Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Reading
Hardens guides have spent 32 years compiling reviews of the best Reading restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 51 restaurants in Reading and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Reading restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Reading Restaurants
1. Caprice at Crowne Plaza Reading East
British, Modern restaurant in Reading
Wharfedale Rd, Winnersh Triangle - RG41
New luxury Crowne Plaza Reading East, provides a stylish, contemporary look and feel to suit the business traveller, leisure and spa guest. The hotel, set in landscaped gardens, delivers exceptional dining experiences. Serving modern British & authentic Indian dishes in new 2...
2. Caldesi in Campagna
Italian restaurant in Bray
Old Mill Ln - SL6
“Within walking distance of the Monkey Island and Bray high street” – Giancarlo & Katie Caldesi’s “relaxed sister establishment to Caldesi in Marylebone” occupies a converted house complete with “a great bar and attractive glasshouse-type” addition. The dishes from its “excellent, typically Italian menu” are, say fans, “fantastic” and “the cost is rather like loose change compared to the nearby Fat Duck”.
3. Bottle and Glass Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Binfield Heath
Bones Lane - RG9
2022 Review: “A great country retreat” – this “wonderfully well-run” thatched pub is older sibling to the Hart Street Tavern and the work of Harwood Arms alumni Alex Sergeant & David Holloway. Kudos, too, for their new, shed-like Burger Barn, serving patties, hotdogs and rosemary fries “with views of the fields and some new letting rooms”. (“Expect it to be rammed with Henley's glitterati on a sunny summer evening.”)
4. The French Horn
French restaurant in Sonning-on-Thames
“The setting on the Thames at Sonning Eye is just fantastic, but better still, the quality of the food that comes out of the kitchen is always first class”, according to fans of this long-established and well-known Thames-valley institution, which has been owned by the Emmanuel family since 1972. “If you like formal, this is the place to go”, and while fans acknowledge that “it’s a little pricey”, they feel the investment is “well worth it for special occasions”. As well as its signature duck, spit-roasted over an open fire, it’s “very impressive wine list” is another feature (“we call it ‘The Bible’”).
5. Sindhu
Indian restaurant in Marlow
The Compleat Angler - SL7
“Incredibly original Indian cuisine served gracefully in a wonderful location” makes this well-commented-on Marlow destination one of the country’s top grand Indians outside the capital. “A beautiful dining room overlooking the Thames” and with a “fabulous view of Marlow Weir” (gorgeous in daytime, perhaps less impactful at night) is the venue for “an enormously enjoyable, fine-dining take on Indian cuisine that’s beautifully presented,: “with lovely spicing, but never being overwhelmed by too much heat”. It’s “one of those experiences where practically everything is spot on”.
6. The Vineyard at Stockcross
British, Modern restaurant in Stockcross
“The wine list is immense, but good sommeliers are on hand to guide you through it” at Sir Peter Michael’s modern, luxury country estate, whose “stunning, if challengingly extensive, cellar” features vintages from his family’s Sonoma County and Napa Valley vineyards. So “do not be daunted, as there is plenty of advice from the wine team” and the selection is “deep, complex, and fascinating… if expensive” (“if you are seriously into Californian wines, this is the place”, but “deep pockets are needed!”). Other aspects of the operation have a hard time living up to the main event and harsher reporters feel aspects of the place are “dull” or “nothing memorable by comparison to the wine”. Others, though, are “surprised by the good food” with dishes noted in despatches including “very good crab tortellini and Berkshire trout with caviar” and “beautifully presented Berkshire game pie”.
7. The Dining Room at Cliveden
International restaurant in Taplow
Cliveden Rd - SL6
The “spectacular drive up to the property” is all part of the experience at this majestic ancestral pile of the Astor family (host, in its day, to the events behind the Profumo scandal; where Meghan stayed before marrying Prince Harry; and nowadays owned by the National Trust). The dining room occupies a “gorgeous hall” primely located within the property and with “great views”. As you might expect, a visit is an experience as much as it is a gourmet spectacular, and although cooking from chef Chris Hannon (replacing Paul O’Neill in October 2021) is generally well-received, feedback follows the up-and-down pattern established over many years here. A typical example: “lovely room, pretty good food actually but it isn’t a restaurant that wows. Some dishes were very good but it was a case of hit-and-miss, especially for the high price, and service was good but not outstanding”. Top Tip – “perfect afternoon tea for special occasions”.
8. Orwells
British, Traditional restaurant in Shiplake
Shiplake Row - RG9
“Exquisite” cooking is commended by diners at Ryan & Liam Simpson-Trotman’s well-rated venue, near Henley, where numerous reporters had their best meal of the year in our latest annual survey. There is a ten-course tasting menu for £130, but you don’t have to go the whole hog: there’s also a ‘half menu’ option (at £80) and an à la carte offering.
9. London Street Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Reading
Riverside Oracle, 2 - 4 London Street - RG1
2022 Review: “Reliable cooking with a buzzy atmosphere” makes this 20-year-old city-centre outfit a useful option; it also gives vegans a decent choice of dishes.
