Harlow Mill Beefeater — Restaurant in Harlow

Just gotta get the word out about the utter disaster we experienced at Beefeater. Me and my boyfriend were looking forward to a nice meal, but it turned into an absolute nightmare. My boyfriend fell ill, likely from the heat, and couldn't even handle the heavy meal they served. In fact, he was sick in the toilet just as his meal arrived.

We informed the staff about his condition, thinking they'd understand and allow us to switch his order to something lighter, like a salad. But boy, were we wrong. The waitress we spoke to was incredibly rude and dismissive, saying it wasn't her problem and that we couldn't just change our order because we felt like it. Who treats a sick customer like that?

When we escalated the issue to the general manager, expecting some sort of understanding, she was even worse. She outright attacked my boyfriend verbally, accusing him of lying and trying to get a free meal. She even said he could only change his meal if he paid for both dishes.

The problem here isn't the refusal to change the meal. It's the appalling attitude of the staff and the way they treated us. We were made to feel like criminals, accused of trying to steal, when all we were trying to do was get through a meal while dealing with an unexpected illness.

One star is too generous for the ordeal we had to endure. I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone. Definitely won't recommend.

In the end they did take his food off the bill but it doesn’t make up for the bad atmosphere...

We have been here so many times as it’s so child friendly. The last few times we have been here the staff have been a bit abrupt. Today, we sat in the grassy garden area, the tables had stickers on to look at the menu. We went to order food and were told we could not be served food where we were sitting as we were ‘too far away’ and they were ‘short staffed. The only alternative was to sit in the concrete smoking area which was near the car park and near the river. We explained we were with very small children and did not feel comfortable with this, we asked if we could run the food out ourselves when it was ready. We were told no. This would not have been an issue if the place was busy, but we were literally one of two groups sitting in the grassy area. It was such a shame because we ended up moving several times which was really stressful as we had 3 very small children with us and we did not feel at all comfortable sitting with them in the smoking/concrete/water area. We just felt they could have been more accommodating and understanding as a group with small children. We ended up sitting inside which was fine but it was such a shame they couldn’t serve us outside where the children were really happy running around on the grass. Like I said - if they were busy I would have completely understood but it was super quiet for a Saturday. Just not very understanding and not accommodating at all. We will be going somewhere...

A disappointing evening at the Harlow Mill last night. We are long standing customers but were unfortunate to have Gemma as our server. She was so rude from start to finish. Clearly she didn't want to be there and made a joke of giving away our table to another couple! We are a family of four and have come to know the staff very well over the years, we always ask for booth seating. We arrived on time, and were looking forward to spending a special evening together. Gemma however had allocated our table (which seats 4 to 6) to TWO people who had arrived just before us. We were shown to a smaller table in a noisy area. When we complained and asked about moving she said that all other tables had been reserved, yet earlier in our conversation she told me that specific tables can't be confirmed and only requested, yet here she was telling me that another booth seat (which stayed empty for most of our meal) was booked out for someone else!!!??? Sadly we will give the Harlow Mill a miss for a while, in the hope that she won't be working on the night we visit. She was rude and dismissive of our wishes, and it amazes me how someone like that can work as a server. Obviously in the wrong job! Food was average and we waited a long time for it, definitely not worth the money we paid, even with the 40%...