub. We always pop in when we are in the area visiting which has ben a lot this year. Its our g to for an evening meal. Plenty of food choice and always have a good meal.

A really delicious meal, I had the pork rib eye which was beautifully cooked and well.presented

A wonderful time at the Oaks celebrating our son’s 18th birthday. Gorgeous food, lovely atmosphere and exceptionally attentive staff. Would highly recommend ⭐️

Excellent food - family birthday meal on 15th September, 2024. Staff are always very friendly and helpful. Would highly recommend this restaurant.

A very welcoming Restaurant Bar with a rang of flexible dining locations suitable for couples, families or lager groups outside under cover. Or even in pods. We don't tend to post food as there are enough out there already. We can recommend the Beef and Tribune ale pie and mash with green beans. Simple meal but served v hot and v tasty. It even comes with a 1/3rd pt taster of Tribune Ale as a bonus. We also had the Half Chicken which once again was excellent with a proper home cooked roast flavour. We turned up without a booking on a Sunday, but we would recommend booking as it was still quite busy after the Sunday Roast Rush! Toilets well kept, upstairs with Accessable toilet on ground floor. Can't wait to pass that way again.

Fabulous place to eat and spend time with good friends or family. Exceptional atmosphere, service and food.

It was my best friends funeral reception there the pub is nice to be in but service was slow then manager was very good even when one of the guests had a fit and he call for the paramedics

Lovely pub. Good food. Friendly staff and good atmosphere.

We eat here regularly and are never disappointed! The food is delicious and feels very special and healthy. The staff are always friendly and helpful. They seem to be interested in their diners.The drinks are also high quality - they do a Mean Bloody Mary! Not the cheapest, but I consider it great value for money. Would dfinitely recommend.

A pleasant family meal. Food was nice, service was friendly, very attentive at first but patchy later as the pub emptied a bit. Plates were very hot, food was warm. Table next door was incredibly loud, but certainly not the fault of the pub. Two older couples having a fun night.

What a beautiful gastro pub, I cannot thank the staff enough so attentive, the food is cooked to perfection and the atmosphere is a 10 out of 10. It was our first meal out as husband and wife and you guys smashed it out of the park! Visited 04.09.24 Cheese souffle is a must!

Thoroughly enjoyed our family Sunday lunch at The Oaks. Excellent food and service with a smile. My daughter is dairy free and they couldn’t be more accommodating and mindful of this. Looking forward to our next visit.

We visited on an August bank holiday weekend, Sunday lunchtime, without booking. There were plenty of parking spaces. We were immediately offered a choice of tables and we took a table in the marquee outside. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and the atmosphere was buzzy and cheerful. There were several families, but because the garden is quite spacious it did not feel crowded and wasn't noisy. The food was great and we couldn't believe how fast we were served with slow-roasted pork with crackling and marinated chicken with mashed potatoes. Certainly the fastest service we've ever had in a pub restaurant, 10 minutes max. The bar service was also quick and efficient, especially given the busy weekend, not far from the coast. It was a breezy, cool day, but there were plenty of radiant heaters over all the marquee tables. To our delight, an excellent singer/guitarist, Sam, set up near us, elevating the atmosphere further. Sadly, a very angry neighbour began shouting over the fence, threatening to call the police and the music was stopped. Staff members came to each table to explain and apologise to the disappointed diners, but the friendliness of all present and the supportive conversations between Sam, all the tables around and the cheerful staff was a delightful outcome of a potentially negative situation. The hot chocolate was a delicious alternative to our desert and I had two. In all a thoroughly recommended discovery for us and we'll definitely choose The Oaks again when we're in the area.

I co-hosted a quiz there on 26th August - terrific evening, lovely staff. I had too much delicious rosé! Looking forward to doing so again!

We had a really great lunch here. From the second we set foot in the door, the staff could not have been more friendly - the best service. The food was delicious, the garden was great and there were lots of activities to keep our children entertained. Thank you!

Beautiful pub/restaurant. Outdoor old style games. Food amazing and reasonably priced. Staff lovely and helpful. Good menu choice.

Excellent food in really nice surrounding with pleasant efficient staff. Still as nice and excellent value

A fantastic place to eat, amazing service with excellent choice of food. Our starter and main course were both excellent., great value for money, will definitely eat here again.

Fantastic food, and Francesca was our server, she was wonderful

Been here several times and it's always a pleasure. Food, staff and atmosphere just right. Prices are surprisingly reasonable for the quality. Plenty of seating choice, dining room, conservatory, and outside in "beach huts". Will be going again.

