The Old Barge in East Hertfordshire - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

To be honest I've never been one to complain or write a review, however on this occasion I feel I have to. Sunday roast, don't bother, meat was mediocre, veg was so hard it may as well have been still in the field, complained about the rock hard parsnips and got replacements that were just as dire, as for the cabbage, may as well have had a quarter of concrete, even my knife and fork gave up the ghost. For the price they charge it's an absolute joke. Only ate what I did as I was hungry. Do yourself a favour and steer clear. If nothing else the company was nice, thanks babe.

Popped in for an evening dinner. Had salmon and chicken dishes. Very tasty and plentiful. Great service and good prices too. Excellent 👌

Popped in for an evening dinner. Had salmon and chicken dishes. Very tasty and plentiful. Great service and good prices too. 👌👏

Lovely to find somewhere peaceful, away from the football !

Lovely place for a beer . A good range of real ales and gins . Next to the river .and the food , fish and chips for my wife and the burger for me were excellent.

Love sitting outside and just people watch. Beer is always good and staff always friendly.

Haven't eaten here but it looked and smelled good. Great staff.

Lovely pub, delicious Sunday roasts and fantastic service. Enjoyed our trip here for Father’s Day! :)

Nice location, staff were efficient. Nice drinks with proper tonic water (not from a pump) although a vodka and tonic was £7.75! The food was rather disappointing for the price. Ploughman's was very sparse and the baguette bread slices were rock hard like giant croutons. Jacket potato had clearly been microwaved several times as the underneath was hard and overcooked but the cheese was not melted, a bit disappointing at £9.50! Would possibly re-visit for a drink but would prefer not to eat here again.

Lovely pub in a great location. Food was good and good selection. Staff were friendly and service was amazing even though they were extremely busy there wasn't much of a wait at the bar.

Lunch here today, food was very slow coming out (around 45 minutes at lunch time). One of us ordered the fish and chips and the amount of rock salt on the fish made it inedible, just so salty. Not the cheapest of places for lunch, will not return.

So great to hear some really good live music yesterday afternoon, a sunny bank holiday and a real treat to hear some excellent bands at The Barge - more please!!

Always great especially on a sunny day & seconds from the heart of Hertford

Food came out with a few problems even simple things like the bottom of my burger bun still being in the kitchen food standards have gone down

----UPDATE----- Came here again with my mum and we had a lovely time. The staff are all friendly and the food (schnitzel and vegan risotto were delicious!) ‐----------------------- I really like this pub, I have nice memories spending time here with my mum. I came here for lunch today and it was really nice. There is a good selection of vegan items. I had the gnocchi, my partner, the Moving Mountains burger. The gnocchi was a little too oily for me, but that could be down to personal preference, and it didn't stop me from finishing it! I did feel that the mains could have been a little cheaper, and I didn't like that the gnocchi was two prices, but I was charged the higher amount. I would however still return. The staff were lovely and there is a nice selection of beer.

Stopped off for a light lunch after a walk. Good atmosphere. Great position nexr to river. Good service. Food was fine.

Very friendly staff. Well stocked selection of beers and ciders, which change on a regular basis. Food is quite good but very expensive considering it doesn't quite cut the very high standards that the best Gastro pubs are noted for.

Booked here after a recommendation, wish we'd hadn't! The roast beef dinner was awful, beef had lots of sinew, veg under cooked, gravy tasteless, the whole dinner lacked seasoning and flavour. The table behind us had unruly children who kept screaming and banging into my chair, overall not a nice experience. Would not recommend at all, save your time and money as expensive too!

Friendly & pleasant staff. Good food. Regularly changing real ales & ciders on hand pump, selection of keg beers & ciders plus bottled/canned beer. Plus a selection of bottled/canned craft beers. Has regular events including quizzes . My favourite pub in Hertford also my local.

