The Crown — Restaurant in East Hertfordshire

Review of The Crown

We booked a table for 10 people at The Crown to celebrate our son’s birthday. When we arrived, the restaurant was almost empty and not busy at all. The waiters showed us to our table, but to our surprise, it was only set for 8 people instead of the 10 we requested. Additionally, the tables were all different sizes, which was disappointing and unprofessional. Since the weather was nice, we asked if we could sit in the garden. The waiter showed us a table there and brought menus. We placed our order and waited for a while, even though the restaurant was still not busy. When the food arrived, we were very disappointed. The food was cold. My husband’s salmon dish was particularly bad — not only was it unappetizing, but he also found two hairs in it. I also found a hair in my meal. To make matters worse, there were rats running in the flower pots near our table, going up and down repeatedly. This completely ruined the atmosphere and was unacceptable. Infection control and pest control should be urgently involved to address this issue, as the rats could easily enter the restaurant, especially since the doors were wide open. I understand this is a country pub, but that does not excuse having rats running around guest tables. There are families with children who play nearby, and this poses a health risk and safety concern. I wouldn’t even give this place zero stars based on this experience. Since we were celebrating our son’s birthday, we didn’t want to cause a scene or argue with the staff, but we felt compelled to leave this review and report the issues to the appropriate authorities. Customer service no skills at all. Shame as this was nice pub and we been here few times to celebrate with our family. We even did not take any photos as usual we does...

Really lovely experience. Lovely warm welcoming from the staff as we entered, was shown to our table and introduced to our server, Rosalina. She was amazing and really friendly, smiley and personable to my whole family. My children too a liking to her too and she engaged with them in a proper lovely way :) She wasn't overbearing or missing and always available for us. Really great service from her, thank you!!

The Crown was really really warm with a proper fire in the corner heating the building up and it felt really comfortable and homely there. I could've spent all day there just for the cosiness.

The food was great too! Proper good serving of a roast, not too much to stuff you but more than enough to satisfy you. The beef and chicken were a little over for us, but the flavours were incredible! I prefer my roast potatoes a little more crunchy, but no complaints at all. The carrot was delicious, the parsnip was sweet, the Yorkie was spot on and fluffy, the gravy was delicious. Honestly a top dog roast and looking forward to my next one haha! The kids roast was great too, little man loved his and got through a good...

Waited 20 minutes tonight for what we assume was the new member of staff to make a mocktail. I am pregnant and was so excited to see on their summer drinks menu that has been placed on every table, that no alcoholic cocktails are being served. However one by one we were informed that there are none of these available (each time waiting 5 mins for the staff member to find someone to ask whether they could do the drink and how to make the drink). Eventually we were told they could make one drink that was more expensive but half the ingredients were missing. They had one other guy serving who was really reluctant to help the new staff member. Instead of just helping the new guy and then allowing him to make drinks for other and get the qué down, he just let him struggle. Safe to say we left after that one drink. We also went to have food and whilst we had waited that 20 minutes, were told that no food is being served. So understaffed for a sunny weekend. We have been here before and loved it. Will think...