Heartwood Café & Tearooms — Restaurant in St Albans

I was really looking forward to a walk to Heartwood Forest and a nice stop off at the Tearooms. What a disappointment-the worst food & customer experience I’ve had in a long time. Not a friendly welcome, the waitress told us there would be a 20 minute wait for food when we ordered but it must have been about 45minutes. The owner did apologise when the food came saying it was “chaotic” but I don’t know how they could have served up the food, I felt embarrassed for them. Raw veg in the Mediterranean ciabatta with sad salad and unpleasant coleslaw and the bubble and squeak was a tiny portion, soggy with horrible halloumi. I should have sent it back but we’d waited so long and were so hungry I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad but I honestly felt queasy after. No-one asked us how it was, probably best not! I could hear the owner offering other customer free drinks because of the long wait but I think they left in the end. I told the waitress how disappointing the food was when we went to pay and said maybe they were just having a bad day but it shouldn’t have been served up like that. To add to the bad taste of the whole experience, she just repeated very insincerely “I’m so sorry” not even making eye contact and clearly couldn’t care less. Sorry to have to write such a bad review & I hope you can take this honest feedback on board (looking at your previous responses to negative reviews I’m not expecting you to acknowledge or apologise for the poor...

I too was at the Birthday Party reviewed a week ago and agree, it was a really bad experience for the three people with dietary requirements. The regular cream tea and the vegetarian option (removal of meat sandwiches), was very nice. However, the total lack of awareness and interest in the other three in the party of 12 was appalling. How difficult is it to use avocado/peanut butter/or a bought in vegan 'cheese' option for the sandwiches? Scones can be made with alternative milk (they have soya, almond & oat). Or bought from M&S. And as for cake, every cafe I go to today has Vegan and Gluten free options as standard. It was as if they just didn't care. In conclusion, they were busy and the one waitress was pushed, but to serve everyone else first and then give the others a menu to choose something from, not to have knowledge what the vegan option was and then to say they couldn't provide a sandwich, was totally unacceptable. The tearoom is in an old building with character and thought has been taken regarding the china, etc. Just a great pity they don't think ALL their customers should be...

What an unpleasant experience. I attended a birthday party, three of us had a dietary requirement (one dairy intolerant) and we were advised in advance that we could not have an alternative cream tea but could have tea and cake. How easy is it to make some vegan sandwiches? However, when we arrived we were given menus and told we could choose a vegan option. The options shown as vegan all contained cheese or egg. We waited for 20 minutes while the rest of our party were eating and tried to attract the attention of the waitress who eventually came to serve us but was also confused by the menu. She went to find out and returned, removed our menus and advised the kitchen was closed. She apologised saying she had miscommunicated and we could have cake only. The rest of the table were served a second pot of tea, not us. I was embarrassed and upset and am spreading the word so others are not subjected to such a humiliating experience. More importantly to have a misleading menu could be dangerous for anyone...