The Glasshouse — Restaurant in North Hertfordshire

Not sure where to start really with this one, but will start with this was the singular worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant/bar.

I will start by saying our group of 8 were very aware that Hitchin was busy for the Busted gig at The Priory, but the Pitcher and Piano was absolutely deserted when we got there, maybe only 5-6 tables total on the entire floor in use. It remained this way for over an hour as well. There also appeared to be only one person seating people only, but 4-5 bar staff on.

Bearing in mind the place was deserted for this length of time, we had already seen the few people in there complaining how long they were waiting and the poor quality of the food. On top of this, we were left 25 minutes without a drinks order being taken (we had to ask someone to come and take it). We were then left a further 25 minutes without any drinks being brought to us, and floor staff were less than helpful. We went to the bar and discovered that they hadn’t bothered making the drinks yet as they had to go out and physically buy the ingredients for two of our parties cocktails (if you haven’t got the stuff, take it off the menu for that evening!). We had to bring all our own drinks back.

In this time, we still had not had a food order taken, but there were people starting to come in and be seated, plus there were tables being served before us that were seated after us! There were people waiting at tables for over half hour drinks who just upped and left, and the staff bringing drinks around looked baffled as to why people were leaving! We finally got our food ordered but had to wait over 45 minutes. To add to this, I went to the bar to get more drinks as this seemed logical to do, as they had very few people up there and waiting for someone to take our order seemed pointless. This was an absolutely awful decision in the end.

Over 25 minutes at the bar just to get a beer and a coke. The people making cocktails had no idea what they were doing, had no control over the queue and kept serving people out of order. When what looked like the bar manager actually taking command and telling someone cleaning the same shot glass for 10 minutes to serve, they totally ignored me - next in line - and went to the other end of the bar! Got my drinks eventually.

I returned to the table, and food still wasnt there and staff didn’t care whether we had food or not. They even made one starter wrong and the attitude was well you might as well keep it now. After some time we had enough and went to the kitchen and all our food was just sat there, so we got our own food too. My Wife and our friend are both pregnant and ordered burgers…the meat was raw, and this nearly flipped me over the edge. Others food was burnt and inedible too. We had enough, refused to pay for anything for the sheer poor service and lack of empathy and walked out.

People were complaining at every table, they couldn’t cope with the volume and didn’t seem to care much. If you cannot cope, stop seating people, focus on the floor and clear your backlog. So many people were complaining about their food and services it was quite shocking.

We will never return here again, as clearly your system and team simply doesn’t click, dont want to serve people with a smile and cannot cope with small...

Check recent reviews before making the mistake of booking at this establishment. I was dubious as to how our meal would be, considering that the communication was dreadful throughout the booking process. We were asked to pay deposits & preorder, then we were told to pay in full, we experienced very slow replies to emails and unable to speak to anyone in charge over the phone. I ended up being given the personal email for the chef as it was impossible to contact anyone else front of house.

We arrived and the table was not set as advised with candles, chocolates and place cards. Prosecco was brought over that we hadn’t ordered, no drinks menus were offered, no water on the table, all basic things for a group booking. We struggled to get anyone to take our drinks order and then lots of items weren’t available when we did finally get to order. Service was extremely slow in all aspects. Starters were served, but they were never cleared from the table despite only 2/8 people ordering. We had to ask for someone to clear our table and have our mains as we had been waiting for a long time. Preorder was not up to date despite being emailed to the restaurant and chef, requests for ‘plain, no cheese, no sauce’ were not adhered to, food came out at totally different times, all the side dishes missing. When the food finally did arrive, it was not worth the wait, everyone left at least 1/2 their meals except for two diners who were so hungry they did eat what they were offered, but the food was mostly cold, dry, tough and unpleasant. We waited until 3pm, we had been sitting staring at our barely touched main course plates for what felt like an eternity, ignored by every member of staff. Therefore we decided to give up on the entire experience and ask to skip dessert completely as we just wanted to leave. The ‘manager’ was extremely reluctant to deal with the issues, pretty much avoided speaking to us at all, claimed they were ‘sorting things out on their system’ we were waiting over 30 mins to settle our drinks bill. In the end we all paid individually at the bar, without even so much as an apology, absolutely ridiculous experience from start to...

Where to begin …. I made this booking on line for the festive fayre meal and paid a £50 deposit . I was then rung the day before the booking to say that I hadn’t submitted a preorder . I said I hadn’t been asked to , I then received an email to submit a pre order , I collated my groups requests went to submit and was asked for full payment of £165.00 , even though I had already paid a £50 deposit . I did not submit the request and emailed the glass house ,explaining all of the above . I called on the morning of the booking , no answer so I left a message , I then received an email to say we couldn’t have the festive fayre menu as the kitchen needed a weeks notice , but we could have off the normal menu and we would get 20% off the bill for the inconvenience …fair enough . On arrival there were only 8 customers in the building , 1 waitress/ bartender and 1 person in the kitchen . We ordered drinks , and then food . 3 of us ordered burgers was told there was no lettuce …. Ok . We then ordered a second drink , and asked for the dessert menu to be told the kitchen was closed , this was at 8.45 pm !!!! So not only did we not get what we originally booked for we were told we could not have a dessert . The waitress got a ‘manager’ over who faced with 4 frustrated women bumbled his way through an excuse , it was clear that there was never an option for a festive menu as you hadn’t had the bookings , why advertise it then ? We were then given the bill but the £50 deposit I had already paid had not been taken off and I was told that this would be refunded to me as it was a holding deposit for the table , nowhere in my booking confirmation was this communicated . Needless to say I refused to pay unless the £50 was removed . The whole evening was really disappointing and you are falsely advertising for a service that you clearly can’t provide . What would have happened if I had paid the bill upfront as was requested when I went to submit the pre order , I would have been making this payment in good will when it was clearly a false pretence . We will not be returning as the whole experience was a let down and a...