The Royal Oak, Prestbury in Cheltenham

Went before Christmas, food and service were fantastic Went on Gold cup day and atmosphere was amazing

Lovely pub on outskirts of Cheltenham

The atmosphere was cosy and classic but unfortunately, the charm stopped there. My partner ordered the roast pork which first arrived without the apple sauce, crackling or stuffing specified on the menu. This was resolved but as he started eating he found that the pork was dry and anemic, the veg was overcooked and unseasoned, the "red wine" gravy was watery and flavourless, and the potatoes were void of all colour or crisp. The crackling looked like it had come out of a packet of pork scratchings. Upon complaining, the staff seemed apologetic but were clearly disinterested in the details and rushing the complaint to be over. He was offered a new main free of charge but declined in fear of another bland, poorly cooked meal. For £22, this is quite frankly an unbelievable standard of roast that Toby Carvery himself would not ingest. I had the vegan pie which was ok but came with dismal amount of veg that i could have fit onto one spoonful and 3 tiny overcooked hassleback potatoes. The fire was lovely and the beer was priced fairly but out of the three of us, I'd say the dog had the best experience and she didn't eat. I'll leave it at that.

It was our first visit and everyone in the group really enjoyed it. We visited 4 restaurants in Cheltenham that week and all agreed that this was the best

Great beers and an excellent restaurant. Closes a bit early in Festival week though. Should be able to get a beer after 10.30pm, particularly when the bar's full.

Excellent service & staff before races on the Tues sorry didn't eat but it looked lovely

Such a fab little pub! Warm and welcoming atmosphere, with brilliant Sunday Roast. The food was absolutely delicious and the amount of gravy was spot on!

Lovely well cooked meal and attentive professional staff made our visit a pleasant one

Went there yesterday after the races as being picked up at 7pm. Arrived at 6-20 and the Bar packed so went inti the Resturant but a few tables free but busy. 4 of us and asked for a table and were told all fully booked at Race week. Saw empty table said booked for 7pm. Said if you can serve us quick with a couple of beers and main course we can be gone by 7pm They did and the food and the servcie was brilliant Top Team. Food great value and then we left at 7 as agreed and everybody happy. Except as when I got home realized left my Glasses there and live 2 hours away. Called them last night and they said yes they had then but was busy bust and please call back today. I did and again great servcie as have put them in the Post Great 7 star servcie and great pub ROGER RIGGS

Great old world feel, staff were friendly and helpful, food was good. Will go again.

Excellent food in a friendly establishment. We visited for my father’s birthday. We had a delicious meal and were very well looked after. Thank you

Lovely pub, great staff very very nice 👍

Definitely the best food in Prestbury!

Very cosy. Excellent beer. Sunday lunch was just superb. Beef, medium rare, was so tasty. Full range of vegetables served with (which I prefer). Pud choice great too.

Nice staff, good food, nice atmosphere, Ticks all the boxes!

Tasty food and quick service. Limited parking spaces opposite the entrance.

Classic Sunday Roast. Good portion size, nice and hot and well served even though the pub was busy. The mini biscotti doughnuts were delicious.

We will re-visit as we enjoyed the ambience, and overall our experience was good. A little disappointed in my dish which was the haddock as there was far too much batter and the fish was somewhat dry. Waitress was delightful although the service was a little slow on account of the dining room being busy.

Nice meal with friends to celebrate husbands birthday. Unfortunately service was very slow and a bit chaotic. We waited at least half an hour after ordering for starters and then another half hour plus for our mains. Had to eventually ask for our plates to be cleared and to ask for dessert menu. Food was good aside from the mussels in my Fish Stew which were very tough and stringy

Cosy Friday dinner with good drink selection and decent quality food, I enjoyed the fish cakes and pumpkin ravioli and my husband enjoyed the pheasant schnitzel with fries

A great experience even before we arrived! I made a reservation online, making a specific request for a quiet table (if possible), ideally away from a table with dogs (it's a dog friendly pub) - my son isn't keen on our 4 legged friends. A week before our reservation Matt called from the pub, he wanted to advise that the day in question was race-day at Cheltenham races and that the pub would be busy, he would do all that he could to get us a quiet (ish) table but was concerned that our request may not be achievable. We went ahead with the booking, the table was perfect, the service fantastic and the food delicious. Awesome service as I said before we even arrived, a lovely gesture from Matt to check-in with us to discuss our request. Thank you so much :)

Fish and chips was one of the best I've ever had in UK

Lovely pub and great food. Friendly and attentive staff too. Would recommend.

