The Larder Restaurant

I’ve ate here quite a few times after staying a week for work. My thoughts:
Pros:
–The staff has been extremely kind and helpful.
–You can order anything from Bar K (the hotel’s attached bar) in The Larder. This is nice since The Larder doesn’t have standard bar fare (sandwiches etc.).
–The hotel wifi works throughout, which if you’re traveling alone is a nice bonus.
–The breakfast buffet is quite nice (and for me was included in my rate), they have a cool little machine that makes pancakes instantly which I’ve never seen before.
Cons:
–The first night I ordered a Croque Monsieur which came out still cold in the middle, not exactly what I expected.
–Like any attached hotel restaurant it is expensive, but what isn’t around London/​Reading.

Staying in the attached Hilton for a week, I’ve eaten in the Larder Restaurant several times, trying quite a number of things from the dinner menu.
I’ve also enjoyed the breakfast buffet, which is nothing if not perfectly consistent day after day. Scrambled and fried eggs, sausages, blood pudding, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, toast, porridge, smoked salmon, yogurt, juices, fruits, and much more. They’ll also prepare nearly anything you want fresh if you want to wait, though I haven’t.
From the dinner menu, I’ve had the thyme-​infused chicken breast with spinach mash and green beans. It was excellent and very fresh. The two pasta dishes were adequate, but I felt they were just a jumble of sauce and veggies mixed up and I don’t recommend them. The wild boar burger was an interesting choice, but with the melted gruyère cheese, it was just odd.
I also tried the room service menu once, having the chicken tikka masala, which was good. Served with a pile of rice and riata and chutney and naan, it was nicely spicy and a good sized portion. It was delivered extremely quickly, so I wonder if this is some sort of reheated freezer pack, because there was no way it was prepared fresh. Also, the chicken in there was a grilled chicken breast that had been chopped up, so while it was good, the chicken didn’t actually have the flavor it would get from being cooked with the sauce for a while.
Service is excellent and very friendly. These people stick to a high standard and I really appreciated everything they did.
Obviously, if you’re staying in the hotel, this is the closest choice. If I lived in the neighborhood, I think I would still dine here.