Thirst in East Hertfordshire

The worst of the 3 pubs along this high street

An unmissable spot for real ale drinkers in the area who want the more traditional pub experience of good company, good surroundings & good beer. Fullers ESB & London Pride are 2 of the 3 regulars & are always spot on. Dark Star's Hop Head makes up the 3rd & there's also a couple of guest pumps in circulation. The landlord & customers are always friendly and the pub itself is beautiful & full of character (mind your head) with a split bar & a large upstairs area.

Not sure where to begin, suffice to say we had a very SURREAL experience at this place. I will start by saying that my friend and I regularly work as Mystery Shoppers in restaurants (we weren't doing so today) but we do know exactly what to expect from both the food and the hospitality aspects. My friend ordered a chicken salad, and I ordered 10 of their wonder wings. Please bear in mind that we were ALONE in this pub for the duration of our meal. After 35 minutes, I am approached to be told that they only have six wings prepped, but that they could make up the rest with chicken chunks...(I agreed to this) Why does it take 35 minutes to work out you don't have the number of wings requested in the order, especially when it is their ONLY order? When my friend's salad arrives, it was lacking a fair few of the ingredients described in the menu. (Crunchy garlic onions replaced by raw onions that my friend could not have, no parmesan cheese, no dressing, etc. We had to order mayo on the side to make it palatable) But the worse was still to come!! After explaining our disappointment about the various issues and asking whether their would be some form of gesture of goodwill and being told 'no' as we 'really' hadn't any issues...we entered into the most surreal situation... Without going into huge detail because it would take far too long, the manager/landlord, after agreeing that they should have told us about the lack of wings available right at the start, proceeded to DENY saying so just 5 minutes later! IT WAS UNREAL. On top of that, he would not let me talk, saying he would keep talking over me for as long as it was necessary and doing so in the rudest manner imaginable. Even having the nerve of calling me arrogant! Needless to say, this gentleman is definitely in the wrong trade. At this point, and after trying to get some sense out of him and the evolving situation, I said that my next port of call would be social media. In a spooky set of circumstances, their card-machine stopped working and wouldn't take our payment... Suddenly, we were told to leave without paying for the food (right gesture, too late) and never to come back. The irony of that!! I would strongly recommend that you give your business to any of the many other food/drink venues in Bishops Stortford, rather than to this establishment. They certainly do not know what hospitality is or what it takes to run a successful pub.

Thought we’d give this place a go after seeing the pics on their website, we were not disappointed. Couldn’t believe how busy it was for 6pm on a Wednesday night, word must've already got around. Staff were great too, the host was clearly passionate about the food when describing the cooking process and was particularly proud that they don’t put salad in their burgers, which made us chuckle. Enjoyed it so much we stayed on for dessert, the Belgian waffle was definitely the highlight. Already planning another visit soon.

Was only in for one drink. It's probably busier at night