The King's Head — Restaurant in Epping Forest

We went for a birthday meal and from the get go when ordering drinks we were told that “ well I’ve never heard of Campari so I would guess no “ upon requesting this aperitiv. I could literally see the bottle so I went to the bar and ordered the drink myself because the server didn’t bother to ask.

Then there were no meals on the menus left. We asked for up to, I am not kidding, 6 meals and all were not available. Put in an order and then they came back saying that that too, a steak, was not available. This was all up around 30 mins of back and forth.

Unfortunately we then saw the manager eating, you guessed it, steak right in front of us. Huh?!?!

Ordered a drink and water and it didn’t come. Had to order again. Then were told there were no large bottles left.

Ordered a Caesar salad, hold the pancetta and, after waiting an age and being told that someone had to go to the petrol garage and get ingredients, then that they had to use normal salad leaves because the garage didn’t have it , whilst eating said salad there was … pancetta all through the meal. We were laughing at everything that was going to wrong up until then but this was out and out ineptitude, not only from the floor staff and from management but also from kitchen. We had confirmed with the manager and a server that to "please have no pancetta in the meal".

Being ex hospitality I was horrified at the amount of people not caring about their patrons.This place needs some serious attention. Yes, our bill was wiped, as it should have been by that stage, but come on. Get a grip. If you are constantly giving away meals becuase of the stuff ups then that is really bad for business.

Floors and toilets filthy, furniture with holes in it, surly staff ( some, not all ), tables unwiped and uncleared. Yuk. And...

Excellent Food, however appalling service. We were left at our table for 25 minutes without being asked what we would like to drink, I had to walk to the front of the restaurant to the manager to take our drinks order, the three of the four waitresses did not tend to us and unfortunately I feel that this was because we did not look like them, as tables who came after us ( 4 in total) were served in good time and were attended to. We were not placed in an obscure position, our table was central and not easily missed but yet the three waitresses in question managed to avoid us like the plague and when we attempted to get their attention we were met with abrupt and dismissive attitude, Very sorry state of affairs that in 2022 that this still happens. The only person who showed any interest in our custom was the manager Vicky. We arrived at 2pm and received our main 4.10pm. A waitress when asked if we could order said “We’re trying to hold the orders up for the kitchen”, my wife asked if we could at least order a drink and she said that she would be back, she never returned. It is such a shame as the food was out of this world however I would never subject myself or wife to such bad service or overt racism again. Vicky did give us our starters on the house but this was of little consolation to the conduct of her staff that we...

A lovely location on the high street. The inside decor is very nice and would be a fantastic spot for drinks in the summer. We were lucky to be given the private side room for our large party. The service was very good and our waitress was very attentive, given it was her first time serving a large party. Unfortunately, the food was disappointing. We were expecting gastro pub level food given the menu description and prices. But the food was more in keeping with The Harvester or a Greene Man pub. For example, beef brisket croquettes had minimal beef and I couldn’t even taste the brisket. The burger buns were soggy, burger patty’s were burnt and had no flavour, the seabass was dry and covered in oil, the pasta was bland and didn’t replicate any of the flavours as promised on the menu. The only enjoyable part of the food were the chips and garlic bread.

The food was 1/5 but the venue and service were a 5/5. So I’ve given an average of 2.5, rounded up to 3. If the food improves, this would definitely become a hot spot in...