The Royal

They do a great lunchtime deal here, so a bowl of delicious soup and a tasty cheese toasty for a tenner. Plus cosy fire and fab puds if you can stretch to one

From the booking to our visit it was a kind experience, as well as a culinary pleasure. We were a group with different needs and not particularly easy ones, and our server as well as the person who responded to my email and questions, were nothing but kind, discret and humane. I was very touched by this. Thankyou. The food was beautiful and “soigné” and we were very happy to find two vegetarian dishes that were as complete as a meat based proposition.

Another great meal here. Well looked after and a great choice of elegant, pub food.

Had a good Friday evening here. Staff so friendly and helpful. The menu is sophisticated with ingredients you don't often see such as cuttlefish. Loads of delicious vegetables in each dish and decent sized portions. House red was great too. A real breath of fresh air!

Slotted in next to a warm wood stove on a blustery Autumnal Sunday. Great light red was then led into a beautifully pink and very thickly sliced piece of excellent beef. Typically I find many pub lunches a disappointment. This was NOT... will be returning for more ... the kitchen and FOH know what they are doing.

Exemplary service, remarkable Sunday roast dinner with trimmings and clean bright yet classic environment with a mixture of young people and families. Full marks for a wonderful experience.

Friendly staff, tasty food and great wine list. Comfortable dining room too, highly recommended.

Excellent experience all around - friendly service, top notch foods, and pleasant, comfortable, clean atmosphere. Pro tip: add a shot of bourbon to your affogato for an extra treat. We'll be back!

Great food and good service. We had the lamb to share and the chocolate fritters which both came well recommended by the waiter. The lamb was extremely tender and the romesco very tasty. The baked onions were my favourite. The ice cream was the highlight of the dessert for, complimenting the fritters really well.

You won’t find a better restaurant around! We couldn’t fault our experience here, it was absolutely incredible and delicious, smallish menu but everything on the menu looked divine! We will definitely be coming back soon!!

Took my partner here for a birthday meal and we were really impressed by the food and the friendly and helpful wait staff. They were happy to accommodate my dairy and gluten allergies so there was plenty of choice. We especially enjoyed the smoked mackerel, duck, and puddings. We’d really recommend a visit!

Love the Royal, the service is great and the staff are very pleasant. Food is delicious although on the pricey side.

Have eaten here several times before. Always excellent but a bit lacking in veggie /vegan choices. Thus time I went full vegan, and it was utterly delicious 😋 Husband ate dead things which he also enjoyed. Always a warm, inviting, friendly atmosphere ❤️

Amazing fine gastro pub menu here. The game pie is divine. We love they’re open on a Monday evening

We had a lovely meal for two for my partners birthday. Set price Monday to Thursday. The chef knows his stuff as the food was flavoursome and cooked to perfection. We had Sea Bass, and for dessert (save some space), I had baked custard, plum and honeyed oats it was delicious. My partner had the chocolate torte. Both desserts you savour every mouthful as so tasty.. Lovely atmosphere and friendly staff. Definitly recommend :-). Quality food reasonable price.

I took the dog for Sunday lunch, and had a great time. Roast sirloin was pink and juicy, with just a little fat for flavour. The roast potatoes were exactly right - crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. The carrots were a real surprise - sweet and full of flavour. Yorkshire pudding, gravy and cabbage to complete the dish. The Royal's roaring woodburner added both warmth and atmosphere, and the service was friendly and prompt.

Everything was absolutely fantastic! The food was incredible! The service was super efficient and our waitress and menager was so fantastic and came to check up on us and make sure we had everything we wanted! Definitely a 10/10 evening and I would leave more stars if I could. Great Pub.

Absolutely lovely dinner, particularly the fish dishes. My mother said it was one of the best meals she had had in her life - and she's been around a long time and had many many meals! We all also very curious to try the parsley cake with lemon curd and glad we did as it was absolutely fabulous. Friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere. Really enjoyable - thank you very much.

Comfortable welcoming bar and dining room. Blazing log fire, interesting menu, glass of primitivo, all good. Attentive knowledgeable and helpful team, orders taken and served w charm. Food v tasty, though I should remember that by the end of November, lamb neck will have a robust texture and loads of flavour. I'll be back to explore the rest of the menu.

Very nice pub, good food and service

Good delicious quality food. Hallibut was slightly overcooked, but partner found it fine. Staff was very friendly and went out of their way to accommodate us.

+5

Always very nice. Seasonal food, well cooked and presented. Food never lacks flavour. Bar has a good choice of beers. The decor is lovely. Nice large spacious tables. The restaurant has the largest ceiling rose I have ever seen! Be prepared to pay London prices though. I always feel a bit ambivalent about this as it does prevent a lot of original locals being able to afford it.

