Woodlands in West Berkshire

Quite a disappointing experience. No Christmas theme on our table, no Christmas decorations like the other tables had, simply because we weren't having the Christmas menu. It was our Christmas party but it just felt like a normal night. Disappointing that two of the shoulders of meat weren't on the menu, the starter shoulder of lamb was a favourite amongst us. Annoying when there are glasses on the table but no water offered. No wine list was offered either. It felt like we were a hindrance to them. We've enjoyed 50th birthdays there and other special events but on this occasion we felt alienated because we didn't select the Christmas menu and we feel very let down for our Christmas party. We spent in the region of £385-£400 including tip between 7 of us, but came away underwhelmed and deflated. Sad to say, this will not be a special place that we will come to again. There are others to choose from.

Gotta do better with the value of a BLACK dollar!

Following an earlier disappoint a few years ago, and hearing good things about the Woodspeen again, we decided to try the four course Xmas lunch and again, walked away very disappointed. For our first course, we both had the Lobster Ravioli and whereas it was very nice and flavoursome, it didn't "wow" us. For the second course, we had two different dishes, I had the Duck liver and breast terrine, and my wife had the beetroot terrine. The Beetroot terrine felt it was just chunks of beetroot squashed in a mould and cut to shape. My Duck Terrine had pieces of inedible sinew that was rather dull in flavour and neither at all pleasing to the eye or flavoursome. The main course was the major disappointment. The Turkey was OK although erring on the dry side, but the veg was too hard, even if it was passed off as al dente it was still too hard to eat. The deserts were splendid and the reason my review gets two stars instead of one. Both were very flavoursome, and well presented. I did mention to the manager that the veg was too hard to eat who apologised and took the drinks off the final bill. But this review, as was my last, was not about the money, it's about expectation. You go to an establishment like this with pre-set levels of flavour, fantastic service, and quality of food that is classed as fine dining or as close to fine dining as you can get. Sadly, our xmas day four course menu fell far short of expectations, and, as a side note, the men's toilets are a disgrace. Not fine dining, not a michelin star quality establishment, very overpriced and we won't be returning sadly.

This place is awesome. Service is great, food of great taste and quality, and the atmosphere is wonderful. Highly recommended 👌

From the warm welcome, the food and the service. What a wonderful delicious little cafe. You well definitely be seeing us again. Thank you ❤️