The Royal Oak in South Oxfordshire

Absolutely fabulous place. Food was great and service was exceptional.

It's Sunday, relatively early in the service, and we're told "sorry out of Yorkshire puddings" How can you run out of Yorkshire puddings on a Sunday? There's a shop 500m away that sell them and a kitchen the size of this pub should be able to make them from scratch. We were not offered anything to make up for it. Take it or leave it... The manager should feel ashamed.

Fantastic deals on the menu and really good food great place to eat. Really good Sunday lunch great value

The fish & chips last night was beautiful. The Oak is doing special deals on most nights of the week. Last night was fish & chips for £6. Another cracking deal is build your own burger on a Wednesday for £5. The pub is still as clean as usual with friendly staff. The food is proper good value and tasty too. Well worth a visit!

Had a lovely fish and chips very nicely cooked tasted fantastic lovely clean pub friendly staff Great, great selection of gins very reasonably price definitely go back

Love this place. Food always good. Great prices and great staff

Very nice food and very good service. Staff very friendly and helpful 😊👍

Richard at the bar was fantastic but I'm pretty sure chickens were raised from birth before being cooked after I ordered. Might pre order my food for a week ahead next time.

What a disappointment. What kind of establishment closes its kitchen for a staff break at lunchtime? This place! After seeing some positive reviews for eating here we diverted here from the A34 for lunch. Arrived to see a busy bar with local drinkers and some Evidence of food service. Greeted by friendly Lady and told to grab a seat and a menu then cone to the bar. Ordered drinks then picked our menu choices. This is at 1.30pm. We're told that the kitchen had just closed for lunch breaks and would reopen again in 30 minutes. What? So you can't come here to eat.on a lunch break as the staff are having a lunch break? This makes no sense and definitely no business sense. The Lady behind the bar refunded our drinks and we left. I assume that both members of the kitchen team were the 2 young chaps stood outside the front door chain smoking. Nice.... So we went down the road to Zidane for a very nice Turkish meal instead. This place clearly has some fundamental flaws if you want to eat here at lunchtime. Won't be back.

Last year my Partner and I wanted to go for a few drinks nearby so we looked on Google Maps and a few moments later we were sipping our drinks inside the Oak... Fast forward a year later we've been many times since and won't stop coming back. The pub is in a quieter location of Didcot and it gets busy but not overwhelmingly so. The drinks are cheap and the food even cheaper though you'd never guess. We've had many a bite to eat here and the food has always been nice so no complaints whatsoever. The price of the food too is insane in the best possible way. Other pubs nearby charge an arm and a leg for food that isn't even half as nice as what it is here. The staff here are really friendly too. They also show sport which is a bonus and allow dogs too which is great if you have a canine friend to bring along. The only thing I could fault the Oak on would be the decor but that's not what you come to a place like this for. If you just want a drink or food in a classic "pub" without all the fancy "gastro" faff then this is the place to go.

We had the All Day Breakfast and I have to say it was all really nice. Bacon was tasty, not too salty. Sausages, I'm a bit picky about and wasn't expecting them to be cooked to my liking. You know, where they're brown on two sides and the rest looks raw, but these were properly cooked brown all the way round, no gristly bits and really enjoyed them. This is a big plate of food with toast, beans, chips and two eggs as well. Very good value and the staff were amazing, friendly and polite. Would definitely recommend.

Waited over an hour for a small portion of cold chips and dry tasteless burger, worst dining experience so far

Without a doubt the worst pub service I've ever experienced. Came in for an early dinner at 3pm on 29/08. Only 3 other groups in the place so very quiet. The barmen watches us come in but doesn't say anything. We went to sit down and found two tables with dirty plates/cups that hadn't been cleaned up. They stayed dirty on those tables even after we left. When I went to order the bartender was hiding at the far corner of the bar on his phone. I walked up next to him and he still ignored me! Only when I very loudly say excuse me did he look up and go "oh sorry i didn't know anyone had come in"? Yes if you are hiding you won't know who is at the bar. It took 45 mins for them to give us a couple burgers only to see they had no clean cutlery! The chef was wanderig around looking for forks to wipe with a cloth. Absolutely disgusting. I then went up to order another round of drinks only for the bartender to have completely disappeared! The chef came up to me and went "Yeah idk where the bartender is, um so yeah go eat your food". Shockingly poor service, I gave up on the second drinks so went to eat. Chicken burger was still raw in places and pink so we gave up and left. Both staff on 29/08 afternoon should be sacked and Greene King should be embarrassed to associate with this run down dump. Avoid at all costs.

