Fishery Inn Boxmoor — Restaurant in Dacorum

UPDATED: we were invited back to the Fishery Inn and our experience couldn’t have been better. We all had Roast diners and they really are the best we’ve tried in the area (hats off to Luke the chef) The service was amazing by Megan, attentive and just the right amount along with all the staff in fact. It seems like our second experience was a bit of a blip and not their usual. Today was also lovely and sunny and we really enjoyed the views of the canal.

ORIGINAL: This is the second time we visited. The first time was really great, lovely food and service . This time, it started off well with some very good service (even though we were late) but then it all went down hill. The drinks took a little while to arrive, then they took our order (2 roasts, and two kids meals of mac n cheese with chips and a breaded chicken meal) we then sat there for 50minutes since we’d arrived, so we asked where our food was. Strangely it seemed like at this point our food wasn’t top of the list as the waiter said he’d asked the chefs to stop and focus on ours. Then a little over an hour after we’d been seated our food came out, except they got the kids orders wrong(no chips with the mac and cheese and a different chicken dish to the one we ordered. I asked what was going on? They then said one of our meals had been dropped on the floor. So I guess stuff like that happens but why not come and appease us, maybe offer us some free nibbles to keep our 3 and 5year old going? So anyway, when we ate, my husband thought his was very nice again but mine tasted a bit like it had been hanging around (so I guess his was the dropped one) When it came to the bill, no compensation and two little kids that were very whiny after being made to sit for almost 2 hours with one of them only getting his meal when ours was nearly finished. A really dissapointing meal...

Came here on Valentine's day and I'm reviewing in September - That's how long my poor experience has been playing on my mind. That's because I try not to leave negative reviews as know how much this affects business, but on this occasion my experience was so bad that I feel it is only right.

My wife ordered a Valentines special fish dish...however when the mains came it came without 3 of the key ingredients listed on the menu...Prawns, Noodles and Pakchoi. To run out of prawns and serve boiled potatoes is instead of noodles without any forewarning is absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely understand that Valentine's day is a busy time and ingredients may run out later in the evening....but if you are going to substitute several key ingredients at least give the customer the option to assess what they are ordered or say "sorry the dish is no longer available", not improvise with a bare bones alternative just to make more money.

Also to highlight no sure if trainees but many other people's orders were messed up on the day. Could opposite us refused to pay. Even though the couple were given a free desert, they told us on the way out they would not be coming back and laughed in disgust as they also advised us never to come back. One waitress even got another customer's bill wrong 2/3 times and eventually his wife got fed up and left him to pay - not sure how that happens.

Definitely ruined my date and wouldn't recommend to anyone even if you were paid. In short, I've been walking around in with a Fishery Inn receipt for 7 months, read to write this review....that's how bad the...

Lovely pub, beautiful inside and out, friendly and helpful serving staff. Let down by a strange smell perhaps from the toilets(?), a long wait to be greeted, then for menus, then for the food (it took 1 hour for mains to arrive - no starters). It was then further let down by the tardy food itself.

Food price point sets expectations, which were missed. It was actually quite wide of the mark:

Bread & olives (for the table) cost £6.75 for 2 slices of toast cut in half & 10 (nice) olives. More toast would have cost very little to the pub and would have got things off to a more positive start.

Steak & Malbec pie cost £18.50. It tasted ok, but had been frozen so the meat lacked any texture (it had texture of a baked bean!) and some of it was elastic band textured fat.

Freshly battered banana blossom cost £17.25. It was really greasy and tasted of chip fat.

Mac & cheese side for £4.25 had very weird after taste we couldn’t place. It got spat out and left.

Cheese Burger with bacon and chips cost £17.45 and was ok. Nothing special and we’ve had better at this price point.

The drinks menu didn’t all have prices and wine by the glass was not a clear option, you seemingly had to choose a “Wine Package” which appeared to start at £50… may be wrong on this point, as I just gave up and ordered a beer.

The 3 star rating was for the friendly staff and nice looking surroundings, but this is generous considering the food and slow service. It’s a shame, it had promise. We won’t...