The Victoria Cross in Reading

The food was very tasty for the price and the staff were really nice. Everything came out quickly and the place was reasonably clean. My only complaint would be the toilets - in the men's there was one cubicle with no lock, another with no door, a sink which looked like it had been used for shaving pubes, and there was CCTV installed right above the urinals. So try to use the loo before going! I'd happily go again though, really not bad for the price!

The food was very delicious and the members of staff was very helpful especially when my nan was coughing/choking on a little bit of gammon. The lady come over and rubbed her back and made sure she was ok. The pub is very spacious and had room for my nans wheelchair. They made everyone feel welcome and always used there manners

Good except no coffee machine always working

Food took 50 minutes with no notice there was a wait

I waited so long for the food ! Don’t recommend if you are extremely hungry.

I think the food was great and the play area were also great but I waited for the food for so long.

Christmas get together which staff was nice and friendly with all 8 of us

Bar staff were really friendly and helpful. Food was delicious. Place was quiet and clean. Really impressed.

The staff was exceptional especially Sam she went above and beyond for our table

My personal standpoint and view of The Victoria Cross + my experience from working here. To start off, it should be noted that everything I say shouldn't be taken for granted, and a lot is subject to change, or has already changed, whether it be for the best or worst, as I stopped working there at around June of 2024 due to personal complications. To begin with the general layout, the area you will first walk into, is the restaurant side, which is accustomed to average sized parties of 4, with the exception of a few tables being either larger, or smaller. For the larger tables, there is a booth capable of seating 6 at the back of the restaurant, a large round table as you walk in that can seat anywhere from 6-8 dependent on whether or not someone nicked a chair, 2 sideless booths to the left as you walk in, both capable of seating 8 each, and occasionally you can find to the further left of the restaurant, that there is a grouping of multiple tables that can be used to seat individual parties, or parties of 16-18 if all the tables are all combined. For the smaller tables, there are 2 tables next to eachother in a smaller enclosed space, capable of seating 2 on each table. In general, most seating can be ever so slightly modified to cater to your party's needs whether it be accessibility, size of the party, or something else. Staff will be happy to move a chair or two over, move tables together, but it has to be reasonable, and you shouldn't put the tables together without asking or letting a staff member know first. Next on, the bar side, located through the double doors on the right hand side as you walk in. Unfortunately I do not have a great deal of memory with this side, so some of it may be inaccurate/incorrect. This area is 18+ only, with kids being strictly banned from the area. Most of the regulars will be in here, and there are multiple betting machines, televisions which show live events that can be changed by the staff if you ask nicely, and multiple tables to choose from. As far as I remember, there are 2-3 tables that can seat up to 6-8 people each, 5 tables which can seat 4 each, and a few high tables which can seat about 2 each. Truthfully, this side is maintained ever so slightly less that the main area, but is still kept in a fair and sanitary condition. For the final area of the pub, we have the garden side. This side is situated outside, and has a play area which is usually under maintenance because somehow the kids keep finding unique ways to break parts of it. It is highly recommended to keep a watchful eye on your kids to make sure they are not being silly, breaking anything, or putting themselves in harm's way for "fun". Again with the tables, the typical sizing for the tables is 4 people, with there being less tables that can seat more or less. In this area however, you can freely move a table, as long as you respect other's boundaries and don't take up too much space, as well as return the tables to their original places before you moved them. (It is always a good idea to check with staff if there are booked tables before moving anything.) Moving on away from the areas of the pub, is the food. Every good pub has its own good grub, with this pub being no exception. I have had many dishes in my time of working here, but it should be known that the staff are unable to make recommendations for you in the event you have an allergy, or a dietary restriction. My personal favourites are the Chicken Tikka/Korma (Dependent on your spice tolerance), Bacon cheeseburger with fries (Fairly large burger) Full English Breakfast (Comes on a platter plate with plenty to chow down on) and the Steak and Ale pie (An absolute pub classic.) For desserts, it is all-out mayhem when it comes to the menu, as the choices go from a single scoop of ice cream, to a chocolate and vanilla mixed sundae that a family of 4 would struggle to finish. (Candymania Sundae) There are are even vegan choices for dessert, just check the menu, or ask staff if you are still unsure! (More will be added to this review soon)

We went for a Sunday lunch Terrible food lack of staff dirty tables from previous guest. and had to wait over a hour for food. Then there was no cutlery would not recommend to anyone.

