The best restaurants in Wokingham South East

UPDATE AS OF JANUARY 2025! I decided to give this restaurant another chance, hoping that our previous experience was a one off, but sadly not so! Yet again, the chicken was tough, chewy and fatty, the sauce was incredibly salty, the Peshwari Naan breads had virtually no flavour and exactly where was the garlic in the garlic rice? Food arrived very cool, certainly not hot enough! Unfortunately, a complete waste of money! So that is it, I'll never be ordering from here again! (The following was my first, original review) This was my first experience of Jalpuri in Woodley, Reading, unfortunately not likely to order again. Two very different chicken mains, one for me and one for my son, we both found that some pieces of chicken to be tough and chewy, which was extremely off putting and spoiled our meals. This was a takeaway order. The ordering by phone was very easy and the staff member taking my order was polite. The order was ready to collect quite quickly after ordering. Upon arrival at the restaurant, the staff were friendly and polite. I was asked to take a seat for a short time, whilst a staff member fetched my order. Once back home, I dished the food out, it all looked and smelled lovely and the portion sizes were good, everything was nice and hot. But due to some chicken pieces being tough and chewy, the entire meal was ruined, and after spending just over £30.00, I'm disappointed, especially considering my decision to try Jalpuri was based on reading about awards this restaurant had won for their food. I didn't call the restaurant to lodge a complaint, which I should have done, but as it is Mothers Day, and as a family we were trying to enjoy our evening, I didn't want to spoil the evening by making a scene. A bit of a costly lesson learnt!

Great spot , great service and the food was one of the best restaurants I have had recently. Burgers were amazing and the chicken noddles bowl too! Highly recommend

L'Ortolan was formerly a really fabulous place in a lovely setting. Sadly it is now closed and will probably be sold. On our last few visits it was looking very tired and in need of some investment and maintenance work on the building and decor. Very sadly the whole experience has gradually gone down hill, the food was still pretty good, some of the staff were excellent but the real attention to detail and the feeling of being exquisitely looked after had gone. It's obviously been fading away slowly over the years but we have some very happy memories of it in the past. Sad to see it go.

We had lunch here as it was a halfway meeting point for us and lovely friends we met up with. We were warmly greeted on arrival and the food was delicious. Will definitely be coming here again!

Positives first, the ambience is nice and the staff were excellent. The menu is extensive which always makes me suspicious that the food maybe not all made from scratch. We ordered a selection of starters and this increased my suspicions - they were all deep fried and did not taste home made. The gyoza had a taste like they had come out of the freezer, the same with the bao buns. When the main courses came, most of them were served on trays. What is wrong with plates?! The smoked brisket tasted delicious but the chips, again, tasted like bought-in, not home made. If you like burgers, this is a great venue. But if you are a little bit more discerning this is not the place for you. That being said, Wokingham is largely a culinary dead hole, so this is better than most.

Popular with locals there was a lovely warm and friendly atmosphere on our Friday evening visit. The pub area quickly filled up and the tables in the eating area were all reserved so do book the day before. We had a selection of the tapas which were plentiful and tasty with portion sizing being generous so 4 to 5 dishes was more than enough. The duck gyoza and bao buns were excellent but also liked the halloumi fries and fried chicken. Good selection of wine and service was efficient and friendly. Looking forward to returning.

We went to The Lord Raglan, on a whim for lunch, as it was opposite a sewing shop I wanted to visit. That said, my Husband who knows Wokingham from his youth, said the pub used to be his old stomping ground, so was interested to know how much it had altered. And apparently altered it had! It's now a lovely venue, with wood floors and a variety of places to sit and enjoy drinks or food. We wandered in with no booking, today (Friday 6 December) about 1.30ish and were met with a lovely cheery welcome from the lady behind the bar, who explained we could choose anywhere to sit with our two dogs. We sat in the restaurant area as it meant our dogs weren't underfoot from people coming in from the cold. It was fairly busy with a couple of large Christmas office lunches in full swing so the atmosphere was cheerful and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The service from the staff was exemplary from the warm welcome, to being offered water for our dogs, and checking if we needed more drinks or anything else after our initial food order. The food was tasty and I will definitely be having the garlic pil pil again when we next visit as my Husband managed to sneak half of mine today! But both the staff and the clientele were friendly and happy, and the food was definitely much above average "pub grub" which is perfect for what we wanted. Looking around at what other people were being brought out by the staff, I think the Christmas turkey dinner looked amazing, with the world's biggest Yorkshire puddings! I note another reviewer here said they didn't think all the food was homemade, but to be honest, I don't think that was a realistic expectation as it's not advertised as such. "Freshly prepared" and "home cooked" are two separate entities. However, we were more than happy with the excellent food and presentation and obviously a lot of care had been taken over it, prior to it being served. I'm really pleased we tried this pub as we had been told by someone we know, to try another Wokingham establishment that they liked, but due to the proximity to where I needed to go, and the handy Pay and Display carpark right behind it, The Lord Raglan was perfectly suited for us. And we were both so impressed with everything, we will definitely be back. Great venue for family gatherings too it seems. So next time we may have a few more of us! Thank you to all the staff, you are doing a great job. We hope you all have a very Happy Christmas.

I went for lunch with my daughter who is four years old. We had the most delicious lunch and she really enjoyed the children's chicken shish. The fresh bread with the hummus was really good as well. Great service and we will definitely be returning with the rest of the family.

Just had yet another amazing meal. We both chose chicken Milanese which was lovely and we shared a Bottle of Malbec.. Staff are exceptional and really friendly and attentive. When we received our bill we were shocked that there is tax that goes to the government! This is a family run restaurant that is already paying business rates. When does the government stop this greed. The restaurant is already paying tax !

Love this restaurant! Lovely food, great service and a fine atmosphere. We have never had a bad experience and it’s our local. 😊

A lovely meal. Varied menu...all food cooked beautifully... Our waitress Turrin was attentive and lovely. Hope to be back. Well recommended

It was my first time and my partner

1st takeaway from the Tamarind Tree. Really excellent food! King prawn shaslick….v tasty, cooked very well. King prawn tamarind…..super tasty not over salty as most places. Everything else great and two free poppadoms …thanks. Will be coming again. Good parking outside.

Visited over lunch wasn’t too busy considering the park was very busy, ordered easily and quickly. The falafel sandwich I ordered was not what I expected - I was thinking the falafel would be flat with hummus instead it was whole falafel balls jammed in a sandwich- very strange and messy! Bit of a shame as not cheap..

Very cute little place! We have visited several times and the food is always fresh and tasty!