The King's Head — Restaurant in Epping Forest

We visited as a large 50+ party for a friends daughters 40th birthday gathering. She had pre-booked and pre-warned the venue to expect around 50 guests.

We arrived around 6pm. As it was also on a warm Saturday evening, the pub was very busy. Most of the birthday guests were in the large rear garden, many with children. It is a great area for children to play.

The pub itself is visually very nice. Very Olde Worlde. It is part of the Vintage Inns chain.

The problems became obvious when we went to order drinks. The bar area was about 3 people deep waiting to be served. Only 3 ladies were taking orders and were obviously getting flustered, not at all cheery.

We got our drink order and went outside to see the other guests.

At about 7pm we decided to order some snacks. Two bowls of chips, a burger and chips and a veggie tart and chips as a side. The server took our outside table number.

Well we waited and waited and waited. And then we waited some more. Food was being brought out but it seemed the servers had no idea of who had ordered what making table numbers when ordering totally irrelevant.

After an hour, we checked at the bar on our order. " It will be out soon". After an hour and 20 minutes we asked again. "Its coming". Two items finally arrived. The burger and the tart. But no chips. We queried. 10 minutes later the two bowls of chips finally arrived. An hour and a half after ordering...😠

This was not the only issue. Many of the children started collecting the large number of empty glasses that were slowly building up in the garden area. We thought that was good of them. That is until it came to light that they had been bribed by the staff to collect the glasses in return for soft drinks. Now if any one of those children had slipped and fell while collecting empty glasses, the consequences could have been disastrous.

There were more issues. There was virtually no water pressure in the toilets. They were smelling and it was impossible to wash your hands.

So. A nice looking venue. But NOT ENOUGH STAFF! They were pre-warned about a large party but didn't for whatever reason ensure they had the staff to cope.

Not good...

Experience at The Kings Head on February 4th, 2024:

My family and I frequently choose The Kings Head as our local pub for a pleasant family lunch. Despite not having a reservation, we have never encountered any issues until our recent visit. On February 4th, my son and I arrived promptly at the opening time of 12 pm. To our surprise, we were informed that, due to the lack of a reservation, seating was unavailable, with the explanation that the establishment was fully booked until 3 pm.

Disheartened, we briefly retreated to our car but decided to explore the website for potential openings. Fortunately, we discovered a table for two available at 12:30 pm and promptly made a reservation. Upon returning to the pub and presenting our booking, the staff member then informed us that while our reservation was acknowledged, our table time was limited to less than an hour. This discrepancy seemed unusual, especially considering the apparent availability at the time of booking.

Despite this initial confusion, I must commend the excellent customer service we received at our table. The staff was polite, and there was no indication to rush our dining experience, which significantly improved our overall sentiment. We concluded our meal at 13:20, having sat from 12:20 to 13:20. Interestingly, upon departure, we observed that the pub was not even half full.

While the food was delicious, I felt it necessary to share our experience with the local community to highlight the booking-related confusion we...

It loathes me to write this as this used to be an amazing pub, with great food, service and ambience.

On arrival we were greeted by a big group of swearing men just inside the front door by the bar- great start for a family friendly pub!

Staff took a fair while to acknowledge us waiting for a table, fair play they did all appear to be doing something, but a nod hello would have been helpful. We were told there was no roast beef, again it was fairly late in the day for a Sunday roast so this was understandable, but they seated a table 20 minutes later and miraculously had beef back on.

My daughters meal, for no specific reason, came out 20 mins before ours, she'd practically finished by the time our lukewarm, unappetising meals arrived. (hers did look nice)

The cauliflower cheese, sold as a special add on, had barely seen a microwave, never mind an oven. The cheese sauce was bland and they hadn't even attempted to make it at least look like it had been baked- ever heard of a grill? Parsnips deep fried, cabbage grey, Yorkshires like pancakes. None of it very hot and, I would hazard a guess, either frozen or not very fresh.

The 2 waitresses were trying their best, but didn't comment on the untouched food.

I notice from all the very hit and miss reviews, both on here and on other sites that someone does read and respond to all the reviews, but why on earth don't you do anything about it?

Shame on you vintage inns for letting this once fabulous pub become what...