The Old Bell in St Albans

The second turkey dinner of the week and this pub won the prize of the best, knocking a 5 star London hotel into 2nd place. Lovely service, dog friendly, great food, great value.

We had Sunday lunch here (15th December 2024) while visiting from Wales. The food was delicious, the best Sunday dinner that we've had out in a restaurant. It had everything you could think of. Highly recommend their cauliflower cheese and pigs in blankets. The desserts also didn't disappoint. Staff were extremely friendly and helpful. We were served by a lovely lady called Jacque who spent time talking to us about Christmas and chatting to our children.

A great meal served by Sharon. We went for the roast beef, roast pork and pie. The festive chocolate bomb was incredible. Super fast and friendly service.

Absolutely lovely pub, lovely staff. Drinks excellent. The food menu needs revising I went for lunch with my Mum as just passing through on the way home from shopping. I ordered the starter garlic mushrooms on sourdough toast not great had better toast too hard with 2 mushrooms and some weird sauce from a packet my Mum ordered the vegetable tart it was horrible some kind of mushy veg filling with seeds on the top in a pastry case potatoes looked like they had been moulded and stuck together into a ramakin and emptied on the plate like a sand castle. Luckily the Manager and waiter where kind enough to exchange the veg tart for some scampi which was better. Without charge. Very fair, but felt very disappointed as it was such a lovely pub. Thankyou to your lovely staff.

Great pub, great product, and great staff, especially Harrison. Nothing was too much bother for him and we were made to feel really welcome. This place has really turned around, would highly recommend 😀

Great time - Harrison on the bar and made me feel very welcome. Always checking to make sure I was ok and if a needed any more drinks. Great service, would definitely come back again

Booked for Christmas menu couples date night. A little disappointed with lack of choice of starters on festive menu and wouldn’t allow substitute. But great pub (building / atmosphere), staff and food. Always a great visit.

Lovely pub with good food and service. Staff very attentive and choice very good. Be sure to register your car if parking in the pub car park.

Sunday roast was like a school dinner . I sent mine back, but my poor wife soldiered on because she was hungry. Nearly broke a tooth on a roast potato had cold greens and leather Yorkshire pudding, pretty sad state of affairs.

We visited this pub for lunch on a Saturday before returning to London after visiting family in Harpenden. Regrettably, the experience was nothing short of appalling. The lady on duty displayed a blasé attitude, coupled with an unwarranted air of self-importance, which was both baffling and off-putting. Suffice it to say, we shall not be returning, as the service provided failed to meet even the most rudimentary standards one might expect.

Bar staff helpful and friendly. Food has mixed reviews. I had the duo of chicken which was really nice. My partner had the Mushroom and Ale pie - pastry was not very well cooked, sauce inside was bland and didn’t really taste like an ale sauce. The pot of gravy was different to the inside of the pie and was really lumpy. The veg was obviously frozen and still in one lump. We told the waitress but she just said she’d tell the chef and walked away. No further response. Very disappointing when one meal was so good but the other was so underwhelming.

As others have said a good chain restaurant. Food was good and cooked well, service was quick, friendly and helpful. Fairly busy even on a Monday lunchtime. Have to pay initially to park, but was knocked off the bill.

Haven't been to this pub in years, however i was pleasantly surprised by how great the food was and how lovely the staff were, especially Jackie. I would definitely recommend coming here, one of my favourite places to go in the area.

Used to be 5* review from me , I've taken it right down bad food and service won't be going again

Came today for breakfast. Asked if we could have a table and told no as we hadn't booked and they were full. Whole pub and car park were empty. Not a single other person in there. Website states that bar tables are on a first come first served basis. We were definitely first to come but alas sent away without serving...

