Slug & Lettuce

Food — starters are great!
Service — slow!
I’m giving this place 4 stars for the starters only. We had the Warm Tear and Share Poppy Seed Bread ring with beetroot hummus, large fries with garlic mayo and house nachos. So tasty! It was plenty of food for three to share and was a pretty good price but I don’t understand how it took them 45mins to get starters out. I had been here previously and it took 3 hours for lunch and the mains were not worth the wait (I had smothered chicken which came out cold and my sister had cod and chips very disappointing) hence only starters this time. Come here if you have nothing better to do for half a day and want to sit and chat while waiting a long time for food.

Slow service, long wait for food and so far average quality, complementary drinks though on complaining

Horrible food, would rather get a sandwich from boots next time. Unbelievably awful, I had a steak sandwich and a friend had a burger, cold and stale.

Good quality homely food, the kind of comfort food you would cook at home. Good offers throughout the week, 50% off food on Mondays, 2−4−1 cocktails thur-​Sunday. The let down was the shocking service from staff who were not only rude, but couldn’t even recommend a wine or remember what the special was that day.

This Slug & Lettuce is found along the riverside area of the Oracle amongst all the other restaurants. It looks splendid in its gallery images on its website. Once inside for real, it’s not quite the same story. We were greeted by a rather poorly presented and brusque floor manager (?) in a casual short-​sleeved shirt. He chose a table near to the door as being best for us with our pram, but said it needed cleaning. We chose another table. That wasn’t the cleanest either. Almost sticky, and the menus were certainly past their best, all sticky and stained. But our young waitress was a beaming breath of fresh air, luckily. The best part of our visit. My Falafel burger was three little bread-​crumbed squishy falafel on the meanest smear of sweet chilli sauce. Very basic. It came with half-​cold fries and tasteless coleslaw on a plate that hadn’t been warmed. The place filled up though. It seemed popular. I’ve no idea why. We had a 25% off voucher that made our visit more palatable. We keep trying Slug & Lettuce venues. This is my third. I suppose we’re lured back by vouchers, thinking we might find a good one. We haven’t yet. Food, never special. And their furniture, menus and chairs always feel like they need taking to the tip. We never feel ‘sticky’ putting our elbows on the table at places like Strada, Zizzi, Café Rouge, or many others.

Don’t go here for a fancy meal. You can fall back on their sandwiches etc but avoid anything that could be, and of course will be, microwaved.
But for drinks and cocktails, it’s not a bad spot. Drink promotions are always running and it’s somewhere you can grab a seat and have a natter. Fairly decent surroundings.
Not the best, not the worst.

I loved it here, really good service & excellent food.

Went to the Slug and Lettuce in the Oracle, Reading on 4^th February 2011.
Had Reggage Reggage Chicken. My food was nothing special and the chips were cold.
My friend had Butternut Squash, Spinach and Goat’s cheese lasagne and she wasn’t impressed when it came within 5 minutes of ordering. Wondered if they had microwave it.
The service was good and the waitress did her job quite well.
When we sat down the mustic was loud but at least we could talk but as the evening wore on the music got way too loud for us to talk. Even sitting side by side we ended up shouting to be heard.
Would I eat here again. Only if the food improves. I don’t expect background music, but at least turn it down a tad so people can talk without shouting.

3.5 stars, with one star for ambiance. The Slug & Lettuce has a modern interior with a large bar and good service. The menu is on the small side; we had a delicious chicken tikka masala, but the fish and chips were heavily battered and greasy. Not what I expected from being in the land of Fish & Chips! Prices are reasonable.

Very nice and modern restaurant! I had my first experience of fish and chips here and i was not disappointed. I went with my work crew and everyone was complimenting the food.
It has a great atmosphere and large portions. Definitely will be back. One more thing– it also sits on the path along the water which is nice.

Great place to eat. Half price food all day on Monday but the prices are already at a great price. Cocktails from £3:45 it’s all table service for relaxing dining and great bar for party nights in the evening

Pros The Slug and Lettuce is located on Reading’s Riverfront shopping and leisure complex, and is very modern and up-​to-​date. There are quite a few tables and chairs, and some very nice leather sofas which are super comfortable! The bar is extensive and does some great cocktails– which taste even better in the Happy Hours when you can get them cheaper. The menu is also extensive, although fairly pricey, and food arrives quickly and is usually very good.
Cons Although the food is usually really good, I’ve had some that hasn’t been so good, and that combined with the prices has really put me off. Also, the prices do seem to just keep on going up– which makes me less willing to cough up!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the slug and lettuce. Our waitress was friendly and warm, and unlike other restaurants did not attempt to force any food choices upon you. The setting was exquisite be the riverside and there was a very laid back feel within the restaurant. The food was warm and tasty, and the drinks were large and were not watery. What makes this even better was the fact that on a Monday all the food is half price, so we received even better value for our money at a restaurant that was very reasonably priced to begin with. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking to have a relaxing meal or drink in reading.

I found this place to be thoroughly disappointing.
We had to wait for ages to be served and then even longer for our food to actually arrive, it wasn’t particularly busy but the staff just seemed like they couldn’t be bothered, 3 out of the 4 staff out front actually went outside for a cigarette break while we were waiting to be served!
When the food eventually arrived, it was cold!
when we paid, the girl was chatting to her friend and didn’t even make eye contact with us, then we asked for the receipt she hadn’t given us and she huffed and literally threw it at us.
We certainly won’t be going back again.

The food is always really reasonable, and there are always good special offers on the food (such as BOGOF desserts) however i feel that the slug and lettuce lacks as a restaurant due to slow service.
They have a great selection of wine and cocktails so as a bar the slug and lettuce is a very good place to visit.