The Royal Oak in Mid Sussex

I've updated my review for this place because it is 100% improved simply by them actually having an open fire in winter rather than save a few quid by not bothering. This was all it needed. Thank you. The food was already excellent and the pub is welcoming and friendly. Good range of beers and a nice garden. Very close to the downs with easy access to Devils Dyke.

nice busy pub on a warm sunday but enough room to find a table. staff were pretty quick at the bar too. young lad who served us today was great. food was tasty and the menu simple which i appreciate. enjoyed the humous starters and the roasts were good quality.. (didnt mark you down for this but,… the mushroom beef wellington didnt contain beef, realised its a vegan option, why add the word beef to the menu to do anything other than disappoint a meat eater on arrival of the dish) apart from that an enjoyable relaxed meal, thank you

Decent pub but shockingly expensive. £7.30 for a pint of Cruzcampo. Not going to return at those prices. Disappointing.

After an epic walk around the fields with the doggies, snuggling up to the fireplace with a glass of wine and an amazing meal was just the ticket. Can't wait to come back x

The location and drive out are epic. The pub is vibey and has good service. My food, the nut roast was thoroughly enjoyed. I did hear rumblings about the beef being a little tough? But not was still enjoyable. The restaurant also accommodated me with a last minute addition to my guest list. Ample parking as well. I always enjoy my visits to The Royal Oak

Huge huge thanks to Charlotte and her team for looking after us for my dad’s wake. It was the perfect venue. The team were accommodating to every request, from food to little stylistic choices around the pub. They were kind enough to close the venue and give friends and family time to pay respects to dad. They even put on a playlist of our choosing too. Funerals are tough, tough days. But I was grinning ear-to-ear when I entered the pub to see it bustling with those who loved and cared for dad - and the Royal Oak will always hold a special place in my heart for how well they handled this huge part of a very important day. Thank you Charlotte and the team a million times over. For anyone who finds themselves in the sad position of needing a venue for a wake, you will be very well cared for by the Royal Oak.

Had a lovely Mother's day meal with a free prosecco! The pub was busy but our waitress Emmie was very attentative. Look forward to our next visit.

Met for a drink with a friend early evening, was going to order food. Totally aware of last order time from website however bar staff advised kitchen closed 15 minutes ahead of advertised time. Would have chosen an alternative venue. Disappointed & not reason given.

One of the best pub lunches I’ve had in a long time. Roast dinners were amazing and really generous portions. Staff really friendly and the pub itself is lovely. Will definitely be returning.

Went there for a friends birthday get together, they put on a curry buffet which was superb and served Harvey's beer to wash it down with, great evening, friendly and helpful staff all set in the beautiful south downs. Well worth a visit!

Excellent service. Patient staff and very helpful. It was a Great atmosphere Food well prepared and presented. Quiz night was extremely good fun. Good price for meal and wine.

A wonderful country pub. The table was set beautifully along with the log burner warming the room and the flames dancing it was a pretty room. The staff were friendly and helpful. Food nice. Lovely Valentines meal.

emmie was a great waitress and my family lived her. very professional and kind. will definitely be coming back again, food was also great

My partner and I went here yesterday for valentines. To say we were blown away by the food, service, ambiance and other friendly diners is a understatement! My partner is 9months pregnant and was not keen on going out. She's now asking to go back this weekend ! The food was spectacular.

Disappointing probably sums up our Sunday lunch experience at the Royal Oak 😏 I've eaten here before (pre-Covid) and it was great, but standards appear to have slipped. It's a nice pub, although I had a cold breeze blowing on my back from a leaky old door. But it was the food we went for and that's where the disappointment really stems from. I don't mind paying top dollar 💰 for good food, but overall it didn't impress at all and it was far from cheap at £19 for a roast dinner, plus an extra £6 for tiny pot of cauliflower cheese and another £6 for sage and onion stuffing balls, of which there were just 3 in the same tiny sized bowl. The roast beef was very tasty, as were the stuffing balls that taste as if they have sausages meat in them. Alongside the tiny side dish portion sizes, the roast spuds were VERY disappointing. The spuds were just poor, lacking in flavour and too hard. I think the owners need to checkout what else is on offer locally and up their game 🎯.

The roast dinner was dire. 3 roast potatoes that were barely even roasted, green beans some carrots and cabbage. The driest Yorkshire pudding ever. Cost £18 which it certainly wasn't worth. The only decent thing was the pardon peppers as a starter. Food also took over an hour to arrive. Won't be coming back.

