The Lord Grenfell

Apr 28th, 2023

Apr 26th, 2023

Love this Pub, warm friendly staff, clean, fresh flowers and plants and roaring log fires all around (albeit by YouTube) but it gives a great feeling even makes me feel warmer Food is great and plenty of it. Well done
Apr 26th, 2023

Apr 24th, 2023

Much has changed on the Maidenhead eating and drinking scene since I moved to the area over 10 years ago, and with a city centre regeneration on the horizon, the eventual arrival of Crossrail and new homes being built all over town to house London-based exiles theres clearly lots going on. So when I read the Grenfell Arms was undergoing a revamp last year with a name change to boot (The Lord of Grenfell) I was keen to give it a go, since good drinking options in town are a bit of a scarce commodity. Anyway, having read it was now being run by a team with pubs in the Twickenham/kew area under their belt, I thought this is just what Maidenhead needed - something a little different, experience and fresh ideas that could challenge some of the more established watering holes in the area. So fast forward to our booking this weekend - It was my Dads 71st birthday who, having spent virtually the last 12 months at home self isolating and being vaccinated couldnt wait to do the things of old, like going for a pub lunch with the family, especially with great weather on the cards. My wife had managed to score a one hour slot for lunch (which I thought was odd for a pub) when she booked online, but thought nothing of it - wed let them know it was his birthday so surely theyd try to accommodate, right? Wrong. Thanks to the latest apocalyptic roadworks in Maidenhead we were running 10-12 mins late so we phoned ahead to let the venue know, to which they replied they would provide us with an extra 10-15 mins which was a massive relief, or so we thought... Upon arrival check-in was prompt, professional and seemingly organised. The authoritative mask-clad man that was front of house bluntly reminded us we were late before his colleague ushered us to our table. No time to remind him wed spoken to his colleague whod given us a 10-15 minute grace period when wed called ahead because he was far too busy schmoozing more interesting customers. Never mind. Ordering was relatively straight forward - scan a QR code on your phone, open the menu and away you go. Extensive drinks menu with great beers, and having sampled some of the vegan/vegetarian food on offer via Deliveroo I looked forward to getting stuck into more of the same. Before I knew it Id paid online and shortly after, drinks started appearing. In an otherwise friendly service my only niggle would be the waitress suggesting we only ordered juice instead of stating which type - not easy when thats the only option on their menu when you want to order an orange juice so they might want to fix that (sadly my pensioner mum isnt much of a lager drinker which has a much more detailed menu and would have been loads easier). The food arrived about 35-40 mins into our slot which was slow in my opinion - the pub was barely half full so did seem quite inefficient, but it was at least warm-ish when it arrived. However, barely half way through it Mr Front of House reappeared to remind us that we needed to leave the table because our 1 hour was up and their were people waiting to sit at our table, and only ours apparently instead of the 8-10 empty tables to my left. My wife politely reminded him that shed spoken to his colleague whod agreed that our reservation could be extended, but instead of listen he seemed more fixated in arguing with her by countering and reiterating he was stood next to his colleague when shed phoned - insinuating my wife was a liar. Youd like to think a decent, professional and experienced manager would suggest there may have been some sort of misunderstanding, or concede we were wrongly informed by their member of staff to just get it over with but no - its opening weekend so what could be more useful to him than to show us whos boss and stand his ground over a table reservation in a half empty pub? We were all quite stunned by his rude behaviour to be honest, but rather than entertain his theatre and argue with him in front of my parents we decided to get up and leave a few minutes later, for the last time hopefully.
May 2nd, 2023