Great Northern Pub in St Albans

Great selection of beers and high quality food and exceptional service. Nice atmosphere on a Saturday night.

Wanted to join a pub quizz spontaneously tonight with my partner and it was quite tough to find a quiz around the area on a tuesday night. When calling this pub to check if they had one on, the person on the phone (sorry not sure who I spoke to) delivered a great customer service, was friendly and professional. When coming to the pub, we received a warm welcome by Sarah and she delivered an excellent service from the beginning. So did Ruby and the Italian lady. So thanks to you three! Joined the pub quizz hosted by Pete which was fab and will join again soon. The crowd had a nice vibe. The pub is cute, cosy and typically english looking which I love. The toilets were cleaned too👌🏻. We ordered food which was ok. Happy to discuss feedback directly with the team if they wish. Anyway, thank you all and we will be back!

Fantastic pub dogs got fussed all night, staff brilliant, beer spot on really enjoyed the evening.

Lovely little local, friendly smiley staff.

Great food and beer at wallet-safe prices! Decent selection of ales. Tasty food. Vibrant atmosphere. And super lovely staff.

Good beers and great atmosphere, friendly staff. Highly recommended

Excellent selection of drinks and an imaginative food menu. CAMRA rated pub

Lovely pub. £5.30 for a San Miguel.

Thank you to Sarah for going the extra mile to give me a special birthday. She was lovely! Also has the best shot glass display I’ve ever seen

Warm welcome, good beer, tasty food. Definitely visit the Great Northern again.

Great spot for a pint! Excellent beer range and nice atmosphere

We had our family coming to visit us this weekend and rather than cook ourselves we decided to go to the Great Northern for Sunday lunch. They always have a very varied menu which changes all the time, but their roasts on Sunday are extremely good and are very good value. In addition the staff are so friendly and make every effort to make everyone feel welcome, particularly a fractious three year old! In my opinion Emma, Sheri, Sarah and the rest of the staff make this the best pub in St. Albans by a country mile.

Cozy pub, delicious food and great customer service- staff were extremely helpful. Our Sunday lunch was absolutely delightful.

Super reliable and friendly. You might not get a perfect craft beer selection here but it's still pretty good and the welcome is usually awesome

Booked a table for Sunday lunch at 14:15, arrived early on the off chance they could seat us earlier and they were able to accommodate which was great. Food was delicious and service was top notch. Will certainly be coming again.

Friendliest and most knowledgeable staff ever. Superb food and beer. Can't recommend highly enough . Went back the following day for beer festival even though we live over 20 miles away !

Very busy pub, the service was a little slow but worth the wait, the food was freshly cooked (lamp shank) and was fantastic.

Nice beer selection all round proper pub

I didn't eat here so no idea what the food was like. However I imagine it's great.

Fantastic roast had here on Sunday! Very generous portion size, super friendly staff and lovely venue! Will definitely visit again when back in St Albans!

Cosy pub,food and service good,great selection of beers. Good night out.

Amazing service , outstanding energy. Had a great night with Emma and Sheri

Service and drinks were fantastic

Six of us visited last night. The hosts were very accommodating and the food was very nice. The atmosphere was lovely. I wished we lived closer to visit more often. It was a proper pub! Sarah and her team were great!

A complete disregard and lack of tact/respect for customers personal experiences when staff were speaking out loud to each other across the bar whilst customers were respectfully waiting to be served. You may have noticed that there is an answer for every lower review on this site which may make sense of course. However, this review has nothing to do with the quality of food and drink. This is a staff respect to the public issue that needs to be improved and much more awareness of what they say out loud when serving the public especially when it is a personal subject/matter. If the response to this review is to ask what the subject or matter is then it will miss the point. Ultimately more tact and awareness would improve on the experience of this establishment.

Great friendly pub, Sunday Roasts are a fan favourite with generous portions especially the Yorkshire puddings, so definitely worth a visit if in the area.

One of the best pubs I've been to in England! They have amazing gluten free knowledge- including gluten free sunday roasts and yorkshire puddings! The service was extremely friendly and they were always trying to improve your experience. The outdoor seating area is lovely on a sunny day and they have umbrellas if it's too sunny. The food and drinks are also very well priced!

