Peahen — Restaurant in St Albans

We booked a table at the Peahen to celebrate my wife's birthday We had a photo of her standing outside the pub as a child that's why we travelled up from Devon to go to this PUB. We had explained this on the phone when booking . The walk ins in front of us got a nice table Most restaurants when you book a table they either have a reserved sign on the table and some you see your name on the table NO such system here Having given a nice table to the walk ins. We were offered the last available table which we have named the Leprosy table Due to the constant traffic past the table of prams and push chairs and a young waiter who past by this table at least 9 or 10 times In the first 20 minutes they we figure they must have been too afraid to get mowed down that NO one said welcome to the Peahen here is the menu we are left guessing if we were to order at the Bar NO one asked us if we wanted a drink NO one asked to take our order Finally after asking how it all worked the rude and surly bar tender sent some one over. We were offered another table further up the Pram and pushchair express way When the plates finally arrived we were asked 'would we like cutlery' Really The other advantage the walk ins ahead of us would have had, were slightly warmer, than our cold roast potatoes and lukewarm carrots For Gods sake get someone to teach the cooks to slice the beef across the grain not with the grain of the beef it makes it less chewy NO one was thoughtful enough to ask how was our meal NO one asked would we like to look at the dessert menu NO one asked if we wanted another drink NO one asked if we wanted a coffee So my word would be when booking a table here. They will not save you a nice table and ask not to be put on the...

Arrived just after 11pm, queued quietly for about 20 minutes with a group of friends, most of us were let in. Me and my friend, who is black, get to the front of the queue and the bouncer (an Asian man with black hair) looks at my friend and says the manager doesn’t want people like you in here. My friend is dressed in jeans and a hoodie like most people entering and has been quiet in the queue the entire time. The bouncer is insistent that I can go in but my friend, for no given reason, is not allowed in and has to get out the queue. The only possible explanation for this is the manager and the bouncers refusing entry to someone who has done nothing wrong purely because he is black. Disgusting to see this behaviour, and the other bouncer (a large ginger man) tries to make up that we ‘had an attitude’ in the queue which simply isn’t true and he stopped talking after we told him we had been quiet the whole time. I’ve been to the peahen multiple times but under no circumstances will I be going again after seeing blatant racism from the bouncers, who claimed to be under...

Booked the Peahen for drinks to celebrate our wedding in St. Albans. We had a space reserved for 25 people which was fine however what happened throughout the celebrations was unacceptable. The maid of honour was spiked at around 7pm and ended up in Watford hospital for the rest of evening. This appeared to be a normal occurrence at the Peahen as nobody seemed surprised.

We also made a deposit of £125 which we asked to be put behind the bar as a tab. After 3 hours we were asked if we would like to “close the tab” and I was fronted with a £550 bill! We had not heard from any staff during this time that our tab would be extended beyond the limit we set, let alone 3x the amount. Multiple people were also able to order on the tab, since the bar staff didn’t ask for the tab number so we don’t know if the tab went beyond our guests too.

Really disappointed in the service we received - put such a downer on the day and weren’t...