The Greene Oak

Better than the average gastro-pub

We've eaten here a lot, though this is the first review I've made for it on this site. This is the first and in my view arguably the best of a small group of similar restaurants in the east Berks/south Bucks area, and their presence has added quite a bit to the local dining scene. They have overlapping but not identical menus and a similar look and style.

The Greene Oak looks like a gastropub, but cooks a bit more like a restaurant. Not a great restaurant – we're not talking stars here- but a restaurant that cooks decently well and is unlikely to disappoint or deliver poor value. I do know that there are gastropubs in the same area with stars and higher prices and sniffier attitudes. I'll just say that in my experience, they don't offer better food or service than here, though they will remove rather more of your money.

All of which accounts for the fact that The Greene Oak is generally pretty busy, as it was today when we turned up for lunch. Nevertheless our service was well timed and pleasant throughout, and there was no signs of stress anywhere. The food was decent today rather than brilliant. I have had some magnificent food here- a main of sticky Orkney Beef a year or two back comes quickly to mind. Today , I think my wife would say that her butternut squash soup was competent rather than exciting, and I'd say that my loin of rabbit starter was hard to cut though tasty enough. Both our main courses- pork belly with roast veg, and bavette with ox-cheek and crispy marrow- were solidly good. Decent coffee, no room for dessert. Breads a bit dull, A sound but maybe a little ordinary southern Italian red from the lower end of the list. Our bill of £75 including service was pretty much what we'd expect for what we had.

All told, I guess we accept that things are liable to be a bit variable when you're eating in quite a large place in the middle of the market. If it tends not to let you down, and can occasionally delight, then you'll keep going back. And we do.