Very welcoming on arrival. Delicious food served promptly by very cheerful staff. Our second visit was every bit as enjoyable as our first

For our first and only time experience, with the Oaks, last Sunday, 11th August 2024, this place is definitely a real find and worth going back for more...and not just for seconds!! Our party of 11 (9 adults and two children) was accommodated at short notice with a phone call the same morning. The place is massive and very spacious inside and out. Great layout. For our size party they gave us bench seats in the garden under a huge canopy (good cover in any weather). The food options were great and varied, and tasty. Most of us opted for the roast. Huge yorky puds, along with tastefully presented meals. They also accommodated our requests for more roasties, puds and gravy. The desserts were sublime and I tried a mint choc souffle with choc ice cream. All gratefully appreciated. No disappointments and the service was first rate too. Attentive and personal. Noted for next time when staying/visiting the New Forest area. Great entertainment for family and kids too with the beer garden games and furniture.

Our visit to Oaks was a great experience! We saw the restaurant by chance on the way to Highcliffe Castle and spontaneously reserved a table online for about an hour later. Worked great! We were warmly greeted by Maddie and then shown to our table. The Oaks is typically British rustic and very comfortably furnished. The service was excellent and the menu very varied. The starters we ordered (French fish soup and bread with three different dips) came quickly and tasted heavenly. We didn't think the main courses could top this. But they could! The grilled steak was medium fried to the exact second, the tagine was orientally seasoned and the slowly cooked pork roulade with apricot sauce was a dream! For dessert we treated ourselves to a sorbet and espresso. 😊 It was fantastic all around!!! I would definitely like to highlight the young waiter who served every dish with as much pride as if he were serving the royal family! Great! This restaurant is absolutely recommended!!!!

Has a Beautiful outside seating area. Nice place to be on a hot summer evening enjoying a pint and some food.

Booked on recommendation from a friend and was not disappointed. Our server Francesca was incredibly friendly and attentive. The menu was varied and had a large number of dishes I would have been happy to try. Was nice to see a menu that didn’t just focus on the usual meat/burgers. We ordered the boquerones and heritage tomato salad to start, both of which were delicious. Mains: I had the Bouillabaisse and my daughter ordered the sweetcorn fritters. My Bouillabaisse was perfect with huge chunks of fish and really tasty. The basque cheesecake was wonderfully light too. The place had a lovely busy and buzzy atmosphere and we found all the staff to be very friendly. It’s not often that I’m impressed when eating out anymore so this w as a bit of a gem. We would definitely return.

From the second we arrived to the second we left we were treated like royalty. We made good use of the buy one get one free drinks when we arrived and then ordered a bottle of wine which was fantastic and reasonably priced. Both adults had scotch eggs to start which were fantastic and the warm buttered baguettes were really good and a big hit with both adults and our two children. For our main we had the chateaubriand to share and this was outstanding! Lastly I had the sticky toffee pudding which was one of the best I’ve ever tasted and I’ve tasted a lot! All in all we had a fantastic meal and the service was second to none. Thank you for a wonderful dining experience. We will be back.

We had a great meal there, staff were great, happy staff, nothing was to much effort. Food came out in good time and was very tasty . A great dining experience We will be back with friends Thank you The Oaks

What a disappointing experience here. This is one of my parents favourite restaurants and was so looking forward to celebrating my Dad's birthday here. However, the majority of dishes were not up to the standard we were expecting or the standard they had experienced before. The worst: The bland beetroot terrine which tasted of sweet chopped up beetroot with creme fraiche and no taste of the horseradish which would have cut through the sweetness. A requested medium steak cooked well done. The dressed crab which was warm (not sure why), dried out and mainly brown meat. It was quite unappetising. The crumble which was dry as I am sure the top and bottom were cooked separately with a miniscule spoon of ice cream. When we spoke to the manager at the end of the meal he was very apologetic and had a good attitude in comping some of the dishes although we would have preferred a good meal to a reduced bill.

Really good service when waiting for your food. Burgers are ace! Beef roast is also BANGING!!! Overall I would rate it like 4.6

The food was well presented and delicious

Excellent food and service, very attentive, overall a great meal out.

Went for the set lunch on Monday, party of 4. Neither the starter nor the dessert I wanted was available. Main course of pork comprised a nice piece of pork, some cabbage and about 8 minute cubes of "Parmenter potatoes"! We had to order additional potatoes. The poor waitress had to wrestle with 4 different special offers for our party of 4. Suggest the Oaks cut back on the promo and concentrate on actually providing what they have on the menu!

