The Royal Oak in Stafford

Always excellent staff and top quality food, beer and wine !! Nice with 2 wood burners 👍👍

Parking round the back for bikers. Plenty of outdoor/almost outdoor/indoor seating. Pretty face's behind the bar. Live music on a Friday. Dog friendly and free dog treats. Food is MEGA!

Very nice Sunday lunch, great food and excellent service

The special was excellent. UPDATE 2024-09-28: The comedy night is as good as ever.

Not sure they serve food i can't rate it. However, as a drinking den its perfect, intimate - friendly and full of well behaved bi & quadrapeds! Some interesting drinks for my wife and a good pint of Bass. The Alvis (circa 1930's) was parked across the road from the Ecclian, the kind owner allowed me to sit in it. Eccleshall is a cracking place - get the parking sorted 🫣

A great entertaining evening, live music and good beer!

Great meal!! 6 people...hubby's 59th birthday...everyone happy 🌟

Fantastic staff great beer and great atmosphere, would whole heartedly recommend

A fantastic addition to Eccy! Since the revamp, we’ve eaten at the Oak three times with two different groups of people and every time the food has been excellent and enjoyed by all. We’ve had the Oak sharing board, salt and pepper chicken burger, chicken BLT ciabatta & sausage and caramelised onion baguette. The children’s chicken goujons are obviously 100% chicken breast too which is a bonus. Today we had off the lunch menu and each ate (and drank) for just £10! Absolute bargain! Definitely the best place for pub grub in Eccy by far in our opinion - well done folks.

Went for a family lunch. What a lovely pub. Really nicely done out, lots of character. A great beer selection. The food was excellent all round. And the staff were brilliant and friendly! Will definitely be back! Thank you!

Quite possibly my favourite pub ever. I have not stopped talking about The Oak burger since I first had it about a month or so ago! 🤣. It's honestly some of the best food I've ever had!! It's such a stunning and cosy place as well. Very clean, and staff are super. It does have a small car park behind the pub.

Great pub. Descent beer garden at the rear of the premises. Small bar area with three Joules beers being served. Staff were friendly, polite and helpful. Wheelchair accessable at the rear of the premises. Beer was excellent. Enjoyed my visit.

Taal tables and chairs are uncomfortable

Very nice lunch. Fish was beautifuly cooked. Service good if a little slow. Quite a few items not available but completely understood they are changing the menu

What a lovley old fashioned pub Fantastic food and drink Pleasant staff and very clean . Child and dog friendly Visited again for Sunday lunch Absolutely delicious 😋

Went on a Saturday afternoon, had loaded fries, steak and the chicken were both very nice, great price and good portion, well definitely be back in the future

Excellent, friendly, and helpful service received. Quality of served food lovely and to top it all, very dog friendly. Xx

We had an evening meal with friends and family at the reopened Royal Oak, a table of eight, and must say it was lovely, really nice atmosphere with very friendly staff. The food was very nice, and didn’t have to wait long for it to be served. Also the waitress was very attentive, nothing was too much trouble, making sure all was good. 10/10 to her. Good value for money, Well done to all, hope it continues to do well.

Excellent Sunday lunch . Staff so friendly . Will definitely be back and highly recommend. Thank you

Really love this place, a proper pub. Well ran with great live music. Good food offers, the Wednesday build your own burger is delicious. Good prices. Will be watching most of the euros here and cant wait

A very ordinary night out! We had hoped that after the refit, the food offering would be a nice alternative to the Smithy or Royal Oak - it isn’t ! Limited menu with 1/3 main courses on it sold out ! The meals were at best ok but £24 for a steak with about ten chips and a tomato….. Staff as someone else mentioned in the reviews personality free and just going through the motions. If you are reading reviews to check out whether to visit for a meal my suggestion would be go somewhere else

So the Royal Oak has changed hands since my last review in 2021 and WOW,it's gone to the next level, for those of us who appreciate a quality Sunday roast at a reasonable price you'll struggle to beat this one. The wayfarer, fitzherbert,Swan with two necks,it's above those. It's as close to home cooking as you'll get with generous portions and even cauliflower cheese comes as standard rather than the £3/4.95 that alot of venues now charge extra. In addition the twist of crispy parsnip shavings discretely sprinkled around your plate just emphasises the care taken to lift the experience of the dinner.

one of the best meals I've had in ages, beautiful food, excellent presentation and great value. Pub looks amazing after refurbishment. Friendly staff and would recommend the pub and the food.

