The Coach House Kitchen — Restaurant in Welwyn Hatfield

Avoid at all costs.

This has to be one of the worst levels of service i have ever experienced at a restaurant.

When you first enter it is not immediately clear if you are meant to be shown to a table by a waiter or if you find a table yourself and order at the till. We stood about for ages next to the ‘wait to be seated’ sign but no staff member bothered to acknowledge us. After we actively sought out a waiter, we were told to sit wherever we liked.

Things were further confused by the fact there were signs and QR codes on the tables telling you to order on your phone, but this function was not working; ends up you can only order at the till.

Ordering at the till was also not without its problems.

The staff member at the till initially put my order through incorrectly and had to seek help from a colleague to correct this mistake.

I ordered a roast chicken, but whereas my friends’ roasts both arrived, mine never appeared. I complained to a staff member after 30 mins of waiting and was told the order had not reached the kitchen and unfortunately the kitchen was no longer serving roasts. I was offered the opportunity to order a burger as a replacement, or i could get a full refund and a free panini instead. I chose the panini and refund as my friends had both finished their roasts and i wasn’t prepared to risk wasting another 30 minutes waiting for food which might not arrive. I had written this restaurant off by this point and just wanted something quick to eat which would do me until i got back to London.

The complimentary panini should have taken only a matter of minutes to toast, but they even managed to mess that up. After a further 15 minutes of waiting i had to complain again. Ends up a staff member forgot to take it out of the toaster.

I final got something to eat after waiting over 45 mins. Ironically, despite being in the toaster for 15 mins, the panini was barely toasted; the cheese had not melted at all. It was a rather pathetic panini.

Another member of our party ordered a roast beef but he was only told after he had paid that there was only the roast chicken left. He was entitled to a £1 refund as the chicken was cheaper than the beef, but no staff member offered this and he decided against pushing the issue as he wasn’t convinced the staff could quickly and competently refund his card.

I don’t like to be overly critical of staff who work in restaurants. It can be a stressful job for little pay or appreciation, but i really have to question the competence and communication skills of the staff who work in this restaurant.

It soured the end to what had been a really good day visiting...

Extremely disappointing. Menu was limited and expensive but I placed 2 orders on the table-service app. Some drinks and then later 2 teas, with a scone for my friend and a cake for me. Scone cost £5.75 but obviously shop-bought, was dry and my friend didn’t eat it. Wasn’t given jam and butter as ordered so had to ask for it. No apology and made to feel like I was at fault. Had to show my order to prove that I’d ordered correctly! This person looked like a manager. Quite rude. Ordered Earl grey with that order but received regular tea instead. We didn’t even bother complaining at this point! After 10 mins of my friends order arriving, mine still hadn’t so I asked the manager to chase. That didn’t happen. It was not busy and I could see they were serving new customers rather than dealing with my order. Another 5 mins later, I had to go to the counter to ask where my order was. No one was dealing with it, it seems. Had to repeat my order and wait yet again. Unsurprisingly when it arrived, the order was wrong (Victoria sponge instead of gluten free coffee cake.) I told the waitress it was incorrect but there seemed confused so showed my order on my phone yet again. She then tells me that the cake I ordered is now sold out . Obviously it had been sold while I was sat waiting, being ignored, because the app greys out the sold out items which my choice wasn’t. By this point, I was not happy at all and felt like the visit had been a waste of my time. I requested a refund for the cake only to be to be visited by the manager again who t stated that, because I ordered on the app, it would take 48 hours. Again, no apology and I was made to feel like an inconvenience. There were other minor issues too, like stained cup, teapot lids were both broken. Feels very amateur and disorganised. I spent £20 on drinks and cake only to walk out feeling annoyed, disappointed and disrespected. I’m not usually someone to complain but this was ridiculous. I will not be going back and I’d urge others not to bother wasting their money either! Appalling service. Don’t be fooled by the nice decor...

I'll start with the negatives. I paid £14.45 for this haddock and chips, and I don't think the amount was suitable for the price. It wasn't particularly flavourful, either. Other members of my group all had the ploughman's lunch, and all of them felt that for the price paid (£12.95) it also wasn't worth it - the cheese was nice, and there was a good portion of ham, but considering the quantity of sides there were only a few pieces of small bread to go with it. I couldn't recommend eating a main meal here, at least not the food we had.

The positives: our waitperson was really nice, and very considerate - they apologised for the long wait, and went out of their way to make sure we were content. They seemed to be the main waitperson outside, and considering the amount of people outside they did a really great job. The decor is very pleasant, inside and out, which combines modern architecture with the older brickwork. The staff seem overall really friendly, and it's very clean and well kept inside with a good diversity of food options.

I'd recommend sticking with the smaller cakes and food options with maybe a hot drink, as these are...