Royal Saracens Head — Restaurant in England

Went for lunch for a 50th 6th March 2023 . Noisy staff loitering by resturant check in desk, during meal one was long shoulder length dark haired female who was behind the bar at first when we came in, other was some scruffy bloke in yellow hoodie, another scruffy bloke in black Adidas top and a beanie hat (clearly staff off duty) the other 2 were the restaurant waiting team serving us. Then from the bar area some guy holding a towel with ice in it to his head who went up stairs , I thought the remake of Faulty Towers was being filmed , he reappeared moments later with towel still to his head perhaps he is the new Manuel? Seems to endemic as the amount of off duty staff loitering about the resturant desk seemed to grow and staff more interested in creating noise and talking to them , worst was long haired female bar staff member. Either no manger on duty or was hiding upstairs. A lot of menu choices not availble which was disappointing given this was a Monday and the pub is owned by a large resourced chain such as Mitchell and Butlers. Perhaps inventory management needs looking at. We're not told about lack dishes availble until after we had ordered , should be mentioned first in our experience on eating out. So we Ordered starters only to be told squid not ready for today ?? Was it still defrosting out back ? Scallops I had to start were fine , beef dumpling my other half had was ok but dumpling rock hard at the bottom as if it had been in a microwave. Waitress informed , no apology or acknowledgement and she wasn't the most attentive waitress, young and needs training I would say. When serving other tables of 2 people she didn't seem to know who had ordered what dishes , is that hard? Lamp rump main, sea bass main were good , then they should be. Desserts good.

Not patch on what this place used be . Massive room improvement , my other half who works in hospitality was not impressed and commented this would not be tolerated in the well know pub and resturant firm she works for. Can't say we are particularly inspired to return. Did we leave a tip , no , only tip is read the above and learn from it. Only reason given 1 stars is due to main courses and desserts that marked the score up , other wise would be 0. Could be bothered haggling over bill as just...

Party of eight of us for my daughter’s birthday meal. Waited 20 minutes after being seated and then I had to get the attention of a staff member to take our food and drink order. Lots of staff milling around tidying tables but no acknowledgement of customers ( it wasn’t very busy lots of empty tables ) Drinks took ages to arrive and we only got them after I once again got the attention of a staff member. Food was bought out quite quickly although a big delay between first meal arriving and my father in laws meal didn’t arrive so I had to chase for that one. My daughter ordered a side salad but that never materialised and I really couldn’t be bothered to chase it as daughter had finished eating her meal anyway. No sauces were offered and again I had to get the attention of a waitress and ask for horseradish. No one came to check if everything was ok and when we finished our meals no one came to clear away or offer a dessert menu. We went to our car and bought in daughters birthday cake and had that for dessert and no one seemed to even notice. I asked for the bill and it included a service charge which I requested was removed as the service was so appalling. Manageress was very apologetic but it wasn’t really her fault as she was overseeing a large party in the back room. The restaurant itself was not busy. There were lots of waiting staff milling around doing nothing significant and definitely not observing the needs of customers in the restaurant. Had the restaurant and staff been very busy and staff stretched it would have been forgivable to have to wait but it really wasn’t and it was a very disappointing experience. Despite everything the roast dinners were very good ( although a couple of them could’ve been hotter )and they had run out of cauliflower cheese, the other meals were average. We certainly won’t be returning anytime soon and will not be recommending to...

I thought for a long time these were independent pubs, or at least a small chain, but now I realise it is a Mitchells & Butlers chain – interesting segue from the old branding-based models. Unless you look for it, or you visit a number of these and spot the identical websites/menus, you don’t really realise and these do feel a bit more unique than eating at, say, a Beefeater or Harvester.

Anyhow, visited this large former coaching inn in Beaconsfield this week whilst staying in the area for work – last minute booking for a larger party good to have, but receiving many texts asking me where I was and then one ‘cancelling’ my booking as a no-show whilst we were already eating less so… 😃 I mean, it didn’t practically affect my meal, but it’s not very joined-up. Don’t blacklist me M&B….

Food menu is decent – pub classics and pizzas. A familiar menu I’ve eaten from in various parts of the country - including Bristol, Brampton and Hightown – opted for the fish and chips this time. Massive piece of fish, absolutely huge – tasty, but probably needed either more chips, or to be a bit smaller, to perfect the ratio. I don’t normally advocate less food, but sometime less is more. No starter or pudding, not because they didn’t sound good, but because it wasn’t that sort of group really. I think next time I go to one of these I’ll try the pizza again – the Diabola was always nice when I’ve had it before.

The beer was Peroni – as it was and as it should be. Reasonably priced at £5.65 a pint. For a pricey town, that’s not bad.

Overall a decent dining experience – nothing to set the world alight but a solid performance and a menu that caters to a wide variety of tastes. A great place to bring a larger group with different tastes as there will generally be something for everyone...