I booked a table for 2 for the desi curry night on 28th July at 7.00 (apologies for the very long delay in sending the review!) and when we arrived shortly before 7 the pub was very busy so I went to the bar to order a couple of drinks and my Mum found our reserved table. The curry was a set menu with poppadoms to start, followed by a starter selection with a main curry which had a selection of the 4 main dishes on the plate together with a naan bread and paratha each for a very reasonable £20 each (not forgetting the sorbet for dessert which was included in the price and was a perfect end to the meal after the curry). We were sitting at a table near the bar and after we'd had our starters, Sarah came over and kindly moved us to a larger table for 2 which had subsequently become available for our main course which was very nice and much appreciated. While I have a hearty appetite there was a lot of food and we were informed at the start of our meal that any food we couldn't manage to eat could be taken home and we were given good takeaway containers. We took a couple of the starters home with a naan and paratha which made a very nice lunch the following day. Emma, Sarah and everyone working on the night were really busy and did a sterling job while we were there. I always feel I get service with a smile and the extra touches such as the option of moving to a larger table when it is free and taking the time to have a quick chat at the table (or when I have a brief catch up getting a drink at the bar!) despite being busy serving the curries makes all the difference. I'd had a very stressful week at work and after a lovely meal at the Great Northern and such a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, my stress levels reduced very quickly. I certainly look forward to the next dining special! Spanish tapas perhaps? Very nice and very reasonably priced food, nice beer and wine selection, for me nothing to fault except the food nights getting so popular that I might miss out! John Hargreaves

Had the butter chicken curry on a fairly quiet Weds evening. Very very tasty 😋. Slight problem with my order and staff couldn’t have been more helpful and comped me a drink as I was happy to keep the meal. Great local pub, food 5 stars x

Really great pub with good beers and one of the best roasts around! Staff are also all lovely and great with kids!

Just a good English pub with outdoor seating and the occasional band.

The food was great. The staff was very friendly and our food was delivered fast.

Great pub with great food and drink.

Just had Sheri’s fish pie for lunch. Magnificent! Almost as good as mine! I love the GN for just popping in for a drink, or especially a meal. Today’s fish pie was stupendous.

Well, this great pub continues to improve. The introduction of Vocation's Crush Hour, after a fantastic tap rakeover by Vocation, is another great step forward! A great independent pub (freehouse), supporting a great, independent, Yorkshire, brewery! And, they have their annual beer festival coming up, with both cask and keg, and cidef featured. A quality establishment, with a great team!

Never eaten here, which is a shame, it always looks and smells good. Staff are lovely, dog friendly, the ales are great, always a good vibe!

Absolutely stunning service. Both our servers were delightful, but our main server was amazing with our GF needs and the kids. There were plenty of GF options, some of which were GF as standard, others available to be adapted. I had a lovely full roast which was GF and even came with a GF Yorkshire. Some of the best service I’ve ever had, a really lovely visit and we could not recommend more highly.

Helpful staff are on hand to help you choose food and drinks. This place does great mini beer festivals. If you're a campaign for real ale member, then you get a little discount off your real ale, so that's a bonus. There's a nice garden to relax in. The toilets need a bit of an improvement in general though

Lovely cozy place with great pub food and service with a smile. Great for lunch or to hang out with a pint and friends.

Such a lovely place . Great,very tasty and homemade Sunday roast. Very friendly staff. It would be my place for Sunday roast if lived in the area.

Simply wonderful Sunday lunch with my family. The beef was beautifully pink and succulent, the service was prompt and very friendly. I could not fault it in any way, and I heartily recommend it. Many thanks.

Really nice friendly pub. Very handy if you're going or have just been to the Odyssey as it's right next door. Nice outside area too.

Fabulous food and great service. Had the pie, mash and mushy peas. Absolutely delicious. Lovely friendly service and dogs very welcome too.

Great pub, super choice of beers / food, nice atmosphere wonderful staff and a garden!