Basic pub food is so badly done. Grilled prawns are not grilled well, double fried chips are so basic to do but not done well. Not sure how Onion rings can be done badly. Just surviving because of the location. Staff is great! Location is nice

Traditional pub,can become quite busy on Fri,and sat

Friendly staff, great service. But sweet jesus the prices were extortionate. £120 for 4 drinks, 3 meals and 3 desserts. The desserts were maybe 4 tablespoons each and around 8 quid each. The roasts that we all had, the beef was extremely fatty and tough and was expected to be cut through with a butter knife. The veg was hard, almost raw. The portion sizes were pretty good, a lot of meat but some of it was tough and very fatty. The lamb shank was the winner of the meal. Overall dissapointed and won't be returning especially when a cost of 1 corona was nearly £6. If the food had been cooked for 5 mins more, better portion on the desserts and a slightly lower drinks cost this would of been amazing. Suffice to say feel a little robbed and my mother's birthday meal was more than dissapointing.

Went on a Thursday night so very quiet. That said, we enjoyed great food and friendly service. Highly recommended.

I had lunch and a couple of drinks here, it was peaceful and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. If you're looking for somewhere to spend an afternoon, this would be a very good place to visit.

A great choice to have a nice meal! I was visiting Hertford with a friend and decided to try this place because of the reviews, they weren´t lying! I tried a wonderful Steak and Ale Pie, really recommended, and the waitress treatment was unbeatable . Definitely a place to come back!

Lovely old style pub . Low beams and ceilings

Classic pub grub, good service, great atmosphere

Very disappointed by my latest visit to the old barge. Found the only seat left in the bar as we had a dog and it had a small table not big enough for 3, we asked a gentleman if we can grab another little table from the dining area. He asked the bar lady if it was okay and she was very stand off ish but reluctantly agreed. After moving the table the group of girls behind the bar continued on to talk about us and whisper as if we had done something wrong which we didn’t appreciate. Especially a meter from the table. When spending £80 on a meal and drinks for 3 you would expect better respect and service. When the food came the scotch eggs were solid I asked if we could swap them for runny eggs as the menu specifically said melt in the middle eggs. The same bar lady took the plates to the kitchen with no word and came back to say that’s how we serve them here we would not be allowed to serve them raw. I didn’t want the eggs raw I just didn’t want them hard boiled as this isn’t what paid £8 for. No apologies and threw the plates back down to us. The food was actually really nice other than that and would recommend but very disappointed by the bad atmosphere made by some of the staff, it made for an uncomfortable dining experience.

Always love visiting this pub. Great selection of drinks and great service. Atmosphere really good inside!

Good staff, good price, good food and great location

Great experience from start to finish, service was spot on. Food was great and has a lovely local feel to it. Ordered the Pie and Mash, Chilli Con Carne and sausage and mash for the kids. All plates empty and all very happy. Thanks to the lady and gent serving us. 🙏🏾

Nice pub, good food. Service friendly and helpful. Will use again 👍

Booked Xmas work meal .. 2 people didn’t come due to illness .. so I called in advance was happy to still pay £28 each has it was literally on today, was told I could take the meals hope with me has the kitchen would have already have those meals so I said “yes ok “ when I got home I was horrified £28 !!! For this .. no I wouldn’t go back out dessert was inedible @ rude staff … I would not recommend

Came here for my work Xmas dinner 2 of us couldn’t come but we had to pay for them which was fine and the staff said they would box up to 2 uneaten meals for us to take home .. once home I opened the boxes and they were half empty with No meat at all. I messaged the pud and the manager Simon accused me of taking the food .. basically thrift. Poor customer service would steer clear if I was you 😡 Below pics are what you get for £28

Great small pub feel with great charm and service.

Absolutely delicious roast beef - melt in the mouth. And for the first time in many years, I actually are vegetables, they were so beautifully done. Posh Pops are gorgeous too. The four-legged friends were lovely, even though I'm not a dog owner myself. I live in Cheshunt, not Hertford, but I will certainly be back soon!

