The Cock Inn

It's a shame that The Cock is listed under pubs as the restaurant part of the business should be at the top of the restaurant listings in St Albans. I think the food here is now the best in town. Excellent varied menu and wine list, food superbly cooked and presented and excellent attentive service. It's also very good value for money.[Aug 11]

We enjoyed our evening catching up with an old friend in The Cock. Pretty much packed on a Thursday night which must be quite a good sign, The Cock gets the balance just right between pub/bar and 'gastropub'. Food was excellent and quite good value, we thought. The asparagus for starters wasn't overdone, and our main courses - risotto, steak and chips, rainbow trout - all hit the spot. Service was just right. We weren't pushed and we weren't neglected - just happily installed for the evening. [Jan 10]

A few years ago, the restaurant part of the Cock was great. Decent food, interested efficient staff, a buzzy atmosphere and reasonable prices made this a failsafe location for a good meal out. But things started to tail off about a year ago. Food was mediocre bordering on bad, service ropey and the overall experience a disappointment. So it's a pleasure to report The Cock is back on form. Having spied the restaurant getting busier and busier each evening on the trudge back from the station, we gathered things had picked up. And how they have. Food last night was a dream. Service was fun and friendly, presentation was impressive, food was fresh, interesting and delicious. And if you sign up for their email list on their website you'll get a rather generous 30% off voucher to use on evening meals. There's a cracking 2 course offer on Mon/Tuesday and have heard good things about lunch deals too. Enjoy! [Aug 09]

Hearing good things about The Cock, we decided to try it for an early evening meal. A quick phone call established that children were welcome (with the proviso of no highchairs) and that food is served from 6pm. On arrival with our toddler the greeting was polite, rather than friendly, and after some rifling through the reservations book we were offered a table that had to be vacated by 7.30pm.

We ordered from the 'grills' section of the a la carte menu. A Cajun chicken sandwich with nicely dressed salad and freshly made chunky chips was let down by being served on dry, thickly cut bread (a slice or two of tomato would have worked wonders). The homemade 8oz burger with extra toppings was better. Things improved with dessert - particularly the green tea, honeycomb and lavender ice creams. By the time we finished, the service had got much friendlier too. We liked The Cock but not so much that we'll be choosing it over our other favourite local pubs. [Apr 09]