Booked for 9 people for Christmas Dinner,so disappointing. Food took ages to come out 60 minutes between starter and main course . Christmas dinner was nothing like advertised ..processed turkey 2 slices, cold vegetables and hardly any , dry potatoes soggy Yorkshire puddings the prawn cocktail was served on a hot plate . Main meals were mixed up , no cheese or bacon on the newyorker meal No fault to Charlotte the waitress but a real disappointment for the price paid £208..and put a dampener on the whole time we were there. The amount of food that was wasted was dreadful . Air conditioning was really cold one elderly lady sat with her coat on and had to leave before her sweet as it took so long . People were coming in and being served their meals well before us despite us having booked ,chosen our menus 3 weeks before ,and been there since 1.30 . Would not recommend.

Great service and friendly staff always fresh beer

I bring my friends from out of town to watch the football and eat as its a great place to meet up

I have waited my food for at least 45 mins , and I still don’t know where is it …. Don’t worth it …

As an affordable, and family friendly venue, it was an easy choice to come here over the past few years, but it's been getting progressively worse, to the point where it's not worth giving it anymore chances. There's never enough staff to seat people, take orders, or even refill the cutlery trays. The wait for food has extended, to the point on the last sitting it took 30 minutes for 2 burgers and 2 kids chicken nuggets. When it did arrive, half the food on each place was blazing hot, with the other half stone cold. The kids ice cream, however, was extremely prompt where it turns up 5-10 after the mains were finally delivered, whereby we still had kids with plates full of food. The waitress looked confounded when we suggested we weren't ready yet, and that perhaps we'd like her to take them away and keep them cold. This was once a promising place to grab a quick bite to eat with the family, but unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend eating here anymore.

Beans from a jar, frozen cutlets and noodles from Chinese soup. Missing 3 spices.

Fantastic local bar and Restaurant. Good menu it was Very accommodating for a large bithday celebration. welcoming staff especially to Sam who was helpful making sure we had all we needed for our table. The Food was served hot . Will book again .

Great food, drinks, staff and location!

Great staff and food always welcoming. Been multiple times never disappointed. Went back again with a group. Not disappointed, very accommodating. 5/5

Great staff, food and drinks and pool table

I went there yesterday with a group of friends and we had a good time and good food. Recommended!

Great customer service. The team and the management were very friendly and welcoming, definitely coming back to this place.

The biggest chicken club sandwich I've ever seen. Good value food and drinks. Nice ambience

Absolutely beautiful place… amazing service from the staff and they are very friendly. Highly recommend!!

Great place for a whole family to have an amazing food. Recommend!

Two person lunch was at a reasonable price and the menu cover alot.

Took family out for a meal food took an hour and a half to come out now to top it off the wife and kids all are being sick and vomiting all night

Had a roast. It's not great save that for a carvery. Good for burgers and other fast food.

Food perfectly cooked. Friendly service. Plenty parking. Choice of peaceful seating or vibrant buzzy atmosphere. Family friendly.

Friendly staff clean and nice atmosphere

Buy one burger get one burger. Nice value. Do order for two, they'll charge for one. If you order for one. They'll give you one and you can't ask for it later. It's how it's done.