A great local pub serving all the community. Great staff lead by Olli serving very tasty Joules beer with a competent chef Tom who serves hot tasty food in a clean new refurbished old pub. What more could you want. I’m a regular!

one of the best meals I've had in ages, beautiful food, excellent presentation and great value. Pub looks amazing after refurbishment. Friendly staff and would recommend the pub and the food.

Great live music , good atmosphere.

After the promise of the Joules refit and that it was going to be the hub of Eccleshall, all things singing and dancing it’s certainly not our experience on our 2nd visit for food! The staff are awful, they lack front of house skills, have no personalities and are not engaging at all. There is no atmosphere in the pub and don’t think we’ll be trying it for a third time. The food was awful on our 1st visit but was better on our second. They’ve got a long way to go to get it right, much much rather go to the Little George for atmosphere and Kings Arms or Smithy for food.

The re-opening of the Royal Oak has transformed this place. It was once buzzing and it is once again. The food is excellent. Steak from Buttercross is excellent.

We came to listen to the live music and decided to eat here. Lydia was extremely helpful and welcoming and we had a very tasty plate of food. Both the 'The Oak Burger' and 'Slumbering Monk' braised beef were really good. Good choice of vegan and veggie if you wanted it. Place was busy with a lively atmosphere, good choice of beers and we will certainly be back! Thank you for having us

Excellent weekend drinks and lunch. Popped in for the first time having seen the recent renovations. Really lovely, fine example of a joules pub. Food and drinks lovely, will defintely return.

We had a meal this evening for the first time since recent renovations. It was one of the best meals we have had for a long time. Other half had The Big Oak Tray - he was VERY impressed! And he is the hardest to keep happy! I had Greek kebabs, which were meant to be lamb but ended up as chicken - they were OUTSTANDING.... Little one had chicken burger and chunky chips and she polished off most off it followed by chocolate brownie. OMG! We will definitely be coming back. We bought the chef a drink it was that good. Good show Royal Oak!!

We ate there for the first time on Thursday 18th April. The building is lovely with some really old features. The staff were very good and helpful. The menu was a little limited but all the food was piping hot and tasty

Had the steak cooked rare and hands down best steak ive ever had! was cooked to perfection and the chips were great too ! Great beer great food great service!

First time I’ve eaten here since it was refurbished, with a new team in charge and a new menu. A mixture of adults and kids, we ordered a steak, a pie, sausage and mash, a burger and the sea bass. Quite simply it was excellent. The best quality meal we’ve had in Eccleshall for some time. Joules beers are always reliable as well and whilst it took a little longer for the food to come than we would have liked, it was worth it and the service was great. Will definitely be back. Maybe tomorrow….

Lovely relaxing lunchtime atmosphere, great food and service. Will definitely return.

Lovely little pub. All the staff are very attentive and polite. The beef stir -fry was delicious, will be back to try some more of the menu and the Sunday roast!

Nice establishment but no soap in the gents. Dirty!!!

Fantastic little boozer. Modern menu with some pub classics too. Some great beers and the Sunday lunch was the best I've had in a long time!

Never been before but went on brothers recommendation. It was quite cold, food was nothing to right home about in fact hubby said curry was the worst he'd ever had. Won't be rushing back

Best roast I've had in a while, potatoes were perfect! Great service too will definitely come back to this cosy pub.