The service was friendly and welcoming, which set a nice tone for the evening. The broccoli cavatelli, however, was mediocre at best—bland and lacking depth. In contrast, the lamb was excellent—tender, flavorful, and cooked to perfection, though it could’ve been served a bit warmer. The space is quite cramped, so keep that in mind if you're looking for a more comfortable or private setting. Overall, it was a good experience with solid value for money.

We tried the place for a lunch with a group of six and we can say the staff are friendly and courteous and the ambience is pleasant. The background music was mellow and unobtrusive and there was a fire burning in the bar area. Choice of wines were good, that had been obviously selected by someone with taste. With regards the food, there were a few specials on the board and a menu to choose from. What we had were good although maybe not all as hot as one would want. All in all a nice place we will revisit. PS cheese selection is from Neil's Yard and great.

Great food, but the smallest portion I think I have ever had, the main was more like a starter.

Lovely restaurant with great atmosphere in the seaside town

We were a party of five for an evening meal. I found my starter a little on the small side, and the main course a bit expensive because the potatoes and veg are side orders! However, there was a very good wine list, the staff are exceptionally attentive and charming, and the whole place was impeccably clean, and welcoming with an excellent ambiance about it.

A warm welcome, friendly staff and good food is exactly what fine dining is all about. The Royal came up trumps and provided the perfect Saturday afternoon chill-out zone. The (deep) fried feta, honey, oregano and chilli was superb; the pork belly, congee with plum sauce and spring onion outstanding. Hot but not too not, and beautifully cooked and presented The waitress was exceptionally helpful and attentive and the service was faultless. The golden Riesling, Sybille Kuntz, Qualitatswein Trocken, was delicious and I highly recommend this bar/restaurant, which was bustling but not packed and the ambiance was perfect. If you are in the area you won't find better.

Trying to elevate local pub dining from a convenient location, next to the train station. Has a short Sunday lunch menu that delivers less than the prices and descriptions suggest. Attentive service.

+6

Atmosphere and service was lovely! Pub was delightful and had quick service, had a few beautifully poured pints in there. But sadly the food which was the main reason we were there did not live up to the hype for us. I got the grey mullet with ratte potatoes which while presented beautifully was criminally under seasoned. A friend got the pork chop with lentils which was overdone and dry. Would try again as I can see the potential of this team

On the whole a good experience - we were in a group of around 10 people and the service was friendly and pleasant. 3 of us ordered an Affogato dessert which came with the ice cream melted and the coffee cold in other words nothing like it should be. Our waiter kindly took them all away to be replaced. The replacements were just as bad. At the end of the meal I decided to have a word with whoever was "in charge". The man I spoke to was unbelievably rude - obnoxious in fact. I was tempted to think that he wasn't altogether well. He clearly didn't have a clue how this dessert should be served and had no business speaking to a client in the way he did. A pity since I won't be going to the Royal in a hurry.

I'm am local but spent 18 years living in London where pubs like The Royal are ten a penny unlike down here where we lack such eateries and it is excellent that The proprietors of The Royal are striving for greatness - their Bib Gourmand addition is a necessary welcome addition to the Kings Road area of St Leonards... but having dined there twice now - spending well over £300 - I must admit that I am struggling to find reason to LOVE the place. The restaurant is great and the staff are friendly enough but I find the food challenging. It's not that it's bad, because it's not; I do however wonder if in the pursuit of edginess the chef is missing a trick regarding local fayre. As a local dining locally at one of the more upmarket establishments I want to see high quality local produce and I have no objection paying for it. If what The Royal is selling is local, their menu made no mention of it. The fish? The lamb? Yes I suppose we could have asked, but I would love to see such info on the menu. Furthermore, and this potentially speaks more to my lack of decorum than anything else, but even after tasting two of the starteres we tried we had to seek clarification as to what they were. Ultimately, we want to love The Royal but after two attempts dining there we have come to the conclusion that whomever they are catering for: it isn't us. Is it geared towards those DFL airbnbers? Is the produce local? Take a visit and make your own mind up.

I would say The Royal considers itself a Gastropub. This was myself & a mate for Saturday afternoon lunch. Atmosphere was relaxed with a good mix of people & a couple of (well behaved) children. Service was fine not exceptional. Portions are small. Starter: Smoked mackerel with fennel. I'd say I received no more than half of 1 small fillet broken into a couple of bite size pieces & some very thinly sliced fennel- £8. Main: Lamb rump, split peas, celeriac. Tasty, if small, rump cooked perfectly, tiny amount of celeriac on a bed of split peas - £22. Dessert: Slightly dry chocolate torte with a few cherries & a minuscule quinnel of creme fraîche- £8. Bottle of Picpoul - £34. Nothing too wrong with the food, it's tasty enough & nicely presented but, in my opinion, it's overpriced & you'll probably be hungry when you leave.

