Dacorum
Francesco's

Francesco's

53 High Street, HP23 5AG, Dacorum, United Kingdom

Pizza • Pasta • Steak • Italian


"An earlier conversation with the owner left me with eager anticipation of an evening with friends at Francesco 's last Saturday. My wife and I arrived to find an a homely restaurant setting with lively Italian music booming out. We were all set for a fun evening...Our friends arrived who we had not seen for a long time and stood to greet them. Instead we were instantly approached by the surly owner gruffly telling us all to sit down and order our food as they were busy that evening. We meekly complied, taken aback by this strange attitude and, quite frankly, rudeness on the part of 'mine host '.It got worse, the owner stripped off to a singlet vest top and roamed about the restaurant bellowing orders to his small staff who clearly were in fear of him. We asked a poor lady waitress if the music could be turned down a tad so that we could hear ourselves speak. She rolled her eyes and declined to approach the boss....In an earlier conversation prior to booking, the owner had assured me that all the food used in the restaurant was fresh. Absolute rubbish! We chose squid or antipasta to start and as far as the squid was concerned were presented with something that did not look like squid. It may have been squid it was difficult to tell but it was very ordinary and looked reminiscent of something from the freezer chest in Aldi. The antipasta was topped with nothing less than a bit of tinned salmon!This was followed by our mains. I was looking forward to my spaghetti marinara. What I received was a pile of steaming hot spaghetti, very al dente, on which a tomato flavoured pasta sauce had been slopped. If one looked carefully one could find the odd small prawn, an occasional small mussel or a squid ring. All very reminiscent of what one would find in a bag of frozen seafood. So much for fresh!The food was left on the plates largely uneaten. The surprising thing was that the staff were not surprised we had left it and did not query whether there was a problem! The bill £115.00 paid very reluctantly but we just wanted to leave it was all so appalling.A disappointing and embarrassing evening. The atmosphere in the restaurant was tense and unpleasant, the food, such as it was, decidedly below expectation.Our first visit to Francesco 's. Very poor experience; we will not be coming again, not only because of the food but the owner 's unpleasant manner and rudeness!"

Oscars Pizza

Oscars Pizza

21 High Street, Dacorum, United Kingdom

Pizza • Pasta • Italian • Vegetarian


"yesterday with the family for oscars lunch. I was in the door and stood there while nobody recognized us. the waitress came by twice and I would be basic to smile and say to be with you at a moment! When we set ourselves, we were told that we had a waiting time for what was good, since we were there to get some drinks, so it wasn't in a hurry. we ordered chicken in a creamy estragon sauce and pasta dishes and a cheesy garlic bread. I am still in shock and what the kitchen seemed to think was acceptable to send out. the freche garlic bread I sent back directly, as it was swimming in fat and oil! now obviously with you would be a bit fat on the top because of the cheese bring melted, but my God....we wouldn't even be in the position, a disc up. it was absolutely with fat (and why I am not sure) olive oil? the waitress gave it back to the chef, who could be heard that he cried over us. it was embarrassing! the chicken came into a sauce that was split and was lumpy....as when swimming in olive oil? it came with a few half new kartoffels and that was it....not even a garnish to make it look more attractive. my daughter had pasta in sauce. again not garnish or some color in itself. my sister had spinat and ricotta pasta she said was ok, but her sose tasted granular so that the sose obviously had split again. my mother and I felt physically sick eating the chicken in the sauce. we did not dare to send it back! absolutely terrible. the people came over and over again looking for a table to say that they were fully booked. there were many empty tables there all the time we were, but to be fair, the people could not turn away how happy they were!"

The King's Arms

The King's Arms

147 High Street, Dacorum, United Kingdom

Pub • Pizza • Steak • Seafood


"I visited the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon with my sister and boyfriend. We enjoy the menu that the Oakman Inn’s chains of pub/restaurants offer so we thought we’d visit the Berkhamstead’s branch to see what it was all about. I’m very easy going when dining out at restaurants and I work within the public myself so I always find myself cheerful and friendly with staff, waitresses and waiters and this is how it should be always. Especially during these trying times. However, today might’ve been the worst experience I’ve had with a waitress/waiter. I’m not one to leave a snotty review but I was honestly so stunned today with how I was spoken to, sister and boyfriend both shocked too. I won’t reveal the name of said waitress but I was in disbelief at how one of the waitresses spoke to me today, I’m 22, a young girl and the tone of voice she displayed with me was aggressive and blameful. When it came to presenting us with our meals, she had brought over the incorrect meal for myself and I stated to her the correct meal I had ordered and she insisted that I had said to her it was the dish she presented. When I proceeded to let her know I’m fully aware and able to definitely assure her of the meal I stated I wanted she proceeded to argue back with me that it was my fault and basically accused me of lying about what I had ordered… I felt very belittled and upset with her tone of voice and approach. The fault was on her end for not double checking our order once taking it or reading it back to us like a waitress should do to avoid mishaps like today. Her words “no you ordered the pollo picante that’s what I had written down I heard you say picante” I responded with “no I ordered the pollo bianco pizza” which I pointed to on the menu whilst ordering. I’m unsure why she was so adamant I’d ordered something I quite clearly didn’t want, it makes no sense at all and it was just a silly mistake on her end which she needed to admit to instead of trying to argue with a girl younger than her. Embarrassing. I am still in disbelief at how she spoke to me I came away very upset and shocked. Maybe she was having a bad day but women to women, her tone was very bitchy and aggressive and I couldn’t ever imagine talking to a customer like that at my work. Sometimes you make mistakes and that’s fine, we all do it, but to then aggressively blame the customer is not on at all. Apart from this the food was lovely but I won’t be trying this oakman chain again unfortunately. I hope everyone else visiting has a better experience as I know this place is awesome none the less"

The Marchmont Arms

The Marchmont Arms

Piccotts End Road, Piccotts End HP1 3AT, United Kingdom, Dacorum

Pub • Steak • Vegan • British


"We'd booked a table for lunch outside on a Saturday we were visiting the famous wall paintings in in the village for heritage weekends, and wanted something close by. When we arrived there was clearly too much going on for the staff to cope with there was a wedding in part of the restaurant area meaning you had to walk right around the building to get to the outside tables or back in to order and use the toilets. There was also, separate to the wedding, a private party with an exceptionally noisy sound system and DJ in the garden. Despite having two large events and other customers, there were only two toilets in operation, leading to long queues for the ladies. We ordered a carrot soup and a Panzanella salad main course. Both tasted really unpleasantly odd. The carrot soup didn't taste of carrots at all and the salad had an oddly unpleasant sweet potato humous thing on top. Everyone around us on the tables outside were smoking or vaping. It was a relief to go back and sit in the car and wait for our timed slot to look at the wall paintings. I very rarely write negative reviews its better to talk to the establishment at the time...but this was so bad in every way. And there wasn't really anyone to raise this with staff were rushing around with no one really to talk to. I think as we booked in advance and got a confirmation email we could have had some warning that there was an event on in the garden. The music was so loud you could still hear it throbbing at the other end of the village. The only good thing was that we didn't have any friends or family with us as it would have been embarrassing."