Our dogs had a wonderful welcome from the staff very friendly.

Very disappointing. Sage & onion stuffing balls as said on menu had meat in & we weren't told this, we told them we were vegetarian. We asked for Yorkshire with roast dinner & didn't get . Adult & children's portions were the same just a smaller plate for kids. On the whole a very disappointing experience, we're new to the village we won't go again.

Lovely pub with tasty food well worth a visit

The Royal Oak is your typical old English country pub. The food was good and the service professional.

Had a lovely afternoon in this pub. The staff were nice and polite. The locals were lovely and friendly. Only had a bowl of chunky chips but they were good. The food we saw go past looked amazing and healthy portions. A little expensive but worth it, I believe. Plenty of seating inside and out. Dogs welcome and parking onsite with electric charge points.

Sunday lunch and a beer with my Dad, really welcoming staff and a great atmosphere with the log fire. Parsnip soup to start was well prepared and can highly recommend, roast lamb was also well cooked and really enjoyable . Highly recommended.

Wonderful place for family celebration. We will be back.

We stop at this pub once a year in the summer but have not been here on a cold, damp winter's day. However, nothing has changed but for a blazing log fire; it still has that village pub feel with undressed wooden tables, benches and village hall chairs. Booking with the young lady was a delight. Very pleasantly handled with all dietary queries expertly dealt with. The welcome and service was as good as possible. The sunday roast was extremely good with choice of beef, lamb or chicken. A good range of beers but the wine list was limited and expensive. Recommended.

This is a great pub for kids and the staff are great but we have been 4 different times and each time the food has got worse and worse. It is very expensive for the quality. We went today and thought that the food was really not good, the burger was over cooked and dry and the coleslaw was mainly onion. The steak pie was dry and the meat not tender Although chips were ok. If you want nice food I would avoid but if you are looking for a place to go with kids and not too bothered about the food then go for it.

Good pub with a great outside space and a lot of parking. Worth a walk too...just remember you have to walk back after good food and a few drinks

Haven't visited here for many years as moved away from the area but my recent visit exceeded expectations. The menu on this occasion had a Welsh theme and I wasn't disappointed. The star of the show was a "Lamb Cawl" which is a Welsh take on a lamb stew and I was very impressed with the quality and taste of this dish which was way above what I would normally expect. Compliments to the chef. Additionally the bar staff and waitressing was second to none. Bear in mind this was on a Thursday afternoon in November so I was blown away. Highly recommend.

Food was nice but was a touch expensive. £18 for a burger and £6.50 for a pint

My friend and I decided to take a trip to the country on Sunday 8th October. I prebooked a table for 3 for a Sunday roast. I’d not been to the Royal oak for a number of years, but remember having a nice experience the last time I visited. We arrived for 3, stood in the bar for some time there was no acknowledgment by the 2 young girls who were making coffee and drinks, not even a hello. After an uncomfortable few minutes an older man came over to us and said very insincerely “ I’m afraid there are no roast dinners left” he then showed us the 4 options still available chips, bean broth stew and some other awful choices. We could not believe it! Never ever have I experienced anything like this when I’ve reserved a table somewhere. We said to the man “ surely in situations like this it would be courteous to give us a call so we don’t waste a car journey up here, in all honestly it was apparent he couldn’t care less. After making some calls we headed back to hove and got a fabulous roast dinner at carne. Due to this experience I will never return to this pub so unprofessional, also there were so many reservations still on the tables, I’d imagine there were many more very disappointed customers after us. Surely when people prebook it should give the kitchen an idea of how busy the day is going to be!

Great food. Super tasty and really friendly staff. Pumpkin decorations were lovely too

fabulous meal in beautiful surroundings and the staff were so friendly and helpful...I will definitely return.

Nice little pint here nice pub.

Lovely country pub with a great children’s play area to the side. We only stopped for a drink and some chips on the way out of Brighton, but the chips were fab and the food we saw coming out to other tables looked amazing, so we’ll go back for lunch or dinner soon. Spacious and a good sized car park.

