The White Horse — Restaurant in East Hertfordshire

Note: on my date of return home after a two-night break, I emailed the feedback below to info@whitehorsehertingfordbury for the attention of the owner, the point of contact provided by the "duty manager". I have not yet received the courtesy of a reply.||||1) room was spacious, attractively decorated and comfortable. Likewise bathroom, although shower head was faulty and needs replacing - water escaped from the circumference and aimed directly at one's face while showering.||||2) my husband and I were looking forward to dining at the White Horse on both evenings of our stay. We also planned to have breakfast on both mornings. Unsurprisingly, in light of the unpleasant dining experience described below, we took our custom elsewhere. I did not want a further encounter with the "duty manager", whose unpleasant, sullen and ultimately aggressive attitude had spoiled our stay.||||This was my dining experience on the first night. I ordered "pan fried salmon niçoise with olive tapanade (sic)". When this arrived, I realised there was no tapenade, instead a large number of black olives. I asked the person delivering our wine, R, to check the missing item with the kitchen. Upon R's return, he said there was no tapenade available and "I apologise for the mistype", a phrase he must have said to me about a dozen times during the remainder of the evening in the restaurant.||||I was not impressed with the lack of a key constituent within the title of a dish and asked for a consideration to be made as an adjustment to the bill. R* said he could offer a consideration of £2. I was astounded and felt insulted by this derisory offer, saying that a consideration of at least £5 would be reasonable. R* repeated "I apologise for the mistype" and left our table.||||I began to eat my meal and realised it was unacceptably dry. I decided to ask for some mayonnaise. Because there were no members of staff in sight, I went up to the check-in desk and R* approached me, saying yet again "I apologise for the mistype" - I had not even requested the mayonnaise at this point. I returned to our table and R* eventually delivered some mayonnaise, forcefully putting it on the table in something between placing and slamming. When I had finished eating, I left many of the black olives which had been off-putting in their dryness and profusion.||||R* came to take away our dishes and asked me if I had finished. The passive-agressive tone of his voice made me say "no". I said I couldn't understand how this situation could be described as a "mistype", an expression I had heard by now countless times from R, given that the words "tapenade" and "black olives" bear no resemblance to one another and it was nonsense to suggest that someone had accidentally typed the wrong word. I said that the menu change had not been flagged to me either before I placed my order, after I placed my order or when the dish was delivered. I asked to speak to the Duty Manager and R* said, with a smirk, that he was the duty manager.||||At this point, my husband asked which Brewery Chain owns the White Horse, as he knew I would want to write and complain. R* replied that it was privately owned. My husband asked for a name and email address, which R* refused to provide, citing “data protection”. My husband then asked R* what he thought his wife’s on-line review was likely to be, in light of the above-described circumstances. After another round of several “I apologise for the mistype” phrases from R, I asked him to bring the bill. He returned with this (copy attached), slammed it on the table along with a piece of paper with the email address ‘info@whitehorsehertingfordbury.co.uk’ and said that £4 (four pounds) had been deducted, after which he left the table. R* returned shortly afterwards and my husband paid the bill by...

Disappointing. I phoned the restaurant at around 13:00 to advise them of an additional member to our party of six. When the phone was eventually answered on the fourth attempt I was advised that there would be no problem as the restaurant was quiet this evening which I was happy to hear.

We arrived at 7:15 for our 7:30 reservation and where shown to a table laid for 8, Why? It was a round table without awkward legs. why not remove one place setting and at least the guests do not have to appear as if two of them have had an argument.

The menu was presented on a type written yellow paper in a dog eared encapsulation(my local Indian restaurant presents it's menu in a nice bespoke leather cover) and stood little resemblance to the advertised menu on the internet. There was no Rump Steak, no shoulder of lamb and certainly no 20oz Cote de boeuf, roasted tomato, portabella mushroom, hand cut chips, house salad, onion rings béarnaise sauce (for two to share) which I hade been looking forward to. Instead there was a Turkey Christmas dinner (please, it is now the 28th of December, every one has seen enough Turkey to last the year) or Roast beef with Yorkshires and red wine jus, both very nice I am sure but neither was available. Most of the party settled for a starter of breaded mushrooms with a duo of dips ( Barbeque sauce which tasted very much like Mc Donnald's and sweet chilly dip) but it was interesting how the cremated outside of the mushrooms contrasted with the watery tasteless inside to provide a lacklustre prelude to our meal.

The service, given that there were only 4 parties in of which ours was the largest, was poor. Several times we had to ask for condiments that should have been offered with the meal (the tartar sauce which was supposed to come with the scampi arrived around 6 minutes after the meal and had to be requested and I think they sent a runner out for the vinegar) and drinks glasses sat empty on the tables until the fact that a refill was desired was pointed out to a passing waiter and there was a distinct functional aspect to the service with little or no personal interaction, we where not even told the waiters name and had no encouragement to begin a rapport with him.

The Scampi that most of us ordered faired a little better but I have enjoyed the same meal at a Harvester restaurant along with 500 other guests. I should have liked something more in keeping with the occasion really but it was not to be found amongst the beef burger and lasagne offerings.

The cheese board was adequate and the ladies enjoyed their chocolate sweets but when at 10:15 the staff started to move tables around us setting up for breakfast that was nearly the final straw.

The coffee was nice but it was made obvious that we should not take too long drinking it and I have never needed to explain to a waiter how to make Gallic Coffee before.

The bill when it arrived was a reasonable £224 but I am sure that they would have been disappointed with my miserly gratuity of £6 but that was probably more than the service was worth.

As you may have understood I was very disappointed and I feel aggrieved that what should have been a very special occasion was marred by the poor service and lack of attention which could so easily have been rectified.

No I shall not be returning in a hurry, perhaps we were unlucky but it is not an experience I am anxious to repeat.

I would have posted this review on the Restaurant's own web site but as far as I can see there is no...

This review is for the restaurant only, I didn't stay in the hotel I was part of a large party that came for lunch on Saturday 9th November. It was almost full in the restaurant with a wedding party, a private function opposite the bar and us (2 long tables). We had all pre-ordered our meals from a set menu, but there were a couple of problems with the dishes. My friend didn't get her main course until we had all finished ours. Staff were very apologetic and offered to minus it from the bill.

The food itself was average. I had the burger and the meat was really bland. The person next to me had the pork belly which was drowned in some sort of consomme, thus making the crackling soggy and not crunchy as expected. I had a white chocolate chesse cake for dessert which didn't taste of white chocolate or even vanilla. The texture was weird and not creamy, almost like a light jelly texture. Not my idea of a good cheesecake! Unfortunately I didn't enjoy any of my courses.

I don't know if they had too many bookings and not enough staff but even trying to get condiments was a battle. In the end one of us went searching and got it ourselves. The staff were lovely and friendly just maybe a bit stretched that day. It was a shame about the food but I expected better for the price. I think if I returned I would avoid the weekend and go on a weekday for lunch or dinner. I'd like to give the White Horse another try due the staff and it being a lovely pub/restaurant (and this is what my rating is based on) but I hope the food would be a lot...