Great food topped with friendly service. Can't wait for next visit 😀

Excellent Sunday roasts and friendly staff

Decided to explore away from central St Albans and found a great locsl where Madge was a star. People knew her famous Dad Flat Eric. Had Harvey's Sussex best..lovely. Food looks good. Surprisingly large beer garden.

This is my favourite pub in St Albans. Regular visitors, and always had a great time. Staff are friendly and clearly care about customers, rectifying (probably the 1 in 100 visits) mistakes quickly. Food always great standard. Great ‘event night’ food (Thai, St Patrick’s Day etc). Brilliant mini beer festivals, adore the dog friendly garden - love this place (Emma in particular is a superstar)!

Lovely food..beautiful small surroundings..old fashioned pub modernised x Definitely worth a visit. Great beer garden. Amazing atmosphere. Fantastic staff. Great value and choice 👏 x

We have been to the Great Northern many times over the years and the food and service has always been very good but unfortunately that was not the case today. Despite having booked for Sunday lunch we had to wait ages for our food to arrive and when it did the vegetables were under cooked, the beef was chewy, the Yorkshire was cold and the roasties weren't great. It was very busy and they may have been having an off day or maybe their kitchen just can't cope with the volume. That said, the staff were friendly and the beer was great, shame about the food today. We may go back in the future but it won't be for a while and it's probably best to avoid busy times like Sunday lunch.

Slightly disappointed after the new year. We used to come here pretty often. Menu has changed since the newest menus uploaded here on Google just a month ago. We tried to ring and book the table but no one picked up. Our usual calamari was replaced by squid that taste like it came straight from Iceland and salmon became rainbow trout. The lamb shank we ordered came lukewarm and the roasted veggies were anything but roasted, the carrots and parsnip was half cooked. The gravy came in a side container without a spout and has carrot chunks in it. The breaded chicken burger came more pan-fried than fried. Overall the food experience was pretty bad. Would have preferred if food stayed the same and prices increased slightly. [edit after the GN response] We didn’t ask for the food to come together, they didn’t come together either. The starters were done with by the time mains arrived. We asked if you guys would have a table available and asked if the food would make it before we have to hand over the table, your staff insisted it would be ok for us so we stayed. When I asked for the lamb - she said the kitchen won’t make it in time, but changed her mind. We wouldn’t have minded a “we’re full” or “sorry we can’t offer food because we’re too busy” than just low quality meals, we expected it to be full as we couldn’t manage to get a reservation as no one picked up the phone. Your staff was more than busy - she mentioned working her second shift of the day, she barely had time to pick up our dishes and we had to hand the table off really quickly because you have tight reservations for the tables, but if she actually went past us she would’ve seen me visibly disappointed and complaining about the food and writing this review as the food came. Generally, would’ve just preferred a “we’re too busy” instead of this passive aggressive response that avoided half of the issues which contributed to the subpar experience.

Very cosy place with good selection of drinks and food. Apparently chicken wing are pretty hot but very tasty. Sunday roast was great with but portion and staff was very friendly. Definitely coming back

Great little pub. Good atmosphere.

One of the best gastropubs in St. Albans. Staff are attentive and the pub is very dog friendly too

Great pub, lovely welcome... ... fibe beer...

Nice atmosphere and decent beer and bar staff are so friendly

Great pub, excellent staff and awesome food.

This quality establishment never disappoints. Always cheerful staff, clearly enjoying their work and giving great service. Went to try their new "Thursday night is pizza night", and we both had a rather good pepperoni with added jalapeños 🍕❤️ They have an Italian quality controller. Ample outside seating, including a large marquee. Recommended!

Been here many times but only just tried their food. Sunday roast is great. Excellent service. No parking on site by car parks near by.

Great pub friendly welcome food is amazing

Very good St Albans Pub. 5 minutes walk away from the train station. Has good selection of real ales and craft beer. Very friendly and helpful staff is dog friendly nicely decorated interior with a reasonable size beer garden. Will recommend this pub.

Great beer festival, loads of beers to choose from, a BBQ and live entertainment, topped off with fantastic service and a lively atmosphere.

