Alford Arms in Emerald

We choose the Sunday roast, the two options pork and chicken. The pork was not very good, the chicken a bit better but not good at all. We was waiting about 40 min to receive our food. We arrive the ice of our drinks were melted and the drinks warms. The place was not too bad but have a lot of flies, we didnt eat conformable. The food was expensive for the quality and quantity. The toilet was disgusting, complete wet floor and smell so bad. We visit the place for the good reviews but honestly very very disappointed. We will never come back.

Friendly and attentive staff.Prawn starter very disappointing. Expected fat juicy prawns but instead got 8 tiny ones. The dressing was nice. Baked goats cheese starter more croutons than cheese. The main portion of bubble and squeak was delicious and enough for two. Delicious ice cream!Just a big shame about the starters.

We have been in this pub in the past and loved the food. This time it has been very disappointing. We know is not cheap but we dont mind to pay for good food. Squid risotto tasteless...had to put salt 3 times and they put about 4 tiny pieces of squid. Hake also needed salt, Mac cheese dry. What happened there? What a shame! It used to be really good food. Also, I ordered red wine to have venison offered as special and then they tell me they dont have it? They could have crossed it from the specials or at least say before hand that they do not have it? Terribly disappointing for a mediocre expensive dinner. I am sorry to have to say this.

I had a delicious baby squid risotto cooked beautifully with just the right amount of "crunch". Always a great experience here, lunch or evening, with really friendly staff.

Great place - really enjoyed the food. Also if you are a real ale lover, they serve a top pint, perfectly conditioned. An added bonus is the location - lots of quite extensive walking trails in the nearby woods.

Family gathering, friendly attentive staff,nothing was too much trouble,and the food was excellent.

Victorian pub located by the old park and city wall; serves great food and good beers and ales available- friendly staff with an upbeat atmosphere, thoroughly recommended!

Very friendly staff, great service and beautiful location. Perfect place to stop when out on long hikes through the trails around Ashridge estate.

A very nice pub, great outdoor seating and dog friendly.A little on the expensive side but location can make up for that.

Lovely gastropub with gourmet dishes which look and taste good. Staff are friendly and service is excellent. No WiFi though.

Great pub with food to match. Parking at bit tight and toilet floor a bit on the wet side. Will go back and recommend to anyone.

Great pub with a nice menu. Picturesque circular walk from the pub via Nettleden, Great Gaddesden and Water End.

I like this place - old style British gastro pub with nice food and lovely beer. We were seated outside , which was welcome on a hot day! The service was incredibly slow - I think they forgot about us for a while - turned up with the card machine before wed had our mains. Would definitely return though.

We came for a birthday lunch and sat outside. It was perfect and the food was delicious!

Absolutely fantastic gastro pub! Highly recommended the bubble and squeak! Superb food!

I have not been here for years. Food is very good still. But service has gone down hill loads. There were also loads of flys inside. So that was very off-putting when eating.

Highly recommend this place. Food is delicious and good friendly service. I had the sea bream with roasted butternut squash and hand cut chip! Really super

Lovely pub for drinks and food. Lots of outdoor seating. Some under cover and some under trees. Very peaceful and quiet. Staff very friendly and helpful. Service was good and food was great. We both had the lamb. I prefer mine on the bone but not everyone does and it was still good. Good place to end up in after a long walk. Pretty garden.

Wonderful dinner on a Summer evening. Fabulous food as always, attentive friendly staff. Thankyou.

I highly recommend this pub for food. The roast dinner is one of the best and the desserts are good too! Staff were friendly and efficient and we didnt feel too rushed despite the fact it was busy when we arrived. Would definitely eat here again.

Very surprised at the Chicken Ceasar, over-cooked chicken, not up to Alford standard I’m afraid. Was the chef having a bad day yesterday????

Been coming here for around 20 years and its always had fab food, drinks, a great atmosphere whatever the season and friendly staff. Menu changes regularly - my usual go-to is the bubble and squeak which is divine, but everything - including this salmon - are great. If you are in the area, do go there.

Popped in with the dog for a swift half, was very pleasant. Chatted with the staff very nice people. Enjoyed the 🍺

Disgusting customer service.Waited 40 minutes for our dessert. for a waitress to tell us the kitchen staff were on a break and the kitchen was shut between 5 and 6 despite us watching the other tables getting food.She said she would look into it and see what she could do. Didnt come back out, and sent out a manger to tell us our order never made it to the kitchen. I had watched her through the window putting it on the till.Broccoli was hard. Took an order of roast beef for the lady to come back and say they had run out.Made what should have been a lovely fathers day meal, stressful and turned it sour.

