Elephant Castle - St Albans

Sunday lunch, a bit busy. We were limited to six and had a table by the door opening onto the wigwam. Unfortunately the servers and customers made frequent use of the door letting cold and bumping against our char backs.. it ideal. I had the lentil Wellington which was adventurous and tasty. We did not start for dessert. A mixed bit and a mixed review. The parking area could use some serious TLC.

Terrible service.Gorgeous pub but staff let it down. Fire was going out. No candles on tables lit. I had to ask for menues for pudding. Treated as an after thought. So sad. As I’ve come here lots of times before.

Staff friendly and helpful but meal absolutely dire. 1 to 1.5 slices of shaved meat with reheated veg, and deep fried spud chunks. Think Wetherspoons on a bad day but double the price. We went a few weeks back and both received 1 small slice/shaving of beef in a £21 per person meal £14 roast £7 starter). The slice was propped up with cabbage underneath to make it look bigger. My wife gave a good review on Facebook for everything but pointed out the 1 slice. At the the time, had I been bothered, I would have highlighted the deep fried roasties My wife had a good response from the owner, saying 1 slice was not policy and offering us a complimentary roast if we came back. We went back today and honestly had a worse experience. To start with, the squid in panko breadcrumbs starter was in batter. This had been OK last time. No one said we 've run out but can substitute, is that OK? To be fair they were OK, just not what was advertised, or ordered. A little overpriced at £7 for 5 or 6 deep fried, battered squid rings with 1 small pot of flavoured mayo, and no salad. For our main, we again ordered 2 roast beef, and remembering we 'd had to wait 10 mins after receiving the meal for the horseradish to be delivered last time, we specifically said with horseradish , and the waitress confirmed. 30 mins or so after our starter, 2 roast beef arrived cold, and with no horseradish...we asked again. While the waitress was gone, my wife said, where 's the gravy? We 'd been given a gravy boat last time but none this time. So 5 minutes later a waiter arrived with the horseradish. Then we asked for the gravy, and he said the waitress would be out soon. 5 minutes later, the waitress was serving another table so we called her over...could we have some gravy? Another 5 minutes and we realised the waitress had appeared again, serving someone else...can we have that gravy? Oh, you want extra gravy? No, we just want gravy, no extra about it. While we waited again, now more than 20 minutes after a cold meal was served, my wife pointed out that if you put her 2 slices next to one another, they matched...it was 1 slice cut in 2. I did have 2 slices, but 1 was just a half slice of chewy meat. Eventually the gravy arrived. Last time we were here, my wife thought the carrots were tinned, and I said, no, no, they 'll just be Brakes...and indeed, I checked, everything in the plate is pre prepared by Brakes. If you have a roast here, think Wetherspoons, but double the price...£14. I checked one of the pubs I used to work at on Richmond Hill, and theirs is £14.49..fully prepared and cooked on the premises, with 2 to 3 slices of thick sliced beef. E&C, 1 to 1.5 slices of shaved meat with reheated veg and deep fried spud chunks and stuffing. They give you deep fried potato chunks and call them roasted potatoes , deep fried stuffing balls that wouldn 't have looked out of place in the barrel of a flint lock, and their yorkies and veg are reheated pre prepared Brakes Brothers produce...appalling. To top it all off, they tried to charge for the complimentary meals, and when we sent the bill back, they also tried to charge me for my first pint, that I returned, due to it having sediment in. I had to go in to discuss the issues and get the bill rectified. I vowed not to return last time, and was persuaded by the complimentary meal...never again, not even for a complimentary meal...the worst roast I 've had. The only positive was the staff trying to help. Even then though, they 're saying why didn 't you say? ...we did that 's why we were offered complimentary meals and came back this time. Appalling!...never again.

We visited the Elephant and Castle Pub on a weekday evening and were surprised to see how busy it was. We sat outside in the large Tipi. Service was good with very knowledgeable staff who could describe in detail all of the beers that were on tap. The food was generally good, but my steak was over seasoned and a bit grizzly, and the burger bap was burnt.

Beautiful pub with a fantastic our door space. Staff were lovely and friendly, especially Mimi who went above and beyond to help us when we misplaced something. Will definitely be returning in the future as it was a great day with amazing food and cocktails. Considering there was such a large group of us, they did really well with getting our food out all at the same time and keeping up with our never ending drink orders!