Food was nice but the meal sizes are small for the price. Service was friendly and helpful. It was very busy the night we went, so we had a longer wait for our food than is probably usual. Not many vegetarian options. London prices

Quiet a nice pub, easy to find and easy to get to. The excellent reviews online however raise expectations more than their reputation deserves. Don't get me wrong, the venue and staff were lovely. The guineafowl pie, I am told, was really good. The Sunday roast was just OK even taking into account that the carrots were all placed with the badly burnt side facing down. This can be forgiven as the results of someone's hangover but the cremation of the espresso can not. I can drink dirty water from the bottom of a muddy puddle on a Sunday morning but these coffees were burnt to within an inch of their lives. Nobody wants to complain in person, instead to b**ch about it online, but it was so burnt I had to say something. I did get a refund with a smile which brings me back to the staff. They were lovely.

nice place but quite cold. u werent made to feel warm and welcome. who i believed to be the manager was very offish. kept staring at me/the people i was with with a horrible look on his face. and i noticed he also was looking at everyone else the same. made me feel quite unwelcomed and if i was being judged. not coming back here again, specifically because of him.

The Royal has collapsed on its laurels with tasteless bland terrine with stale toast to start a fabulous octopus dish as main which saved the day but then a minuscule 11 pound cheese selection with not as advertised home made crackers but more stale Melba like toast . After previous glorious meals at The Royal I have concluded that there must be more amusing ways for an old codger to spunk 65 quid . Service as always was wonderful and familiar but Holy Smoly the food needs to get back on track not just my opinion but also that of the good folk on either side of my table who like me lamented the lack of consistency. In mitigation the lovely chap behind the bar said you had had a huge private function the day before and everyone was a bit Kerry Packered !

Food was generally quite tasty, though portions of many dishes were very small for the prices charged. £8 for a small portion of potato soup with no bread is very steep. I had a two course lunch plus a side, but didn't go home particularly full. This might (just about) be tolerable if service was consistently good, but it sometimes seemed to come with a sneering, passive aggressive undertone. Our booking had mentioned a pushchair, but upon arrival it was strongly implied that this wasn't the case. There is one woman who partly served us who was extremely polite & helpful, so it has to be said, depending on who you get, service can be extremely good.

Described as ‘down to earth’ on the website which is ironic ….The full name is actually ‘the royal mercury’ as it’s the only pub in the universe with no atmosphere . Lordly , imperious , patronising , supercilious , disdainful reactions at food and or drink orders Roars , cackles , guffaw , convulsing for not booking a table in advance bib boremand.

. My name is Annette Wilders I came to 50th birthday party I think the stairs the handrail was a bit likely in came with my carer I think they should have better like disabled people and better access people in wheelchair wouldn't I dont think they safe likely in have my sister and my carer i dont think the the stairs a very you should have proper hand rail and better stairs and a lift i am going to report this not on f

We won’t be dining at The Royal again. On our first visit we were positively surprised by the quality of food and thought the higher prices are justified. We visited again but this time the food wasn’t that great and the steak was tough. Not once during the meal anyone from the staff came to ask if everything is alright otherwise we would tell them. Anyway, it wasn’t such a big deal (it happens) but it’s the attitude of the older woman who came to collect the plates that put us off completely. We told her about the steak but she became very defensive saying “how are we supposed to know if you don’t tell us” We would if you asked during the meal! Absolutely no apologies from her and walked away. As it happens friends of ours went there and had exactly the same experience with the cooked vegetables being too hard to cut through. The response was exactly the same and no apologies whatsoever. You don't need to look far, just read their replies to other 1 star reviews and their defensive tone. She has no social skill and is not at all friendly to be around customers. L We won’t be going back nor will our friends. We’ll stick with La Bella Vista, far better food and friendly staff members.

For the prices they charge I would have expected much better both in terms of quality of food and service available. The Royal is positioning themselves as a premium (£20+ for a main) restaurant but unfortunately does offer the service to match. If you are visiting St Leonards I would recommend trying one of the many other restaurants which offer much better value for money and a much friendlier service. Having visited twice now we won't be visiting again.

Awful. Barman barked at us as we walked in the door. So rude and unfriendly.

Never in my life have I felt so ripped off. I can’t call the dishes we were served meals, £28 for fish and that’s all you get no other component quite literally a fish on a plate, £19 for one sausage and 2 spoons of lentils and the only 2 side options were chips or a bowl of cabbage at £4 each. We had 3 courses each and left feeling hungry. This place used to serve up really good food nice size portions for a fair price, now it’s poxy portions and an astronomical price. Service wasn’t bad as such but I wouldn’t say it was good either. I definitely won’t be going back at all