The Friar's Oak

We dined on a hot summer evening and took a table in the garden. The restaurant was quite busy. We found the food to be well presented and very tasty but the portions were rather small, given the price per cover! better (i.e. larger) portions would make this the ideal eatery! The menu was reasonably varied and designed to cater for a wide range of dietary limitations (i.e. vegan) which helped as my guest was a vegan although I enjoy the whole range of cuisine. The wine we purchased was definitely over priced (£8.50 for a glass) and fair but not wonderful.

It was very disappointing- my pork belly did not have crackling (like it was microwaved - very soft) - dauphinoise potatoes were glutinous and beans tasted microwaved! I like gravy, but it was swimming! My two friends chose a burger which they said was okay.

Everything was perfect,don’t change anything.
Food was hot and delicious.
Starter was ample.
Main corse plenty of food even for someone with a large appetite.
Sweet was super.

I like the feel of the restaurant and the open fires . However there was a chef missing replaced by an agency chef so the manager went to help in the kitchen so therefore not enough waiting staff.. Service slow and food only okay-not warm enough and lots of items missing from the menu. A bit like faulty towers to be honest. The price of our meals was taken off the drinks bill and the waitress was very good at explaining everything, I won't be going again until I hear that it's improved significantly.

Not the best.

we arrived at 1pm and asked if we could sit outside as had booked a table in restaurant but lovely weather. when upon ordering at 1.20pm were told 45 min wait on food even though it seemed very quiet at this time. we excepted this but we received our starters about 2pm. plates were not cleared until 3.10pm in which I asked how long our mains would be. which I had already enquired to a lady behind bar but she never came with an answer. waiter went to check then at 3.35pm our mains arrived.
fairly nice food except carrots were barely cooked very hard. Service was poor and waiting 2 hours for food was ridiculous.

It was one of the worst meals I have had. The meal I had was steak and ale pie with mashed potatoes, cabbage and carrots. The pie was hot but the puff pastry was like leather and the meat very tough. It has obviously been in the microwave and just heated. My wife had crispy duck salad but the chef had run out of cucumber and the chilli sauce was extremely hot. IT WILL CERTAINLY BE THE LAST TIME I EVER VISIT YOUR RESTAURANT. The chef had run out of roast dinners, if fact I would hardly call him a chef. Even the coffees were awful, we ordered flat white and latte and they were certainly not that.

Good table by the window. Service was slow on arrival, orders taken efficiently, food took a while to come. My risotto was partly cold but was reheated with apologies. No wine cooler for white wine which other diners had.

As there were so many choices unavailabe, we were left with a very limited menu. This is not good.

The staff very pleasant and obviously felt awkward about it. So we were not impressed .

Very welcoming. Comfortable seating & temperature, with relaxed atmosphere, open fires, stylish slightly rustic decor. Unusual combinations on the menu, some which work and some less so. But a good choice, reasonably quickly produced, with a choice of portion size.