Monkhams — Restaurant in Epping Forest

Five of us Visited on the 30/7 around 1pm. What should have been a lovely afternoon lunch with work friends was made uncomfortable by an extremely rude member of staff who brought over our food. First encounter with her we sat at a table with no number on it so asked and she replied "it's next to 28 so obviously it's 27" emplying we were stupid the table was also next to 21 so was not clear as to what the number it would be as we checked nearby tables before having to ask. Then, while bringing over some of our food, she approached the table with some plates and asked who's it was. We were all asking each other as we were sure none of us ordered it. She then shouted it at us again while throwing it down on the table opposite saying "it's hot you know" (let's add she was holding a hot plate with no napkin or anything, failing to see how that is our fault that it was hot) she then slammed it on to our table and stormed off after shouting the rest of our food at us and slamming it on the table. We all checked our orders, and none of us had ordered what she had brought over. She returned with some more of our food and took the original plate away (that she had been so rude to us about) and when I questioned her about not being ours she said "no it's not yours." Now this would have been the perfect time to apologise for her mistake, at least, but nothing, she was even rude about the fact that it weren't ours. Her customer service skills are awful and leave a lot to be desired. Having worked in customer service for 18 years myself including restaurants, I can understand the pressure and working in the heat can be awful, but I am a firm believer that the staff and how they treat you are one of the biggest parts of what makes the venue enjoyable and will have people wanting to return. On this occasion, it was not enjoyable at all, which is a shame as the food was pretty good and the gent who brought over our drinks was lovely. It's just a shame you have such a rude member of staff...

The worst dining experience of my life. Arrived to an empty pub, just a few tables occupied. Ordered drinks via phone app whilst we perused the extensive menu choice. Drinks arrived quickly. Moved to the bar to order and joined the queue at no.4 with just one person taking orders and serving drinks progress was painfully slow. Finally got order to be told no salsa for the sharing nachos and no fish supper available. Quick rethink and ordered the steak, medium rare. Nachos finally appeared after a twenty minute wait and I think they must also have been running out of sour cream and cheese judging by the minuscule amounts. Plenty of avacado though, served in large lumps. After another wait of over forty minutes the main courses arrived albeit minus my partners onion rings on her mix and match but they did remember the side order of coleslaw, just a teaspoon full for £1.29. Her chicken was hard and when the onion rings finally arrived after jogging the waiters memory they were cold. My steak, or gristly piece of meat was cooked medium rare and the accompanying well done, almost burnt, but stone cold chips were an added bonus. Only one person waiting on tables for the entire pub. I have eaten here many times in the past and tbh you don’t expect gourmet service at a Hungry Horse but this was far from even mediocre service. We will not...

Visited with my husband and our two children (15 and 10 years old). It was our first time and we had a 3 course meal with drinks. Portion sizes were great, and there was an interesting selection of burgers. The starters were tasty, the mains and desserts were just OK. The staff who served us were friendly. The tables and floors were dirty and one of the chairs was falling apart but it is otherwise a nice looking, well decorated pub and it SHOULD have felt cozy. What dragged it down massively was the live action episode of Jeremy Kyle going on at the next table. The language was so vulgar and topics of conversation were so inappropriate considering the number of children present and they were so loud that my daughter actually got quite upset at one point and wanted to leave. We moved ourselves to a table further away but sadly we could still hear them. We then had a horrendous family come in whose children were causing havoc running up and down, throwing things, screaming, banging and swearing at their parents. Now I know this isn't the pub's fault per se, but it really did ruin our experience and has put us off returning. I'm sure it's not always like that, but we'd rather not...