Amazed and super pleased to see gluten-free beer sold here, truly above and beyond, and very much appreciated. Only popped in for a cool drink on a hot day but couldn't turn down the opportunity to try one I'd not had before, many thanks for thinking of all your customers :-)

Well what a disaster this was. We arrived on a Sunday at about 1pm to be told the kitchen had to shut down taking any more orders as they had a huge backlog. Not a problem - but they had quite a few spare tables. However, had we booked, then no problem, they would take our order (go and figure that one out!). The waitress said she would bring over menus as and when they were ready to take new orders, but in spite of the 45 minute warning, she said it could be even longer than that. Insult was added to injury when people started turning up who had NOT booked and were ordering food - which seemed to take forever to arrive. We will NOT be going back here. TOP TIP - reduce the number of covers; or increase the capacity of your kitchen - it's really that simple. We survived on 2 rounds of drinks and then crisps before having to leave and find somewhere else for lunch.

Bery nice food and lovely garden. Perfect location if you're out on the downs

Yet another first class meal at the Royal Oak. Good old Cod and chips along with chicken creaser salad, both could have come from the Savoy Riverside restaurant. Special thanks to Max who looked after us very well, and the super chefs in the kitchen of course. Only one small comment, dogs in the restaurant area, bad idea we think. a lovely pooch peed on the carpet while we were eating dinner, owners left staff to clear up the mess. TR

It has been super. Good quality, fast service and an orginal atmosphere! Romantic place in a pittoresque village!!

Really suprised about the mixed reviews on here, as we found our visit to this pub in the beginning of August to be first rate. From the staff to the quality of food (one of the best rump steaks we have had in a long time and great chips) The price was reasonable too. Thank you for making our trip along the south downs a memory to remember

Stayed in the village for a few days and dined here twice. The menu was a little limited (the way of the world post covid etc). My wife went 'off piste' for her selection and they accommodated this without a problem (big tick). Nice real ale (Sussex Ale) Great friendly staff and always busy with locals, proper pub! Right on South Downs Way bonus.

This was our last evening out after a wonderful tour of Cornwall, during which all of the pubs and restaurants we visited served wonderful food and beer. I am sad to say that this one left me disappointed. The food was nondescript at best and gave me the impression that it had been heated up from meals that had been bought in rather than created and cooked on the premises. This particularly applied to the desserts, but the burger and chips meal was not great: more in line with a fast food chain's offerings. The salad was a mass of green lettuce and little else. The beer on offer was disappointing. I had got used to an excellent selection of craft draught beer, but not this time. The usual suspects were there: a lager, a Guinness etc., but no really good beer, bar one. Alas, this barrel ran out before I could get a second pint and the pub's replacement had not settled enough to be attached to the pump. On the plus side the service was great. The host at our accommodation has warned us to expect to be disappointed at this pub, and she was right. There was no other open within easy reach so we took a gamble: it did not pay off.

Lovely afternoon here, good service, staff pleasant would recommend.

Ordered a black coffee with a drop of cream instead of milk. Was charged an extra 50p. Not sure why, I didn't have the milk aswell. If they must be that greedy. Say it's extra don't just add it to the bill. It's put me off going there again. The other pubs nearby do not charge extra.

Roast Sunday Lunch for four. Four different choices. Chicken good beef overdone vegetarian nice and lamb good. Roast potatoes were hard and had obviously been cooked hours before. Outside was very good for kids. Parking easy and bar service good but busy and some locals just drinking at the bar and blocking half of it but assume they were regular customers. Drinks fine.

I love The Royal Oak pub, the owners and staff are so kind, welcoming and friendly. Bliss in particular is super helpful and always attentive. Highly recommend this pub, particularly after a long walk!

Good service, friendly staff- all younger staff members dressed in black looking very smart. Good food. A touch pricey perhaps?

Had a midweek lunch here. Great atmosphere, place buzzing with people. Small menu but adequate choices. The food was high quality- the best chilli I’ve had in years.

Fantastic place. Great choices off beers and great service

Lovely meal, perfect after a long hike! The burgers were amazing, as were the chocolate brownie and rhubarb bakewell. The pub had a very welcoming vibe, and all the staff were friendly and helpful. Would recommend to everyone.

Staff and setting were lovely but very disappointed to see just one vegan dish on the menu (just one main, not even one option on each section, no suitable desserts etc) and a very basic dish at that, which was dry, bland and disappointing. I’d hope that this is something you expand upon in future (worth keeping your website updated with this info too as the sample menu doesn’t reflect the lack of options and I wouldn’t have visited had I known)

We just had some drinks after a country walk, garden bar atmosphere is superb and the food coming out looked impressive. Will return to eat sometime soon.

came here today as part 13km walk. fish fingers and chips from the kids menu were absolutely lovely. will return one day

This is a fantastic family pub in a village location. Huge beer garden with lots of seating, an outdoor bar and a pirate ship play area for the kids. Haven't tried food here but good selection of beers/ales and the food looked good from what I saw. If you are looking for a relaxed pub where you can take the kids without feeling uncomfortable- go here!

