Asador 44 Spanish Grill & Wine House — Restaurant in Wales

This is a great place usually; I’ve eaten here a number of times with friends and have also brought business colleagues here. This visit was for Sunday roast - we checked the menu out online and booked a party of 4 - 2 of us vegetarians and planned to have the vegetarian sharing board (celeriac) which I’ve had previously and loved. The other 2 in our party were aiming for the lamb sharer between. However, when we arrived there was no vegetarian sharer anymore and the only dish for vegetarians was an aubergine dish - and unfortunately I’d already eaten quite a few aubergine dishes during the week and had really been looking forward to the celeriac. Not even roast potatoes available for vegetarians! We bought a bottle of wine £47 and an half carafe of red and basically I had a bowl of their olive oil french fries and the heritage tomato starter. We’ve all eaten here before and had the French fries previously - which are usually delicious - but the two bowls we ordered on Sunday were well below par. My tomato salad tasted like it had some kind of artificial sweetener (like aspartame) and wasn’t up to the usual standard I’ve come to expect from Assador 44. As a vegetarian I felt like a second class citizen - and over the years I’ve spent a lot of money here. We complained about the Sunday roast menu inequity and basically the poor waitress had no option but to shrug. Not even roast potatoes available to us! One dish on the menu - and for many people aubergine is not a fave and it’s a single vegetarian meal not a sharer any more - really bad showing from this place for its vegetarian clientele. It was also pretty obvious that my complaint was being discussed by the staff and a woman (I’m assuming was the manager because I saw her sitting on her laptop a little later on) so we felt very much like we were on the naughty table. Which is the reason for my 1 star for atmosphere. Why didn’t the manager come over and deal with our complaint instead of letting all the bar/wIt and some kitchen staff stand around looking over at us?! The meat eaters were thrilled with the lamb and as I’d expect from this place their food was delicious. It’s a pity they couldn’t pony up a better showing for their vegetarian diners. I spent £55 for French fries, starter and my share of the wine and still had to go home and make something to eat. Disaster....

During our recent visit to Asador 44, we encountered both highs and lows which made our dining experience quite unique. On a positive note, the food was nothing short of amazing in terms of flavour. The atmosphere within the restaurant was inviting, and our waitress was incredibly pleasant, adding a warm touch to our evening.

However, our experience was somewhat marred when the main courses arrived lukewarm to cold. We brought this to the attention of the staff and requested for one of the dishes to be reheated. Unfortunately, it returned cold again, which was disappointing. This could possibly be due to the difficulty in reheating root vegetables or perhaps because the sauce and plate were cold to begin with.

Seeking to provide this feedback, we approached the manager, hoping for a constructive conversation. Regrettably, the response was less than accommodating, with a somewhat hostile reaction to our polite query, "What would you like me to do about this?" or "Maybe you waited too long before starting to eat?" It seemed there was a misconception that we were aiming to have our meal comped, which was not the case at all. Our intention was simply to provide honest feedback, as we did pay the full price for our meal without dispute (minus the one cold meal which the restaurant removed from the bill without us asking).

Despite this hiccup, we believe in giving credit where it's due. The exceptional taste of the food and the overall good atmosphere of the restaurant are reasons enough for us to consider returning. We hope that our next visit will be even more enjoyable, with all elements of the dining experience meeting the high standards set by the food...

Me and my partner came here over the weekend for our anniversary, going to a place like here with that sort of price for food isn’t a common thing for us. We came here very excited as it was recommend to us. As soon as we walked in my partner had a monster can in his hand, the manager (I assume) instantly charged over saying “you can’t bring alcohol here” to not say hello first or even looking at what my partner was holding before making assumptions, didn’t set a good impression for us, so instantly we didn’t feel welcome. The manger apologised once he knew what the can was.

The restaurant was beautiful and well taken care of.

The food is the reason why we were there and also the reason why we are never going back. I had the scallops and he had the beef tartare for starters, mains we shared the steak, with a side of chips. All of the food lacked in any sort of flavour and very small portions for the price. I wouldn’t have minded the small portions if the food was heaven, but it wasn’t, I am not a someone who knows anything about cooking but I at least know how to season food. I believe this place may have been amazing a while ago but I think now they are making everything expensive to make you think that the food is good when it is not. We have learned a valuable lesson at this place and that is just because a restaurant has Michelin stars doesn’t mean they are consistent with them. Last note is that the morning after me and my partner were very unwell after eating here this was the last meal we had that day, we believe it was...