Beautiful food, relaxed atmosphere. Fabulous service 👏 👌

We popped here on a Monday night at 7.30pm whilst in the area on holiday. It was incredibly busy. The manageress of the restaurant was so helpful as we were a party of 7 who wanted to eat. She tried but couldn't fit us into the restaurant but said we could eat in the bar area. The food really was excellent and very reasonable. The cheese soufflé and steak & ale pie were particular highlights. The children's meal portions were a really good size. The ambience was lovely - a mixture of locals playing board games and holidaymakers having a good time. The only small negative was the speed of clearing the tables in the bar area was slow but that was because it was busier than expected and the staff were stretched. We had a great evening.

Lovely lunch , good service & good prices

As soon as we walked in the service was amazing. We loved the dog menu. Was a great touch. The food was really good. Couldnt fault it. Would definitely go again.

First visit to this lovely pub. We had a light lunch and a glass of wine. The staff were obviously well trained and it showed. The decor, especially the garden was amazing. A big area but nice atmosphere. Food was excellent. We will definitely be back!

While the food and surroundings were excellent, it was the warm, friendly, and timely service that really made the occasion for us. Front of House appeared to be a close knit team, and they made us feel so welcome and well looked after.

Staff friendly and efficient. Food ok

Excellent food,service and setting. Tim was amazing as our first point of contact making us feel at ease and very welcoming. The staff and food were of an excellent quality all round. Highly recommend for an amazing dining and food experience.

Phenomenal resteraunt, staff are really lovely, food is fantastic and the atmoshere and look of the place is great, one of the best places ive eaten at in a long time

Great service, great food and great environment, what more could you ask for. The are dog friendly also, so it's the perfect place to come before or after a beautiful walk around Highcliffe Castle, the high street and surrounding beaches. They even have a dog food menu! 🐶

My previous review was incorrect. I would never give a 1 star review without speaking to the venue first. I did think the portion size was on the small side for the price but it was tasty

Delicious food, lovely staff and good beer. They're dog friendly and even have a specific menu for them. Definitely worth a visit, book in advance!

Sunday lunch was excellent . The beef was cooked pinkish just as we liked it. The dessert was lovely too. The waitress Fran was cheerful, helpful and explained the menu to us. She was attentive to our needs. The malbec was smooth too. We visit here every year on holidays and would highly recommend it.

The food was delicious has always the staff are so nice and friendly

The staff were very attentive but not overbearing, the food was very well presented and tasty. I would definitely return.

This was a lovely find just driving home from Highcliffe Beach . Staff were spot on . Lovely chilled atmosphere made very welcome . Three of us I’m vegan other two are not so I’m always going to be limited for choices . In this case there were a few options Grandsons were very happy with their food . Would recommend.

What a gem!! This place has the most lovely ambience and beautiful decor. We were served by Francesca who was super personable, gave fantastic recommendations and served us implacably. She made our evening more special and made the entire experience a delight. We will for sure revisit to try the main menu as on this occasion we only indulged in drinks and 3 desserts!!!

An excellent and interesting menu, what we had was very well prepared and presented. Staff were friendly and the environment in the conservatory is very pleasant. Tim, Paulina and Roberto did a great job providing friendly and efficient service.

We arrived unannounced. 8 adults, 2 children, 5 dogs, 2 vegans and 2 vegetarians at just gone 2pm. We were enthusiastically welcomed and shortly shown to a table set for the 10 of us. It was my daughter's 40th birthday and she received a complimentary glass of Prosecco. We placed our orders and waited. The drinks arrived then the food after a short but unexpected wait. The food was outstanding. I had the spring vegetable risotto and had to stop myself from licking the bowl. Everyone thought the food was fantastic. One of our party had the ploughman's and announced the scotch eggs were the best he had ever had. The staff were friendly, professional and diligent in ensuring that we were happy and to cap it all the food, once again I have to say it was excellent, was an exceptional price for the quality. I honestly cannot emphasise enough what an amazing establishment this is. If you're in the area you must make this a place to visit.

Good food.Varied menu. Well presented, good friendly service. Drinks rather pricey

I love The Oaks. A great venue with a really nice atmosphere. Great selection of drinks and the staff are awesome.

We had asked to be seated in the dog friendly area which we were and were given a dog menu. Some dog treats were ordered which were very well received.

Enjoyable experience and food was wonderful.

Not too expensive in the long run.. staff are good as is the food in general. Gets full so gets very noisy.

