M.B. Impala Restaurant — Restaurant in Dacorum

We were very excited to try Vegan Spartan for the first time. The restaurant itself is lovely. The decor and cleanliness was immaculate. We were seated but it took a good 20 mins for someone to come and take our order. Understandable if the resturant was full. But there was definitely less than half of the seats in use. After ordering, our starter came out very fast. We shared the aubergine dip, which was delicious. But there was no sight of our drinks. After our starter was cleared away I reminded our waiter about our drinks. They had definitely been forgotten. Twice I tried to get the attention of a member of staff to order another drink and both times they continued to chat away to a colleague.

When our mains arrived they looked delicious, and to be fair my food was very tasty, however my friends burger that she ordered was stone cold. We politely mentioned to our waiter that it was cold and so a fresh one was brought out. Again cold! So we told our waiter again. He tried to make out that this was the correct temperature that the burger should be served. No chance!! Third times the charm we thought. This time the burger was steaming so we thought they had cracked it. Unfortunately, the bun and the coleslaw inside were hot but the burger itself was still cold. I can only imagine that they assembled the burger and then popped the whole thing in the microwave. The wedges also were soaked in oil. Not very appetising at all.

I'm gutted to be leaving this review. But having told the staff at the time the problems that we had with the food there was no apology or attempt to make our experience any nicer. The staff seemed to be pretty frantic and on occasions they were running up and down the restaurant with food or pointing over at our table, which didn't make for a nice relaxing atmosphere.

Having read previous reviews, which mostly seem to be good, maybe tonight was an off night. But unfortunately it has put me...

I don't like posting negatively on Vegan places as I want as many to succeed as possible. That being said having eaten here I can't in good faith claim the food here to be good. It's not that the menu is poorly designed but it feels as though the kitchen is doing the bare minimum in order to pump out it's plates at the lowest price. As an example most of what we ordered appeared and tasted as though it had all been prepared earlier. This isn't inherintely a bad thing, but when the quality is poor you can really tell, for example the nori sheets on the sushi was chewy...we also ordered a starter which included bread as an accompaniment but I was surprised to see that I was given a piece of bread from a sliced loaf - not toasted, limp and cut into a triangle. It literally tasted like they had pulled it straight out the bag and put it on the plate - I've never seen that done before, and I now know why it isn't done at other places. In terms of positives the staff were lovely and we're accommodating for specific requests, but there's only so far service can carry a restaurant that can't deliver on its food. Also - stay away from the mushroom crepe, a deep fried monstrosity, the regret will start from your first bite until your body has managed to shake it out...also have to call out the lemonade as super tasty but is way too expansive for a 250ml glass...I really hope the management take on the feedback as nothing but constructive and I sincerely hope that they can improve. I love that there is a proper vegan place in the area, and I want to see it and the staff do well. If you're trying vegan food for the first time, please don't judge all vegan food based on your experience here...there are some truly incredible places to eat...

Very quiet at Sunday lunchtime, which was ominous, but tripadvisor said it was the best nearby after a trip to see Santa so dived in without reading any reviews (which I'd normally do).

Huge restaurant, nice modern decor. Had our pic of tables and plenty of space for the pram and a high-chair, The menu was extensive with everything from posh sounding modern-european dishes, to pizzas, burgers and sunday lunch. Was never going to order sunday lunch in this sort of restaurant, couldn't imagine it would be their thing. Was going to do the posh menu, and had already picked a starter when we spotted there were Romanian dishes on the back of the menu. The staff looked Romanian, so that was decision made for mains, if a restaurant is quiet go for what they probably specialise in. And glad we did.

The belly-pork bun starter was delicious, as were the Romanian soup and the pick of the bunch - a main of various pork meats, pickles, polenta, fried egg and brinza (cheese from the region). Really tasty and nice presentation. Too stuffed for dessert as the portions were generous.

Service was friendly though not polished. Came to under £20 a head including a drink and service, so mighty fine value for the excellent food. A few more folks came in whilst we were eating and I saw pizzas and burgers delivered both of which looked very nice.

The whole town centre was pretty quiet so maybe that's why they're not busy. Would definitely return and try more from the menu.

One ask though, how about a Romanian beer on the menu? Had several of my favourite craft beers on, so it's not like I didn't enjoy my drink, but I like to try a "local" beer with...