We had noted the pub a few weeks before and thought its location was worth visiting prior to a gig The Red Snapper at the Corn Exchange on the 16th of November. We popped our head and ventured to ask if they were serving food and was met with a stunning old genuine pub with fabulously welcome and friendly staff, and then were stunned and satiated with absolutely first-class food.. We had the sausage and mash which was seasoned to perfection and a beef bourguignon special that was knock out gorgeous and the meat was meltngly tender alongside mustard mash.. Winner night all round as the Sanpper was tip top. Fab. Will be back possibly by Kyack or foot in the spring/summer. Thank you all x

Never been here before but lovely atmosphere in a traditional setting. Came for lunch and nice selection is available. Service was excellent. Food was excellent. A lovely afternoon lunch.

Good family pub. The roast lunch was delicious. Good portions. Emjoyed by all the family.

Always a lovely spot on a sunny afternoon. Ales were well served. Not so impressed with the food though! It turns out the £12 meatless roast is simply the veg with no protein. It’s obviously not a proper meal and doesn’t deserve the price tag. It should be called ‘just the trimmings’ and be half the price. Not what I was after.

Completely overpriced. More expensive than most of the competition. Seriously - more expensive than West-end pubs and its in Hertford!! Greed knows no bounds sadly

This has always been a great spot to stop for a pint (or several) - Great food and is what Hertford is all about - Dog friendly and soon to be open the new Lea Wharf shopping Centre. Love Hertford!

Friendly service, good portions og a great Sunday Roast.

Staff are so rude and the service is simply awful. Walked out after not being served which felt like discrimination. Disgusting and would not recommend this place to anyone.

Relaxed pub, with good service and a wide choice of beers.

Great food. Great service. Reasonable prices.

Had a Beef Sunday Roast which was cooked to perfection. River views and a cosy friendly atmosphere. Service was great and all staff were friendly

Lovely pub. Nice food. Good atmosphere.

We were staying in Hertford and were looking to eat on a Saturday night without a booking - fortunately the staff here were very accommodating and happy to host us. We had starters and mains and everything was well cooked and tasty. We sat in the restaurant area which is bright and spacious adjacent to the canal. The staff were all friendly and happy to help - all in all, excellent!

Very small portions. Vegetables were disgraceful.. food was cooked good, but offerings were minimal

Popped in for lunch excellent menu choices and at reasonable prices. When food arrived it was ell presented obviously freshly made and served with a smile. Great ecperience and will definitely visit again.

Made to feel grossly uncomfortable as a mixed race family. Felt targeted and unable to enjoy our family afternoon with mum. Manageress mishandled customer service and was passive aggressive in approach. Such a shame for such a nice venue. Food. The steak was impeccable but the calamari not crisp at all, more of a stodgy stodge. Spent a lot of money on food and after less than 3 rounds of drinks they felt the need to impose their opinions on us. Won't be revisiting, man dem out deya , serve a swerve. Don waste P's on mediocrity. Deffo middle England type place bun dat. Was with my mom's and she felt the Tude, don't work hard to be side eyed as undeserving and my mom's to feel it.

Love this pub, they really deserve credit for their food. All cooked fresh on site with a seasonal menu which always has several things to temp you. Given the price this is normally way above standard pub food in terms of menu originality, food quality and portion size. They have an outdoor space out the back and river views the other side, lovely place for dark winter days when they have their log fire going creating a cosy atmosphere which takes some beating

Have come back multiple times because we’ve just been so impressed. What a pleasant surprise for excellent food in a pub hidden away by the river. Vegan options have always been delish and there’s always plenty of choice with a comfortable price- great value for money. My personal favourite is the grilled peach salad, the portion is fantastic, presentation immaculate and taste sublime. Another honourable mention is the cauliflower starter dish. I think the only thing I can fault the food on is the flatbread that accompanies some dishes: it has always been too hard and slightly stale tasting, if that improves in any way, I literally wouldn’t be able to find faults. Service has always been prompt and staff members are lovely, the interior and exterior seating is fab for all weather. I highly recommend. Update as of June 2023: As I continue to return, there are always new additions to the menu, fantastic options and all so tasty and flavourful. Including, tempura veg, beetroot salad (starters) and Katsu curry.

