The Coopers Inn — Restaurant in Stevenage

We returned to the Coopers after an earlier disappointing experience and what can I say. They really have proved that our last experience was an exception, not the rule. Josh who was our server was friendly and helpful with loads of personality. We ordered the loaded surf and turf, mixed grill and a burger for the teenager. The steak was cooked perfectly, onion rings crisp and tasty, not the stodgy offerings I've had in some other venues, the fried onions in the sizzle pan were perfect for mopping up with chips. Mixed grill was likewise perfectly cooked. The teenager ate his burger with satisfied noises and said it was okay which is a rave review from him 😂.

One of my worst ever dining experiences I'm really not sure how much else they could have got wrong. We were joining friends to see a UB40 cover band and decided to arrive 2 hours in advance of the time of the gig in order to eat first. We got in drinks at the bar on arrival and then found a table and used the online ordering system to order food. Sausage and mash for him and a classic hot dog for me. Then we waited, and waited and waited. Went to ask about our food and check the order had gone through on their system and continued waiting. The table next to us was quite a large party and we thought it odd that some members of their party were eating and some weren't. Turned out everyone had ordered it was just being brought out piecemeal by the serving staff. The waitress we saw seemed only able to carry a single plate at a time. From an overheard conversation in the ladies toilets I discovered that the UB40 band was cancelled and had been replaced with a Pink tribute act. Nothing had been adjusted on the signage to reflect this fact. We spoke to people who had travelled to stevenage for this particular act and members of our party had been specifically interested in UB40. Eventually after at least an hour wait for food it was delivered to our table, burnt and with no cutlery. A side dish we had ordered as an addition with some drinks was also delivered but we had to go and remind the staff that there had been drinks with the order. I asked that our burnt food be replaced which it was, slightly quicker than the original plates had been produced. The food was still of a disappointingly poor quality but at least this time it wasn't burnt. We were not offered even a refund partial or complimentary drinks for all the waiting and poor service that we had experienced. No efforts had been made to inform customers that the wait for food was over an hour or to make anyone aware of the change to the evenings entertainment. Everything about this experience was negative except for the company we were with and the camaraderie between all the deeply...

Visited yesterday 10th March at 7:15pm with my partner and stepson and it was probably one of the worst dining experiences I have had in a while. When we got there it looked like they had had a pretty eventful day but overall there were not too many people in there by this time. We managed to find the least dirty table we could find and cleared and cleaned the table ourselves. After a round of drinks we decided to order. 2 American platters and a veggie burger at 7:40pm bear in mind we are now the only table in the pub eating. Whilst waiting for our food we watched a rather unenthusiastic kitchen team member wipe down tables by wiping all of the debris on these tables onto the floor around us and left. How pleasant. By 8:20pm we enquired where our food was and 10 minutes later our food arrived. The two American platters were stone cold and the peas looked like they’d been just emptied from a tin and we’re cold to the touch, the ribs chicken and wings were barely warm and the veggie burger was served without anything apart from the burger and not as described in the menu and too was cold. It was clear the food had been sitting in the kitchen and had been forgotten about until we reminded them. We spoke to a barmaid who kindly got the manager whose response was to offer a free dessert, for the inconvenience of three cold meals. We politely declined and just wanted some food. Eventually it came out 15 minutes later and was clearly rushed and thrown together. And truth be told was not worth the wait or money. Onion rings and chips soggy chickens wings were fried to within an inch of their lives in the end we just picked at what was edible which wasn’t much. There was no real apology and no check back to see if everything was ok as the manager seemed more preoccupied with the quiz starting, she offered no real or genuine apology for nearly an hour wait for food just simply ‘what do you want me to do’ attitude. I’m not unreasonable enough to understand that they may have been busy during the day and had had a tough day but when we arrived it was exceptionally quiet and there was no excuse for the quality of food,service given and the attitude of the manager in resolving the situation. A very disappointing experience and one which means I wouldn’t revisit to dine again and would strongly advise others to steer clear on Sunday...

Worst dining experience - burnt and cold food with horrendous service. Myself and my partner decided to go to Coopers on a Thursday evening, as it’s very local to us and we had a reason to celebrate. On arrival we sat down and ordered from the app, shortly afterwards a server informed us it would be an hour wait for food. although we weren’t very pleased about this we decided it was fine. after 30 minutes our drinks had still not arrived at our table so i asked at the bar, the woman working at the bar proceeded to lie to my face and tell me that no orders for tables had come through on her screen yet as soon as i actually told her my table number she was able to find the order immediately. After 1 hour we still had no update on our food so asked at the bar if there was any updates to which we were told by the same woman that the wait for food is actually 1 and a half hours ‘as we were originally told’ my partner challenged this stating we were told 1 hour. shortly after our food arrived at our table. we had ordered the surf and turf steak and the mixed grill. both dishes are ‘sizzling’ which are served on sizzling plates on a bed of onions with chips, onion rings, tomato and mushrooms. when are food arrived we questioned why they were not on sizzling plates and why the onions and mushrooms were missing to which we were told that someone should have informed us that the kitchen does not have these items. as we began to eat our very sad looking dinner, we found all the meat was burnt and cold - completely inedible!! my partner complained about this and we received 3 sausages as compensation. although we appreciated the attempt from the service staff we felt as though the entire experience was awful. We will not return and would advice others to never eat at this very...