Ponsbourne Pods — Restaurant in Welwyn Hatfield

A little expensive but a unique experience! Recommend getting there in daylight so you can enjoy the views of the grounds at this lovely hotel and sit at the tables on wheels in the garden which rock back and forth, before going to your pod.

There were a lot of flying bugs in the garden so the hotel could really do with investing in some citronella candles!

We arrived early so our pod was not ready and we were asked to wait in the garden. Unfortunately nobody came to serve us drinks or give us menus so I had to get up and find someone but shortly after our drinks order was taken. Note they couldn't add our drinks order to our pod tab so we had to pay for them then and there.

Ten minutes after our reservation time, we still hadn't been escorted to our pod so I again got up to find someone and was given a pod number so I fetched my colleagues and we dove into our pod.

There are a mixture of 4 seater and 8 seater pods. I have booked an 8 seater before and they are a bit more techy with a Bluetooth sound system and coloured led lighting which you can control. The 4 seater didn't appear to have any of these things.

It was a little cold so I switched on the little ring light/heater overhead but it didn't seem to give off much heat so we spent most of the meal feeling pretty chilly. It was only at the end of the meal that someone explained you had to pull the drawstring down twice to get more heat! Oh well!

Service was initially slow with nobody taking our order or giving us menus but my friends quick shout of "boss!" and some frantic waving fixed that!

Throughout the meal we were waited on by a Gujarati guy called Meet, who was really great and attentive. He was so nice we commended him to the head waiter.

For starters we ordered the salmon tikka, king prawns tandoori, tandoori broccoli, tandoori baby aloo and samosa chaat. The only dish I didn't try was the samosa which I thought was overpriced at £10 for one samosa with chaat even if it was a big Punjabi style one! All the other dishes were excellent and came in hot platters with grilled onions and some with peppers. The baby aloo was particularly spicy. Some very small pots of chutney were served but in a very small quantity. I would recommend with this many tandoori dishes, which are quite dry, that more condiments should have been provided. I would also add that the prawns were overcooked and a little chewy. My favourite dish was the salmon tikka which was well cooked and tasty.

For mains we had daal tadka, King prawn curry, chicken curry, plain rice and butter naan. I wanted pillau rice but at £8 thought it was overpriced even if the rice portions served 2 people. The king prawn curry was excellent and spicy but I didn't try the other two dishes.

We skipped dessert for coffees and teas as they looked unappealing on the menu.

Other than some initial service issues till Meet became our waiter, it was an enjoyable experience overall. Bit pricey at £50 a head with only 2 pints of Cobra consumed along with several soft drinks but worth it overall for...

AVOID! If I could give this hotel 0 stars I would.

Emailed complaint below of which there has been no response to date. Trading Standards notified....

Please find this email as an official complaint following on from my recent stay at the Ponsbourne Hotel on Saturday 16th August.

Firstly, the service from start to finish was completely unsatisfactory. From the lack of customer service during check in to unenthusiastic staff during the dining service to the non existent staff for queries and checking out.

The check in itself raised concerns as we were not even asked for our names, just given a room card and sent on our way. The premises as a whole needs a DEEP CLEAN, it is filthy. The reception area, stairwell and hallways are far from the clean environment that is expected from a hotel accommodating paying guests.

Moving onto the bedroom. I am unsure where to start on this one. Apparently is has been renovated? I would seriously consider using alternative tradesmen if this is the case. I have attached photos as there were too many faults to remember. Please find attached broken unfinished wardrobe, stained duvet cover, chipped sidetable, unfinished prepped walls, dirty sink surround, flaking window frames, dead flies on sill, peeling paint on sill, cobwebs everywhere on ceiling, yellow questionable stains on wall and door frame, ripped headboard, peeling paintwork, coffee making facilities with no cups, dirty side table.

When was this room even last cleaned? Its just not acceptable.

Prior to dinner we walked around the grounds. Big mistake. These are also filthy. Even a bit of litter picking should be taking place, there was rubbish everywhere. This is such a shame as the building and grounds have such potential but has seemingly just been left.

Fortunately the dinner itself was acceptable. There was a good variety on the menu. The staff however need training. In particular the girl on service. She was more interested in taking selfies of herself and hiding behind our pod to sit down during the service.

On the morning of departure there was literally NO ONE to be found. My partner walked the whole of the hotel to find someone but simply couldn't. We had to call the main hotel line to speak with someone. This raises serious safety concerns. We were the only 2 in the hotel and on the grounds. Where are all of your staff??

There was a kettle to make coffee but no cups? We requested these via telephone, waited but never received any. Tried to find a member of staff... nothing. So we left extremely disappointed.

£200 cannot be charged for this accommodation. If I could review it 0 stars I would, therefore I require a refund as soon as possible. I will pay the £49 for the food we were supplied but the accommodation and staff customer service is far from acceptable and I will seek to obtain compensation.

For a hotel with such potential this was a VERY...

Whilst the atmosphere and pods were very nice, the food and service was rather a let down, very different to how I remember it from my previous visit a couple years ago.

I chose this restaurant to celebrate my wedding anniversary with my wife after having fond memories of my previous visit. However, having opted to pay a handsome extra fee to have the dining pod decorated in light of the celebrations, and having mentioned numerous times to the customer services team via email that it was for my wedding anniversary, upon arrival the pod was decorated with 'Happy Birthday' decorations and did not match those demonstrated in the examples pictures I was provided prior to confirming. This was somewhat resolved with the offer of two free mocktails but took away from the fact that it did not have the intended initial impact it was supposed to have on my wife, for whom it was a surprise.

The pod itself was very nice, very comfortable and cosy and well decorated, despite the mishap. It had its own lighting and heating so great for cold days/nights, and we actually got one of the larger pods (usually reserved for parties of 4-6) so that was good, possibly due to me paying extra for the decorations. I would have been more so disappointed had we been placed in the pods for 2 people as they seemed significantly inferior in quality. So this was one of the positives.

Overall the service was underwhelming, staff seemed inexperienced and ill-informed, each one contracting the other on what was on the menu. There was no dress coordination making it difficult to identify between staff and other customers. But there was one member, who served our table who was particularly helpful. But for a luxury restaurant I would

The food was also underwhelming overall, whilst it all arrived in good time, it was also generally rather bland, particularly the Biryani and Tandoori Chicken Tikka, which is disappointing for an Indian restaurant and especially when the menu states "marinated in spices" ... What spices? Salt and Pepper?  The Lamb Chop starters and Karahi Gosht mains were the highlight for us and was actually nice, but even then I've had better at my local high street restaurant.

For a luxury meal, I would expect a lot better, especially considering the prices paid. Felt let down in the end, so much so that we opted not to bother with the dessert and pocket the saving (plus the fact that the masala chai was actually from a packet and not authentic, which is shocking considering this is an Indian restaurant), deciding that the Costco chocolate fudge cake in the fridge at home would probably offer up more of a delight ... and I think it did.

Unlikely to return again...