I love the setting and was excited to dine with a friend new to the area. I follow the different menus on social media and know that the chef uses in season produce. Service was slow and clunky, food choices limited for veggie options. Food is divine. Portions help you maintain a great waistline

Amazing food and atmosphere, very professional staff.

Recently moved to the area What a lovely pub, great atmosphere. Staff so friendly and welcoming. Just popped in after work, will definitely return for a meal very soon!

We used to live around Frithsden over 10 years ago and this was our favourite pub. We recently visited for my wifes birthday and were not disappointed. The ambiance, friendliness and quality of the food havent changed and thats a very good thing. Theres a focused menu which must make it easier to ensure quality.My only criticism is that first choice of dish was not quite ready yet so I had to choose an alternative. Disappointing that the chef hadnt quite got things ready for the start of lunch service, but the fall back choice was still excellent.There were 3 or 4 choices of ale on tap and a good selection of wine. Desserts sounded nice but unfortunately neither of us had room!We will definitely revisit!

Wonderful food, beautiful setting, fantastic staff

What a lovely little cosy pub. True countryside feel with a beautiful quiet setting too. Service was good and good was decent too. Beer choices were good. Definitely with visiting or taking a break during the long walk around Trying. Loved it.

We enjoyed our food - but it didnt live up to expectations which were high due to previous reviews. Service was fine- wouldnt be in a hurry to return.I had the beef blade and my wife had the mackerel and a spiced banana cake for dessert. We had lunch on a Friday at 2pm.

Expensive and a bit pretentious. Great location. We found the slab of fish surrounded by Thai curry sauce very bizarre and the two of us who had it left some. Friendly but felt living off reputation and the cooking needs a lift up.

Second visit to Alford Arms and it was as good as ever. The good is exceptional, faultless. Staff are lovely and the atmosphere is nice too. Looking forward to summer so I can have the incredible food sitting in their outside seating area.

Unless you are from the area this little gem is not something that youll stumble across outside of reviews and recommendations. Its understated exterior contrasts to the warm, homely feel presented once you walk through the doors. Nice décor, friendly staff and a layout which feels cosey without intruding on other diners.We came for the food, well lunch and it was very nice. Warm Rustic Breads with the usual accompaniment of vinegar and oil, enhanced by a serving of roasted garlic 😋.Starters was Cornish mackerel with cucumber linguine. It was delicious, light, fresh and not a mouthful was wasted. The Bubble N Squeak (which Im not a fan ofwas a marvel. Was it the smoked bacon and/or the poached egg partnership that made this sing? Im not sure but quite honestly, Im now a convert 👏🏾For mains we both had confit pork belly with creamy mash. Not a lump in sight for the tongue to stumble upon and the pork was wonderfully succulent without being fatty and the cracking had and impressive snap to it. Not a morsel was left on either plate. Bravo team.So why only 3 stars you ask? Well, parking is an issue but thats not really the real crux. The service needs some work. Rustic Breads arrive but no side plates for another 5 minutes. After clearing starters away, new cutlery was provided but laid bare on the wooden table. Id expect new serviettes to be paid down and cutlery placed on top of them. Finally, although food was wonderful, I felt that the choices were a little limited but thats a little critical on my part.Overall, this place is good and if the small service points are resolved this place will be great and deserved of 4 or 5 stars (assuming food stays consistent🙏🏽

I’d known about this Pub for a long time and heard the reviews and it did not disappoint WOW it was like being in your best friends house and having the best meal of your life, just superb! Friendly staff will be back to try the entire menu

Lovely location to get some country air and the food was fantastic - easily see why they have won so many awards for dining. Ox cheek, Goats cheese, Pork Belly and the Queen of puddings were all superb - great venue and will be back

“DON’T EXPECT A SUNDAY LUNCH EVEN WHEN YOU PRE-BOOK” - we had guests travel especially to our local area (and we pre-booked taxis from Berko and back againjust to eat a Sunday roast here. We also booked a month in advance and arrived at least 30mins early on the day. After paying for drinks at the bar we were told they had run out of the Sunday roast because of excess walk-ins that day!!! We decided to eat elsewhere because the rest of the menu was very limited and we only wanted the roast we had promised our travelling guests who wanted to eat at this particular venue. We were charged for our drinks and had to call the taxi to leave early and eat a roast elsewhere.