The pub is in a good position with a nice atmosphere. The food was above average (limited menu) and the staff were great 👍

Very expensive beers, I paid over £6 for a 330 bottle of Fruli strawberry beer (coke can size) rip off I’ve had proper pints of craft beer for less than this elsewhere. Go elsewhere

Probably the most delicious vegan food I’ve had in all of Hertfordshire! The cauliflower wings are a must 🙌

Lovely little pub! Always nice visiting here, especially when there is live music

Great service and a really tasty burger too! Great to be sitting outside, enjoying the great weather!

Nice pub on the riverside with a lovely beer garden!

Fabulous place for a Sunday roast! Excellent menus for all with clear markings for V and Ve options. Knowledgable staff answered a question about what was in a dessert dish for allergies. Prices as expected. Dessert menu on point and all the family impressed. Even has correct sized cutlery for the kids. Will be back again.

Nice pub on the bank of the river Lea.

Brilliant place , friendly staff, great food.

Nice beer garden, good food, friendly service

Beautiful old pub next to river lea and they had my fav cider stowford well done guys

Nice riverside pub with a good range of ales & ciders. Excellent fresh cooked food

Great burgers and beers! Nice pub. Nice staff.

It waw probably the worst Sunday lunch I've ever had. The lamb shank was tiny and the roast potatoes were inedible.i couldn't even cut them. It's pity as it's a nice pub with friendly staff. Probably ok for a drink only or maybe burgers,but I would definitely stay clear of any roasts.

Nice outside in the sun, but the prices! £3 more per pint than my local.

Good quality British pub with restaurant area.

Food not served hot and plate not warm, considering how it wasn't busy it shouldn't be hard. Spoke to a member of staff who wasn't that bothered. First & last lunch visit today.

Lovely pub. Good range of beers. Great location. Only let down is the price. I can understand charging a bit of a premium, but this place charges more than central London craft beer pubs.

Decent beer, family friendly atmosphere 👌

Such a lovely pub, very welcoming and amazing food. Excellent service, special thank you to the Elodie who was such a lovely waitress! We will be back soon !

Roast was average, could make a better one at home

The food here is amazing the staff are friendly cant wait to pay another visit.

loved The Barge! I'm not, typically, a fan of Marstons pubs but this one is great 👌 After the reply I can understand why I liked it 🤣🤣 the Marston pale ale was good 😉😉

Just had lunch food delicious but our stay was ruined by the unruly loud selfish crowd at end of restaurant 😒 wish a member of staff had asked them to be quieter!

A very enjoyable and friendly pub, tucked away on the edge of the town. On one side there is the canal and on the other a large outside seatingn area. There is a good range of beers that are very well kept. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly too.

We had a great family lunch! All the staff couldn’t be more polite and genuinely nice. Food was delicious, fresh, on time. We had the fish and chips and the chicken burger, the kids both demolished their burgers ! Small manu with plenty of choice though for us. Wide range of drinks. Not to forget the pud! I had a lovely rum and raisin ice cream which was really good , but there was also mandarin sorbe .. we thought it was amazing for a pub to offer these .. Honest prices , very reasonable .

We had a great family lunch! All the staff couldn’t be more polite and genuinely nice. Food was delicious, fresh, on time. We had the fish and chips and the chicken burger, the kids both demolished their burgers ! Small manu with plenty of choice though for us. Wide range of drinks. Not to forget the pud! I had a lovely rum and raisin ice cream which was really good , but there was also mandarin sorbe .. we thought it was amazing for a pub to offer these .. Honest prices , very reasonable .

