The Speckled Hen Cottage Pub & Alehouse

What an awesome place, our service was great and the food was amazing! I recommend the scotch eggs and the crab cakes!

I always enjoy my time here. They have great food and all the staff is pleasant. Happy hour is great too! $ 2 off drafts! Can’t beat that around here. Thursday is good too because they have beer and burger night for a steal and if you hang around they do open mic night with some great local talent.

Such a great place! The atmosphere is warm and cozy and the food is simple and outstanding! Eric, our server was awesome. A return to this place is in order.

I love this gem of a bar. So classic and rustic with really awesome people. I was there on vacation… I just hope I get the chance to return!

I had to give it a 5 stars because the flavor and presentation of the food was five stars. Very delicious food. My boyfriend and I reserved sitting by the fireplace over the winter and it was sooo fun cozy warm and awesome! I truly did enjoyed. We had a great meal and it was very reasonably priced. lol their items are five stars!
Today is 12÷14÷15
And this is my update on this. Ok.
My boyfriend and I came here a wk ago and let me tell you i had the worst service ever! I’m even in shock to say. Let’s just start by saying that we made a reservation for 7:30… We got there NO one greeted us for about 15minutes. No host no one. The waiters were all walking around and and ignoring us. We finally got ahold of a waiter and told him we had reservation by the fireplace and he looked at us like we had 3 headsman seemed annoyed to answer us that he couldn’t find our reservation. Here the host had a party come in and they requested the room with the fire place but were using the menu from upstairs to order. Ok I understand bigger party more money. Got it. You would think they would give us a courtesy call since the bitch host got our phone number. But no. Our food was not good at all! I ordered a salad with chicken and my chicken was burnt I meant taste burnt… The salad was horrible! The only thing that was actually worth ordering was the Scottish eggs. Very good. Everything else was shit! I was very unhappy and miserable when I left there. I don’t think I’ll ever make it in there again! A bunch of idiots! Also I’m changing my five stars to a 2 star.

Visited for St. Patrick’s day and loved the oyster pie! Listened to Irish Mist band and sat by the fire! Looking forward to going back!

I recently had dinner at the Speckled Hen in downtown Reading Pennsylvania. We had to pay to park in the parking garage across the street from the restaurant. I ordered their crab cake entrée. The entrée was listed on their menu in the following manner: «Crab cake with french fries and arugula salad». I substituted a vegetable for the fires. The entrée came out with a very small crab cake, and small portion of vegetables, but no arugula salad. I asked the waitress why I didn’t get the arugula salad that was listed on the menu with this entrée, and she told me «it’s really just a garnish». The restaurant should not list an entrée «with a salad» on their menu if they’re only going to put a garnish on the plate, and whatever the amount of arugula they usually serve with this entrée should have put been put on my plate. I ended up ordering an ala carte salad. My food came out barely warm, (a pet peeve). I didn’t send it back because I had already asked the waitress about the missing salad on my plate. The food portions were so small that I left hungry.
It amazes me when a restaurant makes these type of mistakes. People go out to eat and are looking for decent food, at a decent price, served warm. Simple! I would not go to this restaurant again. Food was mediocre and barely warm when served. The menu is very limited and misleading, and the portions are extremely small for the price of the entrees.

I am only giving a 2 star rating because our waitress was so nice. Otherwise it would be one at best. Where do I begin? They seemed surprised that we had a reservation despite the fact that the owner herself confirmed with me that she had it, including that I was bringing my parents for their 50^th Anniversary. My father had to order 3 times because they came back the first 2 and said they were out of what he ordered. Then the chicken pie tasted like detergent and bad chicken. To be fair it was taken off my bill. My crab cake was cold and my husband was brought the wrong wings which they acknowledged were wrong. The evening wrapped up with a bug on our table (I have a pic) and the people at the next table saying they will never come back because their experience was horrible. I’m sure none of this matters as Judy’s seems to do a great business. Any place can have a bad night but wow!

Weird parking and kind of in a shady part of town. Good food and drink menu. I really like the atmosphere in there. It’s a cozy, intimate kind of place. I’d go there again.

The speckled hen is beyond adorable. Our waitress told us that the building is actually the oldest building in reading.
The service was great. Our waitress was really nice and attentive. The complementary bread in a flower pot was both adorable and delicious!
The food was also good. Well, mine at least. I ordered the fish and chips and it was crispy and not soggy and the batter was seasoned with all sorts of spices. Probably one of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. My boyfriend ordered a burger — medium well. It came out, and it was closer to rare. He was so hungry he was just going to eat it. But our very attentive waitress immediately pointed out that it was under cooked, so she took it out and got him a new one. Then the new burger came out, also undercooked. At this point, he was just so hungry he ate it anyways. The waitress noticed that it was cooked incorrectly again and was incredibly apologetic. The restaurant ended up comping the burger because of the whole ordeal.
Despite the burger mishap, the overall experience was great. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes and the restaurant owned up to it. Definitely handled it well. We will definitely be back!

