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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

The Cook vs Royal Cooking

The Cook 4.6★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner The Cook
Royal Cooking 4.7★ · Free + IAP 60

While both apps offer a fun cooking game experience, Royal Cooking's aggressive monetization tactics and frequent complaints about being forced to pay to progress give The Cook a slight edge despite its own ad issues.

Full reviews: The Cook · Royal Cooking

The Cook and Royal Cooking are both free-to-play cooking games with in-app purchases. The Cook is praised for its engaging gameplay and graphics, though users desire more content and less frequent ads. Royal Cooking also offers an enjoyable experience, but many users express frustration with its 'pay-to-win' structure, where progression becomes nearly impossible without spending money.

Head to head

Gameplay and Content tieR2R4R6R10
The Cook Users find The Cook fun and addictive, enjoying the cooking challenges and different worlds R2R21. However, a common complaint is the repetitive nature and lack of variety in food options and maps, with many asking for more dishes like pasta, pizza, or curry R4R6R30. Some also wish for more control over chopping ingredients R10.
Royal Cooking Royal Cooking is described as fun, relaxing, and interactive, keeping players busy and engaged . However, users report that the game becomes excessively difficult at higher levels, making it nearly impossible to progress without upgrades R63. Some also note a lack of diversity in the game .
Ads and Monetization edge: The CookR13R15R19R37
The Cook The Cook has frequent ads, which many users find disruptive R13R15R37R45. Some users suggest an option to remove ads for a small fee, like £1.99 or £2.99 R15. A workaround for ads is to turn off Wi-Fi R19. One user reported paying to remove ads but they were still present R13.
Royal Cooking Royal Cooking is heavily criticized for its excessive and intrusive ads, often appearing after every level R51R54. Many users describe it as a 'money grab' or 'pay-to-play' game, where progression past certain levels (e.g., level 20, 40, 50, 100, 300) requires purchasing upgrades or coins because rewards are too low or ad-based coin offers disappear R56R60. Some users who paid to remove ads found the game became harder, seemingly forcing them to buy coins instead R67.
Reliability and Performance tieR7R21R26R39
The Cook Some users report glitches, such as sweets floating R26, the game randomly restarting R39, or issues with choosing ingredients R7. However, other users state the game is not glitchy at all for them R21.
Royal Cooking Royal Cooking has reports of glitches, especially at higher levels . One user mentioned the app not even opening .
User Experience and Value edge: The CookR11R16R29R30
The Cook Many users find The Cook entertaining and a great way to pass the time R30. The graphics are praised R11, and some appreciate the developer's engagement with reviews R29. There are concerns about data sharing in the terms and conditions R16.
Royal Cooking Royal Cooking is seen as a healthy distraction, boosting attention to detail . However, the aggressive monetization and perceived 'rigged' levels significantly detract from the overall value and enjoyment for many players R72. Some users also noted the use of AI-generated images in the game .
Pick The Cook if

Pick The Cook if you are looking for a generally fun and addictive cooking game with good graphics, and you are willing to tolerate frequent ads or use a workaround like turning off Wi-Fi R11R19R21. It's also suitable if you appreciate developer interaction with reviews R29.

Pick Royal Cooking if

Pick Royal Cooking if you enjoy fast-paced, challenging cooking games and are prepared to potentially spend money on in-app purchases to progress through harder levels . It might also appeal if you find the initial levels relaxing and engaging .

Evidence note: The evidence for Royal Cooking is heavily skewed towards negative experiences regarding monetization, with many positive reviews being short and less detailed, or explicitly stating they are 5-star to be seen despite issues R67. This suggests a significant free-vs-paid asymmetry where non-paying users face substantial friction.

Frequently asked

Do these games have a lot of ads?
Yes, both The Cook and Royal Cooking are reported to have a lot of ads, with Royal Cooking's ads often appearing after every level and being described as 'obnoxious' R37R45R51R54.
Is Royal Cooking a 'pay-to-win' game?
Many users describe Royal Cooking as a 'pay-to-win' or 'money grab' game, where progression past certain levels becomes extremely difficult or impossible without purchasing coins or upgrades R56R60R63R72.
Can I remove ads in these games?
The Cook has in-app purchases, and some users suggest an option to remove ads for a fee, like £1.99 or £2.99, though one user reported paying but still seeing ads R13R15. Royal Cooking offers a 0.99 purchase to remove ads, but some users found that doing so made the game harder, seemingly to encourage further coin purchases R56R67.
Do these games offer enough content variety?
Users of The Cook frequently request more food options and maps, as the game can become repetitive R4R6R30R35. Royal Cooking also faces some criticism for lacking diversity in its gameplay .

