Toby Carvery Hemel Hempstead — Restaurant in Dacorum

We was racially harassed by a server , from the minute we sat down til we left , she was raising her voice, due to the fact I had asked for a container from a different member of staff whilst I went to speak to management & supervisor, she continued to harass my friend who is also black , at the table raising her voice after I had asked her very politely pls do not return to our table , or speak to us. We will deal with management only. She proceeded to continue to come back to ask my friend who gave you the container , demanding to know why & who I had received the container from , my friend very softly replied as the orher guests were feeling awkward from the servers attitude, she replied my friend explained its her container and she was given it. Pls stop raising your voice. She replied I'm not raising my voice and raised to the point that I heard her whilst I was speaking to the manager, my friend immediately asked if we could pay the bill to leave. As we was waiting to pay the bill. She comes over again to the both of us asking what's our problem. At to which point I raised my hand in a stop ✋️ fashion asking her quietly and calmly. Please we've asked you numerous times do not approach us in a loud & aggressive manner , or approach the table at all. You continue to ignore us.

The restaurant was short staffed and the manager was on the deck carving supervisor was busy taking orders. There was a queue at the front reception/ booking desk.

I will not be returning to this establishment ever again. The two melinated staff members are clearly there to make up thr numbers to show the company is equal opportunities and diverse however due to it being set in hemel hampstead I've noticed the area is quite racist. I myself sadly had to flea Birmingham due to domestic violence to reside near Luton unfortunately you've closed the milton keynes restaurant? In Birmingham this level of discrimination and disrespect would never had been experienced due to the fact Birmingham is one of the most diverse cities in the UK. We know how to respect those from all walks of live. Not how this narrow minded Karen decided to discriminate and explain that they get disciplinaries for giving out containers. Again that's not something that you shout or even tell customers about. Especially if your just a waitress , not even a supervisor or a manager. Due to the fact I'm disabled and all the getting up and down from the table to speak to the managers multiple times I'm exhausted and sore. To be very honest I'm disgusted at this level of service & that people are allowed to get away with this level of discrimination, embarrassing us so much that we wanted to leave immediately, This woman with a " Karen " attitude needs to...

Booked a table for 7:15pm and arrived on the dot. However there was nobody at the host station to seat us or the group that arrived right behind us. There were 2 girls at the bar, which looks right at the hosts station however they were just milling about. A total of 4 members of staff passed us and after 5 minutes the girl who was presumably the host came over, and told us she needed to go and lay tables before she could seat anyone. I was surprised this hadn’t already been done since it didn’t look as if she was actually doing any tasks behind the bar and she was walking around the restaurant, again not actually doing anything, as if to avoid seeing to us. It was also surprising that our table wasn’t laid since we had booked, and were 5 minutes past our booking time at this point. When she came back over for the second time (which was pushing on for 10 minutes at this point), there was no sorry for the wait, and she couldn’t even manage to conjure up a smile. Since this is the first face you see when you enter the restaurant, it seems some rejigging in staff roles would be a good idea. I also don’t know how appropriate low waisted cargos and a crop top is for work?

Pretty much as soon as we sat down I ordered the vegan pastry. After waiting for my dish for 15 minutes, which already seemed like a long wait if it was to come out- the host returned to inform us that they didn’t actually have the pastry in stock. As you can imagine, I was quite annoyed considering we were already delayed to be seated and now I had sat hungry for 15 minutes when my dish wasn’t even being prepared that entire time. I went and got a meat-free plate instead. Which if you’re vegan, you’re really not left with many options considering multiple of the sides and vegetables contain milk. You’re getting a pretty dreary plate for £8. So a word of warning to vegans, they probably won’t have the vegan option in stock! Gratefully, our waitress (not the host) informed us she wouldn’t be charging for my meal.

Our waitress however was really lovely, very sweet, attentive and polite- this would have been a one star review if it wasn’t for her alone!

We definitely won’t be returning but at least now we know. Cling on to that lovely waitress because that’s about all you’ve got...

As we walked in there was a bunch of flies buzzing around the main entrance/reception which made me feel uneasy but I decided to wait to see if they were swarming around the food, which thankfully they weren't, but there were a few around our table which was right next to the drinks machine & the sauce/gravy area. I told one of the waitresses because I was actually quite shocked at this & thought that somebody should know so that they can do something about it. The waitress asked me if I wanted the manager but I was happy to leave it with her to pass on to the management.

As we waited at reception a couple came in behind us & were turned away because they hadn't booked, but the restaurant did have quite a few availabile tables when we arrived, we were there an hour & there were plenty of tables that could have accommodated 2 people.

There was a little wait for our waitress as it was very busy but thankfully not too long. We got our refill glasses, which were half pint glasses as they'd run out of the 330ml ones...okay fine. Then came "we've run out of Pepsi max" 🙄 The food is just standard to be honest. The turkey was freshly cooked & I must say that it was nice & I'm not really a big turkey fan but it was tender & not dry at all. The veg was just so basic, no flavour, dry & bland and the potatoes were also bland & just tasted oily.

We got the bill & paid cash & when the waitress brought our change, it was 3p short because "we've run out of pennies in the till, do you want me to go out the back & get your 3p?" I'm sorry but you just don't do that, you either round up (not down) or you just go & get the rest of the money! 🤦🏻‍♀️

All in all it was okay, but definitely below standard & we definitely won't be going back.

Edit: I really don't think you can say the flies are due to the doors being opened and closed... Every single restaurant I've been into has been entered via the door, which is opened & closed all day & I've never seen that amount of flies! There's clearly an issue that needs...