Kings Arms — Restaurant in Dacorum

Christmas Lunch 25/12/2024 VERY DISAPPOINTING-DONT BOOK CHRISTMAS LUNCH HERE

I have written a letter of complaint as a result of my extremely disappointing visit to The King's Arms on Christmas Day. 3 weeks later I still haven't had the courtesy of a reply.

My party of six had booked a table for the second sitting at 3:00 p.m. We arrived at 2:45 p.m. and were seated promptly. However, from the outset, several aspects of the visit were far below expectations.

I was seated at the end of the table, next to my elderly mother. Unfortunately, her view was of the baby-changing facilities, and my own view was of a counter stacked high with empty pizza boxes—certainly not what one would expect for a festive occasion.

The meal on Christmas Day was a set three-course lunch. My starter, smoked salmon with bread and a rocket salad, arrived as expected. However, the salmon was improperly filleted, and I unfortunately choked on a large bone, which I had to remove from my throat and spit back onto my plate. This was not only unpleasant but also a serious health concern.

After this, we waited an astonishing 90 minutes for our main course. I asked on a couple of occasions about the delay and was told the restaurant was operating a queuing system due to the holiday. While I understand the challenges of serving a large number of guests, this extended wait time was frustrating and far from acceptable. I should also point out other tables seemed to be served far more promptly despite sitting down after us, which undermined the above explanation.

When the main course finally arrived, I was served lobster, which came with five small new potatoes and a few leaves of rocket salad. The lobster was cold, mushy, and lacked any texture. It was clear that it had been previously frozen, which I could have overlooked, but the quality of the dish was poor—tasteless and unappetizing. It seemed as though the lobster had been reused from earlier sittings. My mother, who had ordered the turkey, was also disappointed as her meal arrived without the usual stuffing, while the other guests at our table received stuffing with their turkey dinners.

Under normal circumstances, I would have requested a different table and addressed my concerns directly with the manager, and I certainly would have refused to pay the service charge. However, given the nature of Christmas Day, I felt uncomfortable doing so at the time.

My personal experience was extremely disappointing and not reflective of the quality I expected from this...

Awful stay. So disappointed. I’ve stayed in lots of pubs before so of course, expected a certain amount of noise but this was ridiculous. For £120 a night? No way. It was unacceptable. Stayed a night with another couple. we stayed in a small courtyard. The rooms almost felt like student digs but seemed clean enough. This courtyard backs onto the outside pub area and was so noisy we couldn’t even hear the television. Our room was also right opposite where the bottles are recycled. To top it off the staff sat to smoke on a bench right outside my friends room, so she couldn’t even open a window in the room, as the smell of smoke was so strong and being a non smoker found this unacceptable to have smoke coming through their window. We had continuous coming and going from staff in the room next to us, which we then learnt was a breakout room for staff. This room was permanently wedged open and people in and out all evening. |The morning duty manager did apologise and listened to what we had to say and then offered a reduction in the room rate, but the money wasn’t really the point, as this was a special night away for a celebration that ended up being incredibly stressful and felt like a complete waste of money and time. I ended up falling asleep at 5am and felt completely shattered the next day. So much history and so much potential in a beautiful high street but sadly falling very short. From past reviews this seems to be an ongoing problem stemming years back, in which case owners know this and should advertise these rooms at a much reduced rate to reflect their quality (cracked sink/botched bathroom flooring) and location. It must be very challenging for management to have to deal with disappointed customers and it needs a strong injection of funds to come up to standard. If you do go make sure to book a room in the main building. ||The ONLY plus was that the breakfast was really good, the morning duty manager did listen to us, showing a level of understanding and professionalism we would expect from an establishment such as this, and the morning staff polite...

Where do I start....terrible service in everyway. We turned up on Sunday to find our table was in the rain! I was confused when they lead us to our table. Did they honestly think we would sit down and have dinner in the rain? I booked an outdoor table with covers and heaters promised. I even called up twice to check this was all ok. I went to the desk, they said there was nothing they could do! I said there was you could of called me this morning. This would of given me a chance to find somewhere else to go. We just stood in the rain with nowhere to go. The manger Natalie had nothing to say but just defended that it's not thier fault but I said this isn't what I was promised! Also I went to the Kings Arms for dinner 2 days before on the Friday night with 6 friends. Again sat outside but the heaters weren't working. Apparently my friend had been the week before and they weren't working then too. They offered us garlic bread to keep warm! I thought this was a joke. Then they offered us blankets at £5 each. I argued this and they gave us them for free in the end. I've always gone to The Kings Arms and loved it as I live in Berkhamsted, hence me going twice this weekend but I feel completely let down by them. I had a table booked for the 22nd December but I've cancelled this now and won't be going back. All they had to do was good customer service and call me. I understand these things happen but just leaving me stood in the rain with my friends was...