Food was ok table was booked but waited a while to be served . Only Sunday lunch served on Sundays

Great customer service, the homemade sausage rolls on a Fridays are excellent. Live music, comedy also good

Beautifully cooked Sunday roast yesterday, thank you. I was disappointed though that our meals were not piping hot. We really want you to succeed in this highly competitive industry - please consider this point. Plates definitely didn't seem prewarmed and things like cauli-cheese would normally come with a warning to be careful of the hot dish. We did enjoy our meals very much though and will come again.

Our Sunday roast was the best I had eaten out in a long time. Staff lovely. If we are ever in the area again, we will be back. Thank you.

Great food, popped in just for a quick bite, the food was very nice, proper chips, drinks reasonably priced. Atmosphere good, had live music, food is served at certain times so need to check xxx

Lovely old coaching inn in the centre of Eccleshall. Joules beer so what not to like. Lovely friendly staff.

We pop into the pub quite frequently for a midweek lunch the food is always very good and the service is always extremely good can highly recommend

Friendly helpful staff, food good and plenty of it, no problem catering for my gluten and dairy free diet.

We visited the Royal Oak as they had a comedy night on and we had impromptu dinner. WOW! I had steak and ale pie which was incredible and my husband had fish and chips- equally as good! Will definitely be returning to try the Sunday roast! Highly recommend

Great friendly atmosphere. Friendly helpful staff.

I arranged a surprise 80th birthday meal for a friend and the boking was for 22 people. From the onset the communication about what I wanted was superb! They naturally requested pre-orders but didn't request a deposit, which I found quite surprising. I took a cake and balloon in on the lunchtime and was showed the table arrangement which worked really well. On the evening, the staff were exceptional. Everything flowed really well and meals were served in rapid succession so we all ate together - not easy when there's 22 people! The food itself was perfect, there was a wide variety of dishes and everybody was happy with their choices. I have always enjoyed the food I have had here, but their professionalism for a large party was outstanding! I wouldn't hesitate to do another party booking there. Thank you to all the staff that made this such an enjoyable evening!

Great pub. Service good, food and drink great.

Beautiful, plentiful food and friendly helpful staff. Had an amazing turkey roast which came with a side of vegetables and cauliflower cheese. Girlfriend had beautiful scampi and chips. Very reasonable prices and large portions.

We hosted our wedding party in the function room at The Royal Oak and it was amazing! Dean worked with me to create the most wonderful buffet menu (including the buffet being 50% vegan!) it was executed perfectly, the food was amazing! Dean went above and beyond to ensure that our evening was exactly how we wanted it, calm and chilled! I was kept informed of the whole process and we even had a few meetings to make sure we were on the same page. Manager Sarah also went above and beyond to keep the evening running smoothly, she kept me updated with everything truly made it a wonderful evening. They also dealt with all requests from our wedding stylist & furniture company in a professional, approachable and friendly manner... Thank you for making our celebrations even more special 🖤

We hosted our wedding party in the function room at The Royal Oak and it was amazing! Dean worked with me to create the most wonderful buffet menu (including the buffet being 50% vegan!) it was executed perfectly, the food was amazing! Dean went above and beyond to ensure that our evening was exactly how we wanted it, calm and chilled! I was kept informed of the whole process and we even had a few meetings to make sure we were on the same page. Manager Sarah also went above and beyond to keep the evening running smoothly, she kept me updated with everything truly made it a wonderful evening. They also dealt with all requests from our wedding stylist & furniture company in a professional, approachable and friendly manner... Thank you for making our celebrations even more special 🖤

Always a welcome entrance. Great space and area outside. Very supportive of local events and teams.

Like most Joules pubs great beer and service. But I took this picture next door in the Ecclian next door which is equally as good!

Staff super welcoming and all our needs met with satisfaction :)

The staff were lovely as were the surroundings, however, my food was awful. My chilli tasted old, like it’d been made months ago, defrosted and reheated. No chilli in it, bland. I didn’t eat it. My partner said the best thing on his plate was the gravy. I didn’t complain cause I didn’t wanna show my companions up but we won’t return for food.

