The Horse & Chains — Restaurant in Hertsmere

Christmas Day lunch. Considering how busy they were the waiting staff were welcoming and the food was good. A couple of points that stop 5 stars though. 1. THREE items were left off the main course. When we pointed out the missing pigs in blankets (!) they brought us some but the ham was missing (supplier let them down. Why did the waiting staff not tell us when we ordered?) as was the stuffing. In all honesty, there was too much food on the plate as it was, but, if you put something on the menu it should be on the plate. For instance, give us 3 roasties instead of 6! Who needs 6 roast potatoes!!! Also, yorkshire pudding but NO stuffing - not good. 2. A selection of 5/6 desserts is very nice but when they are all stodgy it puts you off. There was nothing light so we didn't have dessert. Chocolate and banana bread and butter pudding and sticky toffee pudding for instance. How can anyone eat that after a starter and a full Christmas lunch? A panacotta, a creme brulee or a simple mousse or fruit fool would have been a perfect, yet special, way to end the meal. Even my 25 year old Son (who has a healthy appetite!) could not bring himself to face one of the plates of stodge on offer. 3. We were on a table in the middle of the room and the waiting staff kept banging into my chair. My Son even moved the table back so they would have more than enough room yet, despite telling them several times, it kept happening right through the meal. Very uncomfortable. We would not let these things spoil our Christmas Day but, when you are paying £75 per head, plus drinks, you...

I came here midweek for my birthday and was a little disappointed with the meal.

I had the prawn starter which was very tasty once you got passed the 'back of the throat' spicyness of it, and for £9, I would have expected a few more prawns (dish had 3) and an extra slice of bread to mop up the sauce (I got 2).

I then had the vegetarian enchilada (no meat option offered?) which was fine and it was a huge portion which I offered half to my friend as she had ordered the vegetarian curry, and was disappointed as the spice had overpowered everything (I also tried it), leaving the dish bland and tasteless.

The restaurant was very quiet with around 3/4 other diners over the time period we were there so the member of staff wasn't exactly rushed off his feet but when my friend went up to him at the bar to order dessert he said "sorry, the kitchen's closed".

I thought giving us the heads up and asking us if we wanted dessert ahead of the kitchen closing would have made far more sense! However, credit to him, he did organise it for us and we got an extra scoop of ice cream as an apology.

I had the brownie dessert which was warm and tasty but, despite the lovely gesture of a free scoop, the ice cream was a bit claggy and heavy.

Overall my dining experience was a bit "hit 'n' miss".

It appears from the other reviews I've read, that the Sunday roast is the big winner at this pub, and maybe the midweek menu isn't getting the same focus and attention,...

It was a very disappointing experience for our visit to The Horse and Chains. Two different menus given out to our group of 10, so it was very confusing. When taking our orders, we were then told that there was limited availability, eg, 5 fish and 1 burger left! The fish itself was lovely and white and fresh, but the batter you needed a hammer to get through it, it was so hard. Friends that had the roast said it was very nice, however, but at £22 you would hope so. Hot drinks were not hot, and the girl said, "Sorry, we only have 1 teaspoon" and gave desert spoons to stir our drinks. Considering the prices charged for our meals, we were all very disappointed, and although it was a choice to pay the gratuity of 12 and a half %, which added another £34 to our bill this was far too excessive. The young staff worked very hard, but felt they needed training in their job, especially when putting teapots on the table, clearing the table, and reaching infront us to get plates etc, without an excuse me. We shall not return here, and would not...