The Seahorse Restaurant — Restaurant in Llandudno

Where to start? Although to be fair the funniest part of my day today (the day after our visit) has been reading the owner/managers comments in response to some of the lower star reviews 😂😂😂 never known an owner to write ‘what a load of bull’ or ‘get to McDonald’s’ or ‘you’re barred’ or ‘you’re a keyboard warrior mate’ to customers honestly my sides hurt 😂😂😂😂😂

Used to be a fabulous place, clearly resting on its laurels. We got engaged 7 years ago in this restaurant and it was fabulous and we were finally able to have a return visit, booked a month in advance and we were super excited.

Firstly, my husband decided he wanted to splash out and order the Châteaubriand for 2 people for himself as his main course 😂 (clearly stated on the menu £15 supplement, £7.50 per person) which was fine, we of course expected he’d need to pay the full £15 supplement. Waitress came out flabbergasted and said it would actually be £36 more not £15. Manager came out and explained the same, we still didn’t get the convoluted explanation (neither did the waitress) but nonetheless not wanting to pay £65 for a two course dinner he changed his order.

However that aside, below is a summary of what you do not expect when you’re paying over £110 for a two course dinner for two.

decor dated, carpet littered and dirty, dado rails splashed in food paper napkins served plate chipped cutlery not polished no steak knife offered with steak (had to prompt waitress after food had arrived) no water offered at the table only asked if the meal was okay once during the starter and then not at all veg arrived a good 2/3 minutes after the main food and server went to take another order before bringing it to us waitress came to take wine order. Same waitress came back a few minutes later to again take order, we reminded her we’d already ordered a bottle of wine. A couple of minutes later she returned with a bottle and asked if it was the right one. We checked the wine list and told her yes it was. She took it away again and returned with it a few minutes later open, again asking us to confirm it was the right one.

Onto the actual food:

My starter of mussels were bland, the sauce was not homemade. my husbands starter was squid, the portion was very small and served oddly with creamy mint sauce which spoiled it. My lobster was nice. (which it should have been for a £20 supplement) but not the best I’ve ever had and overpowered by garlic sauce and not garlic butter. My husbands fillet was awful and bland. Served in a peppercorn sauce that was too peppery and big lumps of cold blue cheese on top of it. He’s glad in hindsight he didn’t get the Châteaubriand at 16oz 😂 For an expensive restaurant you expect seasoned/sautéed vegetables. Instead carrots, brocolli, cauliflower and new potatoes were overboiled and unseasoned and flavourless plonked in the middle between us.

‘Don Chef’ is clearly a chap that could once cook but needs to update his skills and give the restaurant a much needed clean and makeover. Sauces are over seasoned to the disgusting point and the food itself is actually bland.

We had posted on our family group WhatsApp in response to my mother in law asking how our date was that it was poor and unbelievably bad and unbeknown to us she put in a call to the restaurant so I have to give Sean the manager his due he did call me. However he basically said sorry, call us if you ever come back in and we’ll see if we can give you discount 😂

No Sean, not good enough and we won’t be back. And no Don Chef I’m not a ‘dog who licks carpets’ as you called somebody else who mentioned your minging carpets, but when you’re charging high prices you should have a high class restaurant and the decor is part of that. I’m also not a ‘keyboard warrior’ as you called another, just a person writing an honest review. You are a rather vile chap, no people skills and 100% no chef.

And yes, feel free to also bar us as a result of this review because as sure as you won’t see pigs fly over the pier, we shall...

My wife and I were keen for some good local seafood and this restaurant seemed like the best option based on TripAdvisor reviews etc. We checked out the menu beforehand and were initially impressed with the variety of seafood on offer and the dishes sounded great so we booked a table.

Our starters (mussels in white wine sauce, and the crayfish and chorizo risotto) were perfectly pleasant, although I'd have liked to see the chorizo fried off before going into the risotto so it had a bit of colour, the fresh bread was excellent.

We opted for seafood spaghetti for my wife and I had the pan-fried tuna and swordfish with a butter sauce. I would normally opt for new potatoes with fish but had a hankering for some nice french fries a la 'moules frites', so that's what I ordered. When our main courses were brought to the table things initially seemed positive, my wife set about shelling the mussels in her spaghetti and I tucked into the swordfish which was cooked fine. As a result when the waiter came to ask whether everything was ok I told him it was, although I was already disappointed to see that the french fries seemed to be shop bought regular thick cut chips.

