The Royal Oak Hotel

We had a family lunch on Sunday. I enjoyed my lamb while my brother enjoyed the pork. Service was efficient and staff were welcoming. However the sides let the main course down. I may be wrong but I felt the veg was pre cut frozen and then re steamed. Carrots were a little too exact to be cut on site. The end result was limp veg. My son had the vegetarian lasagna which had no firmness and has the same carrots blended in. It was more soup than pasta. Needles to say he left it. I would go back but I would ask questions from the kitchen re ingredients and prep.

Shockingly bad!Went in for a drink today and ordered a pint of hobgoblin. It was like vinegar. Clearly nobody in control of managing the beer pumps!When I politely complained both members of staff totally ignored me and continued to serve other customers. They just ran and hid!After another 15 minutes of standing at the bar like a lemon I complained again and was accused of being aggressive (easy way out tactics for the useless staff). We decided to just make a swift exit!Real beer drinkers stay away!!!

Such a lovely pub in the heart of Helmsley. My partner and I stayed here for the night and it was absolutely great. The food was nice beer was nice so what more could you ask for. The room for the two of us and our dog was perfect he had loads of room to move around. It was very clean and really nicely presented. The only reason for the 3 stars and no fault if their own as they do state this on their website it is loud and you can hear the music and people talking in the bar below. It properly didn't help we had the room directly above. The staff are friendly and willing to help with any request. I would definitely stay again.

There are better places in Helmsley tbf. The bar person we spoke to was rude. As customers we were made to feel like an inconvenience. It's a shame when places in tourist hotspots act like this. We went over the road instead and had a lovely meal.

Don't walk past this pub looking for something fancy .When you walk through the door you get a warm welcome from the staff and the open fire .The food is well presented and very tasty.

Just stayed at Royal Oak for the second time, lovely clean rooms, friendly staff and great full English. We were with two other couples and we are all of the same opinion, it won't be our last visit.

Didn’t stay at hotel, just had lunch there on Sunday, 17 September 2023. Was pleasantly surprised to see two proper ales available. As I always do these days, I asked to try what I hoped would be the best bet, Wainwright bitter. It was pretty poor and so I asked to try the Hobgoblin. At this point the surly barman said in a loud voice “I suppose you are going to get a free drink by trying all the beers along the bar?” I knew immediately on hearing this that this was a bad pub and that all hope of getting a decent pint of beer was gone. Any pub that takes a vocal exception to a customer having a tiny sample of beers on offer, and seeks to publicly ridicule them in the process, is one or more of (1) knowing and caring nothing about the quality of the beer they are keeping and how to keep it and (2) in the habit of showing utter contempt for its customers. Sure enough, the Hobgoblin was worse, truly awful: sour and unrecognisable. I would guess that the ales in this bar are not kept at all well. On looking around I saw that most if not all of the other male customers appeared to be drinking lager. Maybe they knew what I was to discover: this place knows nothing about how to keep and serve decent English ale. Had I been alone I would have left the bar and the pub immediately upon being ridiculed for asking to try two beers. I was new to Helmsley and had noticed that there are plenty of other bars around the village. However as I was a with family, who had recommended the place, I had to stay. I decided to order a Guinness as usually even poor bars cannot mess that up. But this bar did! The Guinness had a sour taste and was possibly the worst Guinness I have been served in a long time. This whole “welcoming” experience filled me with dread about the lunch we had come to enjoy. Thankfully the meal was OK and the ladies serving us were friendly and attentive. Not a bad pub lunch. What a pity that the place is let down (badly) by a surly bar (manager?) who appears to know and care nothing about (how to keep and serve) English beer (or Irish) and to enjoy relieving the apparent tedium of his job by seeking to ridicule customers who dare to try before they buy. No decent pub (certainly none I have visited) objects to a customer trying ale before they buy. Our man in this bar seemed to fail to recognise that if he served decent beer I would not have had to ask to try a second. Go here for a pub lunch. Don’t go here for English ale or expecting a warm welcome in the bar. I would say 4 stars for food and service by the lovely ladies who served it and ZERO stars for the bar, the beer and the bloke who appears to run it.

Service excellent meals brilliant room a little difficult for a greyhound and staff perfect thanks for a brilliant 75th birthday

Had an excellent stay here. Perfectly located. Staff really pleasant and helpful. Superb breakfast. Had a couple of evening meals too which were good, especially the steak pies.

We stayed in the hotel on the 6 and 7th of October. Room was a little small but very clean had everything we needed for a 2 night stay. However the mattress had a slant to one side and everytime my partner moved you could hear the springs he felt like he was going to fall out of bed at one point due to the slant in the mattress. The shower head didn’t fit properly into the holder so you had to hold the shower hose.When I checked out I mentioned about the mattress and the member of staff said all the mattresses are a bit like that I will tell my manger. The one thing you want is a good nights sleep it was disappointing. If we are visiting Hemsley we would stay elsewhere.