The Birch — Restaurant in England

I have always reserved The Birch for that special meal, a treat, somewhere saved for an occasion. This Christmas I booked Santa for my son close by to The Birch and invited good friends to join us after Santa at The Birch with the children for that special Christmas experience. I raved about how good it would be and we all looked forward to it. We were met with a warm reception, drinks at the bar. We were seated by the cooking area and immediately, unfortunately the waitress spilt oils & balsamic vinegar down my back as she rushed past. I didn't make a fuss, I let them clean me up and continued with the evening. As 3 of the 4 adults were driving, only myself could have a drink and I ordered Vodka, soda & lime at the table and the waitress asked could she order drinks for the 4 children we had with us. It took ages to come and after waiting longer than I should have had to, I noticed that my friends 8 year old son had been given my alcoholic drink by mistake and he had drunk half of it! We called the 'Manager/Landlord' over and made him aware, then the food arrived , he apologised and said we could discuss after the meal. So, he came back and I passed him over to my friend as Oliver is her son not mine. The discussion went on for a while, but the Manager seemed reluctant to look further into it or admit that it was a huge problem, he even suggested at one point that WE had maybe given Oliver the drink! It wasn't going well and I cannot understand why he would not have just dealt with it efficiently, apologised, made an effort to find out who served this and how it had happened. 3 of the children had shorter glasses and Oliver had a taller glass with a lime and a stirrer in it. Now this obviously is a mistake, but its how this man dealt with it that has offended me. Oliver is 8 years old, he has leukaemia and currently 1 year into medication where he takes very toxic drugs for chemotherapy. It is unfortunate for The Birch that not only did they serve alcohol to a minor but to a child in this very sad, awful situation. My friend was obviously upset and distressed and this man did not handle this professionally. So it of course ruined our experience, the food was good, the service and experience was terrible. We could not wait to leave as quickly as possible. We paid the bill promptly and left and on reflection, we realised that the manager had taken off the cost of Oliver's Vodka! he had also taken off the service charge!! Plus he had charged us for 8 adult meals instead of 4 adult and 4 children's meals, therefore overcharging us. I think removing the service charge was absolutely ridiculous and unsympathetic considering how the evening had gone, he took away our right to decide whether to pay that service charge or not and really gave us no discount for the terrible experience we had that night. Since then my friend has recovered the overpayment for the children's meals from The Birch. We were not looking for a free meal, we just think that the way this man, who told us at least 10 times he had been the licensee for 17 years handled this situation terribly. My friend and I are both successful well known small business owners in Hertfordshire, both businesses we deal with the general public daily, this was not handled correctly at the time or afterwards by the other gentleman (his Father we think). Its such a shame, that special place is no longer special and the outcome could have been very different. Oliver was fine after his first taste of alcohol and continues with his chemotherapy. The food was good ,but should you have a problem or a complaint do not expect a quality professional...

I am shocked to read the below response from management and the allegations made against our party!

In regards to your comment about resolving the bill ‘mistake’ amicably. We pointed out the mistake and we’re then ignored by several members of staff whilst waiting to pay. After 20mins a member of the party got up to approach the manager who, on quote, said “I’m not coming over to speak with you, can’t you see I have a busy restaurant”. Very amicable of yourselves.

Never ever have I had that sort of response from management anywhere! We have eaten in sorts of places from michelin star to Wetherspoons and quite frankly this was the worst.

In regards to you taken offence to us feeling discriminated against. We are so sorry that our being discriminated against upset you. But quite frankly it was true. We sat in the restaurant whilst the 3 tables around us were approached by members of staff numerous times asking if they could get any drinks or refills and asking how the food was. Our glasses were empty and had been since the starters. In fact some one came to clear the glasses while we were eating our mains, yet failed to ask if we wanted any more drinks. My sister, who sat in a chair in the exact position that your restaurant had laid it out, was told to move mid way through mains and she was “in the way”. No offer to help move her plate. She was just told to move to the chair on the other side of the table.

In regards to the lies of our party approaching other tables at the restaurant, this is quite simply not true! We remanded at our table during the interaction and when leaving one member of the family saw a long time friend and stopped to speak with him. (He had been waiting 30mins for a drink and still had not had his order taken, he will also not be back). This was NOT an aggressive interaction or even an interaction with a stranger. That part of the response really just shows how The Birch dealt with the whole situation and cements the fact that we were not treated well.

The only part that we can agree on is the fact we won’t be back, and don’t take satisfaction in thinking it is because you ‘barred us’ it’s is because of the appalling way in which we were, and continue to be, treated.

(Regards to trip...

I wish I'd read the reviews before I went to this restaurant...

I rang this restaurant a week ago to book a table for five people (4 adults and a 2 year old). I asked for a table at 1pm. The man who was taking the booking kept saying 1:30? I kept saying no 1pm. He wasn't explaining why we couldn't have 1pm which was making the conversation awkward and confusing. He finally said we could have 1:15pm which I was happy with.

When we arrived, a week later, at what I thought was the correct time (seeing as I triple checked it) the barman at the front of house kept saying no your table was booked for 12:45. I'm 100% sure that I had got the time correct but regardless of this, considering they had tables available, you'd think they would have just shrugged it off.

After an awkward debate about the time, they finally allocated us a table. We sat down and waited, waited, waited, waited and waited before I had to ask someone if we could order drinks. The drinks then arrived. We then continued to wait and wait and wait and wait before I had to ask someone if we could order our food and give us a children's menu.

To put a long story short - there was a hell of a lot of waiting for food or with empty plates in front of us. Miserable looking staff (except for a few). I don't even recall one person asking us if our meal was ok and no one asked us if we wanted any more drinks. My two year old was golden for the entire 2 hours and 15 mins (in this time we only had a main meal and a pudding and the restaurant wasn't even full).

The food was average.

At the end of the meal, I had to ask someone to clear the table but ended up stacking the plates myself. Then my daughter had had enough by this point (of the waiting around) so I asked for the bill. My daughter decided to sit on the floor by my chair. Someone who works there came passed with a tray of drinks. He said, very rudely, "I have a tray of hot drinks" and before I could move my daughter out of the way he just stepped over her.

Overall, a disappointing experience. The majority of staff were miserable, the food was overpriced for what it was and the constant waiting around was...