The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Hertford, Hertfordshire*

Hertford, Hertfordshire Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• macdonals, and all the other ones i mention. on sat theres a good burger van, and there is this nice indian place on the ware road and a place called suprime fried chicken also
• Salisbury Arms - great food, relatively cheap bar meals. Restaurant - great food and ambience; 3 course meal from £15/head. Plenty of chinese, indian, thai restaurant/takeaways. Best chippie in town is opposite the Castle Hall.
• Try adding the Tikka Cottage, one of four Indian Restaurants or takeaways within about 100 yards of each other. Excellent Tikka Masala and a bit cheaper than Shahenshah. If you want to grow old gracefully, try waiting for service at Cafe Rouge (aka Cafe Rough). Valentinos in Bircherly Green. I heard three reports on one day of this being "the worst meal I've ever had". Expensive too! Try it for that Fawlty Towers type atmosphere. One customer told the manager that there was a bone in the fillet steak to which he was told "I selected the meat myself"
• There's way too many restaurants in Hertford. Orange Balloon, Cafe Rouge, Pizza Express, the one opposite Pizza Express, that fish & chip shop by the chicken & chip shop, good ol Maccy D's, that posh Chinese, and all those curry and kebab houses...... the list is endless.
• Lots of new 'trendy' cafes etc. eg. Cafe Rouge and the Orange Balloon then there is Pizza express and Cafe Uno. Not worth going to these for lunch - go to a pub.
• Quite the worst food can be had at the Greenhouse on Saturday mornings. I've often thought the service was a practical joke - my (very young) kids have been served undiluted squash and freshly microwaved scalding cocoa, along with sausages that looked and snapped like charcoal! I've noticed a few of the hertford caffs get cheap schoolkids doing most of the work on saturday. Is this a factor?
• Brilliant wet fish shop.
• Pizza Express and Cafe Uno are relatively recent additions to the town and there will soon be an Orange Balloon and a Cafe Rouge
• Nice restaurant/pub near by in Hertford Heath called The Silver Fox.
• You already have the Shahensha, which is probably the best Indian in Hertford. Next door is the Peeking house (I think that's what it's called) which is probably the best Chinese in Hertford. There is a Kebab shop, which gets all the custom when the club(s) shut, I'm not sure how good it is, I've only every been there drunk, as are most of their clients.
• The Shahenshah curry house is a particular stormer, as is Hot House (modern curry) which is next door to McD's.

Pubs

• The White Lion - Bengeo. Great if your in to watching sports, on a tv, on your own, in an expensive pub lacking personality. A round of two drinks is over £5. Beer is not kept well and even the locals who live 3 minutes away avoid the place. NOT worth a visit.
• Try The Stone House (Used to be The Prince Regent) It's definitely the best place to go in Hertford! Modern, trendy (but not as stuck up as Baroosh!) and soooo cool!! Love the four bars and the plasma screens!
• Too many to mention - Sportsman, Duncombe Arms, Prince Reagent, Baroosh for the younger set. The Old Cross Tavern in St. Andrews St, and the White Horse for real ale anoraks. Forget the Dolphin - its closing for refurbishment. Ram is orrible.
• Alas tje Blackbirds we all loved it well
• nah nah nah best pub is millstream innit. white lion? wot u on about?
• the white horse is very nice..in summer you can sit outside in the castle grounds..there's even some dodgy looking bunker which is probably where they keep the malcontents. baroosh is a funny place, a fish out of water in hertford...its a bar! gets v.crowded..people even queue up to stand packed in next to lots of other people, all of whom seem to have a bit of a sniffy nose and talk lots the firkin used to be called the blackbirds...it was a good pub, completely tip obviously, but there was an anything goes attitude there, and it was always funny watching the landlady scream at the landlord when she'ld had a few. then one day the landlord got stabbed and it closed down...now its become a firkin...what a way to go.
• If pub crawling is your thing the home of McMullins won't disappoint you. More pubs than you can shake an extremely large stick at. 90% are pretty decent too. As with most places some are more for the younger crowds than others.
• Prince Regent is big and noisy and everyone is there on Friday night
• There is a good food pub called The Silver Fox in Hertford Heath abou a couple of miles out of Hertford towards Hoddesdon !
• The Woolpack, formerly known as the "schoolpack" due to it being full of kiddies on a Friday night. Now it for grown-ups only!
• The Warren, Bengeo(not too bad)
• Sloppy Joes (kind of an American Diner come bar)
• Elbery Whirlings (pub/club on weekends, wear your pulling outfit)
• The Bell (kind of an extension of the hotel)
• The Lord Haig (not too bad, but a bit run down)
• The Duncombe (Also a pub for younger people, crowded at weekends before going to club)
• The White Lion (I helped redo this, good friendly pub)
• The White Horse, Bengeo (Old style, lots of good bitter)
• The Ferret and Firkin (new pub very crowded on weekends)
• The Sportsman (very good food)
• The Barge (fairly good food)

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• there are loads. there is a new one called rose whcih is really cheep but not that good. there is barneys grill. cafe rouge, cafe uno, baguettes, scoff on parliments ssquare and this new one called soemthing i cant remeber but it is like a conservitory style one and is oppisite caslte hall
• Cafe Rouge, Parliment Square - nuff sed. Sarnie shop next door to Woollies.
• loads
• well there are plenty of cafe shops down hertford such as Doorsteps,green house cafe,Cafe uno which is a popular place, cafe rouge, and many more but our favorite is Doorsteps
• Hertford should push for legalisation of cannabis.

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Last updated: 2007-08-02