We went at a quiet time. This is a nicely-appointed, newish place, with friendly, professional staff and a fairly upmarket atmosphere. While the menu is quite varied, with good veggie and vegan options, I would not eat here again. I hate to leave a bad review, because the front-of-house staff were clearly doing their very best and were very sweet. However. The “signature hamburger”, which is presumably something of a flagship item for this restaurant, was horribly disappointing. The beef patty itself tasted like the cheapest economy supermarket “beefburger”. At 18 pounds for this hamburger, there is no excuse not to use a proper, well-seasoned 100% beef patty. The bread roll was pappy, flavourless, and fell to pieces. The pulled beef topping was under-seasoned and, with the watery salad, added nothing to the experience. The hamburger was crying out for some flavour - even just a zingy relish to add colour and excitement. This is the kind of badly-executed interpretation of modern American fare that gives British food a bad name, unfortunately. My companions were similarly underwhelmed with their choices. The best things were the fat chunky chips that came with the gammon steak, and the rump steak with its salad looked good. Everything else was just dull. It’s a shame. I would recommend more attention to using quality ingredients, and especially to the judicious use of suitable sauces and seasonings, because cheap ingredients need more care with preparation, presentation and seasoning, not less. Oh, and PLEASE can we go back to eating off properly warmed ceramic plates?
I should imagine we caught the place on a bad evening but they’d run out of some of the things we wanted, one meal out of 5 arrived way before the rest and the food quality on this occasion at least was very poor. The staff seemed to be minimal though our waitress was doing her best - not her fault. As I say, probably a bad day to go (Tuesday) Sorry not meant to be overly critical but they really need to do better than this
It’s a cheap & cheerful place, but standards should still be met. I ordered a side salad & literally everything that wasn’t lettuce was withered or turning. I’d have been ashamed to send it out to a paying customer.
On the positive though, steak was cooked really well and you get a lot for the price you pay.
SF
Scotty From the dark times
Wanted Cod & chips. They didn't have cod? Only Tilapia. So I had Chicken fajitas. Only can with 4 small wraps. Ultimate burger & Rainbow salad was lovely.
Warmly greeted on arrival by Jacqui who immediately saw to it that we got our table booking changed when we had turned up at 4:30pm, 2 hours early, due to a change in circumstances. We were very impressed with how she handled things quickly and made us feel instantly at ease. We also loved we got seated exactly where we had hoped we would - it's like she'd read our minds.
The pub has a great selection of foods. We had the Chicken Sharer platter, the Rainbow Grain Salad with Grilled Salmon, the Katsu Curry, and for dessert - because you just have to treat yourselves on the last day of a trip - to the Ultimate Cookie sharer. All food was well prepared, arrived quickly, and was very tasty.
The serving staff were incredible. Whilst we were delighted with our meal, the patience and lengths they went to help meeting the demands of a neighbouring table was applaudable. The cool and calm manner they dealt with the customers was admirable. Well done team!
I would highly recommend the Oak Tree Pub & Grill for it's good food and amazing customer service.
Thank you Jacqui for making our last meal in Chester both delicious and memorable for all the right reasons.