The Taverna

A lot of money has exchanged hands this weekend and it turns out I owe Reuben about £30 so I offer to treat him to dinner. We decide to go to The Taverna in Waltham Abbey. It has great reviews and is supposed to serve very good Greek food. So we leave home in good time and arrive about 7pm and book a table for 7.30pm. We hang about in the pub opposite watching the Doctor Who series 2 finale in ‘mute’. Finally we head back and wait in the bar to be seated. We see a long table with ‘L’ plate balloons and Reuben says, “Oh look! There must be a hen night here tonight.”

We get seated and order. A large party of girls come in wearing silly hats, over-large sunglasses, and one in a veil. This must be the hen party… although they sat at another table.

And then another group of girls came in wearing cat masks and devil horns. They sat behind us.

And then another group, this time wearing bunny ears and placards saying ‘chicks’ and ‘cocks’ (depending on which side of the family they were on, I guess).

And that was our night. Streams of women just poured into the place, each having their own hen night. And Reuben and I sat there on a little table for two in the middle of all this, trying to have a nice night out and surrounded by very drunk and giggly girls. The group behind me had sparkler fireworks in their cocktails which worried me a little.

And it put us off our food a bit. Reuben said he felt a bit intimidated and I said that I did too! The waiter could have at least warned us when we booked the table that it appeared to be hen night for half the women in Waltham Abbey.