Green Man Pub — Restaurant in Harlow

Terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE experience - AVOID.

Two of us visited today (Sunday afternoon/evening). Initially, we ordered a cup of tea and sparkling water at the bar, having an hour to spare before an appointment. They said they only had soda water and told us they would bring the tea to the table. All of the empty tables were dirty, so we chose the one with the least amount of food on it, but couldn’t rest our hands on its surface given the amount of spilled liquid present. Thirty-five minutes passed before the tea came (the soda water tasted awful) - and we had to remind the waitress because she’d forgotten. When she eventually came, she arrived without apology, and spilled a significant amount of the tea onto the table. I looked at her, not thrilled at only narrowly avoiding a boiling water burn, and she laughed, said, ‘oops’, and left, again without apology or without offering to wipe the table, leaving us to stare at the unhygienic, hot, liquid mess.

Nonetheless, we thought that perhaps they were too busy, as it was Sunday, and wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. We liked the beautiful interior and the place was near somewhere we were visiting, so thought we’d try again for dinner service - BIG MISTAKE.

We returned just before 7 p. m. and were promptly seated by a friendly member of staff - possibly the manager. In our half of the restaurant, maybe three or four tables including ours were taken, and we spotted at least three waitresses working there, so there were clearly enough staff for the amount of people present. However, it still took at least twenty minutes before someone came to our table - the same waitress as we’d seen earlier in the day - and we had to get her attention (again) beforehand.

We started by ordering one orange juice and asked if they offered a Virgin Mary (a spicy tomato juice with no alcohol - a basic, standard mocktail). The waitress said, ‘no, we don’t really do cocktails’. Someone clearly wasn’t paying attention because, first, that’s not a cocktail and, second, lists of cocktails were advertised everywhere - a menu at the table, at the bar and some even listed on a board…! I explained that a V. M. was essentially a tomato juice and asked if she could check if they sold that. She said, ‘yeah’ and immediately left without asking about the rest of our order, taking drinks orders from other tables as she exited.

Some time later, she returned with drinks for other tables, ignoring us, and then went to the computer to check more diners in. We waved to her, jokingly but pointedly saying, ‘we thought you’d forgotten about us’, as she slouched over. Yet again, she offered no apology, just saying, ‘yeah, they don’t do it’. I said I’d have water instead, to which she replied, ‘right…’, and we earnestly told her we were ready to order food as well, given that she obviously wasn’t going to ask. Predictably at this point, she vacuously said, ‘yeah, right’, followed by, ‘oh…my battery just died’ (referring to the electronic machine she used to take orders). She started fiddling with the device and at that point we got up, saying that we’d leave. She looked shocked and the member of staff who’d checked us in noticed, stopping what she was doing but not getting herself involved while we were there. We left with no offer of apology or explanation from anyone.

I used to work as a waitress and never spoke so impolitely to customers, and certainly didn’t leave a table mid-order…!!! It’s not clear how much of this woman’s don’t-care attitude came from her and how much of it was poor training…given that there have been several other negative reviews left on this platform over the past couple of weeks and they’ve all received the same, ‘we’re sorry, this is not our usual standard, etc.’, response, I’m not holding my breath for an explanation here, but hopefully this review will prevent at least one person from wasting their time and money...

A colleague and myself stayed in the hotel as 'business guests'. On arrival, the receptionist greeted us and advised she wouldn't be long. A senior member of staff was providing some training / support. No issue at all, we all need to learn. We waited patiently for several minutes. We checked in and went to our rooms. Rooms are beautifully refurbished and have some really nice touches. I'd recommend not losing sight of the basics - high level dust and cobwebs, or shampoo in a conditioner bottle.

We didn't fancy much on the menu, so we ate out at Bengal Cottage.

We returned around 8PM and went for drinks on our pre-authorised allowance. This was easier said than done; the business isn't set up the same way as other mainstream hotels, where you provide your room number and its automatically charged and deducted from the respective payment method. Apparently, we were supposed to have a 'slip' when we checked in. We didn't. We weren't given any slip on check-in. So, off we went, back out of the pub and over to reception. Admittedly, the receptionist owned up to not providing and apologised. No problem - minor interference. We returned to the bar and ordered our first round of drinks. Upon completing the order, we were informed by the bar attendant that they were unable to track our spends. As a workaround, we obtained receipts for each purchase.

