The Bell Inn — Hotel in Uttlesford

Visited during the england vs scotland match. It's hard to find a positive. I'm sure there's worse around, hence 2 rather than 1 star. [Edit] nope, thinking about it, 1 star is justified

Food - ok. The burger was heavily over-seasoned with paprika, I think. Chips and salad were fine. When they all finally arrived

Food service - abysmal. Took over an hour to get our food. Our first eater had finished before our 2nd's food had arrived. We're not sure he got the right person's meal. Our entire table's food was given to another table, so had to be cooked a 2nd time, adding further delays. After the next few dishes arrived (which was after we had to go up and complain about the wait, at which point we were shouted at for having the audacity to approach the bar to see what the hell was going on), we had to ask again about our last few mains. Eventually the mains arrived. We didn't bother complaining about the one missing side, figuring something was better than nothing. On the plus side, the burgers were clearly not supermarket burgers. On the negative, a supermarket burger would have been preferable. Dry, over-flavoured, under-seasoned. A distinctly "this is the first time I've ever hand made burgers" flavour and texture

Almost forgot about the 2 random mains that were unceremoniously dropped on our table and abandoned before we had chance to ask whose they were. They weren't ours. They sat there for 15-20 minutes on the table infront of us (hope none of us breathed covid all over them), before we finally got someone's attention and got them taken away.. literally straight to the correct peoples' table (presumably?). Can't imagine they were warmer than completely cold by that point

Waiters/waitresses dropping drinks and breaking glasses everywhere, which really helped with the delays/confusion.

Social distancing? Not a chance. Our waiter (school kid) didn't seem to appreciate that his nose also has holes. Mask over mouth (part of the time), not nose

Toilets? Let's just say that the queues were ridiculous and having had to turn around and manoeuvre between the toilet and the door, I've burnt my trousers today

I can't think of any circumstance I'd want to...

Appalling chaos and delays at the bar on arrival this lunchtime , with staff seemingly unable to cope with taking food orders. There were long pauses of muddle waiting for the computer to work. Although numbered wooden spoons were handed to customers on ordering, the staff forgot to keep any record of what food went against each spoon, so chaos ensued..

No pizzas were available, as the oven had been turned on too late, no burgers and no chilli con carne. So the menu choice was very limited.

Food in some cases took an hour to arrive, despite only being simple sandwiches or paninis, with constant mistakes being made. Attempts were being made to persuade customers to just take the food being brought, even if it was not what they had ordered. The baked potatoes were small, the quality of food was variable.

Far from apologising for the delays, the bar staff started to openly ridicule and criticise the customers as they became exasperated. They had cleary received no training and knew nothing. I suspect it was their first day working af the pub. There was no sign of any manager on site.

Overall the service being provided was abysmal. I will not...

Amazing venue with a beautiful garden. This pub hosted our wedding reception which was one of the first ones they had done. You would never of known. Amazing staff and an amazing owner called Eddie. He took so much care to make sure mine and my new wife’s day went as smoothly and stress free as possible. We probably caused him a lot of stress but you would never of known. He was so calm and considerate throughout the whole period. The food is amazing and we also rented out the two cabins and both rooms above the pub. They were all amazing and clean. All of the staff were amazing aswell. They even let us store our wedding cake in their beer cellar. It’s all these little things that really make your day so much easier and I can not thank this owner and staff enough. Please stop by if you can, you will not be disappointed. I am so lucky that this...