Dylan's Barmouth — Restaurant in Wales

Unlike its poor service, the Norbar isn't consistent with how long it stays opens, even closing before 10:00 PM in cases where staff claim "there are no customers", just as we so happen to walk through the door. The Norbar seems to forget where it is, being surrounded by many holiday parks which might bring them business with hungry families if only they would welcome them. Unfortunately, unlike it's predecessor Wayside, Norbar only welcome couples who visit for drinks and a meal and promptly leave.

The downstairs area in the Norbar used to hold at least one pool table, a warm seating area, and a small arcade space, but all of this space opposite the indoor dining area has been mysteriously covered with a black curtain and a sign reading "Staff Only".

Looking through the window of this area from the front balcony reveals a space stripped of all the amenities which would still be attracting families if they weren't abruptly removed. This further pulls the Norbar from families looking to feed themselves, keep the kids occupied, and have fun. I'm sure you understand how silly that is when the Norbar is so close to several holiday parks on just one road, often flooded with families, and the Norbar could be making various deals to advertise and start partnerships with other neighbouring businesses.

When asked about the mysterious curtain-covered room, the missing pool tables, the missing arcade cabinets and even a missing football table once placed on the decking outside, a member of staff at the bar appeared clueless as she claimed we need to do one of two things: 1.) Speak to the manager, or 2.) Make a booking. I can only assume this is down to a language barrier, as what was once worth making a booking for was removed when the name "Norbar" was placed on the side of the building.

During our last visit to the Norbar, we heard a staff member state "the bar is officially closed". When we told him that nobody had called for last orders, he appeared clueless. After that, at least two people approached bar, ordered drinks and were served, despite what we were previously told. Staff also had an issue with us moving from the outside area to the indoor dining area, and told us we'd have to find another table despite us doing the same thing before without issue, and all dining tables being unoccupied.

Moving onto another aspect of the wasted potential of what was once a sea-side family friendly pub, the choice of music at the Norbar, while not the main focus, is often abysmal. When it's not abysmal, it's usually outright depressing, and is yet another thing at the Norbar that seems to oppose energetic families ever stepping foot in the building. A good jukebox would solve that problem, providing something else that customers can interact with, given that the pool tables, arcade cabinets, and football table are all gone.

The Norbar appears to have a small stage installed, with stage lighting alongside it, but the stage seems to be wasted and has two tables placed on it, with no upcoming events advertised that we've noticed, despite all the families looking for something to do in neighbouring caravan & camping parks. This amounts to a lot of potential business being wasted, as the Norbar don't seem to have made an effort with partnering with neighbouring holiday site Trawsdir, which actually has a path leading directly from the site towards the pub!

Also at the end of our last visit, a member of staff we spoke to told us about the times the managers have been changed over the time they've worked there, which spells bad news to me.

Overall, the Norbar a massive disappointment when compared its predecessor the Wayside, with its best feature actually being off of the site, the ocean. The Norbar doesn't appear to respect its opening times, closing times, customers, surroundings or history.

As one final thought, I've been told that the Norbar is operated by the same drug-funded family that operates many expensive, overpriced, family-unfriendly businesses in Barmouth town, such as the newly reopened...

I'm not one for leaving reviews, but I felt the need to.

We attended Dylan's a few weeks ago on the 6th of April. Firstly the wine wasn't the bottle we ordered, after asking specifically for the French red which was the only French red on the menu (house -of all wines) I think we ended up with a Spanish Shiraz? It wasn't what we'd ordered.

I had the I think sea bass / fish tacos? starter. Which was a slither of cold fish on a HUGE bed of what tasted like unwashed lettuce in a small soft taco which fell absolutely everywhere when trying to pick it up. You'd think, well at least there's a plate for it to fall on to? It was served just in a zigzag tray (to hold the taco together - fair enough) but no other plate underneath, so it went everywhere.

Unfortunately, the main just wasn't up to scratch either, such a shame after hearing so many good reviews. The Gambas Pil Pil had absolutely no flavour or heat, Spice or temperature wise. No garlic, no chili.. basically the only 2 flavours. Just tasteless. Which another customer on another table also shared the same view not 10 minutes later! The prawns appeared to be just basic store bought small/medium size prawns, which considering this is supposed to be a seaside seafood restaurant extremely disappointing. 3 small prawns and 1 whole bodied prawn to dress it up a bit.

The overall dining experience was poor, several friends at the table weren't impressed with their dishes, all but one, my girlfriend did enjoy her spicy chicken and pasta dish.

We then overheard another table discussing their lack of joy with their orders which got us all talking. Apparently the gentleman was local, knew the owner and was going to let him know.

At the start of a restaurants journey, you would hope they weren't cutting corners on quantities and flavour, but apparently that's not the case. My family have since attended Dylan's in the last few days to which the reviews have also been tasteless and small portions...it was reported the Hake was fantastic, just a shame it was accompanied with 3 tiny potatoes for £24.

Overall I don't think this restaurant will last the winter, as the locals will not be returning. I do hope this isn't the case and improvements are made. It will be a shame to see such a venue go to waste. If it hadn't been for the gorgeous sunset whilst we ate, this review would have likely been a 1 star.

This is just my experience. My family have told me they will not be returning again, I will give it another chance someday in the future, as seafood is my soft spot and it would be a shame if problems get better, however If problems persist, I won't...

My wife & I recently had lunch at Norbar. We called there on the way home for a spot of lunch. The building and interior looked very good, being tastefully decorated, and with an excellent sea view from the large westward facing windows. We were seated, and given a promising looking menu. I chose the mackerel ciabatta, my wife the steak ciabatta, and we added a portion of fries, & some garlic bread for us to share. All the dishes arrived promptly at the table. The ciabatta was very nice. The mackerel was overcooked, being dry inside (quite an achievement for an oily fish), and scorched on the skin side beyond any palatable level. Often the crispy skin is the most enjoyable part of a mackerel, but that was not the case here. The accompanying salad was plentiful, but uninspiring. A meagre bitter dressing added nothing to it's taste. On the plus side the salad did include some beetroot pickled onion, and this was very good. My wife reported that her steak was dry almost throughout, the only exception being the area closest to the fat. The wild berry accompliment to the steak was tangy, & fruity. The fries were crispy & light, but obviously from a frozen packet. And last (& the very least) comes what this restaurant tried to pass off as garlic & herb bread. Quite possibly the worst version of this simple dish we have ever been offered. The dry, stale bread, barely brushed with garlic butter was really disappointing. How difficult is it to produce your own flatbread & garlic butter instead of this factory made slab of inedible toast?

In addition our server was brusque. I use the word, because the real discription of his attitude would be unpublishable here. "Do you two want coffee or not?" this said with snarling sneer in his voice was typical of the mans attitude. The service industry is not this mans...