Address: 177 Luton Rd, Harpenden, AL5 3BN, United Kingdom
Phone: +441582712484
Rating: 4.1
based on 131 reviews.
Service
Pros:
"The team were friendly and the food was very tasty."
"The staff were courteous, helpful, and couldn’t do enough for us."
"Super attentive staff."
"Service was quick, friendly and helpful."
"Thank-you to Claire and the manager I didn’t catch your name but you were both so lovely and attentive."
"Server Michelle was friendly and attentive, lovely atmosphere and attention to detail."
"Despite being there for like 8 hours the staff remained friendly, upbeat and the food was phenomenal."
Cons:
"The manager who ignored us and walked past about 10 times."
"Never have I had such bad, miserable service."
"I asked 2 waitresses if we could order but was fobbed off by both."
"The service, although friendly was very slow indeed."
"The roast pork was fatty and I asked for extra gravy which didn’t come."
"Staff were not very helpful at all."
"The service however is quite lacking…"
Food Quality
Pros:
"The food was very tasty."
"Beautiful pub and delicious food!"
"Drinks and starters lovely."
"They also loved the chips, I had slow cooked beef and hubby had slow cooked pork both were tender and had very good flavour."
"We had the sharing board and a starter of pheasant strips with honey. All nicely presented."
"Incredible meal of venison shin, slow cooked to delicate perfection in red wine gravy served over potato mash with crisp cabbage."
"Best yorkshire puddings!"
Cons:
"The fish was a bit over cooked."
"The seafood grill how embarrassing obvs was not even grilled was a mess of fish and prawn swimming in butter, not even seasoned or cooked properly."
"The chicken burger had no flavour."
"It was debatable what fish I was served, the batter on the fish was over cooked and too hard for one of my group to eat."
"Side order of house slaw tasted awful."
"Food was poor and not very warm, veg under cooked, sausage was too hard to even cut with a knife, slow cooked beef was dry and tough."
"The camembert was microwaved, but hadn't been heated for long enough so the middle was still hard."
Atmosphere & Ambience
Pros:
"Lovely meal in a relaxed atmosphere."
"A lovely day visiting the Old Bell, lovely service, tasty food and a great atmosphere."
"From the Pork belly appetizer to the Steak and Ale pie, everything was charming, delicious and hearty!"
"It's a nice cosy pub, quite expensive though."
"The welcome and service we received from start to finish was exceptional."
"Really friendly staff."
"Lovely pub. Michelle was lovely."
Cons:
"This is a good place to go if you like a depressive atmosphere and I never think it recovered from the Psychic nights here. A great place for Goths."
"The atmosphere was pretty flat there tbh."
"Down side that puts me off was screaming kids... that are full on as experienced today.. when all u fancy is a quiet lunch meal...."
"A horrible smell in the place."
"No atmosphere, very very average service, and pretty poor roast dinner by other pub standards."
"The place felt old."
"It was a lovely quiet place to have dinner and a nice conversation with my wife."
Value for Money
Pros:
"Really good value for money as well."
"Food was lovely Sunday roast was good value for money and so was the mixed grill my partner had."
"Tremendous value for money for such a sophisticated environment."
"Food was good, pub classics and price was reasonable."
"Lovely food service and atmosphere. Very good value for the price."
"Food was incredible!"
"The food as well ‘in general’ is good and fair for the price."
Cons:
"Watch out though as carpark is pay and display."
"Only negative was being rushed by waiter at end to pay bill and get out after 1hr 45mins!"
"Beware there is a £100 parking fine if you are not careful."
"But please be aware you appear to have to pay for the car park."
"On top of that I have then got a parking fine, because the waitress didn't think it was worth telling me there was a recently installed parking system!"
"It's not the cheapest place to eat."
"Food was disgusting expensive for what it was definitely not worth the money feel genuinely sick after eating there food looked and tasted as if it had been heated up in the microwave absolutely awful! Avoid at all costs wish we had gone else where!"
Management & Staff
Pros:
"Thank you Clare, you have served us on two occasions, you are an asset to the company."
"The staff were attentivenad quick to serve."
"Gillian was our waitress who provided a fabulous service."
"love this place. been coming for a couple of years now, great in winter with the fire place, great for summer as well with the garden seating and different cidres. great people great menu. defo one if my favourite places in Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire."
"Cerri was fantastic and really looked after us."
"The lady was actually amazing and removed ALL wine charges from the bill which we were not expecting."
"Thank you to James and his fellow super friendly staff at the old bell."
Cons:
"Manager told the employee who was helping me that they didn't have time to help."
"Bit of an OAP place."
"However, we noted that their PPE discipline was very sloppy!!"
"Disgraceful attitude to customers: we sat down (despite being told there would be a 45 min wait for food). Then the woman came and said that, actually, they are not accepting any more 'walk-ins'."
"We were made to feel quite unwelcome by the staff, with one saying they had been hoping to finish early."
"The service was a let down."
"Staff hadn't checked online bookings so had no knowledge of us."