George III, Penmaenpool — Restaurant in Wales

Shockingly expensive price and a secret service charge!!! Food is ok but way over priced for what it is. Cost of drinks are a joke, especially soft drinks (often true of most pubs now). And CAUTION, itemised bill provided but service charge hidden from sight. NEVER once did the staff indicate (written or verbal) a service charge would be added to the bill. Downright sneaky!!

This place used to be great +15 years ago. Unfortunately turned into a pretentious, overpriced, gastro-pub with arrogant bar staff.

edited following arrogant reply from owner The owners patronising response is a perfect example of how the George III at Penmaenpool, Dolgellau standards have dropped. If this is the attitude the owner has towards their customers and service issues then what hope do the employees have??!! So unfortunately, this review is about the correct pub. And yes you do (or did in this instance) add a service charge. This was the order of events;

-Bill given by the bar man with only food itemised and a grand total (no indication on the bill of a service charge). -Bar man stated words to the effect of “check the bill and when you’re happy we can take payment” (again no mention of a service charge). -Bill was checked for accuracy of food items and then paid -On reflection total cost seemed inaccurate. -Used calculator to check each individual food items only to notice the total price was exactly 10% more than the total of all the food items

In conclusion, not only was there a service charge added to my bill but it was done in such a way that was illegal (i.e. not disclosed beforehand). So a final piece of business advice. Instead of spending your time dodging the issues, try training your staff, following UK legislation and respecting...

Wonderful staff, especially the head of house, who was friendly, helpful, and efficient! We had booked a table here but didn't know how long our walk would take along the Mawddach trail would take after rest stops and taking photos, so we made it with a generous time gap. We arrived with an hour to spare so thought we'd have a drink first but there isn't wheelchair accessibility downstairs so we went straight to the restaurant upstairs area to ask, there is a bit of a steep ramp to the entrance but I'm sure one of the staff members would be happy to help if any difficulties are had! The head of house was happy to accommodate us and asked if we wanted to sit outside or in the snug and we could use the bar from the restaurant until our table was ready, I was then introduced to the staff member behind the bar and he was told that I would be allowed to order from there until we're seated. I assume the upstairs bar is for table service only under usual circumstances. The restaurant itself is set out, so the tables are not on top of each other. You don't feel like you're dining with the neighbouring tables. Everything is well spaced out, very accessible for a wheelchair, motorised or manual. The food is divine, all freshly done, and sizable portions. I was tempted with a Sunday lunch but saw a plate go past and knew it was too much food for me! The waiting staff were diligent about my dairy allergy and double-checked in the kitchen when unsure. She came back with options I could have, which I was grateful for. I would highly recommend booking when dining here. We had a great experience and won't hesitate to recommend it to people or to book again when in the area for...

A solid 5 stars on a first visit to the restaurant (the reason we came back a second time and stayed the night, in fact), however, not quite the same experience on our second visit. In summary, the charming, forthcoming and welcoming staff experience on our first visit was distinctly lacking the second time around. Awkwardness and a lack of customer awareness would better describe this visit, from arrival for room check-in (had to seek out, and have the feeling of disturbing, a group of staff having a private conversation) to having to disturb a member of staff at breakfast to ask about seating, after she'd walked past us with only a quick "hello". That's not rude per se, but we would have preferred not to have had to chase her to ask how things work re. seating, coffee etc. On the restaurant side, we were grateful to our hosts for reserving our requested table. Again here, compared to our first visit, where staff were warm and charming, we had a cooler, awkward staff experience this time. We ordered some of the dishes previously tried but these were noticeably smaller in portion size and generally not as well presented. Upon enquiring with our waiting member of staff, she suggested that we might have been lucky on our previous visit, when the Head Chef might have been working. I understand this type of logic coming from a young person in today's day and age. I am from a time though, where that is not something an establishment would advertise. The room was very nice. This actually exceeded our expectations. Some visible areas of staining on the carpet, otherwise a lovely, clean room with quite a...