Absolutely splendid! The Oaks in Highcliffe is a true gem. The elegant architecture combined with the picturesque surroundings makes for a delightful experience. One can't help but admire the beauty and charm of this quaint neighbourhood. The attention to detail in the food preparation and service and the lush greenery that surrounds the venue is simply breathtaking. Whether you're a local or just passing through for a drink, The Oaks is definitely worth a visit. Five stars, without a doubt!

First thing you will notice here is the staff is extremely friendly,inviting, and attentive. Food was also top notch . We had the vegetable risotto, duck leg and sticky toffee pudding. Kids had the 3 course kids meal which was a really good value.

What a gem! As vegans, sometimes it is difficult to get good food. Not here. The dishes are excellent, local and you can tell great care was taken in preparation! I highly recommend it!

I don't normally leave negative reviews but after visiting several times I have to. First time visit last summer, we waited approx 50 mins between starters and main...zero communication on this. We felt forgotten in the beach hut. Kids were getting very hungry. Food when it did cone was nice. They then suggested we add 10% gratuity which I thought was a little cheeky after we waited so long with only a 'sorry for your wait' as food put down. Another visit for drinks only, what could go wrong?! Ordered Margarita, honestly worst cocktail I've ever had. Just tasted like salt water, so bad. Disappointing as this is local and it's nice to support local businesses, however you feel you are just throwing good money away.

Food good. Welcoming staff. Slow service

Staying in the area and went for Sunday lunch as it had some of the best reviews. We had the most delicious Sunday roast. The meat was excellent. It’s not often you get roast beef without any fatty bits but this was perfect and cooked beautifully. The sides were all lovely too. The dog menu was a cute idea and our dogs were very happy. One of the waiters was very friendly and chatty. Would definitely recommend this place.

A fantastic sunday roast... enjoyed the bottomless roast potatoes!!! Service efficient and attentive - maddie is a credit to you.

We have been going to Highcliffe for many years and never been into The Oaks and i don't know why not! It is by far the best place that i have taken my family to in the area! The food was amazing, the kids loved every part of the kids meals too. The staff were so friendly and chatty as well as it being a perfectly dog friendly restaurant. Couldn't ask for any better and cant wait to return back soon for more beautiful food and great customer service. Thanks to all the team at The Oaks :)

Really impressed with the food and our waiting staff, who were excellent. Watch out for the unwritten 2 hour cutoff on tables, even if you pre book. Maybe just because they were busy, but after what we spent between two of us, given that we were on coffee already, i felt that having the manager approach and ask us to leave so he could have the table was a bit rash, so unfortunately we won't come again, there is a lot of competition locally at this sort of level.

The staff turned out well . Happy and polite. Food excellent.

For a Sunday roast it was superb. Good range of choices and the vegetarian parcel was stunning.

Great food, good service, friendly staff.

Great food and good service would definitely recommend

My husband and me booked for lunch at The Oaks on 20th March and enjoyed the meal very much. We both had three courses, which were for starter’s Fish bisque and Prawn/crayfish cocktail. Mains we both had Fillet of trout. Deserts Pistachio soufflé and Rhubarb/almond tart. The food was delicious and we can thoroughly recommend The Oaks for a lovely meal. We will definitely return when we come back to the area in May for our next holiday!

The Sunday roast was the best in a very long time and the vegetable were cooked not eldenty first class.

Recently relocated to Highcliff from Worcestershire and have eaten here plenty of times . The food is consistently very good and the staff polite and helpful especially the manager . The Oakes always has a pleasant atmosphere. Can definitely recommend...

The food was delicious, also the waiters so kind. The atmosphere in that corner of the pub where we were sitting in is a bit dark.

Very disappointed with our visit today. The food and service were okay, but the whole thing was marred by the host telling us on arrival that our 12.15pm table had to be vacated by 1.30pm but "that should give you plenty of time". If I book a table for lunch, I do not expect to be given a 75 minute time limit, not anywhere. No restaurant is so special that I'll rush my lunch to eat there. So a lovely, relaxing Mother's Day treat was just a hurried lunch with my son regularly checking his watch because he was worried he wouldn't have time for dessert, and there was no time for coffee. If you are over-booking to squeeze people in then you should have told us when we booked so we could have found somewhere else instead. Telling us on arrival is completely unacceptable. And being seated with our eye on the clock meant it didn't actually matter how good (or not) the food was. You will have been raking in the money today so there was no need to sacrifice customer satisfaction just to squeeze in another couple of covers. Definitely not worth £50 a head.

