longa restaurant — Restaurant in Great Britain

Longa has always been a favourite for me and my family. We’ve been regulars at the Whitchurch Road location since it first opened. That’s why it was so disappointing to have such a poor experience at the newly opened city centre branch. I was genuinely shocked by how far it fell short of the standard we’ve come to expect.

We had a reservation for a table of six and were initially seated at a round table. However, we noticed a long table by the window (also suitable for six) which was unoccupied. We politely asked if we could be moved to that table, but the waiter said saying something along the lines of, “There are a lot of people who’ve reserved tables.” We explained that we too had a reservation and that the table was currently free, but the waiter showed no interest in our request and walked away rather rudely.

Unfortunately, this left a poor first impression and gave us a sense of how the rest of the experience might unfold. We chose to disregard the waiter’s earlier behaviour and move on with our afternoon. However, it quickly felt as though we were being treated as an inconvenience. A group who later occupied the long table we had asked about was promptly attended to, with their order taken before we were even asked if we were ready or needed more time, basic courtesy in any restaurant setting. I eventually had to flag down a waiter to let them know we were ready to order. While our drink order was taken first, as expected, the drinks never arrived before the food. In fact, we had to politely remind the waiter about them after our meals were already served.

Thankfully, the food was outstanding, it honestly felt like I was finally back in Longa. Unfortunately, that high note didn’t last. I had to ask multiple times for the bread baskets, even though the menu clearly states, “All served with a Turkish bread basket.” I completely understand not wanting to crowd the table with six baskets at once, but you’d expect the staff to notice when the bread is running low and replenish it with fresh, warm Turkish bread accordingly. To add, we were charged for a bread basket, which we had to make the waiter aware off so it could be refunded. This is something the Whitchurch Road branch handles effortlessly. Also, I’d recommend avoiding the halloumi. At £4 for just two tiny pieces, it felt more like a portion from a children’s menu. Honestly, it left me questioning the value for money.

Moving on, despite the earlier issues, we did enjoy the food. Once we’d finished eating, however, we were left sitting with empty plates for at least 10–15 minutes. We made eye contact with the waiters, hoping someone would come over to clear the table, but no one did. Eventually, I had to flag someone down, who then kindly removed the dishes. As it was a lovely day, we decided to order iced coffees. Before placing the order, I politely asked if the table could be wiped down, as there were quite a few crumbs left from our meal. Unfortunately, the experience took another negative turn. The waitress who came over to clean the table did so in a very aggressive manner, spraying cleaning solution that ended up splashing my cousins, and wiping the surface in a way that felt rushed and far from professional.

To make matters worse, in her urgency, she accidentally got tomato sauce on my leg. I didn’t react with any attitude and simply asked if I could have a wet cloth or something to clean it up. She walked away, and I didn’t see her again for the rest of our visit. Thankfully, my cousin had tissues, which helped a bit, although they mostly just smudged the stain but was better than it dripping down my leg. Unfortunately, this really affected the rest of my day, as I had to walk around with tomato sauce on my trousers.

Overall, I would not recommend Longa Restaurant in Cardiff. If you're looking for an authentic Turkish dining experience, I would suggest visiting the Longa Cafe on Whitchurch Road instead.

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Extremely disappointed with our visit on Monday. We reserved a table beforehand we arrived and got sat on a fairly small table for our party of 6 we did request if we could be sat on one of their longer tables when we were rudely dismissed by our waiter.

The general atmosphere and service was terrible, they took a while to even come over to take our order. People who came after us were getting their orders taken before us even though the waiters could see we were patiently waiting. We had to eventually call someone over to take our order.

We placed a drinks order of a soft drink and some table water this didn’t arrive until after our food came which I had to ask for again as the server forgot about it.

We had 6 meals which had bread baskets we only received 2 for the table with only a few pieces of bread and it was cold. We had to ask about 4 times for a bread top up which could have been avoided if they just put more on the table to begin with also the last basket we had the bread was warm while the rest were not.

The food was beautiful so it was such a big shame for the service to be so bad.

Other than I would not recommend the halloumi as it was £4 for two tiny slithers which is very bad value for money.

During our time there not one person asked if we needed anything extra or how food was. When we finished our food we had ordered some coffees and we had to request for our dishes to be taken so we had space and some of the empty tables were filthy as people had left 10/15 mins and no one was clearing anything but we’re just floating around behind the counter.

The waitress also tipped the food on my cousin when clearing the dishes and didn’t even offer him a tissue or something to clean himself up. So he has a tomato stain on his pale jeans which is terrible.

Another waitress was extremely rude when we asked if she could spray down a table and give it a quick clean before our coffee come.

We were so disappointed at the service especially considering this is our first time at the city centre location as we have gone to the one on Whitchurch road so many times and there the service has always been outstanding.

It’s a shame as the restaurant is lovely and so is the food. The service just really ruined the experience for us and our meal. The other Longa we have always left feeling amazing. My recommendation is that the staff need more training and need to a lot more attentive...

Omg what a gem of a restaurant! I am veggie and disabled and honestly can't praise the food and staff more.

I was worried at first about going to a new place as I've not always had the best experience with my dietary needs but honestly I can't praise them enough. The staff were all very knowledgeable about allergies and dietary needs and took a lot of care over preparing my meal, the way I required with no fuss at all. Everything was fresh and tasty and the way it was presented was like a work of art, seriously! It makes such a difference to have an independently run place where they clearly care about their customers, so different from all of the generic places in cardiff, Longa is a treasure .

As a disabled person with mobility issues.I also found the restaurant very accessible, there is a disabled toilet with a hand rail, and the floor is lovely and even. It seems like they put a lot of thought into the lighting as well, so that there are no obstacles and lots of space to be able to move around safely. Another thing I wanted to mention was how sweet the owner I met is. I went with my friends and we are all welsh speakers When she took our order she mentioned, she's been learning welsh and we had a little chat in welsh, and she even taught me some turkish in return. I felt really at home. Also big shout out to the cocktails! I m definitely going to be recommending longa to all of my friends and hoping to come back with my family for...