Old Cock Inn, Harpenden — Restaurant in St Albans

Absolute shambles of a meal! At times we felt like we were eating in Fawlty Towers!

We booked a table at the beginning of November for three people for our annual Christmas meal after hearing great things about the pub. When we arrived, we were sat in a walkway to the toilets and outside/smoking area so every minute the door opened with a gust of freezing cold air and with people brushing past us constantly. We asked 4 different members of staff if we could move tables and were told the other available tables were for people who had booked in advance, as if we hadn’t booked 6 weeks before ourselves. Eventually we were moved to a different table by what we assumed is the manager.

It took 30 minutes to order our drinks and another 15 to order our food. After 10 minutes the manager returned to our table and told us a big table had just ordered the last of the baked Brie and could we choose something else which was confusing to us as we had ordered 10 minutes before so why were they only just putting our order through?! He agreed to let us order a starter from the main menu as the other options on the Christmas menu were not suitable for my friend with an allergy. When our starters arrived my friends tortellini was raw and not fully cooked so she sent it back, 15 minutes later after we had finished our starters, she received another smaller portion of again undercooked tortellini but at this point she was so hungry she ate it. The manager then informed us he would remove the starter from the bill, which he did not.

After clearing the table the waitress brought over dessert spoons, much to our confusion as we hadn’t had our mains yet, when we questioned her about it she asked had we not ordered desserts and we replied well we hadn’t had our mains yet. There was a lot of confusion at the kitchen pass area whilst the staff tried to work out what was happening. We then had to wait even longer for our main courses whilst the staff pandered to the large table, once again ignoring the other tables in the restaurant, even after we had repeatedly asked to order more drinks.

Eventually we received our main courses, the turkey and stuffing were nice but the vegetables were somehow burnt and undercooked at the same time.

The dessert took 30 minutes to arrive, we joked it was because we had already had them according to the staff.

After we asked for the bill the deposit we had paid had not been removed, the starter we were told would be removed had not but they had removed the 3 cheapest drinks as a gesture of goodwill. All in all it was an atrocious evening and we will not be returning, the staff were more interested in the needs of a table of 12 than other paying guests and we were made to feel like we were an inconvenience all evening. All I can say is avoid this pub...

After a fantastic re-opening last year we have visited many times and it's sad to see that over the past few months standards have really started to slip in a number of areas. Service used to be fast and attentive, now we often find ourselves having to flag down service staff for everything, getting a menu, ordering drinks, ordering food, chasing up missing orders, and getting the bill. It gets so tiresome that it ruins the overall experience. The food in general is still very good, but the drop in service levels is now impacting this with dishes being forgotten or left on the hot plate for so long that they are ruined by the time they reach the table. Perhaps they've been left unexpectedly short staffed or are trying to cut the wage bill because there just aren't the same number of waiting staff milling around as there used to be or indeed should be. The lack of waiting staff means that they're not pro-active in offering you more drinks, and means by the time it comes to them offering us the dessert menu we're fed up and just want to get the bill instead (even though the desserts are also very good) - surely it makes business sense to employ more waiting staff and sell more drinks and desserts as a result? Worth noting that this isn't a one off, we've visited 20+ times since it reopened last year so have been in at various times and days of the week and busy and quiet times and the poor service has become...

I’m writing this review about the accommodation, not the pub.

Before I arrived I rang to ask about nearby parking. Just told to park on the street outside. There was no space but the signs said max 2 hours stay… so not great advice!

Check in was poor. Two staff didn’t know how to deal with check in. Just told me I’ll have to wait. No apologies… just a really awkward situation where they just moved on to serve others at the bar! Eventually a manager came along. She didn’t actually engage with me… just showed one of the staff what to do. It was only when they asked for full payment (which had already been made via the booking website) that the manager had to actually speak to me.

Eventually shown to the room. As we climbed the stairs there were a load of bin bags full of Xmas decorations which I was told to ignore…!

Got to room. Very loud from road outside. Cold as heating not on at the time. No iron/ironing board. Very basic.

Bed comfortable enough. Shower ok.

For £100 a night, this feels like very poor value. I stayed the night before in a pub for £75 that felt like a 5-star hotel so it can be done.

I did pop into the pub during the evening to grab a drink. I stood at the bar for a few minutes (nobody else there waiting) but nobody acknowledged or served me, so I left again and therefore can’t comment on...