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 100 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] The Cook 5/5 · GB Fun: When it does prize delivery it almost knows your wrong but is very fun and how the boss at the end you always win so if your reading this good luck.
  2. [R4] The Cook 2/5 · GB Good but needs an update,: I really like playing this game but it gets repetitive, there are some levels I just can’t do and you don’t get paid very much for an order. Few improvements will be great but overall is ok .👨‍🍳
  3. [R6] The Cook 3/5 · GB It’s fun: It’s fun but please make more food and more maps
  4. [R10] The Cook 1/5 · GB Can’t chop: Can’t chop the food for long enough
  5. [R13] The Cook 1/5 · GB Rip off: Taken my money and adverts are still on I’m furious this is a scam
  6. [R15] The Cook 3/5 · GB ‘An honest review’: You should make an option for where you can get rid of ads for a least £2.99 or £1.99 so the cooking experience feels more relaxing
  7. [R19] The Cook 5/5 · GB Verryyy goooooddddd: It’s soooo good and for the readers who hate the ads turn of ur Wi-Fi and u get no ads try it
  8. [R37] The Cook 4/5 · GB Great game but one problem: Fantastic game but the fact that there is way too much adverts after every minute ruins the fun.I do think this is a great game besides the point that there is ads ruining it.Ill give this a 4 star review just taking 1 away for the adverts spoiling the fun but I’m honestly impressed by this game and I think it’s just really wow,I can’t even explain how good it is. Thank
  9. [R7] The Cook 1/5 · GB Why won’t: It let me choose my ingredients properly
  10. [R21] The Cook 5/5 · GB ⭐️THE BEST COOKING GAME EVERRR⭐️: OMG! This is the best cooking game ever! This game is not glitchy at all for me and I love it! I play this all day everyday because that’s how good it is. You can do cooking challenges, go to different worlds and cook what the people want you to cook! You can get different skins and tableware. I love ❤️ this game so much that I tell my friends this game, I tell my
  11. [R26] The Cook 4/5 · GB Sweets..: It’s all great . Except for one thing but I’ll say that later. It’s realistic and fun I love preparing food for people and drinks it’s amazing and I would play it as many times as I can but when someone asks for sweets it always glitches so it.. floats..
  12. [R39] The Cook 4/5 · GB The cook: it is amazing but one day it just restarted my game so then i was at order 1 SO I AM SO ANGRYYY GFREHWHYGRESU
  13. [R11] The Cook 5/5 · GB Just get this: Great game, amazing graphics I recommend it highly🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
  14. [R16] The Cook 1/5 · GB Not happy with terms and conditions.: To much selling and sharing user data and info we have to agree on to use this app.
  15. [R29] The Cook 5/5 · GB The cook: I like the way that they give reviews back to me and the way I get to cook and achieve A
  16. [R30] The Cook 4/5 · GB Very fun game 🎉, with room for improvement: Very fun and easy to play, with cute upgrades and extras. Great way to pass the time. However, I was a little bit disappointed at the lack of meal options and ingredients. I think that the addition of curry, pasta, pizza, stir fry and other international dishes would make the game more fun to play. It’s gets gets a bit repetitive after a while. I hope yo
  17. [R45] The Cook 5/5 · GB My experience in The Cook:: -ads, options (I'm okay with) -ads, anyways (quite long in my opinion) -everything has a limit, before it forces a move-on -pops up of ad oppurtunity, which you need to wait for about 3 secs to refuse -if you do make your own recipe a bit, then the characters still judge it as not very good 5 stars=so that you'll probably be able to see this :/ Again, these are just p
  18. [R51] Royal Cooking 1/5 · US Royal Cooking: Lies and 1 ⭐️ I understand and understood no ads, no WiFi just as the others same lies. You get loaded with ads, and with no WiFi can’t get to the next level. I deleted the game.
  19. [R54] Royal Cooking 1/5 · US Ads: Too many ads
  20. [R56] Royal Cooking 3/5 · US pay to win garbage: it seems cheap to pay the .99 for no ads and some coins but there comes a point where you can’t afford any upgrades and you have no abilities left and you just have to give them money or watch ads to keep playing. it’s insane how many apps get away with this constantly.
  21. [R60] Royal Cooking 2/5 · US Pay to play: You have to pay at a certain point in the game. Over it.
  22. [R63] Royal Cooking 1/5 · US Not worth it: I downloaded this game yesterday. Once you get around level 20 the games makes you get no ads otherwise you are watching an ad after every level you beat. Then once you go onto the next food chapter its impossible to win without the upgrades and the game provides no opportunity to win money even if you lose a level. Ive been stuck on level 50 because I don’t want to have buy coins so
  23. [R72] Royal Cooking 1/5 · US money grab: They intention make you loss certain rounds so the only way for you to pass it is to purchase add ons or use all your coins because every single things cost a crazy amount of coins. The goal here is to make you spend money. 10/10 do not recommend. I will be deleting this app.
  24. [R67] Royal Cooking 5/5 · US Unfair: I’m only giving this game a 5 star because want people to see it. I really do like the game, but when I paid to remove the ads, they made it much harder for me to actually win the games and I feel like they want me to pay for more coins versus giving me the option to watch the ads or not. This game is much better when you’re playing with ads. So in my opinion, it takes away from the game.
  25. [R35] The Cook 4/5 · GB Super good but a few nitpicks: There’s not enough time to cut vegetables and there’s not enough meals to make. Maybe add pasta, curry, cake, pizza, burger etc. Also make it so you can add stuff to popcorn as popcorn is boring to make

Synthesized from 100 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store