Extremely over priced but a nice country pub they seem very busy so I don't understand the over pricing shame

Food was disappointing, may have been what we chose. Pie of the day (chicken and ham) was more like a pasty. The outside was crispy but the interior of the pastry was doughy and seemed semicooked. Fish and chips, the chips were obviously triple cooked and although crispy they were also greasy. On a positive, there's a lot of outside space with cover against the sun.

What a friendly oasis. A large well equiped garden, nice selection of food and beverages. And especially worth mentioning are the locals who are so welcoming.

We made a reservation on a Sunday at 1430. Our table had been given away to someone else. Had to wait. Then got told they had sold out of Sunday roasts as the kitchen couldn’t cope. Waited another hour and 20 mins for food even though there was only 4 things on the menu. Average and lukewarm. I was embarrassed as had made the reservation for my parents and in-laws. The redeeming feature is your lovely staff. Fabulous pub garden. Just avoid the food.

Great pub. But like charging near pint prices for juice will never be cool

Both lamb and beef tough- really struggled to cut. Chicken dry. Parsnips obviously reheated and also impossible to cut. Very disappointing.

Great beer garden and great food. Nice and quiet pub in the country

Lovely place for families. Nice garden with shady trees and lots of Roses! A Pirate ship at one end for the children to play on. Outside bar and large sun awning. Food selection is perfect! And delicious! Plenty of parking. Lovely staff as well!

Terrible attitude from the staff working there on Saturday. I felt racially abused by their behaviour. The burger was 8/10 The stake was 4/10 And at last fish and chips was 2/10 Extremely over priced and not very helpful. They didn’t charge us for the drink which we could have shoot off but i was kind enough to go and pay for it.

Four of us called into The Royal Oak for lunch. Once again everything was lovely, especially Millie who looked after us so well. Pleased to recommend. PS. Only downside, lumping a 10% service charge onto the bill. When paying over £100. for lunch it’s a bit of a cheek to charge £10.00 to bring it to the table. Happy to give gratuities but it should be left to customers discretion shouldn’t it ! TR.

Very nice place. A bit expensive, in my view, at £150 for 4x mains, 3x desserts, 2x beers and 2x soft drinks. But the service was excellent and I thought both the pie and mash and the sticky toffee pudding were excellent. Would go again.

Amazing Sunday menu. Really nice, helpful staff and great food! Update: Recent visit had us waiting an hour until 3pm for the food to arrive. A bit of notice and we could have got a starter or bag of crisps.

Great pub for lunch with a nice patio away from the road. BLT were good. Interesting semm kM exiting of local beers

Had a midweek lunch here. Great atmosphere, place buzzing with people. Small menu but adequate choices. The food was high quality- the best chilli I’ve had in years.

If you'd like a freshly cooked Sunday lunch... DON'T GO HERE. The beef tasted old so I asked when it was cooked - the owner said it was cooked the day before and that's how he's always done it in 23 years in the business (and that well-known restaurants in Brighton do the same). I'd rather go to a pub/restaurant that takes pride in providing the best quality food. Owner in denial.

A lovely meal and very friendly staff. The only negative was that there weren't as many vegetarian options on the menu compared to the sample one on their website.

Great pub, busy with good feel and food looked good so will visit again

I took my sister there for lunch who came to visit me last Tuesday. There weren't any specials so we ordered off menu. My sis had moussaka and she liked it. I ordered sausage and mash. We had 2 soft drinks and 1tea and coffee. Bill was £51. Seems extortionate. Sausages were not good. Horrible plastic casing. Used to eat here alot last year but will not eat here again

Lovely pub, we ordered a variety of meals and all were excellent. Children's play area is solid and there's amply parking (albeit a bit floody at the far end). Staff were professional and politem would thoroughly recommend

Friendly staff. Nice ambience and dog friendly. Beer good but pricey. I had chicken and chorizo stew, £18 which tasted fine but portion size was disappointing. I could have done with literally twice the amount. Would I go back? Maybe.

Nice outdoor space with a playground for kids

Amazing cosy place, beautiful location

Really good traditional food at reasonable prices in a beautiful location and the staff were very attentive and efficient.

