Florentino’s — Restaurant in Wales

Would not recommend.

I've been there before and the first time was ok, had a lasagne which wasn't the best especially for the price but passable.

This time however my food was awful and a few other niggles resulted in a one star review.

The disaster was the carbonara, which I unfortunately did not take a photo of. The amount of olive oil in it was quite frankly disgusting. When I took a bite and looked back down at the plate it had pooled where the pasta was.

It was like an olive oil soup.

You could have fried chips in it.

My friend had some risotto and the olive oil used was quite liberal in his meal also. Looking at the other one star reviews this has happened before which isn't really acceptable for the almost £15 they charge for it.

I had it replaced with a mozerella and ham calzone which wasn't much better, I have attached a picture of that. The mozerella inside was barely cooked, not melted at all and the ham which looked and tasted like those cheap wafter thin slices was also lukewarm. No sauce at all inside so it was pretty dry and flavourless (apart from ham and cheese) and the little amount of sauce outside was tepid at best.

Also the water.

When I sat down I asked for water, they gave me a bottle of water, one you'd have to pay for and they didn't offer a pitcher of water for the table, again a common occurrence according to other reviews. Granted maybe half the fault is one me for not specifying tap water but in most restaurants I've been you usually the waiter asks "tap or bottled".

I hadn't actually touched the water whilst eating the carbonara but whilst waiting for the calzone I tried to open it. I couldn't. Neither could anyone at our table unless we had a knife to pry the cap from the ring, it just spun round in place. According to the waiter who saw us all struggling with it this was a common problem they were having. We sent it back with him in exchange for some tap water and a pitcher for the table.

They didn't charge for the carbonara or the bottle of water.

That was my experience there today and I have no intention of ever going there again.

If you happen to be in the area I would recommend The Cawdors in Llandeilo or The Warren and Cinnamon which are...

My husband and I (77 and 75) very rarely dine out since Covid, so we were really looking forward to eating here after a very pleasant visit a few years ago. We had booked our meal for 6.15p.m. on 28th February and entered the restaurant to be greeted by quite a few waiters which immediately felt somewhat overpowering and were shown to a small table for two in the corner by one of them, he seemed to be the eldest. We ordered our drinks and were looking through the menu deciding what to have when our waiter asked if we were ready to order, we weren’t and he seemed displeased with that and kept looking back at us which made us feel awkward and rushed. When we did order and my husband was asking him questions about his meal, he answered in a very condescending manner. We shared the Brushetta Pomodora for starters which was lovely but it was off putting as our waiter seemed to be watching us and as soon as we had finished, he took our plates away. Our main meals arrived quickly, Tagliatelle Mare E Monti for my husband and Salmon Al Pepe Rosa for myself, my husband enjoyed his, I was disappointed with the “roast potatoes “ that came with mine but once again our waiter was looking our way obviously ready to pounce once we had finished. We would have liked a little break before our shared dessert but by now, the attitude of our waiter made me feel too awkward to ask. Once our dessert was finished we asked for the bill which he provided, we were unsure whether we should pay at the desk or if he would bring a card machine to us and when asking him he very rudely told us this is not a fast food place, it’s table service, I am the waiter and banging a white plate on the table he said and this is my plate! We were flabbergasted, obviously he was hoping we would pay in cash and leave him a tip on “ his plate”, this was so upsetting and ruined the end of our rare night out for us. Needless to say, we didn’t leave him any tip and as we left he sarcastically shouted across the restaurant thank you very much, good night! Such a shame, we...

I visited with three friends on a Wednesday evening before going to the cinema, and we were hoping for a nice relaxing meal without expecting the world. While not the worst restaurant I've been to, it was a very disappointing experience and one that I'd rather not repeat.

The main reasons for this were:

The staff, who were sassy to a point bordering on rudeness. I'm not the type to expect obsequious service or deference, but there were a few instances during the evening where waiters made our party feel uncomfortable, in which a polite response would not have been difficult to muster.

While the overall decor was pleasant, the upstairs is cramped, giving the impression that the restaurant is focusing on the number of covers at the expense of the quality of the experience. While it wasn't awful for a group, suffering only from overhearing the chat from the work Christmas party on the table next to us, I can only imagine that sitting packed in cheek by jowl would be awkward if dining as a couple.

All of this would have been tolerable if the food had been of a high quality. Alas, it was not. I was the only one in my party who finished my main course. While my pizza was pretty decent by West Wales standards, my three dining companions all decided it wasn't worth persisting with heavy, greasy pasta or risotto and we decided to settle up and head elsewhere for dessert.

When the bill did come, however, in addition to the eye-watering expense of soft drinks (almost £4 for 330ml of coke!), we found that additional drinks had been added to our bill. While they were removed when we queried the total, the alacrity with which the additional drinks were removed gave me a lingering feeling that the waiting staff were already aware of their 'mistake'.

I am surprised by the number of five star reviews this restaurant has received. I'm not sure whether this reflects low expectations set by the lack of quality Italian cuisine in West Wales, or whether our experience reflected only a bad night. Whatever the reason, I will avoid this place...