Popped in for a quick drink after shopping and ended up staying for lunch. Was not disappointed, the staff are so friendly and asked if there were any food allergies when we placed food order. Good quality food and excellent value for money. My husband was very happy with the range of real ales that were available. We will be back again.

I am a visitor from Australia have visited the Royal oak twice in the last 3+ weeks, both occasions the wait for our food was excessive, first time almost 2 hours and not told there was a wait, it seemed the bikers were prioritised but there were only 2 staff working. last night we were told wait was 30 minutes which was ok but the actual wait was 1 hour 30 minutes. After putting our order a female staff member cam to oir table to inform us there was no gammon, I had to change my order, she came back again to say there were no peas, another change for me. When the food did arrive the chips were almost cold, I had a very small portion of mushy peas on my plate when I had been changed to beans. Hot chips were brought but should not have been necessary. 4 chocolate desserts were ordered all over microwaved so they were dry and not nice to eat, some were left. A male member of our group needed to use the toilet, one toilet had an out of order notice the other toilet would not flush, disabled/ baby change was locked. The smoking area was just outside the seats we were allocated and although the windows did not open the smoke percolated inside, something needs to be done about that. Some staff were a bit scruffy, clothes didn’t look clean.

Typical pub on a quiet suburban housing estate, friendly and helpful staff who made sure that we were assisted with our Gluten Free requirements. The food was good and very reasonably priced.

We often come with our friends to enjoy the drinks and sometimes the food, which are always really good. However, on the night of Saturday, 3rd August, we faced a racist situation for the first time. A lady approached us and forced us to speak in English, arguing that we must speak English if we want to live in England. We never thought this would happen in Didcot, where everyone has been living peacefully for years. I pray this won't go beyond in this beautiful town While we understand that the pub owner and staff may have limited control over the actions of patrons, we would suggest keeping a frame or board that states 'No Racism' to promote an inclusive environment.

Friendly pub and staff. Sometimes, using the Greene King order and pay App is a bit hit and miss, and have to chase up drinks order.

Unfortunately long wait for food even though it wasn't busy. One hour wait for burger and hunters chicken. Not reasonable to wait that long.

Great atmosphere and the food was really nice 👌 👍. Will definitely visit this place often with the family. Excellent and friendly staff. Very helpful.

Lovely staff, great food and top service.

Friendly staff great services highly recommend!

Quick service and reasonably priced food.

We tried to get our free drink from the app and the guy with black curly hair pretended it didn’t work and wouldn’t let us get our free drink don’t recommend coming here very disappointed

Average sums it up, food took forever to arrive, despite chasing it up twice, the food well Average not special and certainly wouldn't encourage me to return there. Atmosphere was flat. Staff didn't seem interested in being there.

Really friendly staff and the other customers made us feel welcome which wasn't the case in other pubs we visited in the town. Plenty of TVs to watch the sport which was an added bonus

I had saturday afternoon lunch, and it was a disaster. Mind you, I know we can all agree what we get for pub food but, i had to wait an eternity for our food and no apologies. The food was awful and it was like eating cardboard, i am surpised I have any teeth left. The decline in the royal oak over the years has been shocking and something has to change. Gordon Ramsey wouldn't be impressed. I won't be coming back in a hurry.

Great prices for drinks, pitchers and shots. Service always pretty quick. Pool table well kept and they have a great back yard with plenty of tables.

Very friendly staff with excellent food, service was first class well worth a visit.

Welcoming staff food was delicious we had Sunday lunch and dessert

Visited on a trip to see family, was extremely shocked at how welcoming the staff were, it's not very often these days you can go into a pub and feel so welcome. I had the Katsu chicken curry and it was divine. Highly recommend and would suggest all to visit.

