RONAV Cafe & Bistro — Restaurant in Dacorum

Atmosphere and food were lovely, but the service left a lot to be desired. We were a party of five, all of whom had dined here before in smaller groups (2 or 3) and had really enjoyed it. The ambiance was great—beautiful decor, a vibrant setting, and initially, very friendly staff.

We arrived and ordered a bottle of wine, two double gins, and a bottle of water. We were under the impression it was a tapas/sharing-style restaurant, so we ordered accordingly: four cold tapas, bread, four hot tapas, and three starters to share. That’s when things changed.

The waiter approached us and made us feel extremely uncomfortable. He told us that what we ordered wasn’t enough, and in front of other guests, essentially berated us for “just ordering starters.” He said something along the lines of: “You’ve come here, reserved a table, we have live music, 100 people waiting—and you’re ordering only starters?” He insisted we order from the main menu and implied we were wasting their time. We felt humiliated and pressured into ordering more food just to avoid further confrontation.

After that, the atmosphere soured. The food, though delicious, was served abruptly, and the once-friendly staff were now cold and dismissive. We ended up ordering more food and drinks—more bottles of wine, more gin—and when the bill came, we split it (including the service charge). The same waiter then asked us to “round up,” which felt incredibly inappropriate given the service we received. We tried to brush it off and continue enjoying our evening.

Shortly after, even though we had just been served more drinks, the waiter came over again—this time telling us we had to leave as they “needed the table.” There was no polite closing or thank-you, just a blunt, rude dismissal. It felt like we were being shoved out the door.

It’s such a shame. The food, atmosphere, and location were genuinely wonderful. But the way we were treated was uncalled for and incredibly disappointing. We wanted to support a local business we had all loved previously, but after this experience, I don’t think we’ll be returning. We’ve never been made to feel so unwelcome in a...

I have never met a man as rude as the one who works in here. We booked a table for 6 for my birthday and 3 weeks prior we went down for lunch and changed it to an outdoor table. When we got there, there was apparently no record of this and the man was so rude and asked me, what he wanted me to do about it. It was really hot inside and we said, we didn’t want to eat inside. In said, there’s a table for 5 outside sit there if we have to. So we said that’s fine can we have another chair to which we was told no! Then he walked off and just left us standing there. So we ended up going to Darcy’s which ended up being lovely and friendly. I don’t think there was any need for his extremely rude attitude. In response to that reply, I did not say the booking was under my name and my partner had been in earlier that day to arrange a cake. So we were well aware whose name the booking was under. So I am unsure why you are lying about this. Also I did state in my review that you offered us a smaller table which I said yes to and like I also stated we were told we could not have an extra chair so of course I turned this down as I don’t think one of the party would be happy to stand or sit...

I was part of the party of 6 who had booked a table outside for my sister’s birthday, this table was booked 3 weeks in advance. I notice the response to my sister’s review on here has some inaccuracies. There was no mention of the table being booked under her partners name, also her partner was with us and had been in previously that evening to arrange a cake, so they definitely knew who the booking was for. We were told we could have a smaller table for 5 people outside to which we said yes to, we thought we could make it work, when we asked for a 6th chair we were told no, so what was one member of our party supposed to do, stand up and eat? The waiter then walked off and just left us standing there. He was extremely rude in the way he treated us, it is not our error that the booking was not made correctly. We ended up going to another of the restaurants in the marina and had a lovely meal, the atmosphere in there certainly made up for the disappointment we felt from Ronav’s. Such a shame as we were really looking forward to...