the Pied Bull Enfield — Restaurant in London

Went here for a family Christmas get together. So we were a large party 22 I know when there is a big group there may be issues but I didn’t expect the food to be as bad as it was and how rude the manager was.

We all sat down food had already been pre ordered, drinks orders had been taken by the young staff members ( who get the star as they were good apart from one mishap, they were very apologetic and helpful when needed) starters started coming out I was impressed at first that they managed to get all the starters out close together, but the starters were Luke was, the mushroom bruschetta was ok (had some flavour) but I’ve had better, another member of the party had the parsnip &chestnut croquets (I tried some, I don’t know where the chestnut was it was just grated parsnip fried in breadcrumbs (had to smother it in salt and pepper to get some flavour) Some of the starter orders got muddled up the manager rather than try and resolve the issues just shoved the dish into a member of our party’s hands and said “you sort it out”, it was lucky the plate wasn’t hot (but also unlucky for the person having to eat it) she stormed off like a toddler having a tantrum ( the toddlers present didn’t even behave in this way) this caused comment from some of our party members (we couldn’t work out what her problem is). We finished our starters and waited for mains these again came out together (apart from my meal where I had to wait longer even though there were others with the same dish) I started to eat mine and it was cold, I had the pork belly with apple & potato mash, I had to send it back to be warmed up, and when I say the fold was cold it was cold as though it had been served straight from the fridge ( I have a suspicion all food is served from the fridge and reheated in he microwave) I mentioned this to the passing waitress with dark hair and she was very polite and apologetic and had my food reheated for me. there was no apple in the mash, not even apple sauce so I don’t know how they can get away with calling it potatoe and apple mash, and the veg was practically raw (I know some people like it hard but this doesn’t even appear to have been attempted to warm it let alone cook it) there others of the party muttering how their food was only like warm and the veg was too hard. Also my meal looked like they had only provided half the portion size compared to the others who had the same meal, it looked like they were running out and were trying to make it last (I’m glad I had the smaller portion as it wasn’t very nice). Now time for dessert I ordered the cheesecake (I must admit I am a bit of a cheesecake snob since having cheesecake in New York) but this wasn’t cheesecake it was disgusting, I ate it because I was hungry but it tasted off and the texture made me want to spit it out( I even feel a bit sick now thinking about it) another party member said it tasted like a custard tart rather than a cheesecake. What made me laugh was the manager came over to a party member and said she couldn’t serve her the desert she ordered as the jelly hadn’t set and she wouldn’t allow it to be served from the kitchen ( but she can allow cold sub standard disgusting slop to leave the kitchen) the party member has dietary requirements (that was why that desert was chosen) so her only options were strawberries which even though described as fresh where actually frozen. The mince pies also look like they are mr kipplings. So the icing on the cake we had been at the table just over 2 hours the manger came over and rudely said “we need the tables, I’ll open the back doors so you can leave” we had only just finished the coffee and hadn’t even paid! We did pay over £500, the only way to improve sack the manager and get a better menu that can actually be served.

I haven’t even managed to get all that was bad in this review due to the...

If I could give less than one star I would. I now understand why the pub is never busy.

So let me start off by saying that the manager is one of THE rudest people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. We went in here with friends for some dinner and was greeted by a lovely waitress who was helpful and friendly. Our drinks orders were taken and were served promptly. Pretty much all down hill from here unfortunately, after our meal orders were taken it took nearly an hour for our starters to be served (I wouldn't mind but we had the pitta bread starter, pâté and halloumi skewers) what took so bloody long? There was only about another 5 customers in the pub.

Whilst we waited for our starter a gentleman behind us had sat down, ordered his food, finished his food and paid his bill!!!! Starters finally arrived and were okay, one of the orders was wrong but was the vegan option of the original order.

Eventually our mains came and by this time we'd waited so long my friends baby who was newborn when we arrived at the pub had just turned 3. My wife ordered the beef stroganoff and it was abismal. The rest of the meals were again mediocre. Do yourself a favour and don't order the "special" lobster on a Friday, I've seen prawns in a special fried rice with more meat.

