Rose and Crown - Clay Hill — Restaurant in London

Disappointing Father’s Day Experience – Poor Customer Service

We visited the Rose and Crown for Father’s Day lunch after calling the day before to check availability. I was told they were fully booked but that if we arrived around 12pm, we could likely get a walk-in table in the garden. Based on this, we travelled from central London to Enfield for a Father’s Day lunch.

After nearly an hour’s journey with our 2-year-old, we arrived, got a garden table, and were then told we couldn’t order from the main menu because we hadn’t booked—only starters were available. Not exactly ideal for a Father’s Day meal.

When I raised this with the manager (a dark-haired woman), she was incredibly abrupt and dismissive, implying I was lying and insisting her staff would never have said that. I had to show my phone call history to prove I’d spoken to someone the day before. No apology was offered, nor any sympathy for the fact we had travelled a long way based on her team’s advice.

In contrast, the younger staff who answered the phone and served drinks were polite and courteous. Unfortunately, the manager's attitude completely overshadowed this—rude, unprofessional, and completely unwilling to acknowledge the mistake or inconvenience caused.

If there truly was no way to accommodate us, the proper approach would have been a sincere apology and some understanding—not treating a customer as if they’re being dishonest.

In short: If you're considering visiting this pub without a reservation—even after calling ahead—don’t bother. You may end up with a wasted journey and an...

Manager in need of replacing/retraining. I went for Sunday lunch, when ordering I asked if chicken was on the bone or carved, reassured it was carved I ordered it. It arrived on the bone, I did remind the waitress, she said she thought it was carved and, to be fair she offered to get it cut for me, I told her not to worry. This in itself was not the issue leading to a poor review, but what followed was. The chicken turned out to be undercooked, I called a member of staff who said she would inform the manager. The manager assured me it was okay to eat but said he knows some people don't like it like that so would exchange it. The fact that I was not happy to eat pink undercooked chicken should have been enough, not made to feel uncomfortable about raising the issue. He clearly had a conversation/moan about me to the waitress, as he returned to my table to say that he had been told about my mention of the chicken not being carved to his waitress, and would you believe, proceeded to explain to me that my initial experience would have already put me in a negative frame of mind. On leaving, he saw us out of the door and apologised for my food problem etc. Too little too late! I've never had that treatment anywhere, he is not far short of being the next Basil Fawlty. Worth mentioning too, that my replacement meal included the original roast vegetables heated up in the microwave. My friend said her food was 'okay', nothing worth coming back for. I will definitely not...

We have been waiting for weeks to try the food at this newly refurbished and seemingly highly rated pub in Enfield. If I am honest I am confused as to where the supposed and very high refurbishment budget was spent. Yes the outside does look great and the outside seating areas in the rear garden are much better than they used to be but, in our opinion the interior has hardly changed at all, indeed it looked almost identical 25 years ago when we used to regularly used to visit the pub on a Friday and Saturday evening. The menu was very limited and to be frank, disappointing. Humous with almost zero garlic and swamped in olive oil, disappointing !! Padron peppers with a "hot" yoghurt sauce, where was the "hot" ? Cured Brill salad Nicoise was acceptable but the chicken burger and chips was extortionately priced. The desert menu was limited to a choice of three, only two of us had desert and we both had the same but the portions differed in size massively and the scoop of ice cream on top was smaller than the size of a golf ball. This part of Enfield has been crying out for a decent restaurant, unfortunately the Rose and Crown does not deliver and has missed the perfect opportunity. Limited beer selection, limited menu, far from comfortable and cosy surroundings and massively overpriced for the standard of food you get, save yourself from being very disappointed,...