Delightful old pub with outstanding food, the pork chop was large moist and delicious, the beef cheeks rich and indulgent.

Very nice place to have a dinner with your family and friends. Special steak night, or curry night, whenever you want, it always there. Good choice for a birthday party as well. Wonderful service and talented chefs!

Dinner for one. Superb medium rare lamb backstrap with baked eggplant, olives, Swiss chard, mint & date yogurt. Cooked to perfection and a very generous serve. When in Coonawarra then Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is a must.! A 375ml bottle of Wynns Coonawarra Estate 'The Siding' Cabernet Sauvignon was a great accompaniment. Finished off with a spiced chocolate and coffee mouse with marmalade. Another generous serve.

Really nice place for dinner. Ordered steak & salt & pepper calamari. Steak was a good size, slightly over cooked.
Chips were perfect & the salad had a very nice, distinct dressing that was very enjoyable.
The salt & pepper calamari was delicious & perfectly seasoned.
The drinks & wine list were extensive, with whole section devoted to premium wines by the bottle only.
Servings were generous, & service was fast, friendly & efficient.
Would eat here again.

Great experience, food was good. Portion sizes were plenty, which I appreciate. Not expensive, decent prices. Our servers were very nice and pleasant. We would come again!

We had a long lunch under the shade of the large trees in the beer garden. It was a fantastic atmosphere and the food and wine were both worth their rating, one of the better pub meals I can remember having

Had the best meal we've had in Penola since arriving almost 2 years ago,
King Prawn Linguine was absolutely phenomenal

Adequate meal. Beautifully presented but the piece of salmon was very thin and the accompanying chickpea compote was cold and tended to rob the meal of ongoing pleasure. No interest from waitstaff in offering us dessert or coffee so we left.

Curry night - wow!
Didn't know what to expect but when I heard the options were fish, rendeng and dry pork I figured they had a serious chef at work and it didn't disappoint.
Pork was tender, accompaniments were great particularly the black bean dahl, serve was huge!
Excellent service and range of drinks too.

We stayed here as a small group.
Nice old hotel, very clean.
Typical old hotel accomodation with one toilet for all the women to share, share bathroom. It wasn't busy so sharing was not a big issue.
We loved the atmosphere and the staff were obliging. It was a fun stay for our group.
We had access to a lovely balcony which would be superb in warmer weather.
Some rooms were spacious and some were tight.
We ate at the dinning room downstairs and everyone in our group found some food to suit them.
It had a homely atmosphere and it was a fun stay.

We stopped at Penola on our way to Adelaide. Had dinner there last Thursday. One of the best pub meals. All 4 of us enjoyed our meals. Generous serves and reasonable prices. We had the Flathead and Tuscan Chicken Salad. Beautiful dining room. Highly recommend it.

Good food, but not a huge selection. The outdoor garden is fabulous on a sunny day and I imagine would be very pretty at night with the fairy lights on.

Nice place around to have good meal. Beautiful outdoor with fantastic staff who make you feel part of community. They served us in beautifully way even when we arrived there last minute of service time.

Thanks ? guys, you are doing amazing work

Lovely dining room - tables well spaced out. Food Lovely especially the stuff zucchini flowers- ?yum! Had the beef cheeks perfectly cooked with great mashed potatoes- no room for dessert although it looked great!

Lovely dining room - tables well spaced out. Food Lovely especially the stuff zucchini flowers- ?yum! Had the beef cheeks perfectly cooked with great mashed potatoes- no room for dessert although it looked great!

This pub was top notch. Food was unexpectedly good and not just your standard pub options on the menu. The beef cheek was the stand out for me, huge serve and the mustard mashed potato was awesome under it. Starters were all awesome too. Everything came out in a reasonable time and nice and hot. Staff were very friendly. Defiantly worth a visit if your in the area

This pub was top notch. Food was unexpectedly good and not just your standard pub options on the menu. The beef cheek was the stand out for me, huge serve and the mustard mashed potato was awesome under it. Starters were all awesome too. Everything came out in a reasonable time and nice and hot. Staff were very friendly. Defiantly worth a visit if your in the area

Couldn't fault this pub. We enjoyed the Chicken Schnitzel and the Salmon last night so booked again for tonight. The Sirloin was perfect and Risotto was excellent. The young staff carried themselves very well and the whole place just motors along. The prices are quite reasonable and the quality is above pub standards so I wouldn't hesitate to return when next in Penola. It would be advisable to book a table because each night the dining room has been full. Well done Royal
Oak Hotel and a big thank to the lovely young staff who run it.