It's a pretty good pub to be fair

Nice period pub with old world atmosphere and great classic pub food menue. Gluten Free and biker friendly. Highly recommended.

Good food, brilliant staff, Very friendly. If you're in the area it's a must visit.

Nice place, looked like a good local. Little nooks to sit in privately.

My husband and I were looking for a pub that was wheelchair/disabled friendly. This ticked the box, could access at the rear and staff member helped by opening up both doors, they also have a disabled toilet, toilets very clean. The staff were very friendly and we had lunchtime menu of scampi and haddock goujons with chunky chips and peas, simple but delicious, nice and hot and delivered quickly. Would highly recommend this pub for its friendly staff, food and accessibility. This pub is a credit to the hospitality industry. Would however suggest they put on their website that wheelchair friendly as we searched the internet for a pub whilst visiting the area and only noticed that this was on seeing a photo in the gallery with someone in a wheelchair in the pub.

Great sausage rolls on a Friday eve and usually live bands afterwards

Live music brilliant. Beer good. Food filling. The only downside is the indoor vaping

Joules Beer is good almost everywhere else I try it. I don’t like it here. Beautiful old pub and good people.

Revisited this lovely pub on Wednesday, had a great lunch with my daughter and manager/staff were really welcoming, so nice to see happy faces again after nearly three years of gloom and bad news, will definitely go there again.

Absolutely superb experience today, the Royal Oak management/staff are very welcoming, the food excellent, fresh, extremely tasty and certainly not overpriced, and ales were lovely, well worth a visit, thank you for making our visit exceptionally pleasant, we will definitely return. ❤️

Nice pint and friendly atmosphere

Good food at good prices with an added bonus of free live music. Friendly and helpful staff in a relaxing atmosphere. Looking forward to our next visit.

Been here today after a 10 mile walk. Excellent service and fantastic food. Thank you

Pleasant meal in old fashioned exposed times public formerly running by Geoff Hurst

Great character pub.. good joules beers and good food.

Good food and great ales in a fantastic historic pub.

Loved this place, a quintessential Engliglish country pub, lots of histroy. Stayed with some friends over the weekend and spend a great evening here. Food was great, service was superb! Portions sizes were huge, but no compaints here! Definately a place to visit...

A wonderful pub full of lovely oak panelling, and wonderful beers. Food ok. Brewery on site, and tours available. Just visit.

Very friendly and helpful staff.

We had a birthday party Sunday lunch at the Royal Oak, carvery was great, the pies were amazing... the customer service was fantastic.... well done, would definitely go back.

Had a lovely meal, nice surroundings. Definitely a place to go to again!

Roast beef Sunday lunch with cauliflower cheese and mixed vegetables not shown 😁👍

Had a Very Nice Sunday roast lunch with family. Staff all very nice and when we highlighted a problem they were quickly on it, and resolved it. Good Service is not just about being nice but recognising that when things aren't right you deal with them in a way your customer will still come back, and we'll be back 👍😁

Always a good pint, I visit every time I go to see my friends in Eccleshall

A good, traditional pub, very friendly and welcoming.

Went for a meal to be honest we ordered steak mine medium the Mrs well done comes with salad and coleslaw said salad yes but no coleslaw so when they came no salad the Mrs was not well done still had blood in so that went back by the time it came back I had almost finished mine was tough but the Mrs was like leather just couldn't eat it now I must say we never ever complain even if its not the best but on this occasion we had to the manager came said sorry but then went on to say I asked the butcher before which he said sometimes when the ANIMALS get stressed being killed they tense up!!! Well yes I know its a cow but really do we need to know the poor animal was that stressed this happened well thank you its put us off steaks for a long time yet The night was the comedy night all your staff was in a rush we did say we would leave it but a member of staff did say no its fine I have only just put this review on as I wasn't going to bother but I was told if I didn't review then how will the management know of our bad experience

Stopped off here for two pints. Great service 👍

Been to the Royal Oak several times now and have never had a bad meal. Food is delicious and home cooked. The portion sizes are generous and the Sunday roast comes with loads of sides. Due to being home cooked the food takes a little longer to come to the table but is worth the wait. The staff are friendly and attentive and work so hard to make sure you are happy with your meal. Can’t fault the place, food or service. This is now our family go to restaurant.

