The Royal Oak - West Dorset

Great little find, really welcome great food. My Grandson was very taken with his ice cream and said the lady has a lovely face.

This charming village pub offers a diverse menu with something for everyone. We dined here three times during our stay in the area and were impressed by the high-quality ingredients, expert preparation, and beautiful presentation of our meals. We highly recommend this establishment!

Very friendly local pub serving a good range of food. We’re here on holiday and have eaten here twice this week. Friendly staff and very reasonable prices

We came here as it’s the local pub to a guest house we are staying in for the week, first impressions weren’t great as they’re still advertising their Christmas opening hours in mid January. I understand that this is a small village pub catering in a limited market out of season, but... When we walked in the pub we both noticed how bright the pub was with no attempt to create a cosy atmosphere, the lady behind the bar was friendly and approachable and did make us feel welcome. More alarm bells sounded when we saw how large the menu is, a huge blackboard over the bar offering around 20 or so main dishes, considering we are in mid January, offering that amount of food suggests it’s not a fresh food offer which sadly it’s not. I chose a 16oz rump steak to be cooked med rare with peppercorn sauce and my partner ordered scampi and chips. The portion sizes are big and the scampi was to be expected, cooked from frozen accompanied by frozen chips and a poor side salad of iceberg lettuce topped with a handful of chopped tomatoes and peppers with no dressing. My steak was actually 2 8oz rumps accompanied by the same frozen chips, onion ring and garden peas, the steaks were both overcooked with a slight taste of iron which says the steak was old and past it’s best and the peppercorn sauce came in a jug the size of a tea cup and was tasteless so clearly came from a carton. We didn’t receive any enquires as to how our meals were during our time eating and only a cursory “how was that” when our plates were cleared, no queries to if we wanted more to drink or if we would like to see a dessert menu, so we paid, or tried to but their internet was poor so declined payment. I do feel if they were to reduce the menu, pay more attention to freshness and turn the lights down this place would be so much more appealing.

Thank you to Steve and his team for a fantastic meal and great service for our family get togther for 14 adults and 7 children. Children were served first and then went on to play skittles in the adjacent alley. They had a fabulous time. Food for all of us was served on one long table and everyone chose from the menu, service was great, and very friendly, we were all looked after exceptionally well. Big thank you from all of us for making this a great evening.