The beer selection here is fantastic. Kudos, Speckled Hen. I really wish I could rate them higher, but I have to admit that I was pretty concerned by their understanding of food allergies. I asked if one of their dishes that was marked «vegan» on their menu was safe for me, only to find out that it contained butter in the rice. Huh? I explained that I absolutely could not do any kind of dairy and they helped me pick out another dish that they said was safe, yet it came out with some sort of parmesan-​crusted artichoke on top! I feel badly giving them so few stars because what I could eat from my dish was actually really good. I really hope that they take a step back and educate their servers so that they don’t inadvertently send someone to the hospital.

When your website says you’re open until 12:00 am you may want to mention the kitchen closes at 9:00. We drove 20 minutes for dinner after reading the reviews on Unilocal only to find this out! There was a sign reading Burger Night 5:00 — 10:00. We arrived at 9:30ish and told the kitchen was closed.

It’s a cozy little place. I was in for an open mic and it was a good atmosphere. It was great to hear and see people come out and share.
It shows the care the place shows for anyone who wants to have their voice heard.
It’s a good place for a get together of friends.

What a cool little place! The food was delicious — we had the calamari, burger, and Devonshire pork pie (AMAZING)!
The only negative was the service seemed a little overwhelmed — it was a few minutes before a hostess came over to seat us, but we didn’t have a reservation and most people seemed to.
But we sat at the bar and the service was excellent and the atmosphere is super cozy. The live music was relaxing. It was overall quieter and an older crowd than we expected, but it was relaxing and fun.

Food was very good. It was kind of expensive which is understandable because it is a little more upscale for the center of Reading. Bartender was very friendly. Great atmosphere.

Came here about a month ago with my boyfriend for dinner. We sat outside since it was nice out and the vibe in the outdoor seating section is pleasant (gardeny feel with flowers, brick walls, and umbrellas).
The bread that they serve in that little plant pot before your dinner? YUM! I love places that offer something small to munch on before getting your meal.
Since I am a vegetarian I ordered the Chilled Napoleon of Roasted Summer Vegetables. VERY GOOD. The portion size was a tad small, especially when considering the price (11 $ for something the size of a hand clasp), but it was all worth it since the boy also approved!
As for the meat eater of the bunch — he ordered the chicken pot pie. It looked and smelled yummy (also receiving good reviews from the carnivore) but again was a tad small and I think he may have walked away still hungry.
I would definitely go back, but I wouldn’t plan on going if I was starving and felt like I could «eat a horse» because well, the portion sizes simply are more like 1 hoof.

Had an amazing steak here

Amazing food and drinks. Can’t beat the atmosphere. Oldest building in reading. The food is great. Get the Irish nachos. The burger I had was excellent. Also the fries are amazing. Great beer selection to. Overall this is a one of a kind place. Reading is so fortunate to have a pub of this quality.

I performed a comedy show here on a Sat night. Lots of fun.
The setup is fantastic and the bartenders are friendly.
I heard that this is the oldest building in Reading, which is pretty rad.
Next time I’m in town, I’ll stop by for the food :)

The Speckled Hen is in the same building as Judy’s on Cherry, one of Reading’s nicest restaurants. The Hen is formerly Widow Finney’s and in one of the original log cabin buildings in town. It was once a fancy formal restaurant that I never went to, because I was poor then and intimidated by it, but I later worked on a board with one of the women who restored and ran it and loved hearing her stories. She even brought in her files of the building’s history, old menus, etc. to show me. Thanks, Arlene!
The building has long been rumored to be haunted, and I have heard a few testimonies of weird events from friends who are normally very skeptical types. So I am always on the lookout for an odd occurrence or feeling, but this never happens to me, darn. The bathroom is down a lonnnng flight of stairs, so hold on to the railing! You can walk through a corridor (not near the bathroom) to get to the other side of the building, where Judy’s is. I have never had a problem parking on the street, but there are free spaces in the adjacent garage too. I believe they share a kitchen with Judy’s, because I have been able to get Hen food while in Judy’s.
The fireplace is a great place to warm up in the winter, and it is nice and dark in there, which I love. You can also sit in the garden area or in an outer room. In the spring and summer, the Hen is closed (update — it won’t be this year!), and the area is a bit rearranged to become Plein Air, a French country themed outdoor spot (alleyway) that is truly lovely and relaxing.
They go for an Old English pubby atmosphere and succeed. Beers are usually great, wines good, and they recently added two vegetarian items, one of which is vegan. The bulghur wheat and broccolini dish can be made without the cheese, and the falafel sandwich is light and fresh and gives Aladdin a run for best falafel in town. I used to skip this place because of the lack of food diversity, so I am delighted to see their additions.
The sweet images of hens in old ads on the walls are incredibly cute to me. There are even more in the bathroom. Bock bock!