Food is not amazing, but quite good for its price (especially their numerous weekday deals, e.g. decent burgers on Wednesdays for a fiver). Always good selection of booze, and never crowded so you can have your pint in peace.

Love it. Highly recommended. The best food, the best prices, thr best people :)

A bit conflicted whilst writing this review as I was disappointed with how long the food took to come out for us, (party of 6) however the food tasted really nice and the 2 staff members running the pub were really polite. We've been before and everything ran like clockwork, however this time it seemed stressful for the person running the kitchen. Hopefully just a one off bad day as we do plan on coming back and giving it another try as the pub seems like a nice place with a really good menu.

Took us four visits to get food as they dont have good stock control and they can be ex exceptionally rude. Food is good when they do have it

I have to change my review despite I been coming here for meals many times over the years but today's service was very disappointing. We arrived very early to make sure to avoid the queues for Sunday lunch. Despites our effort putting in our order just before 12 pm. Our food didn't arrive until around 12.45 pm. There were no other orders before us so no idea why the long wait. The only explanation was the kitchen opens at 12 pm. But to wait for 45 minutes to prepare burger and chips to be is quite unacceptable, especially no real apology was given and we had to chase up our order. So I don't think I will return. The quality of the food has always been good for the price which is great for people on low budgets. But I can go to other pubs that doesn't have such a long waiting time and better customer services

We used the app to order at the table, katsu chicken and Mac n cheese. The food was very quick, hot and tasty! Our server was lovely too

Very reasonably priced food. Good menu. Good service well recommended.

Awful place. Awful food. Terrible service. Rude staff. Funny tasting pint. Would not recommend

If i could give zero stars I would. The food didn't taste good and we all had diahorrea for several days

This pub always offers a freshly cooked meal at a very reasonable price. The only issue is that you need to wait for 30 minutes-1 hour to get food when the pub is busy.

Came in for food and it was lovely and quick to come out. The staff were very friendly and chatty and the atmosphere was comfortable and content. Great selection of beer.

Arrived around 16.00hrs. found a clean table and chose from the Menu taking this from the box containing drinks, meals, & Pepper Shaker with vineger and dryed up baby soother; did notice restaurant area was reasonably quiet & placed order, and waited, eventually meals arrived at which point I requested a salt cellar as none on the table, 5 mins later it arrived, we then had to ask for the cutlery as none on the table, expecting it to arrive with the meal. This arrived very quickly as cutlery on side table with notice stating Bar Staff Only next to Bar, but no serviettes so had to ask for these all the time meal getting cold. Meals now just warm just about edible, so cold plates warm food & terrible service which we are not used to from this establishment, thus hoping this is a one off.

One of my favourite pubs in Didcot. Lots of menu variety and weekday offers. As a Greene King the food isn’t anything gourmet but all very reasonably priced. Pool tables and darts make this one of the better pubs in the area.

Basic pub which we have been to in the past for a basic fast meal. Last time we went several of the meal options were unavailable and we waited nearly an hour for the food that we ordered. If there was going to be a wait we should have been told before ordering. A wait of that long would not be expected in an exclusive restaurant. I ended up having to have a doggy bag as there wasn't enough time for me to eat.

Good value, friendly staff and play area

Good for sport, but service is lacking asked about food and wasn't offered a menu. Won't be back.

Thought we would try again as the last few times we waited over sn hour for food to arrive. No change. Sticky tables, only one beer on. Chicken kebab consisted of two bits of chewy thigh. Dried up pie and almost cold chips. Avoid at all costs

Came here solo, knew the food was good from last visit with family. Tasty bacon, cheese, hash brown burger and chips. Don't fault the restaurant for this (hence 4/5 atmosphere), but found it a bit noisy, another table expressing some interesting views on the world, one of whom swiped a chair! (Might have been polite to ask first!) Made things a little less comfortable. Staff were doing their best to check in. Otherwise, I like the train decor, which fits Didcot as a railway town very nicely!

