Cosy Club — Restaurant in Butetown

Really disappointing service at Cosy Club Cardiff Bay on Saturday afternoon. Booked a table at Cosy Club as it was advertised that they would be showing the rugby at 4 p.m—I booked a table solely for this reason, and booked the table for kick off time. (We have visited this Cosy Club a few times and have always had a great time, and had high expectations for this visit.)

Upon arriving to a half-empty restaurant, we were taken to a table in the corner away from the screens. When we asked if we could be near the screens as our only reason for booking was to watch the rugby, the waitress was immediately defensive, unapologetic, and said there was nothing on our booking that suggested we wanted to watch the rugby.

(Surely if the restaurant advertises that they are showing the rugby, and someone books a table for kick off time it should not be a surprise? I booked the table by clicking on a link in an email from Cosy Club advertising the rugby.)

The waitress then reluctantly said she would see what they could do, though they were "fully booked." We were then given a table near the screens. Two groups on tables near the screens left within 10 minutes of the game starting, and nobody else sat at these tables for the duration of the game—how were they fully booked for the rugby?

We ordered dinner and drinks which were great but with 30 minutes of the game to go, our waitress told us we would have to leave in 30 minutes because they needed the table, (at this point, the restaurant was still half-empty and there were plenty of free tables) and but we agreed and said as long as we can watch the end of the game that we were there to see, that's fine.

Within another ten minutes, another waitress told us we had to leave soon because they needed the table, (again, still plenty of tables free at this point, and we only wanted to see the end of the game).

We paid the bill and with literal minutes of the game to go we were just waiting to be told to leave. With LITERALLY 30 SECONDS LEFT, we were essentially kicked out.

We had booked the table with the sole purpose of watching the game, which was advertised. We were completely polite, we spent money on food and drinks, and were at the restaurant for only one hour and a half in total—we were hardly hogging the table. Plus, when we were basically kicked out, there were still many tables free.

Another group that were there watching the rugby and arrived just before we did were not asked to leave, in fact, they ordered another round just before we left.

We have no idea what we did to offend the staff at Cosy Club, who have been lovely and helpful in previous visits, but we left the restaurant feeling completely dejected and embarrassed, and our visit ruined what should have been a fun evening out.

After visiting Cosy Club on numerous occasions, this visit has completely turned us off ever...

When we ordered our food, I made it extremely clear that I must not eat onion in any form as it makes me very ill. I used the word ‘allergy’, which is medically inaccurate, but it (sometimes) makes restaurant staff pay more attention than if you say 'intolerance' which they don't understand..

I asked about the “Harissa lamb shoulder, spiced cauliflower puree, tzatziki, flatbread, pomegranate, pickled slaw, crispy chickpeas”. The waitress told me that the slaw would have onion, but I could substitute a House Salad. I said ‘Great – as long as the salad doesn’t have any onion’.

Our table was extremely dimly lit, making it difficult to see the details of the food when it arrived, but my first forkful of salad included a ring of red onion. It was extremely fortunate that I didn't put this in my mouth. The manager duly apologised and replaced it with an onion-free salad, but this undermined my confidence in the rest of the meal.

The food itself was very poor. The use of garlic was overwhelming, so that no other flavour came through, neither in the soggy, over-dressed salad nor the main plate, except for some heat from the Harissa. I could have been eating anything.

I had expected a shoulder of lamb, or at least part of one, but whatever meat was on the plate was shredded or ‘pulled’. Surely a menu should state that?

It was all unpleasant, and felt more like a reheated assembly job than anything freshly cooked. Had we not been dining with an old friend who I hadn’t seen for 7 years, I would have left it all.

To be fair, I should say that my partner thought her Crispy Duck Salad...

A very disappointing addition to the Cosy Club chain.

Having waited over 30 mins for our table, we were shown to the restaurant area and seated with 7 dirty tables around us, and the restaurant less than half full. Whilst staff were constantly walking past and blatently ignoring them, as more people left, more tables were left dirty. These remained uncleaned and dirty for over an hour, and were still there when we left.

Service was slow, but hats off to the one front of house gentleman who seemed rushed off his feet covering tables alone. It appeared several other customers were also left disgruntled.

When we left we raised our issues with the front of house, where she seemed very disinterested. We pointed out the tables and her response she had just started her shift and was shocked herself. When we said we had spotted her in the corner cleaning cutlery for over an hour, she responded saying she had no cutlery for tables; although the restaurant was over half empty and she had no clean tables for cutlery either, it made no sense (and surely you priorities the cleanliness of the restaurant area).

With regards to slow service she explained an oven was down, but offered no apology even though we stated maybe customers should be made aware of this before being seated.

These are more than teething problems for this restaurant, and management need to...