Visited on Saturday evening and what a disappointment. We visit Greene King restaurants regularly and usually have a pleasant experience but not at this one. We were allocated a booth that basically needed replacing. The seating was ripped and it was a good job there were only 3 of us, as there was no way that section could be sat on. Thr light above the table wasn’t working, so to actually read the menus we had to use a light on the phone. The table was sticky and not hygienic, as I always carry wipes, I cleaned it myself. We would have asked to move but the other tables looked no better! The drinks were dumped at end of the table where the tray remained until we left! When the food arrived, one of which was a rump steak, the server advised ‘we usually give a steak knife but we ain’t got none’ and the Chicken Tikka portion size was only fit for a child! To top it all off the server then started clearing the table when 2 of us were still eating! Extremely poor customer service and wholeheartedly unpleasant experience. Very unlike the other Greene King establishments we visit.

Air con and cold beer happy times

Went for a Friday evening meal with my partner. We ordered drinks through the app as we were sat outside, 25 minutes later they had not arrived. My partner went in to speak to the bar staff. The person behind the bar appeared in a world of her own, it wasn’t busy at all and she appeared not to know what my partner meant by online order even though there was a big screen with our order in red. She made no effort to apologise and was actually quite rude considering. Fine, one off we thought and decided to stay for food. Our food came quickly, the wait staff were friendly and helped us when we put the wrong table number. However again, the drinks don’t arrive… 15 minutes go by… then 25. This time I went up to the bar and the same woman was there - no one apart from me was waiting and she ignored me for at least 5 minutes and was speaking to someone on her mobile phone. I then asked about our drinks … again on the board in red. Shockingly someone was actually waiting for longer than us - 30 minutes! The bar woman appeared not bothered about this, no sense of urgency or any effort to apologise for there being such a delay (honestly, it was very quiet in there and there was no apparent reason for the delay apart from her lack of care about her job) Disappointing experience and left soon after. Shame as have been here before and it’s been alright, I would encourage Greene King to provide further training for your bar tender (shorter lady, brown hair and glasses working on 20.09 at 7.30pm on the bar) to avoid this happening again, and I would advise anyone who goes to visit to check who’s on the bar first!!

Friendly comfortable place to visit. Food came out quick and hot.

Fantastic value for money.and the food tasted great!

Friendly staff ordered on the app and quick service fish and chips were very tasty. Lunch meals all reduced to 6 pound at the moment

This is a good Hungry Horse pub, it's appearance in the UK is unusual as looks like a former car or retail showroom, but once inside has a great pub feel to it. Spacious seating areas with an upper level and adults only section with large screen TV, pool table, darts & bar. Some interesting artwork on the walls reflecting elements of local heritage and a good selection of drinks from the bars. Classic comprehensive Hungry Horse menu with meals & desserts for everyone's tastes. Ample free car parking right on the pub's doorstep and children's outdoor play area. Service was good each time we visited and hopefully new visitors will enjoy here as much as we did.

Very good ''vegetarian'' breakfast for me!

Great service as always from rhi and ellie. Always great beer and friendly faces.

Great service from rhi and Ellie as always - smiley and friendly service definitely be back soon!

Was served by Rebekah and star lovely service and welcoming atmosphere Amazing at pouring pint 🍺

The team are amazing here. Always met with incredible service. The team go above and beyond to make you feel welcome. They have great knowledge of the food and drinks they provide and I’m never disappointed in my visits.

Not great. Hire more staff, there's often only one person at the bar on a Saturday

Took around 20 mins to get served a drink as no staff in place. Got served a flat moreti, and when going back had to wait back in the Que even after telling staff my beer was flat to get this changed. Also noticed a couple trying to order food and being told they’re not allowed to order food in the area where the pool tables are as not enough staff, but then witnessed many people having food delivered right to them there which I found odd. Not a pub I’ll be visiting again

