Red Lion Welwyn — Restaurant in Welwyn Hatfield

Do not come here if you’re looking to eat out with your family. Never in my life have we received such shocking service. Everyone and I mean everyone who ate this evening was up at the bar complaining over service. Many tables walking out mid meals etc. Glasses stockpiled over the bar and empty tables, families having to repeatedly come up to the bar chasing drinks and food that had not arrived. A manager that had an excuse for everything rather than a solution - was always someone else’s fault !

Arrived at 6:30pm for our table that had been moved to the bar area due to there not being enough room in the restaurant despite speaking with a manager on Thursday and being told we’ve been moved to the restaurant with the additional members of our party, total being 12.

The manager came over and seemed more bothered who promised us a table in the restaurant rather than providing a solution. Tables had been pulled together with a reservation but it had not been set for us. There was not enough seats and we were told we could have one of the other tables but we would need to pull it together. Also to mention it was covered in glasses so we also had to clear the table and clean it down to use it. When the manager finally came over after leaving us for 25 minutes she ensured us a good service from the bar and she was sorry as a table of 25 was priority as it’s a birthday ? We were also a birthday and found this a bit of a joke but expected table service from the bar and asked for this. She promised us a waiter and table service due to them not being able to fit us in the restaurant.

Despite the promises to still give us a nice experience we received the complete opposite. Our drink order was taken at 7 with our food order. We were still chasing up drinks that hadn’t arrived at our table by between 8-8:30pm which was when the food came out. The food itself was lovely, no complaints there. The chef himself was bringing out food as there was no staff waiting tables - he was apologetic and laughing at how disorganised it was. We had no cutlery or anything so the chef got these for us.

I felt really sorry for the staff members who took the brunt for the piss poor management who was hiding behind the bar. When confronted about the drinks we had asked for about 18 times and mentioned how horrific the service had been the manager in the pink top and glasses proceeded to tell us that 2 staff members had called in sick and what did we want her to do. She apologised but didn’t provide any solutions, her staff were either running around like headless chickens or on their phones despite all the drinks piling up waiting to go to tables.

The manager did not want to take any constructive criticism as we said how much of a joke it was, customers were laughing and comparing horrible experiences. We joked who had waited longer, there was actually a queue of people waiting to complain. The manager cried a few times behind the bar as she was clearly overwhelmed but yet was still so defensive towards customers. She called my mum rude when was confronted about speaking overly loud to a colleague about not wanting to ‘deal’ with us.

I have eaten here many times before and it came recommended as a place to eat for family meal. I will now never eat here again.

All recent complaints are about the new management and well if you fancy watching a circus act...

4 of us decided to try the ‘wine and dine experience’.

Which was probably a mistake. The main menu looked pretty good.

The service was slow to begin with (for drinks), then the wine that came with the ‘experience’ didn’t arrive with the food.

When it did it was warm and taken out of a cupboard in front of us, plonked in coolers with ice and we were informed it would be cool very soon.

As it was part of the ‘experience’ we’d specifically booked, you would have thought they’d of chilled a few bottles.

We sent those back and they were replaced with a chilled couple of bottles that were not part of the ‘experience (but pretty good, Ned I believe).

It soon became apparent the poor staff hadn’t been briefed on this ‘experience’ and every course from the menu seemed surprising to them - starting right from when they had to find the right menus.

The starters were great, as were two of the mains (the pork).

However the spit roast half chicken must have been a runt as it was tiny and I suspect had never seen a spit.

It had all the moistness and taste of a classic chip shop chicken.

The steak arrived and it looked like a pale exploded lung.

It should have been medium but was overdone.

We sent it back and a perfectly lovely steak arrived 20 minutes after the rest of us had finished.

By now we just kept laughing.

I would have had a word with the manager but was informed she’d left by the time we finished.

So all in all a bit of a shame.

It’s a nice venue and luckily for us we were served by the delightful Jaydee who took our comments with great good humour and made a real effort to make up for a 50/50 dining experience- she saved the evening.

If I were her manager she would be...

Visiting for a celebratory Sunday lunch proved very disappointing. The only positive I could find to comment upon was that we were shown to our table and offered an extra high chair as we were seated at a very high non-child friendly table. There were menus on the table, but we were not told that we had to order at the bar and so sat for a while before trying to gain the attention of a member of staff. This proved more difficult than any reasonable customer could have imagined. If you like your beef tough, chewy and full of sinew, your chicken overcooked and dry, and your pork very well caramelised then this could be the place for you. However, since I found all of the meat offerings inedible. Of the vegetables the only tasty ones were the greens. To add insult to injury, by the time we tried to eat the offerings they were lukewarm as no one felt it important that we may have required cutlery. Sourcing deserts was an equally tedious mission. Since this was a celebration the venue missed the chance to make a profit on drinks- trying to get drinks from the bar from an overworked bar tender whilst seated at a table in the path of a major thoroughfare killed any feelings of enjoyment of the occasion. Overall, our party felt that our presence was an imposition, and that we were second class citizens. The staff were inattentive and unfriendly- perhaps they have low morale? We certainly did during this visit. Never mind, it is their loss. We certainly didn’t buy the 2 bottles of champagne we intended to order and needless to say we couldn’t summon up the desire to...