Angels — Restaurant in North Hertfordshire

Bit disappointed of the attitude of staff welcoming us in and service was slow.

On arrival we were greeted by a young lady who said can I help? We arrived at 17:20 our booking was from 17:00. I stated my name and time we had booked. She checked her piece of paper and responded for future reference make sure you’re not 15 mins late again as you’ll lose your table. Luckily for you we haven’t given it away. She then walked off saying follow me threw menus in the table and said this is yours and walked off. When I booked over the phone the very helpful girl on the phone did not mention we had to arrive within 15 mins otherwise our table would be given away. The attitude of the girl welcoming us was so abrupt and unwelcoming.

10 mins later our order was taken. When booking over the phone I was told of the menu available. One option I was told was a roast dinner. When ordering I asked for the roast dinner only to be told they had sold out. Surely the abrupt, miserable lady who showed us to the table could have advised us when sitting us down of what not was available instead of acting like she wanted to be anywhere else but giving excellent customer experience. We ordered alternatives. We then waited 1 hour for our food to arrive. Admittedly the food was reasonably good. I had the steak and it was a bit chewy but it was cooked to how I requested it. But an hour!!!! We then ordered dessert. Yet again 1st choice was unavailable so I ordered an alternative but told the girl about how much I was looking forward to ordering the dessert. I said with this choice can I have both custard and ice cream. She said absolutely. This then cheered me up only until I read the bill which was given whilst still eating dessert to find I’d been charged £1.55 for the scoop ice cream.

Surely you have policies in place to deal with situations like this. Staff should explain to customers there policies in a professional way. They should advise customers while sitting them down of unavailable products. Surely staff should recognise that people had been waiting a long time and come and apologise. And finally surely there should be some discretion in offering something complimentary for the issues caused….

If it wasn’t for my kids enjoying the soft play so much I’d have give this...

Fantastic find this place. We were looking for somewhere in the North Herts area that had some sort play amusement for the kids and a decent restaurant menu. Hadn't been here before. The soft play area is not huge, but it's free and perfectly sufficient to keep the oiks entertained. There were plenty of tables available on a 'half term' Friday lunchtime and all the tables had been cleared and cleaned. Not a great choice of real ales, just the one on that I could see but it was a very decent red rye ale. They also had a very drinkable Aussie Shiraz (14%) for £17. We ordered a couple of kids meal deals, which include a main, drink (branded quality, not just cordial) and a 99 whippy cone. Fish fingers and chicken nuggets were good quality, nicely cooked and we'll presented. The only negative and I know this could be rectified if we asked next time, is that the salad on the kids meal came dressed, which I thought was proper tasty but the lads weren't keen on the dressing. The kids pudding was a 99 whippy cone which came delivered to the table in a little rack that held the cones upright and not dripping everywhere, excellent idea. For adult mains we had the classic cheese burger and chicken burger. The beef burger is a rival for an gourmet burger I've had. Top quality meat, perfectly cooked and just the right amount of cheese and salad filling. Beautifully seasoned and I'm salivating again just thinking about it. The chicken was beautifully juicy and perfectly coated in a crispy crumb. Both came with nicely cooked chips and a decent chunk of gerkin on the side. Gerkin was fresh and crunchy for those who relish a good gerkin. There is also an outside play area which is gated and astro turfed. Totally recommend this place to families who are looking for a really decent meal and somewhere for the kids to let off steam. Only marked it down to a four star because it would have been great if the steak choices extended beyond a rump and there was a better choice of real ale but that's really just personal to me. Will be returning to this place next time we are in the area and looking for some top notch grub. Oh, and the best sinks I have ever encountered in all my years of travelling...

The food was quite good - and not the worst value too. The menu was quite wide, with plenty of choice, but that could possibly have been to their detriment. The service from the waiting staff was great friendly, polite, professional, relatively attentive - however, the speed of food appearing was incredibly slow. Their was no real pattern to what came out when, so 2 of the youngest children in the group were given main meals LAST. Anyone with kids would tell you that these should ideally be served first, to cut up, cool down, prep, etc. Also, by the time my own side dish was served, I was almost halfway through my main dish, which was quickly cooling, whilst the side dish was scalding hot. So was given no option but to eat afterwards, rather than alongside as I would have preferred. The dessert course made this food delivery issue even worse, with all but 1 of the children receiving food first, even though the last dish was a simple case of removing an item from a freezer! My brother actually had to chase this to avoid 1 child sitting any longer watching the others eat. No child likes to be excluded, especially at their birthday meal, so this was a really big deal to her. The remainder of the desserts seemed to arrive either singularly or in pairs, but with such large intervals that the previous dishes had been eaten and finished before the next arrived. The very largest dessert, which would take the longest to eat, was delivered to the table plum last when almost everyone else had completely finished. The dessert menu has the largest choice that I have ever seen, so I refer back to my earlier point of having far too wide of a menu to deliver efficiency from the kitchen. Do note that the small onsite soft play area has a £2.50 per child charge. I don't believe this offered good value for money for what was available. And unless you are prepared for the noises of a soft play area - stay away! Deafening screeches are not a nice surprise. This place doesn't seem to excel at anything particular, and the slow, sporadic service is unacceptable. It's not high on my list of places to return to, so in all honesty, I most likely won't...