The George of Harpenden — Restaurant in St Albans

I met my Sister at 13.00hrs for lunch, parking was easy just 5 minutes walk from the public (pay and display) car park. When I arrived the staff were nice and friendly, as soon as my Sister arrived we sat down and shortly after that we ordered our food. My Sister had the child size steak which was fine for her, it looked reasonable (a safe dish to cook), obviously a small portion of everything. I ordered the lamb shank and a side order of chips, lucky I ordered the chips as it came with nothing else apart from a small dried puddle of reddish brown glop of some sort, at least I expected a few vegetables of some sort. The meat itself fell off the bone nicely but was hard (dry and burned) on the outside, I did not send it back as I did not wish to offend my Sister who had recommended this place and also we were limited for time. Clearly this was pre-cooked microwaved food badly prepared, not what to expect at the price (even for Harpenden..!). We both had the desert (children's size) which consisted of two scoops of delicious ice cream (the best part of the meal) and a tiny piece of flapjack, really small and not worth bothering about. Of the whole menu less than half was actually available (no exaggeration) and I felt embarrased for the nice friendly hard working staff (who were a definite plus to this disappointing meal). I am sure my Sister will see this review and will agree that we should try elsewhere when there is so much better at a similar price locally. The price (just over £37 for the two of us with just tap water and a coke not including the tip) would have been reasonable for the type of food had it been reheated properly and had there been more choices available, however I was disappointed on this occasion. Two stars is probably on the generous side but because of the friendly service just one star would have been mean, I should add as a footnote that we have eaten here together once before and that time the food...

The worst dinner experience I think I have ever had. On arrival we ordered drinks. They didn't have Southern Comfort. So we ordered a Rum. They didn't have that. They didn't have the mixer we wanted. We ordered a starter, the restaurant didn't have Garlic bread. So we opted for another starter instead. I was then questioned around my daughters age when she ordered a gin. Not at the time of ordering, when it arrived. It was fine as it's a legal requirement. On producing a copy of her passport I was told it was not good enough. But thankfully we got past that. For mains, there was no Pizza at all. So it was a pasta for one of the mains. There was no Morrocon salad. The other order was a CHICKEN caesar with no Anchovies with Falafel on side. And two others mains. Just one issue after another. The steak was so dry it wasn't eaten. The Chicken Caesar arrived with no chicken, no falafel, and full of anchovies. We then just suggested they remove that item from the bill as we wanted to leave. We asked for the bill 3 times and then on receipt the Salad was still on there. Only to get questioned over why the restaurant should take it off. The reason I have gone to these lengths to review is the manager was really nice. Friendly. But the other staff seemed either new or just lacked the skill. A simple comment on arrival that they were out of stock of at least a third of the menu would have been helpful. An immediate replacement of the wrong meal would have sufficed. We are not fussy people. It was a birthday gathering where only 2 people ended up eating a rather below average meal. I hope this negative feedback will prompt something to be done as the...

I visited your new restaurant on Sunday 12th July and booked a table for 2 online for 15:15. When we turned up, although i understood that you were busy. Being told that you were under staffed too didn't inspire confidence into myself and my guests. We were sat at a table overlooking the kitchen area, quite a nice location although with the manager on duty knowing that I had previously worked for M&B within PCDG for many years, I failed to see that this was the greatest of places to be sat as I am one who would watch everything. When we sat there were 4 maybe 5 tables inside with 6 foor staff including managers and ok it was busy outside but not unmanageable. We Ordered 2 starters Calimari and Scotch Eggs and 2 pizzas Vesuvio and Flourentina, the starters were nice although after finishing. We sat with our empty plates in front of us for at least 5 minutes and a waiter who was leaning up against a counter opposite with no real care to even clear our table. And eventually had to be told by the manager on duty who had also walked past once to clear our plates. We then sat waiting for our pizza for about 15 minutes which I can understand the time frame because you were busy. But after our pizzas were made, they sat on the kitchen bar top for about 5 minutes under the not so very hot lights and watched the chefs change over. Not once a waiter appeared to check who's food it was. When we eventually got our food it was cold, undercooked and no real care went into it. I was very disappointed with the quality of service and care from the staff except for the bar maid who smiled and showed a level of professionalism when bringing...