10. Thames Lido
Spanish restaurant in Reading
Napier Road - RG1
“A shining light in the middle of Reading dining” – this glass-fronted dining room overlooking a Grade II listed Edwardian swimming pool serves a “frequently changing selection” of “very decent tapas”. “The lovely space and atmosphere have made it a new favourite”. It’s from the team behind the similar Clifton Lido in Bristol and “the swimming makes a fun backdrop while you eat!”
11. L’Ortolan
French restaurant in Shinfield
Church Ln - RG2
A “consistent, high-level performer” – this Grade-II listed Victorian rectory near Reading became a restaurant in 1978 (as the ‘Milton Sandford’) and has held a Michelin star for much of the intervening time… until February 2022 that is. Despite the Tyre Men getting cold feet on the place, the feedback in our annual diners’ poll has remained constant, if not perhaps being as plentiful as it was. “New young chef James Greatorex is innovative, offering very tasty dishes, using seasonal ingredients and a particularly good-value lunch menu”. For some tastes though “the dining room could do with a makeover… it’s starting to show its age a bit”.
12. The Greyhound
British, Modern restaurant in Henley-on-Thames
Gallowstree Rd, Peppard Common - RG9
Antony Worral Thompson’s spacious and quirky country spread is, for fans, “a go-to choice for any special occasion” – “the pub and garden are beautiful, the service professional and discrete, and most often AWT himself is a visible presence ensuring the highest standards”. The globally inspired menu features “high-quality ingredients, well combined and perfectly cooked”. Top Tip – “good steaks – try the wagyu”.
13. Bistro at The Boathouse
British, Modern restaurant in Henley-on-Thames
The Boathouse - RG9
“On a summer's day the Thames-side terrace is a paradise” at this riverside venue. In 2019, Shaun changed tack here, adopting a more bistro style in contrast to the fine dining approach it had previously adopted. Long-term regulars say: “it’s cheaper than it used to be, but never disappoints”.
14. H Café
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Henley-on-Thames
22 Market Place - RG9
2021 Review: Henley residents can now save on the rail fare to ‘The Smoke’. Hot on the heels of opening a luxury food court in Harrods, the famous store’s first café outside London is to open in late 2019 on the market place of this chichi town (in what was formerly a branch of Nicolas). We are promised an experience akin to the new food hall approach recently adopted in SW1: ‘a menu of dine-in and dine-out options, replicating the current food-to-go and deli offering’ in Knightsbridge.
15. Villa Marina
Italian restaurant in Henley-on-Thames
18 Thameside - RG9
2022 Review: Limited, but all-round good feedback on this attractively located riverside Italian – traditional in style, and not far from the town’s bridge over the Thames.
16. The Crooked Billet
British, Modern restaurant in Stoke Row
Newlands Ln - RG9
“Food is the star” at this country pub, owned since 1989 by former musician and self-taught cook Paul Clerehugh (ex-Sweet et al) – although the “outstanding roster of live music” runs a close second and “a handful of people still go there just for a drink outside”. The “heavily carnivorous menu” features “well-cooked seasonal French and English food”, “served in vast portions”.
17. Luscombes at the Golden Ball
British, Modern restaurant in Henley-on-Thames
The Golden Ball, Lower Assendon - RG9
2022 Review: This cosy brick and flint seventeenth-century pub has the seal of approval from cake deity Mary Berry no less, while reports – although on the scant side – generally proclaim it for some “really good” grub (not least the two-course set lunch); extensive gardens are an added boon.
18. Clay’s Hyderabadi Kitchen
Indian restaurant in Reading
22-24 Prospect Street - RG1
Nandana & Sharat Syamala are moving their Hyderabadi kitchen into new premises in Caversham after their “great eatery” and growing national delivery service outgrew its original London Street site on the back of rave reviews. The new, part-crowdfunded venue is a former Wetherpoons pub, the Baron Cadogan, is to give the couple sufficient space to run a ‘fine-dining’ restaurant as well as a separate open kitchen with bar counter for snacks, small plates and street food, plus eight beers from local brewers. As of October 2022, both the original address and national delivery are closed as they focus all their efforts on the move.
19. Heron on the Ford
British, Modern restaurant in Charvil
Landsend Lane - RG10
2022 Review: The former Land’s End pub got a new lease of life (and name) in 2018 when it was taken over by Niki & Adam Fortes, and the best man at their wedding, Colin Savory (both Colin and Adam having a pedigree at top restaurants). The “great” countryside setting is enhanced by “superbly cooked” pub staples and finer fare and “you can tell there are real chefs in the kitchen”.
20. The Unicorn
British, Modern restaurant in Kingwood
Colmore Lane - RG9
2022 Review: For “restaurant-quality food in a lovely country setting” head to this country pub, a few miles from Henley-on-Thames. The venue has been serving locals since 1860, and continues to draw positive reports for its simple yet refined seasonal plates.
View full listings of 51 Reading Restaurants
Popular Reading Restaurant Searches
Reading Restaurant News
Top Reading Restaurants
Hot Newcomers & Coming Soon
Hot Newcomers
Coming Soon