Saint & Sinner — Restaurant in St Albans

Booked dinner at the Saint & Sinner this week just after their official opening. What a stunningly renovated 1700s country house which is now beautifully converted into the latest addition & best place in town for drink & food with great atmosphere. Different areas, all of which are decorated to the highest standard, even popping to the lavatories is like a walk through a museum. Elegant and informal, the whole team make you feel welcome. Jenny offered some recommendations from the lovely menu which were Java Curry & Chimichurri, fresh & delicious, kimchi slaw & chips were perfect as sides too. The burgers & other food leaving the kitchen all looked really appetising. Plenty of options. We continued our evening relaxing outside on their private terrace which is beautiful & great atmosphere. The Aperol Spritz served from the main bar is the best we've been served in St Albans, they also do good Guinness, selection of craft beers & lots of cocktails. The vast outside terrace which also has a covered over area has table service or it's own terrace bar, Barny who served us was the most pleasant waiter I have experienced, I must finish off by saying the general manager Phil is an absolute star ensuring everyone is being looked after, so friendly, warm & welcoming. I wish Phil and his whole team the very best for a bright & buzzing future. I love this new addition to St Albans & I will definitely be returning & highly recommend. Stunning place with...

Had been a couple of times for drinks but this was the first time to try the food (Saturday dinner) and unfortunately it's really put us off coming again.

Service -

We had to wander around to find someone to show us to our pre-booked table. There doesn't seem to be a system or a front of house team to direct anyone.

Our initial drinks arrived promptly but we did need to ask for the bottles of tap water a couple of times and chase up our coffees at the end. Even after going to the bar physically, we were only given a single glass of water. We also had to ask for more drinks during our dinner.

The table staff were friendly and relatively attentive but did have a noticeable wait for our order to be taken and an even longer one between starters and main course.

Food -

Our main concern was the saltiness of the children's meal. The chicken on the grilled chicken salad was incredibly salty to the point where we needed to rinse the meat to make it palatable.

Several dishes were missing items that were listed on the menu. The buttermilk chicken schnitzel was missing the confit garlic butter, and the children's chicken salad was missing the cucumber ribbons and avocado.

On the whole there are improvements needed with the food. The chicken schnitzel was dry, the pea puree with the fish and chips was overly watery, and the rice with the mushroom bowl was rubbery.

We chose not to...

After all the hype surrounding this new venture our party were hoping for a great afternoon of good food & a great atmosphere. We were seated in the outside covered area which was lovely & cool with a nice breeze circulating. Our servers were pleasant & helpful but were left disappointed with Derain aspects of our service. After our initial drinks order we were not offered any further drinks in our 2 hour sitting, neither were we asked if wanted desserts (we only had main courses). Also 3 of our finished plates were cleared away before the 4th person in our party had finished their meal which I personally think is just a basic no-no. The music was definitely too loud (even outside) which made our conversations really difficult & didn’t make us want to stay for further drinks (had they been offered to us). I also felt that the mains offered were quite limited (unless you wanted pizza) & there was no dressing on the salad that accompanied the steaks 2 of us ordered, neither were we offered any. My fiends steak had lots of fat & gristle which meant it wasn’t particularly enjoyable. I’d love to say that I’d go back, but sadly this won’t be the case. I hope management take these comments on board & offer their staff some extra training. The revamp of the premises though are quite breathtaking if it is a little dark inside the venue. It would be nice for them to show the interior...