Great Restormel Roast Review: The Royal Oak, Lostwithiel. GRRR#6

We found ourselves in Lostwithiel on a Sunday afternoon in much need of sustenance to fuel our afternoon of Treasure hunting ( a.k.a. Geocaching). We met up with the seismic pirate and his family and proceeded to look for somewhere to eat. Our first port of call was The River Brasserie, which unfortunately was not open on Sundays. We ventured a little further up the road and found ourselves in The Globe, which much to our disappointment was fully booked, so we decided to have a pint in there anyway and managed to help ourselves to vast quantities of pickled onions, cheese & crisps that were strategically placed on the bar.

Having temporarily filled the rumbling chasm of our stomachs we set off again in search of somewhere to eat. Eventually we decided upon The Royal Oak, which is located just off the main road through Lostwithiel, almost next door to The Royal Talbot. We parked up an assembled the ravenous troops.

First impressions of The Royal Oak were not very positive, the main bar was very dark, smoky and quite unwelcoming, we even considered eating outside at this point, but not deterred we ventured past the bar to the restaurant area, which was much more pleasing.

Orders were taken very quickly, and the food arrived promptly also. The order was 1 fish and chips along with 3 Sunday Roasts (Beef). I'll start with the fish & chips as they don't really count for the GRRR review, and luckily for The Royal Oak they don't count, as the seismic pirate rated them 3/10. The fish was tiny, almost a child's portion as well as being incredibly greasy. The chips looked to have been double cooked and were far too crispy. There was also nothing to accompany the fish & chips, no peas or even garnish, and all of this for the princely sum of £8.95.

The roasts faired a little better to be honest; they were a whole pound cheaper at £7.95

Pros:

• The veggies tasted fresh and were well cooked.
• The roasties were crisp with a fluffy interior.
• The service was speedy and the staff were polite.
• The Yorkshire Pud was a good size and well cooked.

Cons:

• The gravy was adequate if a little watery and not much of it.
• The beef was too chewy and very pale in colour
• The Portions were certainly not generous and I left feeling hungry.
• Horseradish Sauce, there was none.

Conclusion and Scores

There is certainly much room for improvement and we will not be rushing back in the near future, we rated the roasts a generous 5.5 / 10.

1^st The Western Inn, St Austell – 8/10

2^nd The Dolphin, St Austell – 7.5/10

3^rd The Britannia Inn, St Austell – 7/10

4th The Polgooth Inn, Polgooth – 6/10

5th The Royal Oak, Lostwithiel - 5.5/10

6th The Ship Inn, Pentewan - 5/10

7th The Ship Inn, Lerynn – 4/10

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Pip and Penny are Official GRRR reviewers who have been with us on two GRRR reviews. They know the score:)