Not been here for years and could be another few years before we go again. Dark small car park with huge puddles following rain so difficult to navigate. My wife had the Pork Belly which she said was the worst one she has ever had - the meat was dry and tough and we only didn't complain at the time because we had the kids and friends with us and didn't have time to wait for things to be recooked. My mixed grill could have been better, considering the cost, would have expected a full chicken breast for the price, not just half. Waitress was blatantly new as had to explain what a steak knife was, but attitude at the end of the meal was not acceptable, and in hindsight not giving us chance to add a tip to the card payment was good as frankly she didn't deserve one. Sorry to say we won't be rushing back as was hoping we would find another alternative location as a change from where we usually go. EDIT: Following your reply, I hadn't realised there was supposed to be a sausage on the mixed grill as I didn't get one and hadn't noticed it on the menu, so this makes it worse! I was comparing the price to a number of other chain Pub Restaurants that are cheaper and include a whole chicken breast for the price along with the other items you mentioned ;o) As mentioned we would have said about the Pork Belly had we not been with older friends and had our young children as it would have lengthened the stay and unfortunately we struggled on the chairs as like the majority of restaurant chairs, they are never the most comfortable :o) Appreciate the waitress is new to the trade, but my wife did not appreciate the way she spoke back to me at the end of the meal whilst paying. It is sad as I had been looking forward to returning after not having been for a number of years, hopefully if we come back in future we have the same experience as your other customers :o) - Thanks for taking the time to reply ;o)

They always look after us and our disabled grandson

My friend and I stopped by of the off chance we could have breakfast - this pub did not disappoint! The breakfast was amazing - especially the Farmers choice 😋. We were served by Mike the General manager and he was very helpful. Would definitely recommended and will be going back very soon .

Service fantastic! Ambience fab! Free parking- bonus. But…… food very very poor.🫣 Steak was cold, pork was extremely dry and again cold, kids meals ok for the price. I guess only desserts were lovely. Please get a new chef as I would not allowed this food to be serve in my kitchen!

The team fitted us in at short notice early evening when the Old Bell was busy. Service from Samanta was courteous and helpful and food was lovely.

Lovely food, excellent service and thoroughly recommend…big thankyou to Jacqui who was a lovely hostess. Great value for money at a very underrated pub/restaurant.

Nice food good service, well done. P

I had 1 of their special meals, toad in the hole. The server did come back and ask if my food was ok, but i didn't respond honestly. This was absolutely my fault, as normally i would have said something. The place was extremely quiet

Fantastic meal and service, thank you chef and especially Clare and Tom, they were the only two working and it was quite busy but they still served with a smile and nothing was too much trouble!

Thanks to Clare and Mike for looking after us. Never been here before and I was so impressed. Fantastic venue, the bar had 3 of my most favourite lagers on tap. After a long deliberation on what to eat (choice was lovely) I had the veg medley with chicken option. It was so nice that I actually felt inspired to leave a review. Brilliant 100% recommend

Awful service. Awful food. Stay away.

Steak was over cooked. The service was fantastic.

Good food, good value and a friendly welcome.

Been here an hour and still waiting for food. Only 4 tables occupied. This is not normal for this place, although service has gone down over the past couple of months. Very disappointed as this is normally a good place to eat. Hope this is temporary.

Great place for a bite to eat and a pint. Service has gone a bit downhill but it may have been an off day.

On our last full day visiting England, my husband and I popped into The Old Bell for a late lunch. I ordered the Mushroom & Ale Pie, while my husband went for the Cumberland Sausage & Mash. After ordering sausages and potatoes over the course of our entire week trip, he declared these the best of them all! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope we'll be able to go back some day.

We had a late lunch here this afternoon. What a find, excellent food, no screaming children, a great Guinness.

Hadn’t booked . Only 6 cars in the car park. Was told there was a 45 minute wait on food without a booking and there was no space.! Shocking customer service - obviously didn’t want to serve myself and a friend.

Excellent service from Clare , superb food again , great staff and will always come again and bring more family Thankyou

Food serving stopped at 20:45 when I enquired. As I thought it was 21:00, I was really surprised and hungry. To hell with Chef & Brewer. They do their own thing irrespective of publicised hours.

Highly recommend. It had brilliant service, and a good range of vegetarian and vegan options. Would definitely go again!

I went here 2 weeks ago and had the steak. Was really good and the waiters were all very helpful.

As always, a lovely Sunday roast, friendly welcome, thanks to Claire and the team. Always feel welcome and food quick and cooked to perfection.

