Highwayman — Restaurant in North Hertfordshire

I am very disappointed with yesterday's visit to The Highwayman Pub & Carvery in Gravely. Starting with the service at the entrance, the lady showed us with her finger where our table was. She didn't say anything "please sit down and choose what you want, and orders are at the bar..." we chose what we wanted ourselves, and no one offered if we wanted something to drink to start with... no respect for customers! You had to guess that the orders were at the bar. Next… we went to the bar there was no one behind the bar after some time the lady comes out, ‘’I ask if it is possible to place an order " reply. just a moment and this moment is already a good 15 minutes ... we wait patiently finally the lady comes and stands behind the bar, and we start to place the order… OMG, no experience at all… No main dishes, they run out okay we change the option well again no they run out, we choose another option, then we move to order something to drink San Miguel beer please…no we run out again… we must change of option again, next cocktail should be served in the Cocktail glass should not be served in the ordinary coca- cola glass... starters should be served together for everyone, so all can eat together not one of each at a time... One person eats and 6 people look unacceptable. It turns out that there is no fish and chips after 40 minutes of waiting, we were almost running out of patience. The dishes arrive, and look unrepresentative at all, slightly warm, reheated food, dry, no ingredients on the plate ...If this wouldn’t enough wrong option of the dish has been served it supposed to be an unlimited option and comes in an ordinary portion, Hunter chicken small peace of breast poured with barbecue sauce only, even without cheese ... as an apology, the lady recommends a set of salads... It's unbelievable seriously.... in the pictures cauliflower bang bang should be served with a different sauce and not peri peri sauce…!!! and a set of salads two leaves of lettuce, a slice of tomato, and onion more than nothing else needless to say ... failure I do not recommend to anyone, unfortunately, but a 100 percent...

We frequently go to the highwayman and very rarely ever have a bad experience, the team there are so incredibly friendly, greeting upon entering and leaving, their service is incredibly quick, we went last Sunday, at quite a busy peak time without booking and they welcomed us in with no hesitation and our food came out the kitchen within 20 minutes of ordering! My Father in law often orders the ultimate mixed grill (I think anyways) and every single time, without doubt the steak is cooked to pure perfection, massive props to the chef as it’s done amazingly well! They recently experienced an issue with the fish fryer which at first was a little kick to the gut as that’s always what I order but the team again were so kind around the matter and also the range on the menu, it was very easy to pick something else and it did not disappoint. I think they are really reasonably priced for the lovely food quality and also the exceptional customer service. There was a lovely gentleman, I think a supervisor/ manager who always is keen to crack a joke with us and is very polite and welcoming, even interacting with the children, and also a young man who serves and is on the bar, I want to say Alfie but I could be horribly wrong (he has glasses if that helps) he is always so polite and asks every question to ensure we get the best of our time there. Also I want to mention that there was a lovely lady, blonde hair who was cleaning a table near us who must of overheard our conversation about dessert, my fiancé wasn’t able to find the brownie on the menu, she didn’t butt in nor interrupt anyone but she told us where to find it and it just brought a smile to his face that a) they had a brownie (most important in his eyes) and b) she was quick to offer little but needed help. I would highly recommend the Highwayman, just a lovely overall experience....

Me and my partner went for a meal this evening (23.2.19) we found a place to sit, the place was a steady busy flow, staff was cleaning/clearing tables as well as sorting food. We sat at a table and the menus was all sticky, the table next to us was also the same, a table opposite offered their menus as was cleaner. We received our stater 30mins after ordering which wasnt to bad but we only recieved one part of our stater order, asked staff he said he will just go and grab it, so after another 45minutes we asked another staff member who kindly went and got the rest of the starters with an apology.

Chicken strips was lovely really enjoyed those but once recieved our garlic bread its was lightly burnt and rock hard so unchewable we gave the starter back to staff said the issues and asked for mains, which he went to get................. 40minutes later come back with our mains.

I had ordered the cheese & bacon burger with chips and coleslaw, the coleslaw was all watery so I dint touch that, my burger burger was hard where they had toasted to long, burger was charcoal & tasted burnt, the french fries dripping in oil and they tasted of raw potato so I left my dinner all together.

My partner had steak pie with chips and pies, it looked lovely at first, the peas were hard (overcooked) the pie my partner had to ask staff for stake knife as a table knife couldn't cut through the pie where the pastry was rock hard (overcooked) and the steak was gristly the only thing my partner ate from his dinner was his steak chips.

Our over all experience was disgusting the food was so bad and such a let down as used to be a lovely place to eat. I doubt I will...