Couldn't fault this pub. We enjoyed the Chicken Schnitzel and the Salmon last night so booked again for tonight. The Sirloin was perfect and Risotto was excellent. The young staff carried themselves very well and the whole place just motors along. The prices are quite reasonable and the quality is above pub standards so I wouldn't hesitate to return when next in Penola. It would be advisable to book a table because each night the dining room has been full. Well done Royal
Oak Hotel and a big thank to the lovely young staff who run it.

What a lovely pub! Great food, great wine list, and so enjoyable sitting outside on a mild evening. Dumplings are delicious! Sticky date pudding was to die for! Filled with locals which says a lot.

What a lovely pub! Great food, great wine list, and so enjoyable sitting outside on a mild evening. Dumplings are delicious! Sticky date pudding was to die for! Filled with locals which says a lot.

Called in for pre dinner drinks. Nice staff. Quite, but I think this is due to the pandemic issues and I hope all the county towns get back to normal as soon as possible. Penola is a great town.

Called in for pre dinner drinks. Nice staff. Quite, but I think this is due to the pandemic issues and I hope all the county towns get back to normal as soon as possible. Penola is a great town.

Great staff and great food and just all around great night out. ??

The very small piece of barramundi was incinerated on the outside and raw in the middle. The kale was supposed to be crispy but was also burnt. The meal was not enjoyable. Definitely not worth $38. No waitress came to see if the meal was acceptable yet the cashier expected a complaint to be raised. The burgers were ordinary. The trio of gelato was mainly mango and my husband doesn't like mango. The sticky date was not very sticky (more dates were required) and the teaspoon of sauce was not sufficient.

Nice meal at a beautifully renovated hotel.
Whist there, visit the many local sights.

We had dinner here Friday evening. Strongly suggest you book as it's very popular and I can see why.
The bar staff were so lovely in particular the female Manager. I was really impressed by the way she treated all the younger staff and the customers. Nothing was too much trouble. They were fully booked but she said we could order in the bar area.
Now onto the food. Wow just wow! I'm a steak lover and she did recommend this. Scotch fillet with pepper sauce, cooked medium to perfection and such good value at $27!
Beautiful salad and chips too. Hubby had a homemade pie type of thing that he loved also.
The next night in Mount Gambier eating at The Barn was such a disappointment. Chewy tasteless over the top priced pub grub.
Take me back to the Royal Oak any day.

We came here twice. We came for lunch and we found their menu extensive and they had lunch specials which were pretty good.

But we came back the next day for dinner and we were disappointed. The menu was heavily reduced to basically Schnitzel, burgers and fish and chips. And the Schnitzel wasn't great.

They do have a couple of craft beers which was good but the food for dinner was very disappointing hence the 3 stars

While the food was good, the starter arrived after the main. The waitress was not aware that one steak was rare and the other medium-rare, so we each ended up with the wrong steak. Another person brought out the wrong wine (not what we had ordered).
The experience was quite Fawlty Towers as the next table had a similar experience with their service.

Really nice local pub. Staff all happy to have a chat and all polite. Food was good. Looks like they have recently done a new beer garden.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Royal Oak last night. Our meals were delicious and generous. The dining room is a beautiful space and elegantly decorated. The staff were attentive without being intrusive, and knowledgeable. Would recommend.

Amazing food, portion size was big, and service was great!! Can't wait to go back and try more stuff!! nWe had the feed me menu, which included 5 courses, all very well balanced, and so fresh! nnThe chef greeted us and served us our meals, and explained where the ingredients were sourced. All local, and they are also creating their own market garden! So so impressed!!

Iu2019m calling it!!! Probably the best pub beer garden in the region!!!

An outstanding establishment offering top quality meals, beers and a wonderful array of craft gins. Make sure you book in to ensure a seat in the dining room and keep an eye out for the cracking events that the team puts on.