Recently, Mikey and I headed to Petersfield, Hampshire to celebrate The Great Oak Beefeater’s eleventh birthday and check out the stylish revamp that the venue has recently received. Beefeater is a British brand that hosts an impressive family friendly menu along side a relaxed, informal atmosphere. Long over due a date night, we were pretty excited and had high expectations for the evening.

We set off with about an hour to spare as The Great Oak is roughly a forty five minute drive from us. The Beefeater restaurant was easy to find, despite Google Maps telling us to go off and park on some poor lady’s drive and then walk for 2 miles. As it happens, you can see the Beefeater easily from the road, so we ditched the sat nav and made our own way there with ease. The car park was quite full as we were visiting at peak time on a Saturday night, but there were still plenty of additional spaces available.

The Great Oak’s New Look

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and felt a bit intimidated by the atmosphere or the staff? Maybe you’ve felt a bit underdressed or like you don’t belong? Well you definitely don’t get that at The Great Oak. The interior is stylish, modern and very welcoming. The restaurant has a lovely relaxed atmosphere, with both table and chair seating as well as booth tables. These are great for both family parties as well as romantic dinners for two. I think the colour scheme and the decor is warm and welcoming, the seating is comfortable and the bar is excellent. The staff we chatted to were very friendly and helpful and made us feel right at home.

The Menu

As a vegetarian, I do sometimes find that restaurant’s menus can be quite dull and repetitive. In my experience, you usually don’t find anything too exciting for vegans or vegetarians unless you go to a ‘speciality’ restaurant. I was curious as to what the vegetarian options would be like in a restaurant that prides itself on serving up great tasting quality meat dishes.

Family values are at the forefront of the Beefeater business and the menu reflects this. From a parent’s perspective, it’s so great to know that Beefeater’s children’s meals recently ranked in the top five healthiest in the UK according to The Soil Association’s 2017 Out To Lunch report.

The menu is quite large and caters for everybody. There is plenty of choice to suit everyone, whatever your dietary requirements.

Our Mains

We decided to skip the starters and go straight for the mains. I opted for the award winning Vegan Burger with BBQ Pulled Soya and triple cooked chips. I was keen to see how the vegetarian meals would hold up in this style of restaurant. And holy smokes, I was not disappointed! My burger came beautifully stacked in a brioche-style bun, the vegan pulled soya (pork) tasted incredible and I had a small dressed salad along with my triple cooked chips. The portion size was just right and I felt very full up afterwards. The vegan burger was blooming delicious, it looked amazing and I can definitely see why it’s won awards!

Living with a vegetarian when you’re a meat eater can be a bit testing at times, so Mikey was pretty chuffed to sink his teeth into an impressive Surf and Turf. Little did the chefs at The Great Oak know they were about to be judged heavily on their steak cooking skills! Mikey likes his steak medium rare to rare, but often finds it’s more medium which is a big bugbear when you’re out paying for a meal. If you’re paying for it, you want it to be just right! Mikey can be critical, but thankfully when his steak turned up, he was over the moon and said it was cooked to sheer perfection. I’ve got to say, even as a vegetarian, that steak did look delicious.

Pudding

We were feeling pretty full up after our mains but we couldn’t leave without sampling the puddings! We were going to go for one each, but we were feeling so stuffed after our main courses that we decided to share a Mississippi Mud Pie. Let me tell you, that bad boy is heavenly, but very rich! The presentation was lovely and we just about managed to squeeze the last of it into our very full bellies.

My Thoughts On The Great Oak Beefeater Restaurant

Upon arriving at The Great Oak, there was plenty of parking and the staff were very welcoming and accommodating. The decor is stylish and modern, as well as comfortable and informal. The staff were friendly and extremely helpful.

We had a slight mishap at the beginning of the evening when we ordered a drink and was then told it was out of stock. Mikey ordered another one and he then ended up with a different drink to the one he had reordered. This was no great drama though as the staff dealt with it all quickly and efficiently. Having worked in restaurant settings myself, I know that these things happen. So long as they’re dealt with correctly, I would never judge the waiting staff or the establishment! It definitely didn’t impact on our lovely evening out.

We enjoyed a delightful meal that was reasonably priced and left the restaurant with full bellies and a vow to definitely return to Beefeater again. Thank you Beefeater for giving us an excellent and well overdue date night!

**We received our meals for free in return for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**