Lovely staff. Great drinks. Food is very hit and miss. Sorry, guys, it's a game of roulette on what quality comes out of the kitchen.
Visiting our friends “across the pond” for our European vacation to kick off the New Year and had to stop in to for a couple pints and of course some fabulous fish and chips. The Essex Arms did not disappoint as I didn’t even know there were so many options of fish and chips, like haddock, sea bass and scampi & chips to name a few. As I said, when you’re in the UK you have to get fish and chips, but our party also had burgers, salads and portions were great! And you better leave room for their Sticky Toffee Pudding and the Belgian Chocolate Brownie. Definitely would recommend this establishment for their great food, nice sized portions and super friendly service! A nice experience we’ll remember long after getting back in Chicago.
Upon arrival I was greeted with a sullen looking barman who asked if we had booked without even a hello. I said we hadn’t booked. I was then told that it would be too much,(we were a group of 9, 4 adults 5 kids),if we wanted to order food, so we were allowed drinks only. There were plenty of tables available and we had lots of time left before the end of serving food. By his logic, if we sat at 2 different tables then we could eat! I decided that I didn’t want a confrontation with this particular barman so we went and sat down. We only wanted a couple of sharer plates and 2 kids meals for the younger children but I was annoyed at this confrontational attitude and being made to feel unwelcome as soon as we walked in. When we ordered the food with a different staff member, no restrictions were mentioned and they were happy to serve us food. We got our sharer plates after 15 minutes but had to remind them of our 2 kid’s meal after waiting for an hour! This is not the first time that I have seen this behaviour from some staff members towards patrons and I have also been told by friends that it has happened to them. It’s a shame as the pub has such potential and is a great venue and location, but it has a reputation for being unwelcoming due to the behaviour of some staff who make you feel like you are putting them out by going in there.
Greeted warmly and the duty manager came to our table to check our orders. I had made a mistake with one of the starters but she was able to quickly rectify this. Good quality food but portion size quite large for some of the mains. I couldn’t finish mine. Nice atmosphere and table dressed nicely for the festive season
The staff are so wonderful and friendly, beautiful pub amazing atmosphere the landlady is a sweetheart too, My favourite family friendly pub and great venue near Cassibury park. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Watford best pub, best service Janna
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Nascot, Watford, WD17