The King William IV — Restaurant in St Albans

We visited your pub on the 8th of August. Having lived in St Albans all our lives, our family has visited your establishment many times over the years and always held fond memories of it. On this occasion, we decided to revisit for a birthday drink with three older children and two toddlers.

We were seated inside and had ordered food for the children as well as drinks. As your pub is known to be family-friendly, we naturally expected that both staff and customers would accept that children may be present. The children had finished their food and, as we were preparing to leave, the toddlers began to run around near our table.

At that time, the only other people in the room were another family with a child and a couple at a different table.

It was at this point that a member of your staff approached us in an extremely abrupt and rude manner, saying: “There are other people in this restaurant and therefore can you stop the children from running around!” She blurted this out and immediately walked away, not giving us the opportunity to respond.

We completely understand that guests may want to enjoy a peaceful environment, and we do not dispute that children should be supervised. However, it is unreasonable to expect toddlers to sit silently without movement, and certainly they should not be spoken about as though they are a nuisance.

More importantly, the way this message was delivered was unacceptable. There are two main issues here:

• The staff member’s tone was unnecessarily rude. A polite and respectful approach would have been understood and accepted.

• We were in the process of leaving, making the comment both unnecessary and ill-considered.

This experience left us feeling not only disappointed but also insulted. After years of enjoying your pub across generations of our family, I can honestly say I will never be returning. Staff need to be trained to deliver messages with courtesy and professionalism – not abruptness and disrespect.

I left your pub absolutely disgusted and very let down.

Yours sincerely,

EDITED - IN REPLY TO THE OWNERS COMMENTS

On the day we visited there were only two staff on front of house, and obviously they were going to back each other up. From reading other reviews, it seems this isn’t just our experience. As I mentioned before, we were already leaving and the kids were just getting up — the staff’s version of events is completely delusional. Do you honestly expect children to be put in cages to meet your standards? Very...

Had an absolutely shocking experience on Saturday 20th Aug 22. We was a table of 8 who had arranged a long over due family meal. We had pre booked so they were expecting us. They were clearly under staffed and under chefed however no one told us this when we booked. we all ordered and paid for our meals in pairs and told the lady taking the order we were all on the same table and our meals was to all come out together. Our drinks came all at random times and long pauses in between. To follow was one starter and a main. then 10 minutes later 1 more meal, half an hour later 2 more mains! Eventually after waiting 50 minutes after the first main arrived on the table to rest of the mains followed. Not forgetting the kids meal was last! Absolutely shocking. So our family meal resulted in watching others eat at various different times. my poor toddler had to watch everyone elea eat before she even got hers! Only after did we find out there was only 1 team memeber in the kitchen... the manager... not even a chef!! Firstly if they couldnt actually cater for us did they not ring and cancel us!? and secondly upon arrival why didnt they warn us there is only 1 person in the kichen so there will be a delay on food and will come out as and when ready?! Will definitely not be returning to this pub in St.Albans. Such a shame as its a beautiful pub / restaurant with lots of potential if it was in the right hands and under the right management. Having been a manager of numerous hospitality establishments myself this is not the way a business should be run. There was only one apology and no refunds, no complimentary drinks or desserts, absolutely sod all. Will be sure to let everyone if they want a lovely meal, good service and to be looked after this is definitely not the...

I have given this rating on this occasion as we were let down badly before even getting to the restaurant.... my husband made a booking on Friday 5th July for 8 people for Monday 8th July to celebrate his dads 90th birthday. However on Saturday 6th we received a call from the young man who took our booking to say they could not accommodate us as a party of 8, when my husband asked why he said that was their policy of which he had not been informed but they could do 2 tables of 4 but could not push them together, he also told my husband that it was quiet on that evening and had 1 chef but did not say why 8 people could not be served together. My husband asked for the manager who the young man said he would ask to ring us. A few moments later same man rang back to reiterate what he'd already said so my husband asked again for the manager, again a return call was promised. A few minutes later a lady rang who said she was assistant manager as manager wasn't in that evening. She just repeated what had already been said and my husband said how disappointed he was and that he would now have to ring round to find somewhere else. Her very abrupt response was ' well you only booked Friday anyway' . Oh well that's alright then!!!!. Very disappointed with the King Will as we have been there on many occasions as many friends and family have but will think long and hard about going again, I would also like to add that they need to train their staff better to avoid this happening to anyone else as we do not hold the young man who took the booking responsible. Finally my husband said he would still like the manager to ring him but to date we are...