An honestly abysmal experience. I will say the manager was nice, she appologiesd and refunded us. Sadly its a bit too little too late. The major issue was them serving my vegetarian partner meat gravy on her vegetarian meal. This is a massive deal. But were they to mess up a dietary restriction for an allergy it could have been much worse than just being very upset. Additionally the place was not clean, the cutlery was filthy, as is the cutlery drawer (see pic). The toilets were broken, leaking urinal, busted locks and in dire need of a deep clean. The attitude of many of the staff was disinterested at best, dismissive at worse. The waiter couldn't figure out where food might go, even when everyone had a dish except one, he still seemed confused where it might go. The kitchen team and waitress couldn't quite figure out if gravy is vegetarian, and it took a manager to help them. The playground is currently broken, not thier fault but it was annoying. So we tried to get the kids to do the advertised activity pages on the menu, to which the staff said they had no pencils or crayons, with a half hearted shrug. I'd have expected then to acquire some or get something as people arriving with kids might expect this. Eventually I relented to my children to use the claw grabber machine, which it turns out is also broken, taking my money but not working. Finally the quality of the food I did get was so bad I didn't finish it. I should not be surprised as it came out so quickly it must all be pre prepared and microwaved. The vegetables were soggy and old (see pic), the mashed potato blob was cold and had a skin, the turkey was so dried I could barely swallow it. Whole heartedly do not recommend this place. Edit to add a response to the companies weird request to "understand how to improve". It should be obvious to anyone in the industry but here you go; Don't give meat products on labelled vegetarian dishes, train your staff to understand food requirements, clean everywhere better, starts with a deep clean, do the cutlery tray daily, inspect/clean toilets hourly, fix maintenance issues quickly, train staff in customer service, ensure supplies of non consumables are adequately stocked. As for the food quality, train chefs better and cook fresh. Hope that helps...

Amazing curry’s especially on the Wednesday deal. Food came out fast and hot not to mention looked great ,staff were welcoming and had nice chat with the server Rebecca about the history piece scattered around the pub.

Had the fish and chips. One bite and I knew it was off . Took the family there and spent £100 . I would not recommend it.

Nice place,nice stuff and great food. Thank you Cornelia and Starr.

Poped in for a drink with friends great atmosphere really friendly bar staff Shannon I think her name was will definitely be back

Hello I will like to say Cornelia,Claire Ionuț and Evelina was the best great food ,fast service and lovely people. Keep up like this.

Cornelia Claire , Rihanna they was the best , great food , fast service ..compliments for the chef s , Evelina and Ionuț !

It's a great place to meet up with friends on a date. Drinks and food are served. The food tastes good, but it takes a while to eat.

Was in this restaurant few days ago,very good experience nice staff cornelia,rhiana and claire was very nice and helpfull .food coming very fast everything was great.congratulations for chefs from that day Ionut and evelina food was delicious and nice plating

Food was delicious and thank the staff for the wonderful atmosphere and service

Lovely food good service fast food delivery Thank you MIA CLAIRE CoRnelia

Delicios food, good servise, Mia, Claire and Cornelia have been very helpful.

Thank you Mia, Claire and Cornelia

Unable to properly rate the food as was never able to order. As advertised, there was a gluten free breakfast menu available- but when we went up to order we were told they were out of gluten free bread. This is a half an hour after opening and with Aldi across the road, mind you. I pointed out that all options available on the gluten free menu contained toast and therefore was nothing possible to order? I was given simply a shrug. It seems the waiting staff don’t much care for gluten free customers and so lost out on business. Their loss.

I walked in and was welcomed with a smile and catered to immediately by Rebecca who took my order. I was then handed over to Charlie who seated me and would make sure to come over and check that everything was as I’d like. The steak and burger meal I had was well presented and tasted perfect, so perfect that I asked who the chef was (Thanks Tyler!). Overall, it was a great visit and the team’s warm hospitality shouldn’t go unnoticed!

Great service from the whole team. Food was excellent. Thank you to Charlie, Mia, Rebekah, Tyler and Ewelina

Fantastic pub thanks to Charlie, Mia, Rebekam, Cornelia, Tyler

Fantastic Pub, thanks to Charlie,Mia, Rebekam,Cornelia and Tyler. Great staff, very professional and friendly. 😁

Charlie gave an excellent service! Thank you.

