Athro Lounge — Restaurant in Wales

Great location & spectacular revamp of an old school house, the attention to detail is amazing. So REALLY disappointing that the service & food were SO BAD! We arrived at about 8.30pm & asked if the were still serving food, the bar server said “I don’t think so”, I asked if he could check with the kitchen & could clearly hear the chef say “yes, we serve until 9pm”. We were then asked to wait back outside for a server to show us to a table. We chose our food & I went up to the bar to order, I paid & was informed the server would bring our drinks to the table whilst the food was being cooked. After 10 minutes & seeing our drinks sitting on the bar & 4 members of staff standing behind the bar talking, I went up to the bar & asked if I could bring them to the table myself? The server then got embarrassed & helped me carry them to our table! My food was later brought to the table & was told my husband’s was on its way. Two other tables were then served their food before we asked where my husbands burger was & the staff went to collect it from the service hatch, where we could see it had been sitting for several minutes. When it arrived, approx 10 minutes after mine, it was quite cold & the burger was very overdone. My husband then went to the bar to order a coke, again he was told the drink would be brought to our table by the staff (he wasn’t allowed to carry it himself). Almost 10 minutes later, we were ready to leave & the drink still hadn’t arrived, despite there being four staff standing behind the bar talking, so we asked for a refund & left. It wasn’t busy & there were plenty of staff, but they all seemed either totally disinterested or too tired to be bothered! It’s such a shame as the service & food really didn’t live up to the aesthetic of the place. I’m not a ‘Karen’ by any means & always give credit where it’s due, but this was shockingly bad & so...

Whilst the food was gorgeous, I wouldn't recommend going to anyone who has moderate-severe anxiety - e.g. if you're the type of person who is too intimidated to correct an order - ESPECIALLY if you have celiacs disease or are lactose intolerant.

My family and I were celebrating a 22nd wedding anniversary (so it was a special day!) but if it wasn't for one of us knowing what gluten free bread smells like, the whole night would have been ruined for one of us who would have been in so much pain.

We ordered from the gluten free menu, and yet our gluten free tapas was served with normal gluten bread. It then took 10 minutes (after asking for the correct bread) to be provided GF bread. Again, we ordered a gluten free burger with a side of salad  and it arrived in normal gluten bread with coleslaw - one of us is lactose intolerant. When the burger was replaced, we were again given coleslaw.

The same went for drinks, we ordered rose and a bottle of red wine and we were served a bottle of red wine with white - at the point we felt too embarrassed to correct them again so we just accepted it.

There was a long wait for food but we all understood that it can't be helped but when you've been waiting close to an hour for food and you're hungry we could have so easily eaten our food without thinking and then have suffered for it.

Edit: • we ordered at the bar as gluten free menu advised • the gluten free meals were all served with normal gluten bread • I'd really appreciate confirmation if any investigation HAS taken place as this matter is important and the carelessness of the staff could have really impacted a member of my family. • my family were only visiting for one night and one day and after their experience at the anthro longue they were legitimately scared of dining out in aber,...

There was a long wait however that's down to this being new and people wanting to try it out. I would highly recommend a booking system. Currently they do not take bookings. It would be nice to go out without having to queue for 30 mins and be safe in the knowledge that you will get a table here. At the moment because of the pandemic most places are booked up so it really is a risk showing up here not knowing if you will get a table or not. I'm hoping in the future this will change. Aberystwyth really is upping it's game when it's comes to eating out. I'm gluten intolerant and there is a large gluten free menu, they also label the gf food so no mix ups happen which could be catastrophic and could really make someone very unwell. They also served gf bread on the side which almost never happens at restaurants so I was over the moon with that little touch. Kudos to athro lounge again! It's worth noting they have a vegan menu too. They're very inclusive. The food is lovely. They have a tapas menu and you can choose 3 dishes and a glass of wine for £12. They have main dishes too if you're ravenous. The prices are very fair. The decor is marvellous. This was an old school and its nice to see they have tried to keep that vibe with their modern decor and add that history. Another thing I love is they have a large collection of real plants. There is nothing worse than seeing plastic plants . Not only were the plants real but they were labelled too. Please check it out. I'm returning in a few days and the friend that I went with has already returned with her husband. Good on your guys and please keep it up. And please don't reduce that amazing...