Having been to the Royal Oak a few times, although we are not frequent visitors, we decided to book a table for Saturday night. We were placed in the conservatory area, which has 3 tables for 2 and is actually a bit quieter than the main restaurant, which we liked.
The service was good, the quantity of food was good, but we were unimpressed with the quality on this occasion.
My main was Hunters Chicken, which, far from being ‘smothered in barbeque sauce’ as described on the menu, simply came with a pot of cold barbecue sauce. On enquiring, I was told they always served it like that. When asked, the waitress readily and quickly heated the sauce up for me so I could do the smothering. My partner had Chicken Forestiere. Neither of us saw any confit tomato which was supposed to be part of both dishes.
For desserts we both chose Eton Mess £5.99 which were large portions but had only a few crumbs of meringue. Mouthfuls of cream without meringue is not very enjoyable eating. The worst Eton Mess we’ve ever had actually. We told the waitress and when the bill was brought she had removed the desserts from the bill. However, because the desserts were deducted she had not used a £5 voucher we had brought with us which was valid against any main meal; so the reduction was effectively for only one dessert.
Back to the Bo Peep!
“Royal Oak’s website”:https://www.vintageinn.co.uk/restaurants/london/theroyaloakorpington