Lovely food great setting, very good waitress called Violette , would definitely visit again .

Really enjoyed our lunch at the Royal Oak. Good food (fab chips) and great service. All the staff seem to enjoy what they do and give a nice vibe to the pub.

Excellent food. Decent pint.Very friendly helpful staff. Used before and will use again.

Came here for a quick bite to eat with a friend. Service was friendly and quick. I had the fish and chips which I would definitely order again.

A group of friends spent an extended lunch yesterday. The food was good as was the house wine. Staff were friendly and accommodating to our needs.

Excellent service great atmosphere, tasty food

Terrific and authentic experience. 2 tumbs up for the food, beers and athmosphere. Btw, the dessert was orgasmatic

Nice pub , food was delicious and service was very nice. Would recommend.

A proper pub, pub if you know what I mean. Sunday roast. Was really good. Good service and a warm cosy atmosphere.

Not had a meal as yet...but a lovely local pub with a large function room.

Lovely pub! Great atmosphere, friendly staff and amazing food! I can highly recommend the fish stew.

We love the Royal Oak. Really cold windy day welcomed by a roaring open fire. We were asked either dining room or bar area. The lovely quiet roaring fire was the deal breaker. Had wonderful Butcombe rare breed. Accompanied by tasty fish and chips

We had a lovely meal for a family members birthday. Staff were accommodating when we needed to change the time of our booking due to travel issues with Storm Bert. We all had amazing grub, the pub was lovely and warm and we were not rushed at all. Service was great during our meal also.

We had a lovely lunch at the pub and I really enjoyed my bubble and squeak, ham and eggs. The eggs were cooked perfectly and had wonderful yellow yolks. The staff were friendly and most apologetic about dishes being unavailable but it didn’t matter as there was plenty to choose from. The pinot Grigio was also excellent. We will be back!

Lovely a setting and food was excellent, so glad we found it

Great food, roaring fire, warm welcome. A proper traditional country Cotswold stone pub. Highly recommended.

Fantastic little pub. Great service. And a lovely vegan roast!! The Malbec and the Guinness is also a HIT!

Good food selection at a sensible price

Just a nice friendly comfortable pub to visit

Good lunchtime food. Attentive service but not hanging around to rush you along. Food was lovely, well prepared and cooked nicely. Will revisit when we can.

Had a full english breakfast - we have dined at Royal Oak for many years and particularly looked forward to a very generous and amazing full english breakfasts. However - what was served this time was - frankly - a very poor excuse for a full english breakfast! There was a fried egg which was overcooked, there was one tiny piece of streaky bacon - again overcooked, there was a single tasteless hash brown, a small slice of black pudding (which was actually missing from my Wife’s plate!), there was a tiny overcooked half slice of tomato, a spoonful of baked beans, a small sausage which was “on the turn”, some button mushrooms and two half slices of toast - one half white bread toast - on half brown bread toast! And the cost for this disaster was £14.25 each breakfast ! All I can say is that it was shocking and a complete disappointment from what we used to enjoy with at least two of everything and good size portions ! In fact - we were so disappointed that we cancelled our Dinner Reservation for the same evening given that we feared being served with sub-standard fayre!

Really friendly staff and great food. Nostalgic for my hubby, he had his 1st pint there 57 yrs ago. Lovely to share a lovely meal with our family. Definitely recommend this pub/restaurant 👌

A very late booking for Sunday lunch, handled with courtesy and efficiency. Lovely friendly staff and although the place was buzzing, and very busy, wait time for food was acceptable. The traditional "roast beef & veg" first class, so, thank you everyone - we'll be back!! Parking can be difficult, but we're local so we walked!!