Charlie behind the bar was very helpful, always on hand when wanted to order something, never had to wait or even queue for long

Had great service from Charlie, he was attentive, great banter and good conversation. Also poured a great pint Thanks mate

Amazing service from Charlie, really went above and beyond to accommodate seating arrangement for a big group of us and ensured there were no problems with our orders.

Came here again Thursday morning the breakfast was lovely and decently Portioned, the blonde waitress was a lovely mood riser and great chat. Also good air conditioning for the hot whether

Best pub in Whitley great management and all the team Claire, Rebekah and Ellie are really friendly and happy

Excellent service this afternoon from Eloise, Shannon and the rest of the team. Many Thanks.

Ordered large steak, kids meal and another adult meal. Staff apologised the large steak was out of stock after payment and offered two smaller ones in excess of the ordered weight. Lovely resolution. Food arrived very promptly, all tasted lovely, steaks cooked as asked. Big shout out to waitress Sam for her wonderful service, really considerate server and a lovely friendly approachable member of staff overall. (Atmosphere down marked slightly as air con was blasting so high I needed to wear my jacket but didn’t spoil the meal!)

The food was horrible sadly (mushy- chewy and tiny portions), the staff are really nice though ! Although a girl was left all on her own with a lot of people - good value for money on some things though overal, roast looked nice.

Watched the football and the server sam was an absolute legend very helpful and friendly

Best waitress, so friendly and welcoming.

Great service from Sam and Ellie top staff

Haven't eaten here yet, however the food looks lovely. Staff were prompt, atmosphere was light and enjoyable.

We had an amazing meal, We were served by Sam who was lovely. We would definitely come again

Love this place at any time of day. Staff are always welcoming and my boy who's nearly 3 loves coming here for breakfast/lunch as it's one of the only pubs in reading that has a park!

Went here for a rare date night. The food was lovely and there was a nice atmosphere. Will definitely go again.

Friendly staff, lots of seating

Great service from staff and meal come out quickly. Maria was friendly

It was quiet which was nice, the staff were friendly food was good. See you again

Great friendly service from Claire and I love the landlady, she's so sweet I look forward to going in there everytim3

Good pint of Guinness from rhi thank you! The girls are always lovely and friendly we enjoy our breakfast on the weekend.

We were served by Mia who was fun and friendly, also really knowledgeable with the menu and local area.

Iced caramel coffees are the best way to cool down after a hard day they taste amazing and look great too.

My go to for a meal and a couple of cheeky drinks. The staff here are fantastic, and makes you feel at home while on a first name basis. Friendly banter with the staff and always leave here in a better mood than when I arrive.

Ayla was lovely and attentive, food came quickly and was nice 😀

Had a great lunch out with the girls! Food was delicious and Staff was amazing and great service from Ayla

Food was good and staff are always friendly Ayla was amazing serving us today

Had an amazing meal and service was brilliant served by Ayla and nothing was to much trouble for her thank you

Food was lovely and hot , was served by a very friendly thorough young lady called Ayla, asked if all was good and made sure we had everything we needed for a lovely dining experience.....***** for her.

The Victoria Cross needs more staff and needs to put current staff through some customer service training. It's a nice restaurant for families, the food is ok nothing exceptional. Had a not great experience recently when I went for my daughter's birthday.

Had a great evening, the atmosphere and food was great and service was really good, special shout out to our waitress Ayla who couldn’t have done more for us, she was so polite and made us feel very comfortable and always made sure our glasses were filled! sadly i forgot to leave her a tip, so thought i would give her a review instead

Great service especially from Mia lovely place

Worst place Iv ever ate at , food runners are rude and look miserable, and my food was basically still alive on my place my meat with not cooked at all …disgusting

Food is nice and waitress Ayla who served us was kind and caring.

Good food can’t go wrong with the burger just randomly popped in after the gym and I was pleasantly surprised also thank you to Ayla for the help with the menu

Very good food here, loved the steak!