When I got to my tuna minutes later I found it severely overcooked, to the point of being dry as a drained tin of tuna chunks, which was a real shame. We didn't get another opportunity to speak to anyone so I just left half of it and made sure to turn a piece cut-side up so as to remind myself to mention it as they cleared the plates. In the meantime I tried some of the monkfish in my wife's spaghetti which was also overcooked and thus had a woolly texture. That would have been forgivable in isolation as I suspect it was cooked fine before it went into a very hot spaghetti and sauce where it continued to cook while at the table. My wife picked out the other seafood to eat and left the remainder of the monkfish.

When the waiter came to clear our plates I politely pointed out that the tuna was very overcooked, the french fries weren't fries and that I had expected them to be homemade, and that the monkfish was a little over where it had continued cooking in the sauce. His response was something to the effect of if we'd mentioned it earlier he could have done something, or taken something off. I was a little confused by the statement as I didn't realise there was a time limit on dissatisfaction! I could hardly be expected to quickly have a mouthful of every element of each dish before he rushed back to ask if it was ok.

We then waited a while, presumably while a discussion was had in the kitchens as to the merits of my complaint. When the waiter came back and asked if we wanted desserts I politely declined and asked for the bill. It came and nothing had been done with the bill to reflect my dissatisfaction. I decided to give them one more opportunity to address my complaints and asked if this was really the amount they wanted me to pay. Money was never a factor, I've paid a great deal more than that in other restaurants and been utterly satisfied.

The response I got was that he'd discussed it with the chef, who advised him that as far as he was concerned the dishes were "quality". So that's alright then! I let my wife pay using the card machine and asked how long the tuna was cooked in relation to the swordfish. He told me that as far as he knew they went into the pan at the same time. The tuna should be in half the time of the swordfish which can withstand much longer cooking. I pressed for a more specific answer and when he returned he told me they were pan seared to order once the starters were cleared. Commendable but not what I asked.

I think you could potentially have a good meal here, but it's extremely hit and miss, the level of cooking skills for such a beautiful range of fresh fish isn't up to scratch and there's a reluctance to do anything to rectify the...

When I was a boy growing up in the 70s I never expected a present or a toy other than on Christmas Day or on my birthday. Therefore I remember looking forward to two random occasions. One was visiting my nan who did often have a surprise and the other was opening a box of Sugar Puffs or Rice Crispies as they usually contained a toy. This was back in the days before Health and Safety was invented, when we all felt healthier and safer. On one particular occasion that I recall very clearly I was lucky enough, as one of four siblings, to have the toy fall out of the cereal box and into my bowl. Excitedly I ripped open the clear plastic bag and found something I’d never seen before. It was a green plastic seahorse with a tail curled in such a way so as to enable it to stand up. I really treasured it and so began my interest for them. I became an accidental collector and now have eight or nine really beautiful examples ranging from cuff links to Swarovski.

A year after I’d first seen my beautiful wife we were looking for a special restaurant to celebrate 365 days of sharing an amazing love and knowing me so well Emma suggested Seahorse in llandudno. Our first date was at the Tyddyn Llan and anyone who’s been there will know that it really deserved its Michelin star status, and so any restaurant would struggle to match that occasion.

Seahorse was amazing. It just got everything right. From the welcome as you pop through the door, to the extensive menu of fresh seafood, to the reasonably priced wine list and to the surprising seasoning in the dishes that delights the palette, it’s all good.

Yesterday we had a really enjoyable shopping trip around Llandudno. We needed some items for an upcoming holiday and in each store, it was as if, the items we needed had been placed in clear view especially. We had walked around two miles and were in need of a rest and some great food.

As most of wales were still watching the six nations, we thought that we might have a chance to book Seahorse. We were in luck and had a lovely table. I chose French onion soup and again was delighted. The special seasoning in this dish seemed to be French whole grain mustard-lovely with warm wholemeal fresh bread it could have been a main course on its own.

The next course for me was the Monkfish thai curry where the fish was joined by scallops, muscles and prawns. It was the best I’ve ever tasted and so fresh that I imagined that the monkfish was still swimming around as we arrived in town earlier that day.

As we finished the meal, Don the owner and head chef was circulating and came to ask if we’d enjoyed the food. He is a lovely guy and an easy match for Rick Stein in his ability to recount his travels around the world. He told us he was due soon to go fishing in Asia! So that’s why the Thai fish curry was so good?

Don introduced us to his wife and co-owner Gill. A great couple with a truly great business. After a little more chat we left and I had the same feeling of happiness as I’d had almost half a century ago when I’d found my...