Absolutely loved this place had the Beef Sunday Roast and is was absolutely lovely 😍 Normally I take a photo as the meal turns up but this looked so nice I just tucked straight in. As you can see nothing left on the plate as it was gorgeous 🍽️😍😉😊❤️

The food and atmosphere were both exceptional! The service was first class,

Interesting menu, with good service. Easy to park. A great pub.

Lovely very dog friendly pub where dog biscuit treats were on the table when we arrived. The food was delicious. The autumn crumble pudding was really lovely. We were visiting on holiday or we would be going back. Certainly worth a visit.

Great pub and the beer is fantastic. Best pub in prestbury by a country mile.

A lovely cosy pub, no loud music, great food beautifully presented by friendly staff. We are lucky to have The Royal Oak as our local 😀

Booked a table in the restaurant for after a funeral service. Everything was excellent.

Excellent food with very friendly and helpful staff.

Lovely atmosphere an friendly staff!

Very enjoyable Sunday lunch. Not rushed and no pressure to leave even though it was busy.

An excellent country pub with a good atmosphere

The four of us had really delicious meals, served with a lot of fun again.- pan fried Bream particularly good. Yes , we keep coming back here. Thank you , Nigel.

Perfect room to hold a wake , but extremely disappointed in food for the amount of money paid embarrassing ! 4 plates of door step sandwiches , 2 cakes ,2bowls of chips Ran out of tea and coffee staff disappeared leaving people at bar waiting so had go to the other bar ! Certainly will not be recommending anyone else !

Booked for a birthday party x 8. Had a private room which was lovely. Service was great. Most of the food was great but 2 x pie of the day/week & on the specials board was really not good! Not one to complain but on reflection we paid a lot of money for that lunch! Pie was undercooked, not much filling & no sauce? Very disappointed.

I never write reviews but having eaten here today, I cannot express just how awful the roast dinner I just had was. No flavour on anything, completely and utterly bland. Everything overcooked to baby food consistency. No seasoning - 100% the Yorkshire puddings were not fresh. Ordered extra cauliflower cheese and has only melted cheese on top and no sauce - and again, the cauliflower was so overcooked it was so watery. It's disappointing when you're sat there thinking, I could cook better at home. Also I will add £12.70 for a large glass of wine is pretty steep, even for Cheltenham. We wasn't offered a drinks menu so had of known the cost we probably would have ordered something else. The decor is fab and as a pub for a drink, it's got all the charms and would be absolutely fine and enjoyable. However, please eat your Sunday roast elsewhere. The main waiter/front of house has charm and seems a nice guy, I'm guessing he's the manager. Everyone else doesn't seem to care about customer service. £80+ for two poor roasts and 2x glasses of wine is outrageous.

Only downside was at 12.45 lunch time they ran out of one of the blackboard specials Gammon which I feel was not very good

Everything (ambience, service etc) was perfect but if I had a criticism it would be that the portions were perhaps slightly less than generous. For example, you could double the greens and chips that went with the pie. The pea risotto was 5 star. The chermoula aubergine did not taste very nice.

Went along at 7:20pm. The front door was locked and the place was closing. The barmaid offered us one drink but was closing the pub at 7:30pm on a Sunday night. That is so sad.

A really lovely pub, serving delicious food and our regular place to visit whenever we have family visiting.

Lovely location and large garden. Restaurant for Sunday lunch was busy but not over noisy. Food was good quality and well prepared. The special pie of the day while tasty was overpriced for its size .

Very nice old pub, great menu. Food was lovely. Nice beer, Real ales, Butcombe

On a Saturday lunchtime the pub was less busy than we expected and provided the perfect preparation for the visit to the football that afternoon. The attention from each member of staff was well-judged and the provision of an allergy table indispensable. The menu had a good variety of dishes (even though we stuck with very traditional choices!) and meals were prepared and served in good time. We shall make this the venue of choice next time we have a fixture in Cheltenham.

We had a lovely meal, food and service good. Waiting staff very pleasant. Olives disappointing.

Perfect dog friendly pub. Never disappoints. Staff very friendly.

Matt and the team warmly welcomed us for an evening at their private room to celebrate a family birthday and also for a Sunday lunch. The service was excellent, very attentive and food good value and tasty.

Not a happy visit as it was a wake after a family funeral. The staff were understandably very attentive, and the one beer I had was very well kept and of the sort of beer that goes down well in country pubs. If I lived local, I could see myself in here regularly.

