Fox, The Reviews

I ate there a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed the experience. It’s expensive but the food and wine were of good quality. The service was helpful and friendly. I will certainly go there again.

My friends and I will never go there again. I live close to the Fox and it's a pub I’ve known and have been going to for over 20 years. In the winter I took some friends there as a thank you for helping me out with a serious hard weekends work. It was an overcast chilly Sunday afternoon - we went into the almost empty bar - I got some drinks. We sat down - then the manageress asked me to remove my hat. I explained I'd been working solid for 2 days and that I rather wouldn't as I looked embarrassingly scruffy underneath. It was explained that the Fox had a no-hat policy and she had to INSIST. Although we could sit outside if we wished. So that’s what we did - sat sipping our drinks in the freezing cold. Not very nice. A car pulled up with three young men - one of who was wearing a cap. I said - "You'll have to take that off - we just got kicked out of there for wearing a cap." We got the reply - "My mate's the manager" - the hatted individual pointed at a greasy long haired youth... Well 20 minutes later we finished our drinks but before leaving we had a look inside and sure enough there's the chap with the baseball cap drinking at the bar with his "Manager" mate... MMmmmm - That’s not good - we went into the pub - complained - asked to see the manageress - who became flushed.. We asked why it was ok for him to wear a cap but not me.. She couldn't explain and became pretty embarrassed because there was no proper explanation - I mean after all I was only a paying customer (past tense) - not one of the "Managers Mates..." - IF YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE RULES IN A PUB THEY HAVE TO BE FOR EVERYONE..... This pub is so badly run it's a joke. It looks "contemporary" but aside from that the drinks are expensive and as the food - well you'd be better dining at home. I guess they don't care that we will never go there again - but we really won't. W. MILLS - Harpenden

I visited The Fox very recently for lunch, a table for two. It was most disappointing as it had been recommended to me.

We had a 'sociable' starter of tapas. This consisted of two large, overcooked, rubbery prawns; tasteless squid; a rather bland quiche sitting on a grey coloured pastry; a very large portion of goat’s cheese and large tasteless roast potatoes. The dip tasted adequate, but overall certainly not worth £10.

For mains, we had salmon rosti, topped with two large prawns, again both fish overcooked, and served lukewarm. The other main was a prawn, avocado and spinach salad - there was no taste from either the prawns or the avocado, the predominant taste being sour spinach, and way too much of it on the plate.

We declined on dessert and requested two coffees and asked could we have them by the fire. The waitress confirmed this was in order. While waiting for the coffee, she passed by our table and went upstairs, and 15 minutes later, we had to ask someone else for the coffees.

All in all, very forgettable, not for returning to, and poor value for lunch at £44 - this included one glass of white wine and no tip!

Eaten lunches, dinners, mid week and weekends many times. Excellent food, service and atmosphere. Can be noisy when busy although some quiet spots can be found. Small, diverse and well thought out menu. Personal favourites are the Mezze or Antipasti.

I've eaten here a few times now, and the food is consistently good. The slightly high price tag is worth it for the very friendly service and the great atmosphere every night of the week!