Went for a Sunday afternoon roast dinner at The Old Bell. It was well priced, really nice food & great weather! Will be returning soon

Lovely pub. Really nice food. It was my 60th birthday and the lady in charge put a candle in my pudding. Little touches like that mean a lot. Would definitely recommend. A few hundred miles from home so unfortunately can't go often, but will definitely go again if we are in the area

Overall a very pretentious, disingenuous and discourteous service and customer experience. Upon arrival on a quiet Monday lunchtime in June we (my 16 yo daughter and I) were asked if we'd booked, which we hadn't to which were ordered to sit in in a certain spot. The place was empty apart 2-3 pairs of other diners. When the food arrived although my daughter's fish was lovely and light and crspy (which she enjoyed thoroughly), the chips were claggy and not the best texture. We knew she wouldn't eat the peas it came with. The main problem however was my sausage and mash. I was expecting fresh and buttery mash (as described on the menu), however it was dry and had the texture of instant mash - mixed with not enough water, and completely lacking in that creamy buttery consistency that we can all achieve at home. The young man taking orders and payments came over at the very start of the meal - to ask how everything was, to which I explained the sausages were great, but I had a problem with the mash for the reason outlined before. I saw him speak to the manager at the bar (who looked over at me and my plate and pulled a skeptical face), but my anticipation that one of them might speak to me about it, or try and remedy the problem, did not materialise. My daughter and I continued with our plates. Upon payment and being presented with a full bill, and no with no acknowledgement of the mash (which was clearly untouched on my plate when our table was cleared away), I asked if I might have a deduction made. The young man again went to speak with his manager. I was told I would be offered a deduction because - 1. You didn't ask for it to be changed at the start of the meal - (I wasn't presented with the option) 2. No other customers have ever had a problem with the mash (All customers are all individuals) 3. We could offer you a free dessert - (We didn't have time, not did we want the sugar intake) In my opinion the food is overpriced for it's quality, the manager is self absorbed and lacking in true customer care skills, inflexible and rude. I feel robbed, slighted, and will not be bringing the rest of my family here or be recommending the place to friends and other family members. The venue looks impressive, but the staff lack heart and soul.

The food is absolutely amazing, the staff are too

Good selection of food and drink options. Dog friendly.

Excellent meal,service and good atmosphere

Lovely friendly staff..food could've been a bit hotter but nice flavours & generous portions 😋

Food was reasonable an reasonably priced service was excellent, the reason rated the food a 3 star was i had chicken as the mains and it was very dry even with the sauce, but on the whole everything else was excellent 😀 we shared a starter, had a mains an coffee with mini desert, which was excellent with drinks just over £30 each, which i thought excellent value for money

We had a nice family meal earlier this month but have now received a PCN fine for £100 despite logging our registration number on the touch screen at the bar. What a huge disappointment.

I got fined after parking a the car parking of this nice pub. No one said that the car should be registered. So it was expensive evening. Be careful

Very good pub. Delicious food. I recommend.

Nice meal with family, coped well with a toddler and vegan diets.

Great food all round lovely lunch

Plentiful food at contemporary prices ......

Went in for a Sunday roast good service and the roast dinner was lovely couldn't fault it at all get plenty of it and the puddings was delicious very nice start to finish

Infinitesimal portion of fish with risotto, manager even joked without realising when he said to my partner "you must have been hungry ". That brought about spontaneous but unscripted comments from us both about it being about 2 forkfulls of food. But even producing this took fully 45 minutes even with an empty restaurant. Extremely disappointed in the place, have eaten in many Chef and Brewers, usually OK but sadly not here.

Friendly and helpful staff. Very tasty lunch.

Lovely place, excellent food and Jacqui and team made you feel so welcome.

Busy place at this time that we had a meal Still the staff were happy attentive excellent sea bass and scallops thankyou all the team especially matt 😀 👍

Wonderful English pub, with some exciting pun menu items. Staff were wonderful!

I was fined £100 for using the car park. And in calling the pub to query this I had to go through an Artificial Intelligence bot before getting through to a member of staff who hung up on me. I had a nice evening on the day of my visit however this fine leaves a very bad impression.