I informed the waitress that we wouldn't be paying for the stroganoff as it wasn't very good, I tried to do this in a quiet manner so other customers didn't hear. My wife didn't eat any of it and sent a full meal back as it was that bad. The waitress was very lovely and told us that was no problem.

After another 20 minutes I was greeted by the manager (or so I'm informed she's the manager! I am not quite sure how she's got to this position as i don't think she's ever spoken to another human being before) she tutted and raised her eyes at me as well as using a loud voice exclaiming "I did my 2 minute check and you said everything was fine!" And continued to repeat this by giving attitude and horrific rudeness. As I was talking to her she stormed off like a 4 year old child. Thank god she came back to our table again because I'd missed her subtle tones of excellent customer service. I then told her how rude she had been and that there was no need, she continued to be even ruder and kept shouting she did her 2 minute check! Dearest manager of this establishment I don't care if you've done your 2 minute check! A beef stroganoff should not taste like cake mix!

The issue here was not how bad the food was, if the manager had come and asked me what was wrong with the meal and was apologetic and said that it was company policy that after a meal has been checked by staff it must be paid for. I would have said fine, but the fact that she came out and gave nothing but attitude and to be honest disgusting behaviour. And didn't even ask what was wrong with the meal! I asked her if she'd tried her pubs food and she hadn't even tasted the meal herself. Enough said!

Oh and to top this all off a pint of peroni shandy was £5.10! The bill was also over £100!

One positive from the visit was the lovely waitress, however, the manager was an absolute disgrace. I cannot describe how rude she actually was.

£5.10 for a...

We have eaten here several times over the years and really enjoyed the food, service and cosy pub atmosphere.

We decided to go here for Sunday lunch and were not only disappointed with the food, but were appalled with the response we got from the female manager when we politely tried to tell her the standard of the food has dropped.

We ordered three roasts, one meat and two veggies. Although there were lots of staff and they weren't at all busy, we had to get up to find someone to take our order. We then waited half an hour for our roasts to arrive. When they did, the two veggie roasts were missing the mushroom (meat replacement), and all of the veg was hard and the potatoes were quite obviously reheated or had been sat keeping warm for ages as they were dry and hard on the outside. The Yorkshire puddings were flat and crispy. The food was bland with zero seasoning so the small pot of gravy was the only flavour we got.

We were then left for about 10 mins while we waited for the mushrooms and again had to get up to find a staff member to ask for more gravy and we explained it was because the veg was dry and hard. Normally we would get it taken back but we were so hungry, had a baby with us and didn't want to have to wait another half an hour.

We got our extra gravy and mushrooms (one small one each), which were really tasty and clearly cooked from fresh. The staff were friendly and appologetic. The carrots were pretty much raw and dried out, so we couldn't eat them.

The whole meal was below standard for what we were paying and not at all how meals have been on previous occasions, so we felt to say something to the manager as the food standards had clearly gone downhill.

We politely told her our food experience and said we were happy to pay as we ate most of it, purely because we were so hungry after waiting so long for food to arrive. Her response was rude, an unapologetic. She told us the food was freshly cooked, which was insulting as it clearly wasn't. She also said we should have said something and they would have re-made it. When we said we didn't want to do that based on the long wait and then the veggie meals coming without the mushrooms, she again, chose not to apologise but blamed it on human error. We were telling her all of this as valued customers that have been coming for years but she didn't even show any respect for that. She was cold, rude and then gave us the silent treatment the rest of our time there. We were made to feel very uncomfortable and unwelcome.

When we received the bill, no discount was given for any of the inconvenience and in fact a drink we didn't want was left on.

To sum up, we will sadly not be returning which is a shame as this was a good pub to eat at. And we would warn anyone against going here if you want a good Sunday lunch (maybe the other items on the menu are ok). Much better roasts in other pubs nearby, perhaps this is why it...