The Royal Oak, West Lavington

DONT EAT HERE - This is why
My mother used to live in Midhurst and we used to go to the Royal Oak most Sundays. At the time it was owned by to men who had done it up and changed the menu. My mother has subsequently passed away and we continued to go up there on special occasions as it was her pub of choice and because of the memories we had there (we held her wake there).
You may now be wondering why i am rating it as a 0. Well we went down on Easter Monday and they were of course a little busy. My husband ordered a mixed grill which he had eaten before and really enjoyed. When it arrived it looked very unappertising and when he prodded the meat on the plate couldnt find the steak and discovered a suspicious kidney looking object on there. He ate some of it (big mistake) because he was hungry however he left 3/4 on his plate. When the meal was over we took it up with the manager ( a lady we had never seen before) who said there had definately been a steak on the plate. Well my husband said he knew what a steak was and there hadnt been one. She said there was one because all their meat came in a vaccum paked bag. She wouldnt accept that we had a point or continue speaking to us. In fact she turned her back and walked away not even acknowledging out valid complaint. My brother waited until she was in the bar area in defference to the other guests and tried to reason with her (he has worked in michelin star restaurant and whilst thats not the type of food we expected it had gone past the issue of the food and on to her outrageous attitude). She refused to talk to us and has now ruined our experiences and memories of this pub and of our mother. My advice to you would be to stick to the jacket potatoes, at least they cant be vacum packed and dont expect too much! They were clearly struggling.
Very annoyed!

2 Apr 2008 15:53