Disgusted that other reviews were replied to but mine was not. I have a fair and warranted review stating that when I attended your pub your bar lady was very rude and attitude stank. I complimented your chef who was working that evening, but you couldn’t even reply to me? You had to hide my review. I run my own pub as previously stated and was just down visiting family- if my staff were as rude as yours they would no longer be my staff especially for it being as quiet as it was and the food and plates all over the tables, totally unacceptable. Do not attend this pub, they are rude and obnoxious. Only thing I can say is the food was ok but overall the pub is 1/10 and very very slow.

Normal Greene King pub food with good service

Great midweek value meal's also great for weekend, just want something cheap quick and easy, Royal Oak... Friendly & dog friendly 😊 good old style pub grub🙂

The Royal Oak definitely deserves more custom. We expected it to be busy for a Sunday lunchtime, but there were very few people around when we arrived. We had a pleasant welcome from the staff and the pub had a lovely, relaxed atmosphere. We didn't feel rushed at all. The food we ordered was cooked from fresh and absolutely delicious. We were so impressed we ordered desserts - generally we don't! If visiting Didcot, give it a try!

We had a very nice lunch here with the grandchildren towards the end of school holidays. Excellent fish and chips. Kind and helpful service. Colouring pencils provided for the children. Comfortable seating and music at just the right level unlike another pub that was at an uncomfortably jarring level. We will return here another time. Thank you!

For a Sunday lunchtime, it was ominously quiet...but having eaten from a good choice on the menu, we have no idea why it was so quiet. My gluten-free Hunter's chicken was cooked perfectly, with nicely crisped bacon. The pub itself could do with a refurb; but I guess if they're not getting the trade, that's a no-win situation. Staff were friendly, parking was easy, and the atmosphere casual and happy. All good. 😊

Nice pub good service food was value for money

Well done people, best Christmas dinner@a pub so far🎄🧑‍🎄🎊🥂🍻🍷been2a few over the years🤓

Came on the 17th Dec 23 , booked a month before hand for 1 o'clock arrived early, got told that there would be a 45mins waiting time cos of staff shortage, food arrived 1 hour.45 minutes later , if I was told that it would that late I would have gone to the new KFC which as just opened, you had my name and number you could have phoned to save me waiting that long Free drink was offered P.s food was great, puds to die for ,

Always get a great meal, good service, and very good prices. Plus it's only 2 minutes away from my home, what's not to like.

Lovely food. Great atmosphere. Friendly staff

Breakfast with Santa was a hit with the Grandchildren, we thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast. Staff are lovely and thoroughly recommend

Went in tonight for a quick drink, the pub looked nice. I was the only person at the bar but 2 members of staff walked past and ignored me, not even an acknowledgement that they had seen me and would return so I walked out so can't comment on anything else about the pub.

Very friendly and helpful, food was delicious and a decent size. Fabulous value for money, would definitely recommend!

Lovely meal and affordable prices. Friendly and efficient staff. The atmosphere was relaxed. An enjoyable evening. Would highly recommend.

On advice from a friend who lives a few doors away we thought we would pop in for a drink and bit of food, very happy we did lovely local pub with affordable food and great selection of drinks. Would definitely recommend if you are in the area.

Nice atmosphere, nice food, hot chocolate was horrible/tasteless, thoroughly enjoyed our evening 👍

Great food amazing stuff Ryan who was in the kitchen cook my food and it was deserve. Jessica who was on the bar she is a lovely lady friend faces to come in to

Easily the best pub in Didcot. Incredible menu of food pool tables aunt Sally darts. Amazing prices !! 2KG chicken wings is a must !!!

We went in a Tusday 6pm few people in the pub. Is a new decoration. But service was amazing so much that we got to reworded the stuf with a tip. Food was amazing. Best fish an chip in a year as well the chiken mazala. Peices were good as well. Over all a great pub to expend a few hours.

The food was awful over cooked. The fish was all batter. But they did refund all our money.we booked a table, and we still had to wait over an hour for the food

Came here with the family for a meal. Food was good and arrived in a timely manner. The staff were really friendly and helpful. Well definitely be returning.

Just simply a nice place.didnt eat but food looks and smells amazing

Great for sports screening. Drinks and food was awesome 👍

Good was amazing and great service. Staff were fantastic and friendly. Highly recommend for a lovely meal out especially for families as value for money.

