The Artichoke — Restaurant in Three Rivers

Booked a Mother's Day meal weeks in advance - a table for 4, so not a huge number. Arrived on time, at 6.45pm (so hardly unusually late), to be shown out to a table in a marquee in the garden - even though there still seemed to be tables in the restaurant. When I queried this, I was told I should have phoned up and specified if I actually wanted to eat in the restaurant and not in a tent! Was also told the tent was heated, which turned out not to be true. There is no ongoing heating, only a few electric heaters attached high up to the sides of the tent, which blast your faces but leave your bodies cold and only last for 10 mins and then need to be restarted. The people in the centre of the tent have no access to these so had no choice but to wear coats throughout dinner. While a marquee is fine for summer weddings, it is not ok for dinner on a March evening when night-time temperatures are down to 5 degrees. I was recovering from a cold but had not brought my coat as I was not expecting to be seated outside, so left feeling quite ill. If the restaurant wants to seat customers in a marquee in March, it should make clear on the website that that is an option and allow customers to know what they are booking. I have been to the Artichoke before but would not go again.

The service was slow in the extreme, obviously Mother's Day is a busy day but they were clearly understaffed. Took a good 5-10 minutes for any staff to appear to show us to a table when we arrived; no apology for the wait. No staff were visible in the marquee (unsurprisingly, as it was freezing!) so there were further long delays with taking orders, clearing the table, asking for desert, the bill etc.

Our starter was forgotten and the mains brought out first. When I queried this, they went and got the starter, which was then served alongside the mains - really unimpressive for what was supposed to be a celebratory meal with family.

At no point did staff check in on us on if everything was OK (it wasn't), or how we were enjoying our food. It was unnecessarily challenging to get hold of staff throughout.

The food was OK, neither great nor terrible. We mainly had roasts and portions were a reasonable size/quality, with the exception of the Yorkshire pudding which was dry and crunchy and tasted as though it had been fresh at lunchtime and sat in an oven keeping warm for hours. Desserts were very good for those who had them. Drinks were acceptable though we never found out why the Mojito was pink coloured (matching none of the ingredients).

A shame as had been to the Artichoke for Mother's Day previously and enjoyed my meal. But would not return now and wouldn't recommend, or certainly not on a busy night, when they don't appear to be able to cope with...

Update: The pub contacted us and offered an unreserved apology as well as a gesture against the bill.

Everyone can get it wrong occasionally and they put their hands up and admitted just that. For that I applaud them. Going to go back and try again :) and gave an extra star for that customer care.

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We really wanted to like the Artichoke as we've been twice, and loved twice its sister pub, the feathers in Rickmansworth, but sadly the Artichoke meal today was a real let down.

Small things, but they all add up.

The first round of drinks, spilled all over the tray. And the tray unceremoniously left on the table 'for us to take' the dripping glasses...

The incorrect food orders, brought to the table, and whilst hastily corrected (without any apologies mind you) the incorrect food was still on the bill

The buffalo cauliflower were soft and just about warm; the tofu salad pretty tasteless, the risotto watery, the apple crumble just plain disappointing, the custard watery AND lumpy; the cod that came with 11 chips scattered across the plate; the 'loaded' chips which were cold at the bottom.

Then again the coffee at the end of the meal, spilled all over the saucers, too many coffees brought for the table, and again not corrected on the bill.

The restaurant didn't seem that busy, but the staff were possibly stressed. Things to easily fix, please, as feedback, don't spill drinks and expect us to take from a tray; take your time delivering food; please try and get the orders right. Things that may not be as easy to fix appear to be in the kitchen.

We were just keen to leave. We didn't even want to correct the bill to get out the door.

A couple of months ago we went to the coach and horses, just up the road - with low expectations. There, the food was unpretentious and amazing, and the...

Went to dinner on Friday as celebrating a families members birthday. We had a table of 9 people, drinks service was slow we also then had three meals missing which didn't come out together with the rest of the plates and then one of the meals didn't taste right and was cold to teppit in temperature and presentation was like slop you would get in a school meal then food was inedible the waitress took it away and said they will remake it replace with the same meal and I declined as the taste and presentation really put me off. however was not offered anything else on the menu neither did the manager make an effort until he wanted to sell us puddings where he was like you must have a pudding as you not eaten, I quickly declined this as I am not a pudding person. I did not receive any apology or anything from the manager he did not even bother to ask about the issue of the meal Very disappointed, so I ended up with no food and not eating, I couldn't just leave the party as we were celebrating a family members birthday! Also the floor where we were sitting outside everytime someone walked passed it would move along with my chair again not making it a very nice experience. Would not recommend it seems that they are taking on too many covers which sadly the kitchen staff and poor waitress can't cope with. Not sure if there was anything said of given at time of bill but when myself and my partner paid our side of the bill again nothing was mentioned. Very disappointed and has put me off returning and going to there other establishment there Feathers in...