The Crown of Cookham — Restaurant in England

Food was delicious, great place to sit outside in the sun. Sadly, the waiting/bar staff and managers were awful. I rung ahead on a Sunday to see if they had availability for 3 for late lunch, they wouldn’t tell me yes or no, we went to see if we could be seated in the bar/outside anyway. Again the waitress didn’t give us a clear answer, barely acknowledged us, even though over half the tables were unoccupied. We went to the bar to order our food, once ordered we realised they had charged us about £2 extra per burger.. on returning to the bar to query I was told it was a discretionary service charge, which is automatically put on. I think this is outrageous considering we sat ourselves, got our own drinks, ordered our own food, and had to get our own cutlery and condiments. I have worked in pubs for years and have NEVER done this or experienced this. One of the first things we saw when we walked in were staff sitting on a high table at the front of the pub cleaning cutlery, in full view of everyone. Obviously there was some controversy over them doing so between two managers as one manager in front of myself and many others at the bar made it clear she was fine with them sitting there and the other manager wasn’t (which he was right to think). Staff hovering around, not acknowledging customers standing at the bar, not cleaning tables, barely even communicating when asked a question by a customer. I did not see one staff member smile. This pub has so much potential, it’s such a shame. One female manager in particular was incredibly unfriendly and unapproachable. Not what you expect in a such a...

Would give 0 if possible. Went for lunch as have had nice meal there before. This time appalling - that is even putting it lightly. Our food did not arrive any where near descent time and even though it says on signs that they will get the food to you as soon as possible. You will expect to receive your food before a 6 top and a 3 top, that arrived much later than you - in this place that's not the case and even then after asking it took another 10 min. When the food arrived my order was wrong. When this was mentioned apologize was made and a promise of quick rectification will be made. Lets say it this way my food was still not with me by the time my 91 year old grandmother had finished her plate - and she is a slow eater. Also it seems this place does not know the different between a chip and a potato wedge as the later was served instead of the right menu item. Disgrace had to ask for a refund in the end with no apologize from anyone this time for the appalling experience I had had. Will never return and make sure that the suggestions I have made will be retracted and true colors of The Crown forwarded to all. As a local I'm ashamed to have this establishment in the vicinity...

A very nice Pub with good food from an excellent chef.

Accommodation for an overnight stay was, however, disappointing and unpleasant. The annexe room was clean and very modern but obviously hadn't been heated for quite some time. Not entirely sure why you'd expect guests to stay in a room like an ice-well, with a piercingly cold bed and freezing bathroom. So it was uninviting and uncomfortable.

The sole heat sources were a small, inadequate, fiddly-to-work electric wall heater and a small towel rail in the very draughty bathroom, both of which took many hours to warm the rooms to a comfortable temperature. Operating instructions for the wall heater would help.

I spoke to a staff member about the heat problem more than once but no apology was made in my hearing. When I asked for help with the heating for the third time, the team member became obviously annoyed. A return stay is very unlikely unless it's in the summer months.

Would recommend the food but...