Took an hour for food to arrive was luke warm when it did arrive

Good food. Friendly staff. Nice drinks.

Great food, fresh, wholesome and delicious. Lovely service, great location. Highly recommended

Very upsetting experience. We were basically told that groups over 6 were not welcome!! Ooops, silly us we thought you were a pub 🙄 We had also called 3 times and emailed and been told that if we turned up early we could get a table? You said you cannot reserve any table for over 6 people. We did not rearrange any tables, we just asked and were quite obviously made to feel unwelcome. You were not busy, it was 12.30 and your bar was empty! At no point did you offer any help with adjusting tables? We love local pubs and always support them but it works both ways..? Maybe try to be more accommodating? We definitely didn’t make your staff feel any more unwelcome than we felt. Remember the saying…’the customer is always right?’?

When pubs are struggling you like to think they are welcoming. Well, don’t come here as they don’t like groups of 6 or more. The Woolpack were so happy to see us! Check The Woolpack out instead! The Barge was the rudest pub I’ve ever been to

Possibly not, but potatoes tasted as if cooked in old oil - odd tasting. Two roast beef ordered; one thinly cut and dry, the other medium rare and more generous portion. Need more consistency. Nice staff.

Friendly staff, nice surroundings and great sticky toffee pudding.

I came here for Mother’s Day lunch. We were a little early so sat on a sofa and had drinks which was very nice and cosy. We then went to our table and ordered more drinks. When they arrived the waiter put the tray half on the table and took the drinks that were on the table off the tray first so the weight of the over hang flipped the tray onto the table and all over one of us. This was quickly cleaned up but parts of the broken glass would have been missed out had we not said anything. We then reordered the spilled drink and the wrong drink was brought to us. We then ordered our starter and it was only about 10 minutes after we ordered that we were told that they had ran out of the squid starter we had ordered. We, therefore, shared seasoned cauliflower which was quite nice. For main I had fish and chips and garlic bread which was also very nice but the peas that the menu said would be mushy were left whole. I then had churros with chocolate sauce and ice cream which were a very nice end to the meal. Overall the food was really good but the clumsy and ill informed service let things down a little

Visited at lunchtime Good range of beers on pump plus lovely food menu Friendly helpful staff

We were able to take the dogs in to the pub, after a walk at the park, and warmed up next to the log fire. A great way to spend an hour 👏

A lovely pub. The beer was in good condition. The Staff were extremely helpful and friendly. My Wife has an intolerance to gluten and the Landlady went out of her way to accommodate this. A really nice experience and well worth a visit.

I hadn’t visited The Old Barge for almost 30 years! I used to drink there fairly regularly, but moved out of the area, so today I took my 16 year old daughter there for lunch. The staff were friendly and the food (we both ordered chicken strips with sweet chilli and sour cream) was amazing. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back!

Comfortable place with good staff.

Watching a match on the common, it's a cold morning, what better to wander over to the Old Barge for a nice lunch which hits the spot. A friendly welcome from the boss, a warm fire, a recommendation to order the pork Sunday roast dinner , very prompt service from the enthusiastic staff and to top it all, apple & rhubarb crumble with hot custard to finish. Job done, thank you!

Food was very nice, good atmosphere, good choice of ales and beers, very child friendly too. Staff were attentive to detail, welcoming and warm.

Very nice meal and friendly staff.

Got a table to eat lunch 3 adults 1 child for my birthday yesterday 28th January. Bought 3 drinks which cost £20.15. After paying at bar was told there's no food the kitchens closed. Absolutely disgusting. Never again.

Really nice pub, service was good, staff friendly and food was lovely…only problem is parking…due to the road closures in Hertford I couldn’t work out how to get close enough to park had to park a fair way away and walk

Favourite pub for miles, super cosy without being twee, and the food is incredible. The staff are lovely too. My friend left a hat behind without realising and one of the staff kept it for weeks until I happened to come by again. Great place.