Three rounds later, we returned to our rooms for the night. I personally thought the bed and pillows were quite hard, and that coming from someone who has a Simba. No sooner had I fallen asleep, I was woken by a slamming door. Fire doors are not supposed to slam shut, they're supposed to close firmly but quietly. I settled back down, before what sounded like the Silverstone race track and planes going overhead. The window was closed. This annoyance subsided and I finally fell asleep again. However, this was short lived and intermittent.The room was very warm and the knocking of the pipes disturbed my sleep for the remainder of the night. I decided to get up at 05:30.

7AM, my colleague and I went for our pre-authorised breakfast. Or so we thought. Host, rather unhelpfully, advised that she didn't have it on her list. We assured her, breakfast was included. Standing firm, the host wasn't able, or was unwilling to help resolve. We had to leave the dining area, return to the hotel reception, where the restaurant host advised that there might not be anyone there. They were correct, no one was there. We rang the bell. The next minute, the night receptionist appeared. He informed us he was also the chef and that we'd taken him away from the kitchen. Although, he wasn't wearing any chef whites. He asked if we had our evening meal allowance slip. This was in our rooms. He advised that we would need this. Up two flights of stairs, to retrieve our evening meal allowance slip??? Back over the the pub with slip in hand, knowing we'd already spent our allowance to evening before. We explained that the allowance showing was separate to our breakfast. The host accepted and took our order.

I ordered eggs benedict. Never ever had them hard before, but today, they were hard boiled! Part the way through our breakfast, the host appeared with the senior member of staff. We were quizzed again about our business allowance and booking details.

It's a poor state of affairs when the hotel / pub can't get their ducks in a row. It's a relatively simple process, with explicit instructions from the booking agent. What compounded matters more, was staff unwilling to help resolve, yet entirely willing to have guests going backwards and forwards because they failed to deliver the very basic guest service.

Overall, a rather disappointing experience. Think we will still to the bigger chain...

*WARNING

My wife messaged this Hotel via Booking.com with whom she reserved/purchased our hotel room stays and also directly emailed the hotel Rate Green Man by Chef & Brewer Collection - Harlow this Letter:

| Please read below what took place during our one-night stay at Rate Green Man by Chef & Brewer Collection - Harlow:

My name is Katarina C. I fully paid for £150 GBP to reserve 2 rooms at your Hotel in Harlow. One room was to serve as a safe place to sleep for my husband Markus and I. The second room was for my two parents whom were flying back to Slovakia the following morning at 6am from London Stansted Airport. My husband and I reside in Nottingham so desired to get the long drive out of the way the day before their departure in order to get much needed rest and reduce stresses on my mother and my severely disabled husband who cannot be left unattended at home.

Checking-in was atypical of a hotel lodging. As seamless as one could expect. No problem. Your hallways and the cleanliness of your rooms were of an acceptable standard. Doors to both of our hotel rooms at Rate Green Man by Chef & Brewer Collection - Harlow were fully locked and closed. In the middle of the night as my husband and I lay naked in our beds asleep because the hotel rooms at Rate Green Man by Chef & Brewer Collection - Harlow are sooooooo Hell inferno HOT, a loud crashing sound of our hotel room door (room 105) opening along with the simultaneous turning on of the bright lights frightened both of us half to death. Markus has a severe traumatic brain injury (diffuse axonal) and should not be awoken sporadically because it is extremely bad for his mental health. He cannot get back to sleep for hours at best. I was terrified and toplessly exposed as I gripped the bed sheets to my chest in fear. A voice from a figure we could not see from the angle we laid, brashly and loudly commanded "I am sorry. Wrong room!". It was a feminine voice and they left the lights on before slamming the door behind themselves. Markus and I were both shaken. A time later after we managed to calm ourselves down some, we both dressed ourselves before going downstairs to your Reception. Your Receptionist was attending another Guest so we waited for her to finish her interaction with your other Customer before approaching. With a sincere humility, your Receptionist admitted to us that it was her that intruded our hotel room in the middle of the night. While she apologised to my husband, this is wholly and justly unacceptable.

Markus did not get back to slumber and I really struggled with the innate ensued fear brought onto me by your Staff. My parents thankfully did not suffer the same fate and for that I am of course personally grateful. At 5:50am on Monday 23/09/2024, I drove my parents on the motorways to London Stansted Airport beyond tired and not at all at my most capable. We are so genuinely disgusted with our horrid experience at your Hotel. Your intruder waltzing into our room as we slept will have a longer lasting negative effect on all our hotel stays anywhere in the world going forward. My Husband placed a chair against the inside of our hotel room door in the dire hope it would help us feel safe again. I will be posting all the above as my Review Contribution on Booking.com and Google Reviews at the very least.

Regards,

Katarina C.

BEWARE ALL OTHERS CONSIDERING Rate Green Man by Chef & Brewer...