Mothers Day visit with family. The staff were organised and aware of their expected guests as soon as we approached the restaurant which was a reassuring start. The level of service was high and maintained throughout our visit. Our food was hot, on time and came out together. We ordered a variety of dishes and my trio of roast meats was exceptional, as was the enormous accompanying homemade Yorkshire pudding - which was delicious. Value-wise the meal was very good although no vouchers were being taken today; I was unaware of this at the time of booking and while I can reuse the vouchers on another visit, it would be good if all staff were aware in future. Hats off to The Old Bell for a super experience, you gave me a wonderful day-off from family cooking! :)

Both my partner and I went here for a nice pub lunch, we were greeted with such hospitality, both the man at the bar and the lady who sat us down were extremely friendly. The food was very lovely, I had the Lasagna which was divine, my partner had the veggie burger which she had, the pattie was cooked just perfect and the vegetables were fresh. The chips were absolutely lovely too! I would say out of the pubs in Harpenden, the food and atmosphere is at the too! Prices are about average for the area, would definitely go again!

A lovley pub in Harpenden , popped in for lunch the pub and staff were really lovely and very friendly,orderd lunch one of us had curry that was very nice , other had a lasagne unfortunately that wasn't very good at all , it didn't taste very good seemed like it was just heated up the bottom was totally burnt so couldn't eat it , we would go back again for a drink but give the food a miss which is a shame

Brilliant service from Mike the manager and Sharron. We were visiting the area and popped in for some dinner. The food was excellent and well priced. The kids portions were sizable and great value for money. The kids chocolate brownie dessert was brilliant, we all had a piece of that, was just about adult size portions (for £1.75!). Decor was lovely, with a nice clean atmosphere about the place. My son was given crayons and cars to play with, the staff were so welcoming. Would definitely visit again when next in the area. We would recommend The Old Bell whole heartedly to anyone looking to eat in the Harpenden area. Well done guys!

Great evening. Bar and restaurant service was extremely friendly and efficient. Food was delicious and great size portions.

Called in recently to escape a heavy shower. It was so nice we ended up staying for a second bottle of wine. A very friendly place, most enjoyable experience.

Went for lunch today and what a great afternoon out. The service by mike and his effiecient female colleague was exceptional. We loved the food but for a wet tuesday afternoon the busy pub was testament to their great venue. We will definitely be returning

Great place !! Staff are really nice and attentive and the place has a really friendly atmosphere. Their head chef if also really great too would definitely recommend checking it out !!

Great visit today all staff attentive served very quick and big smiles from all . Met up with friends and they also enjoyed there visit

Lovely experience this afternoon at The Bell, so I highly recommend you visit! The warmest of welcomes and friendliest atmosphere.This authentic pub restaurant caters for everyone. Perfect for business meet ups, family and friends alike. Huge congratulations to Mike and the team for making every visit a special one.I have also had the pleasure of eating here and you won’t be disappointed by the standards or quality. I’ll be back!

Such a great experience - Disabled parking and strange diets (vegan/gluten free) were catered for easily. The vegan Mushroom and Ale Pie was delicious. The environment was comfortable and staff were welcoming and friendly. We will definitely be back.

Great food and fantastic staff would definitely recommend a visit

Had two great meals here & staff & service very good, lovely pint of Guinness.

I was disgusted with attitude of manager. Team members was having to.turn customers away for walk ins as so.prebooked yet the manager swanned in and dictacted wanted a table. He was then going behind bar whislt not on shift and bought his dog threw reatuarnt area of which isnt allowed. Im sorry but staff are told not to behind bar when not on shift he is a bad example of management and feels 1 rule for 1, 1 for him teem time manager. Bring back mark

Great value food and very friendly service.

Gillian was such an amazing waitress to us we came for a visit over the Christmas 🎄 period as a family .. wide range of food to choose from, food was amazing and the service we received was outstanding. Gillian was very welcoming and polite .. thankyou for a lively evening

Food was ok Staff are lovely UNFORTUNATELY itcwas very cold in there, we sat by a very draughty window looking at a stocked fire and fire place. When we asked if the fire could be lighted we were told the fire can't go on until 4pm ( we thought it was a joke at first) especially as there is a sign next to the fire , clearly stating to ask a member of staff to put an extra log on the fire! What they don't state is the log won't be set on fire !!! Very disappointed, when it's winter and there's a fire ?? To be told they don't light it , but they do when everyone has left after lunch. 🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶

Nice little place with very friendly service. The food came out quickly which is good for when you’ve got kids, but bad when the burger was burnt on the outside and totally raw in the middle. Wouldn’t return for the food but nice place for a drink.

