Old Cock Inn - St Albans

Further to previous review: Booked for 5 and all attended on evening of 24/4. Waitress who was very good advised that a number of items were not available. No pies, no rib eye……..no sour dough bread… Waitrose and Sainsburys were still open! The waiting staff handled it well and we respected that they were the staff who had to front up to the customer. They did offer me bangers, mash and peas which I had. Why is it not on the menu as it is popular? The guys I was with were not happy and suggested we remove your pub from our list. PREVIOUS Decent experience for a few pints and a pub meal. All food for 5 of us was good and three who had the pie were pleased that there was meat in it! Why charge £1.50 for each small scoop of ice cream???? When a restaurant takes the micky then it loses credibility and it raises the question do they want repeat business?

How disappointing; we were a group of eleven and had as requested pre ordered online via an excellent App. On arrival the staff started to take orders “again”, why on earth? The starters took a long time to arrive and I was sent to the kitchen to find out why – they arrived 5 minutes later. My starter was very poor; I’d chosen the ‘beef venison and beef shin terrine’, it wasn’t enjoyable, dry, stringy and see the photo of the bread that came with it – five ends of baguettes without butter – I took them back to the kitchen and two warm fresh rolls arrived, they were perfect but why weren’t they delivered initially? Sadly my main of ‘Garlic and herb pork belly bonbon’ was no better – 4 of our group ordered this and no one enjoyed it, the guest next to me left half of hers. It was dry, rather like eating a Scotch egg made of stuffing and without an egg. What we wanted was pork belly not a concoction that was so unappetising. I went to the bar and got the water jug refilled. The waitresses were pleasant but not good enough – I paid the “discretionary 12.5% service charge but should not have done I chose not to cause a 'problem ' as guests were already standing up and all they wanted to do was leave.

Came here with a group of 11 people. Very poor meal, overcooked mussels staff polite but ineffective when poor food was pointed out. I suggest you avoid !

Had an early dinner there. Ordered bread board to start. Advertised with whipped garlic butter but just normal butter and no variety in bread all just sliced baguette. Had a nice crunch though and olive oil was a high quality. Main I had the bacon loins. Delicious marinade but the bacon itself was so salty it was borderline inedible. Only good sauce and very well cooked chips saved this plate. Would expect better for the price. Service was good although was never checked to see how food was

What on earth has happened to this place.!!! Empty of customers. Lots of drinks not available. Bright uninvting lighting. Fire not going. Felt like a school canteen. Only management permitted to take cash from customers which is inconvenient. A machine sitting on the bar inviting you to tap to tip... rude! Just lost all its appeal.