Very poor service. My brother's food and his wife’s were missed, and it took so long for our food to come, and before they realised, that they had to leave with an empty stomach. There was a new waiter who had not had great training. The management needs to reflect on this shambles. We don't eat often so when we do I take care to choose carefully. Very disappointing.

We ate here for the first time on Saturday 2.3.24. The setting is nice but very noisy and a somewhat busy busy ambience. Not really conducive to a relaxing dinner but we have to accept that The Oaks is obviously very popular. The food was ok but not truly amazing. We shared a crab and sweetcorn bite starter and the bites just didn't have any depth of crab flavour. The brown crab mayo with it was excellent and had a great full depth of crab coming through really well. My wife had the slow cooked duck leg with blackberry sauce which she found to be good stating that the duck was well cooked with lots of flavour complimenting the sauce perfectly. I had the lamb roulade. Sadly when it was presented to me at the table, it was also presented with a massive faux pa from the kitchen. I won't divulge the detail as I think it inappropriate to embarrass The Oaks on this reveiw. However, the roulade was good and mostly tender and the artichoke puree was exceptional. I must add that Adam the deputy manager dealt with the problem exceptionally well and removed the cost of my lamb roulade from our bill without prompting. Excellent service from Adam- thank you. Would we eat here again.... yes we would and will certainly visit next time we are in Highcliffe

Had lunch today, enjoyed the food and the service. The young lady who served us was very helpful with regards to my allergies.

Tasty food in a nice venue, but the portions are easy too small - after three courses I was left considering getting a takeaway on the way home to fill me up! Prawn cocktail had about 3 prawns on offer - should have been called an avocado cocktail to be more accurate! Trout was nice, but slightly overcooked and again, such a small portion I was left wanting more. Overall too expensive for the portion size, and please don't add the optional service charge - let us add this if we feel the service is worthy (which it was - friendly staff).

Came back for the first time in a while after a great dinner a year ago. Service was average yet not very attentive. The food took a long time to come out (50mins between mains and starters) considering how quiet it was 0 tables on arrival and 3 when leaving. The food was also very average, sauces was watery and lacked the big flavours you expect from classical cookery and the protiens (either over or under) not looked after or treated with the respect any good chef trains for. We was a table of 6 and had children on the table too. Even then the food was a long old wait. I've never heard my kids ,(7) and (5), say let's get pudding at home it takes too long here. I've eaten with this company at a few different restaraunts now and always expect good quality however tonight was a bit of shame. This could of easily been a great review with a little attention to detail in both service and cookery and a little more respect for product. It won't stop me from returning as it could have been an off day for the staff today however I will consider other venues local to here beforehand now.

Good quality food. Staff were very friendly and professional

Excellent place to visit if your looking for a decent pub meal and a friendly warm atmosphere.

The food was amazing, the service was great, the atmosphere wasn't the best as it was so quiet in there, but it was a wednesday lunch time. The pub / restaurant itself is lovely and quirky. Would highly recommend to friends and family.

We visited for my mums birthday and immediately felt reassured, they had amazing knowledge of allergies, I have celiac disease and get very nervous about eating out due to the amount of issues I have had at other restaurants but can not recommend the Oaks enough and on top of this the service was excellent and so friendly! Thank you so much

We have always enjoyed visits to the Oaks, over Christmas their standards seemed to have slipped slightly but returned late January and it’s back to its usual high standards, good service and high quality food and drink. The new and improved winter menu is much improved on the offering at the end of the year. Our latest visit late January was great and we are pleased it can remain one of our favourites.

We ate at The Oaks before Christmas and found the food tasty and well cooked but one plate of food (the Applewood Pork) was not that hot. Apologies given and bill reduced. So we returned for lunch recently. I had the same main course (the Pork) as before and my partner had the beef and Ale pie. We were both dissappointed. I'm not saying the food was below par but the way it was presented could have been better. The jus was thin and more was needed. The Oaks standard is hit and miss.

Excellent Lunch yesterday all went well with the service no waiting to be served - In fact booking again for next week

Food very tasty, pork very tender. Excellent service. Really enjoyed our visit. Like the option to have half a carraff of wine, suited us perfectly.

We decided to give the Oaks a second go - lured with a voucher! The decor is lovely, the staff very pleasant and friendly. The food was OK, although surprised mussels had no sauce. It is rather over priced for what it is. The staff are very pleasant but untrained, reach across the table and guests to give extra cutlery or clear plates. Service very very slow - we were offered complimentary coffee to off set this. They were not busy, half empty - maybe short staffed in kitchen? There are several other places in the area which give better value so in spite of nice staff and vouchers we probably won't return.