Moved to the area a couple of months ago and The Royal Oak has been our go to for eating out. The steak and ale pie is full of chunks of meat and is a very generous size. The Sunday roast comes with a wide selection of veg plus roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. My only disappointment is that they occasionally run out of the pie! Staff have all been lovely and friendly. Take note of the meal times - it is not like being in London.

Absolutely disgusted; one appetiser over cooked, one appetiser undercooked... could they care? We did not stay for the entrée's let's put it that way! The wine was marvellous, if ridiculously over priced, £26 for a bottle that costs £8 in the co op, but hey, lets do it for the experience... what a disappointment! Would definitely not recommend and avoid at all costs. No discount offered and definitely no customer service! Half an hour wait for a starter that was underpar is unacceptable, £38 for 2 starters and a bottle of rioja wouldn't be bad if the food was cooked and the service excellent! .. AVOID!

Excellent beer, friendly, and good, unpretentious food well made.

Had a lovely meal in the garden. Great value for money. Very attentive staff. We will definitely go again.

Really nice environment for a pint or a meal. Lots of events organised including film and comedy evenings. Nice pool room to rent by the hour.

Nice pub, decent beer and good food.

Me, husband and dog visited on 17th July. We had a lovely table reserved for us in a cool dog friendly area of the bar. My husband wanted a larger and the manager named two lagers my husband had never heard of or tried. The Manager allowed him to try a sample of each one. We had the chicken wings, Chicken Enchilada and Chicken Chorizo. You can the food is all homemade. Very generous portion sizes and the dog was also treated to some sausage from the manager. We would highly recommend this as somewhere to stop and have a drink/food.

We had our Wedding reception here in July 2022, Sarah & Dean were amazing from start to finish! The function room was perfect, Sarah went above and beyond helping with the decoration and making sure things ran smoothly on the day. The food was incredible and Dean helped make sure we were happy with all the menu choices. Couldn’t recommend them more. Oh, and the ale was on point too. Thanks guys see you soon.

Lovely pub, great pint and lovely pub

I organised a ride for senior gentlemen on old motorbikes and booked lunch at the 'Oak'. We were met with smiling faces and a lovely greeting. The service in the restaurant was exceptional and the food to match. This is definatly a venue I'll be booking for the "lads" for their summer and Autumn rides. Thanks to all the staff at The Royal Oak for making the ride exceptional. Sadly with being on an old motorbike I couldn't taste the ales but have returned and yes all was in apple pie order .

GEM OF A PUB in every way. If you want to visit a truly genuine pub, in the heart of Eccleshall, with incredible history ( the old coach house room is just so great) I cannot recommend The Royal Oak in Eccleshall highly enough. I went down into the town to try and find a space for my “all ages” family to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, on a really quite wet Sunday. Doubting we could stay for long I then walked into the Oaks coach house, with its huge arches, open at either end, to find hay bales and a real “country family day out”welcome. Amazing food being cooked outside , the Yorkshire puddings were the best ever, my niece assured me. My young nephews spent the whole day playing on the hay bales, with children of all ages, listening to the fantastic tribute bands outside. The staff were so positive and hard working, the toilets were spotless all day. If you go on a non jubilee day, there is still plenty to enjoy, lots of space for family’s to relax, great staff, spotless cleaning, amazing traditional pub food, and a fabulous history.They have great events and regular entertainment evenings including an Open Mike night. What more could you want. Thank you to all of the staff for a truly great memorable day that all generations will never forget. The Royal Oak is a real gem in every way.

Great bar, with food, real ales and craft beers, spirits and wine

Excellent food. Friendly staff.