Gaerwen Arms — Restaurant in Anglesey

Went in for lunch today, read the reviews and couldn't wait to go.... what a disappointing experience. The menu is very limited, I asked the waitress if she could answer some questions I had regarding the ingredients in the menu to be told "oh I don't know" ill ask, 15 mins later another waitress walked over and said " What can i get you?" I said "I'm just waiting for the other lady to come back with the answer to some questions I had", "Well she's on the phone" was her response. Ask me so I did, I asked and her response was also "I don't know", ill ask, 5 mins later we ended up ordering peri peri chicken sandwich and a picnic table. When the food came the lady asked if we would like sauce we asled for mayo, ketchup and mustard.. 10 minutes later she bought the ketchup and mayo and not mustard, i had also asked for butter for the small roll on the picnic table, it took 15 mins and 3 trips to bring these 4 condiments. The picnic table was awful, I had originally asked what a terrine was in this context and neither of them knew when I came it was 4 strips of rubbery tasteless I'm not sure what, the bacon jam was inedible as it was so salty. The random coleslaw stuff was awful, and the apple and cinnamon chutney was something that you would put in a pie. My friends sandwich was horrendous smelt and tasted like it was off, the chips were ok but not the best and cold when they arrived when the lady came over and asked if everything was ok we told her our concerns, she stood there not sure what to do, left and someone else came back who was extremely rude, my friend explained that her sandwich was inedible, as it smelt and tasted off the ladies response was "Well I can assure you it's not the chicken". She took my friends sandwich to the chef, came back 10 minutes later and said the chef said he will make you another one , my friend asked if she could have some bread and cheese instead as she thought the chicken tasted off the lady again said the chicken was fresh and my friend shook her head, at which point the lady said "Don't shake your head at me, I think it's best if we refund you..... we hadn't actually paid at this point", she didn't even ask me about my food at all. I paid and left. ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT RECOMMEND this...

So drove 30 minutes to get to this "well rated" pub for lunch with my family following chemo treatment. It was 14:07 on arrival and the sign outside ( and Google) said they were serving until 14:30. It was risky business turning up in half term however when checking the online booking system it showed availability so we just walked in. There were plenty of available tables but we were asked "have you booked?" which we had not and were then told "sorry we have no tables". So we went outside and booked on the online system and went back in. "Yes, take a table" we were told and so we selected one of a number of free tables. A minute later the young waitress who originally saw us came to say "sorry the system should not have let you book, the kitchen is closed". I was visiting with my 2 year old son and my parents and we all wanted a late lunch. Anyone with a toddler would understand that nap times vary and sometimes this can impact on lunch times. I needed to feed my child!! I asked if it was possible to give us just a portion of chips for him and the girl said "no sorry, the kitchen is shut". But it was before 14:30 so why advertise you are open until 14:30 for food when you're not?! If you want to shut your kitchen at 14:00 simply change your sign!!! So we asked for crisps and 3 drinks. 20 minutes later some people walked in saying they had a food booking and were politely asked to choose a table. Even the faces on those of the table next to us dropped!! So I asked another waitress why they couldn't just serve my son a few chips when originally asked, to be told "oh I will go get some". But it was too late. He had had his crisps!! Why did the original waitress tell us the kitchen had closed when more people were turning up. Having worked in a restaurant myself I know how easy it is to fry a few chips!! We were made to feel really unwelcome and served nothing but mixed messages. Ended up at the Gulf garage for...

The local leek and potato starter was out of this world, because of this we were really looking forward to the tofu curry we had ordered for our mains. However unfortunately this was what let them down. Hense the 3 star. The tofu was meant to be marnitated, but wasn't at all and was very bland. The tofu was slighty watery as if it wasn't pressed at all (firm tofu needs to be pressed as part of its preparation). I loved the idea of a Chinese curry (which the sauce was and the addition of tofu and pac choi) but it was like they had tried to combine Indian and Chinese cuisine, it didnt make much sense. Would have loved to see a welsh and indian/Chinese combination instead if that was the style they were going for. In saying that the onion bhajis were lovely, had nice flavour to them. Would have been great to have more sauce with the dish as well, was so little sauce that the naan became obselete. The presentation was fantastic. The overall atmosphere was very cold sadly. The younger female staff were really nice and good at their jobs. Overall I do appracaite that they are unlikely to cook for vegans often with it being in such a remote location and it was nice to see a vegan option. However the main course does need tweaking and perhaps another look at. The starter was amazing, absolutely no faults. Would come back for...