An excellent dinner on way to airport hotel. The duck was delicious and service impeccable😄.Thank you Harrison for being the perfect host.Will definitely go again when in area. Highly recommend to all. .

Really friendly, huge pie and very tasty.

My friend and I had lunch here, the only problem we had was a wobbly table which was sorted out immediately. Apart from that the staff were very friendly and helpful and the food was great. Definitely be going back.

Really delicious meal with great service and friendly atmosphere. Reasonably priced too. Always enjoy coming here as made very welcome and staff extremely professional.

What's not to like....Great service, good food and pleasant atmosphere. All the staff were welcoming even on entry....definately go back again

Really enjoyed my food here. Portions are very large. Staff were very helpful with food accommodations for my child

Good quality and tasty dishes, and staffs are friendly and Kind , toilet is clean;) Big parking.

Ive visited the pub on many occasions but this is my first time eating there and very enjoyable it was. We booked for Boxing day and had an early sitting so the place was almost empty. The staff were brilliant and the food was very good. There was a choice of two menus and we had a mixture from both, the Turkey roast was soo good and plenty of it, the fish and chips was also a very good choice for one of our party. We will definitely be back

Christmas Eve drinks. Just right.

We visit The Old Bell regularly for Sunday roast, their portions are generous and the prices are reasonable, but best of all the food and service are unquestionably and reliably wonderful. Today we had the pleasure of having our Christmas dinner there, and true to form the food and hospitality was faultless. Everyone that works there and all of the other guests made sure that there was a real Christmas cheer, and the feeling of coming home Christmas Day to no washing up is priceless. Will be going back again, and again. Until next Christmas!

I've been to the olde bell several times and on this occasion the main meal was very poor, my friend and I both ordered the steak and Ale pie. I had mine with mash potato which tasted like it was made from a packet mix and quite inedible the Brussels where cooked to an inch of their life and the parsnips seemed like they hadn't been cooked at all. We were both very disappointed as the food there in the past has been fabulous. The staff are fantastic such a shame the food let the place down..

It was our first visit last night despite only being 10 minutes down the road. We don't have a bad word to say. It was busy, but there was a nice calm vibe. The staff were all friendly and no ask was too big. For...

I was treated to the meal which was excellent.

Came out for a birthday meal. Highly recommend on service alone but can also add that the food was fantastic!! The steak and ale pie was huge and incredibly tasty. Not clear on the menu but the pies do have bottoms! We will definitely come...

Had a work reunion and sadly it was a disaster. Waited 40 minutes for the starter courses and when they came, sadly, the food was dry. The main courses were a slight improvement but one colleague couldn't eat the warm rubber steak he was served. We informed a member of staff but there was little interest. We acknowledge that Christmas-time is busy but we were given no explanations or apologies. The atmosphere was jolly due to the high numbers there, but it will sadly be our last visit.

We attended the Breakfast with Santa with the kids and they had the best time! (Sorry about the noise!) The hosts were welcoming and warm, really cosy atmosphere and the food was lovely and very reasonably priced! Will def be returning!

Fantastic brunch with Santa, the food was delicious, the staff were exceptional and the children loved meeting Santa.

Excellent food and service from Gillian. The kids menu was particularly good and so nice to have real food for them not just chicken nuggets and chips!

Loved it great food and staff are so friendly.

We had a lovely meal for our Granddaughter’s 6th birthday. Gillian was our waitress for the afternoon and she made everything perfect for us.

What can I say the reviews speak themselves, went for a Sunday roast with the family and could not fault the service the staff or the size of the portions. This is what a real Pub is meant to be traditionally run by loving and...

WOW, we’d never been here before but we’ll absolutely be returning. Stunning food, we all had some variation of a roast as it was Sunday, the rib of beef fell off of the bone and melted in your mouth, the turkey slices were perfect, the...

What can we say other than thank you for another amazing family meal! A welcoming pub, amazing food and run by the kindest, most professional yet friendly staff. We will continue to keep coming back and bringing all our friends and family to enjoy faultless...