The food and drinks seem good. My low rating is caused by seeing a disabled person struggle down unguarded steps to the outside bar. With no supporting handrail he could easily have fallen.

Fantastic pub. Friendly staff and good selection of beers. Has a beer festival and BBQ food during the summer. Great for a summer beer in the afternoon. Good food too.

One of the best pubs in St Albans- a city of great pubs. We went for the beer and cider festival, stayed for the wood fired pizza. Great staff, great food, great drink.

An ever popular pub with great options including non-alcoholic beers.

Stayed in St Albans for 2 days for Liam Gallagher gig at Knebworth .Excellent pub.Staff were so friendly.Cracking place 👍

The food is great at the northern, very tasty. But it’s doesn’t compare to the lovely staff and their customers service. It really feels welcoming when you walk through the door!

Once again, the Great Northern delivered a superb, high quality, Sunday lunch for four of us. Three of us had the beef, which is a signature meal here, with everything - the meat, the veg. and the Yorkshire Pudding - cooked to perfection and served...

8 of us ate here today, sharing the whole range of roast dinners. All were excellent. Really good portions and well presented. Service was quick and the staff really approachable. Thoroughly recommend a visit

I visited this pub last Sunday (21 May 2022) for their Sunday Roast dinner. The young guy who took my order was very pleasant with a lovely manner. I asked for my roast to be very well done (as it is advertised as cooked "rare"....

Excellent food and brilliant service!

Great beer and food. Friendly efficient staff.

Sunday Lunch with family and friends. We were excellently looked after by Sarah and Emma. The food was delicious. The salmon and samphire was exquisite!

Good conversation in relaxed outside seating, Good beer 🍺 👌

Very friendly, nice food and good beer. Do you really need anything else?

Basic traditional pub Friendly, welcoming staff and good beer

Staff are ok , toilet s need updating , live music a good size garden

Rang to get last table for 2 for Sunday Roast lunch..great beers.good wine.. Roast was just like ya mum made..all fresh heritage veg. Massive Yorkshire. Delicious and piping hot... thank you.....

Ate at the Great Northern for the first time tonight. Service from Emma and Sarah was excellent, great atmosphere and great burgers! they immediately checked whether we were going to the Odyssey and made sure the food and drinks came in good time. We didn't...

Great food, great atmosphere and lovely friendly staff. A++

Good pint, not been in here before on previous trips to St Albans but would definitely return for a few more beers.

I ordered fish burger but it was 4 fish fingers in a bun 12 pounds rip off, staff member was attractive and very polite,

Best roast we have had in St Albans. The deserts were delicious too 🤤 staff were very friendly and helpful.

Fantastic place, met the owner’s brother who’s a bit of an odd chap but once he left us alone we had a great night.

Arrived with no reservation , was welcomed and offered a table straight away , busy vibrant pub with good beer selections plus mulled wine and cider too, ordered food and selected two gluten free pulled pork burgers and two pies, not too long to wait...

The Great Northern is around a 5-10 minute walk away from St Albans City station. We booked a table for 2 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon and were able to take our places despite arriving early. The food was a little slow in arriving but...

Like this pub, lovely food, good atmosphere great staff.

First visit to the GN for a while, and it was very good. Sunday lunch was delicious!! The staff were fantastic, the atmosphere was so much improved, it was cosy and welcoming. Highly recommended!

Great little pub, with a good range of beverages.

Staff very friendly and obliging, lovely outdoor covered space, tasty food for the children.

Amazing, food and very friendly staff

Good food, good beer, friendly service. Perfect pub.

It's been a while since I've been but pleasantly surprised, very friendly. Will go again.

They've had a good makeover since I last visited. There was a great vibe here and it was busy for a Monday

1st time in this pub all is good will go again

Great pub with a wide selection of drinks on tap and in the fridges. Great staff who are welcoming and knowledgeable, and the outside area is a gem

Lovely, friendly and great food! We love this being our local 🙂

Friendly and helpful staff very welcoming Good food at good price Lovely venue

Very pretty garden and the staff are super friendly 😀