Good pub staff Good food excellent

Decent enough Greene King pub so you know what you can expect. The outdoor seating area here is nice and big, as is indoor. I've only eaten here once and had the Sunday roast - I really didn't rate it at all. Undercooked roast potatoes, horrible microwave mash, and only one pig in blanket (and extra £1 will give you one more..!). The turkey and gravy were good but I won't be ordering it again.

Terrible organisation. We tried to book for lunch and was told we would be waiting 30mins or so for food and was advised to book for 13:30, which we did. We got there at 13:30, ordered food and was told it was a 90min wait. We ended up leaving and going elsewhere. My grandparents booked is as they live locally and it was my grandads birthday. We had to travel an hour and 15 mins to meet them to he totally disappointed. Would advise anyone to avoid this place.

Visited on a Sunday when in the area. The staff are so accommodating. You sent really see that everywhere anymore. Lovely food, quick, tasty and very reasonable menu.

Amazing Sunday roast would definitely recommend it

Good food (I recommend the Sunday roast) and very friendly staff. The toilet could use some cleaning and repairs, though.

My wife and I came across ‘the Oak’ tonight on a trip to Didcot. It was a really fabulous night. Excellent, affordable food. Really accessible and family friendly place. Nice to see a diverse group of people using the pub and feeling welcomed. The staff were really helpful and went beyond our expectations. Highly recommended

Lovely food and great service 👌🏻

Food is value for money. But dont go in looking for a good time wirh friends. You might wake the kids upstairs living in the pub.

Absolutely shocking wait for food. Were told when we arrived just after 6pm that there was an hour's wait for food. It didn't arrive until 8:10pm. No communication from staff until we complained. Normally have good service and a short wait time, something obviously went wrong tonight.

Decent boozer. Food looked alright. All-round okay.

Nice pub nice food only downfall is toilets need updating

The Atmosphere was amazing really enjoyed the day out and the service was brilliant Daisy was an excellent bar tender

Been here a few times for food. The staff are very friendly, and helpful. The food does take a while to come out of the kitchen, but I won't complain about that. Every time I've been here the food was lovely. The prices are very reasonable too. I've not been outside but there is a nice looking outdoor area. Out here there is also a play area for children to keep them entertained. Overall its a very nice place for food and drink

We waited almost an hour for our meals.there were only a few tables ordering and they had similar wait. I would suggest it was understaffed. The quality of steak was referred to as shoe leather. My apple pie was huge and wonderful .lovely custards .so a real swing and roundabout review.probaly wouldn't go back .....except for thd apple pie.

No table service, had to order at bar and pay.

Delicious food and welcoming atmosphere. Daisy could not have done more to help.

Lovely meal with the family excellent service

Easy to order on the app, fast service and food was hot, tasty and good portion size 👍

The staff at the royal oak are fantastic and the atmospheric is fabulous

Very good food long wait but couldn't be helped

Friendly, welcoming staff. Excellent range of drinks. Lovely food

I have made this pub my new local , the bar staff are friendly and the food is great . As a football fan it is a perfect place to watch a game , I have had the Sunday roast two weeks in a row and it has been perfect both times

Lovely freshly cooked food staff are really friendly it’s our regular thanks to all the staff

On arrival we were invited to choose a table but many were reserved for 5pm but not used. We found one by a wide screen TV at the back which no one appeared to be watching. We ordered a steak and a double burger which took 35 mins to arrive so we're expecting great things. The chips and the burgers were cold and the curry sauce was a congealled mess, the steak had grisel. Is it too much to ask to get the timings right and to serve food piping hot obviously yes. Had to ask for cutlery and vinegar and the table to be wiped down. There was one table that seemed to be a dumping ground of used plates and glasses. In general the place could do with a refurbishment like the mulberry on the same road but closer to town Think there is more to do here and lessons to be learnt. Unfortunately the patrons enjoy swearing in mixed company This was the 1st visit here in 40 years it will be another 40 before we come again.

Best pub and staff in Didcot! The atmosphere for sport is great and staff give you an amazing welcome, can't recommend enough