We hired out the function room for a party and the pub was fantastic. Communication with all staff over email was really easy and they were really accomodating. We were able to view the space and plan our party really easily. On the night, there was only one member of staff on the bar but he worked very hard and there weren't any issues. We could decorate how we liked and bring our own speaker (but they did have facilities for their sound system too). Overall super easy and good value for money compared to some places in cheltenham.

I was greeted with a smile and shown to my table with menu at the ready. We had the most wonderful supper with very tasty wine. The 25% Butcombe offer on a Wednesday was much appreciated and we will be back very soon I’m sure!

Had my Grandads 100th Birthday. Loved the venue, food was lovely too.

A beautiful country pub authentic to the surroundings.

Great place. We took Canadian family for a traditional English pub experience and The Royal Oak did not disappoint. Pie of the day was fab, 2x steak deal very good value for money accompanied by 2 glasses of wine. This is the 2nd time I have been here and will be returning for sure. Service was excellent, we didn't book but were given a lovely area to sit and chat. It was exactly what our Canadian visitors were looking for.

Great food able to sit outside in a lovely courtyard setting

The service was exceptional—the staff were friendly, attentive, and efficient. From the moment I walked in, the team made sure I felt welcome and taken care of. Highly recommended for anyone looking for great service and a pleasant atmosphere!

Wonderful pub with great food and friendly staff. Well worth the visit and will be returning again in the future. Nothing was too much for the General Manager. Thanks for a wonderful dinner. See you soon.

Outstanding diner at the Royal Oak. Great beer and amazing food. The team here are brilliant, and the garden when sunny is beautiful.

Staff were very friendly and food was delicious. Would definitely go back.

Lovely pub but service was dreadful Waited 50 minutes for hour first course to be delivered with no explanation I had fish and Chips for main course fish under cooked my wife had chicken which was over cooked I felt sorry for staff who were working obviously badly understaffed which made their job difficult. A simple explanation when we arrived would at least have prepared us Keith G

First visit and unfortunately wouldn’t return. Very poor service and issues with the food, wellington was flavourless and a server came and asked 40 minutes after us ordering if it was supposed to be vegan or vegan. One vegan option on the menu for dessert which they’d run out of and the server walked off before we could even ask for an alternative.. Worst meal out I’ve had in a long time.

Great breakfast, with fresh ingredients, Service spot on,

Now this is a proper boozer.....

Very pleasant lunch. We have been on other occasions and have always enjoyed our meal. The staff are friendly and most obliging

Great atmosphere, a proper pub, great food and service

Excellent Cotswolds pub, loads of outdoor seating too.

The best service we’ve seen in the Cotswolds so far.

Great food, great service and at a great place

A very friendly pub, great staff and good food. An excellent base for walking.

Beef tough. (Sandwich). No normal tomato juice Spicy one too much spice. Yes definitely the right place and I know what we had.

Very expensive with small portions, roast beef 1 slice plus veg £21.75

Extremely overpriced, food was really disappointing, had to eat something else after but was charged through the roof for what was not good enough to call a main course. Lots of green bottle flies around, on the food... £25 for 3 drinks and hidden service charge not itemized on bill....won't be returning.

Good food, good portions, friendly staff, lovely pub.

Very pleasant and helpful staff, perfect timing for food delivery with a lovely atmosphere, well priced for quality and quantity of food.

Lovely country pub with cozy spaces to sit by the fire. Restaurant is welcoming and food is lovely. Garden is surprisingly spacious with plenty of sunny spots or under cover seating. Great selection of drinks incudinf ales and lagers.

Very friendly pub with nice food. Accommodated my wife who is coeliac very well indeed. Only negative was that m-in-law who is just shy of 99 could have benefited from a child’s portion - way too much food for her.

Food is good and so is the beer. Beautiful location looking out at the Cotswold escarpment. Close to the racecourse. And fantastic garden and function suite. New ownership has upped the prices just before race week so is not as affordable as other pubs in the area. Hoping they come back down for the rest of th year? Downgraded food to 4 stars due to new pricing value and it feels the locals are going elsewhere hence atmos.