We hadn't been to the Royal Oak for many years, my wife decided to book for Sunday lunch. What a good choice, the food was excellent A nice atmosphere inside the pub / restaurant, Saskia was delightful and professional. Good value for money, we will soon return I'm sure. Give them a try, you won't go away hungry ! TR

Great pub. Lovely service food is really good. Last orders at 10:30

Amazing location, lovely vibe, great service and food. We were served by Milly who was both spirited and friendly and went above and beyond to make our experience an excellent one. The food and wine is good with a decent selection. It also has a lovely beer garden at the back too. It’s worth a visit to anyone wanting a genuine country pub experience within a gorgeous countryside setting. Thank you.

Excellent meal served very efficiently even though a busy mother's day service.Looked after all of us including my granddaughter aged 14 months.

Lovely pub good food snd atmosphere

Sunday lunch - incredibly average! Nicely presented but meat was tough, potatoes rock hard and whole thing not overly hot!! Took an age to bring out the condiments after dinner arrived at the table! Wouldn’t recommend very highly!!

Was able to get a lovely pub meal in early March, even tho it was fully booked inside we sat outside, out of the spring breeze and enjoyed some sun. Our meals were quick to arrive, hot and tasty. Thankyou especially as you were Sooooo busy.

A very nice and spacious pub in Poynings with a lovely beer garden and children's playground. The food was excellent and was good value and the staff were really friendly and there was a good atmosphere.

Fantastic thai Green curry,great Harvey's very friendly and helpful staff

Had a wonderful Sunday Roast pork. Great to be able to have cauliflower cheese with it.

We booked a table for the 2 of us at 8pm on a Fri night. The staff were delightful - friendly and attentive, and the food was delicious, and it came in a perfectly reasonable time. There were plenty of other customers, but is wasn't mobbed or overly noisy. We are a bit mystified by some of the other reviews- our experience was absolutely fine . With a bit more choice on the menu, we would have said 5*. Thank you to everyone at the Royal Oak.

We booked a table for the 2 of us at 8pm on a Fri night. The staff were friendly and attentive, and the food was delicious, and it came in a perfectly reasonable time. There were plenty of other customers, but is wasn't mobbed or overly noisy. We are a bit mystified by some of the other reviews- our experience was absolutely fine . With a bit more choice on the menu, we would have said 5*. Thankyou to everyone at the Royal Oak.

Really lovely pub. Great atmosphere. Great food!

Lovely for families, food was okay.

Nice pub, but the roast was not good! Very little veg, which was mostly undercooked. The meat was seriously over cooked. Kids fish fingers came out uncooked so had to send them back - this was taken off the bill thankfully. All in all it was extremely overpriced for what we got.

Lovely pub, really good food and excellent beer. Very popular, so busy when we visited on a Sunday for lunch. Good service and friendly. Bit on the pricey side (for food) hence 4 rather than 5 stars.

Four of us went there for a Sunday roast on 19th Feb and the food and service were amazing. The roast was perfect, followed by a really delicious crumble. Despite it being a busy Sunday the service was fairly fast.. but more importantly really warm and friendly. Highly recommended:)

Four of us went there for a Sunday roast on 19th Feb and the food and service were amazing. The roast was perfect, followed by a really delicious crumble. Despite it being a busy Sunday the service was fairly fast.. but more importantly really warm and friendly. Highly recommended:)

Needs a new chef. The staff and manager were lovely. However we waited for over an hour for our food to arrive. When it did it was all pretty average. The children’s food did not appear to be made with fresh ingredients: the burger patties,...

We would like to say thank you for the best cheesy chips we’ve ever had locally. Me and my daughter will be back soon along with my son as he devours whole plates of chips.

Cibo di qualità. Prezzi alti. Personale gentile

I haven't been here for a while the place had had a face-lift since my last visit. It looked great. We didn't eat but will definitely return to as the food looked fab. There is a lovely garden with plenty of seating and a large car park. We'll worth a visit especially after a long country walk. There is even a boot wash to clean up before you enter.

Nice pub with good food! Located near some great hiking trails so a perfect place to stop by for a pint

Really lovely meal on a Sunday evening.. Shame the that roast potatoes weren't available with the roast though.. Chickpea curry was lush and the vegan burger went down well too.. Only 4 stars as the puddings are seriously over priced.. £8 for a brownie?! Please! Bring the price down and you might get people eating more.. Its a great setting winter or summer so make the most of it!!