Lovely cozy atmosphere and very nice food. The perfect pub to start or end a nice walk in the Chilterns

Good choices on menu, good beers and a welcoming log fire...perfect for a Thursday lunch in November. Staff were attentive, polite and helpful. Dog friendly environment too.And back for another Thursday lunch but now in December. Wild mushroom risotto with goats cheese after gravadlax starter.And again in March. Soy beef spare ribs on Asian noodles after pig cheeks with artichoke..affogato to finish. Another set of good choices. Delicious.

Nothing wrong with this place, but I found everything a little underwhelming. The food was nice enough, but for the price Id expect better. Nice enough is how Id describe it. I wouldnt go back as there is a lot of competition. I just dont see why others praise this place so much.

Very disappointing. Given all the raving reviews, I really expected more. I found the menu quite limited and the prices unjustifiable. The food was not bad, but it was certainly not worthy of the praise others have lumped on it. Service was attentive and pleasant. There is outdoor seating but its best avoided when cold outside - the two, small infrared heaters were insufficient and the blankets they provided inadequate to combat the discomfort of the cold.

Top quality service, staff were attentive, fun & friendly.The food is just delicious and desserts even better 😋. Highly recommend for dinner and will be going back.We had a spontaneous chair break and they handled everything very well, and were given complimentary bottle of wine and dessert. Thankfully no serious injuries from the chair break!

Lovely country pub in the Chilterns. Great place to stop for lunch during a country ramble - there is a path opposite the pub that joins up with the Ashridge estate boundary trail. There is a large outdoor eating space with heaters, fireplaces inside. Classic country pub decor. Staff are friendly. The pub has a locally sourced menu. Menu is not overly huge but there is something for everyone, including vegetarians. We enjoyed everything - the steak is a must if you are into that kind of thing. I really liked the smoked mackerel pate and the gooseberry sorbet. There is a car park. I would recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Not your average pub food. Great menu, everything we ordered was delicious. Good location for a country walk too.

Update jan 2020: today I saw multiple dogs in this pub where food is being served. I also witnessed at least one serving girl handle pets without then washing her hands prior to serving food. She was therefore almost certainly contaminating the plate she was serving. I have seen this before at this pub, but let it go. In my opinion this pub is unfit to serve food and something needs to be done. I was told that this this was a dog friendly pub, which is completely incompatible with food hygiene. You cannot handle pets around food, you just cant do it, especially if you then dont sanitize your hands. Appalling, genuinely dreadful. Id just like to add that this gastropub serves some of the best food in the entire area, genuine super high quality. It doesnt deserve this review, but if a chef like Heston can poison 500 people, having dogs around food is going to produce a lot of sour stomachs. There is no place for pets in restaurants other than guide dogs. Ill come back in a few weeks to see if theyve bothered to change. If you havent, Im reporting you.

Fantastic recommendation from a friend of mine as I was looking for somewhere a bit special for a birthday treat. I was not disappointed. Lovely relaxed atmosphere in the middle of beautiful countryside. Really nice garden to enjoy the sunshine before we went in to eat. The staff were great, attentive and efficient. The food was fabulous all washed down with a lovely bottle of wine. You will pay a bit more than your normal pub meal out but deffinatly worth it. We went to sit in the very relaxing dog friendly bar after to enjoy a drink. Very good find...book early!!

Lovely lunch with my partner. The staff and the food were all of a high quality. I had the fish with a lentil vinaigrette which was a little overpowering, this would be my only, very picky criticism. However the apple crumble made up for it.

What a great stop for a pint and some delicious food. Dogs are welcome. The patio outside is a great place to take advantage of some nice weather. The staff was absolutely amazing to us. I cant say enough about the food. It was delicious, all of it!

The food was excellent and the staff were friendly. However, the food was very expensive and the portions were small. Additionally, the staff had a poor knowledge of the items on the menu. Also, there were a lot of flies in the dining area. I dont think well be returning.

Great pub set against a quite country lane. The hospitality is excellent and is backed by a well crafted menu. Local ales on tap which is a must for me. Enjoyed a lovely walk around the local footpaths beforehand which led nicely into our lunch. Highly recommended!