La Braseria — Restaurant in Wales

Seriously disappointing. After experiencing a few mediocre meals on last visits I decided to give the Braz another go after hearing various rumours about the changes to its running, etc (I also loved their chips & garlic bread). I honestly wish I hadn't. Service was poor... Sat with an empty drink on a few occasions, had to flag down the waitress to order more. In the old days when this was run properly by Manuel, the servers were so much more attentive (almost too attentive!). So the food... my starter of chicken wings were OK... Plenty of them, but they were a bit dry, a little on the bland side, and stuck to the sizzling plate. No sauce like there used to be. The garlic bread was also fine, but probably not as flavoursome as it used to be (it used to be dripping in garlic butter & a real treat!) The main was a disaster. I always ask whether steaks come on a sizzling or normal plate - if a sizzling plate I have my steak cooked blue as they continue to cook on the plate. If a normal plate I have it rare. I asked when ordering what plate it comes on and was told a sizzling plate so I ordered it blue. Needless to say it came out on a normal plate... Not a huge issue, but a bit annoying. Anyway... It was the fattiest sirloin steak I have ever had. I showed the manager(?!) who confirmed it wasn't the best cut of steak he had seen and took it to the kitchen and said he would sort it & that was the end of that. No offer of a new steak, nothing. Asked for the bill... The steak was still on there... But he had taken £3 off the bill. Meaning he thought the piece of fat was worth £18! I called him over and explained that was not good enough as it was inedible and he told me that the 50% eat out discount was only valid on the mains and agreed to take off the peppercorn sauce costing £3.50... So they would still be receiving near enough full price for the steak. Not worth it at all! Anyway, I couldn't be bothered to discuss it further as I was tired & hate any kind of confrontation, and he clearly valued a couple of pound more than return custom and providing a good dining experience. However when I went home I saw they advertised the eat out deal on their social media sites - stating 50% of ALL food and soft drinks. So the manager had lied to me in order to get more money out of me. I could have had the £10 off the rest of my meal! I wish I had seen this at the time. My meal should have cost under half of what I had paid! I don't really find this acceptable behaviour. Completely overcharged for a substandard, partially inedible meal. In hindsight that steak should have been completely taken off the bill & I wish I had found my balls & refused to pay for it! Had this been resolved professionally I would have considered returning, as I can appreciate sometimes meat cuts can fall short of a certain standard. But in light of this I will never return again, I'm done with the Braz, it's not what it used to be. I will certainly make sure people are aware of this shoddy service and food. Ask anyone who's been going to the Braz for years... It isn't what it used to be! I should have seen the warning signs when we were able to book a table for the eat out offer, having not been able to get into alternative restaurants in the area....

What on earth has happened to this place? A truly awful evening that cost a pretty penny!

Drinks; Asked for a rioja grand reserva, served reserva. Was not asked to verify the bottle before it was opened.

Starters; Mussels - cooked in what tasted like rancid butter. Sour taste of old, fatty cheese. Absolutely inedible! Informed the waiter and was met with only a response of 'oh' I still don't know if he actually understood what we said as he showed no concern at our report

Gambas - watery tomato & sweet pepper sauce. Overcooked and tough prawns, and probably frozen in origin. Had to ask for black pepper and for finger bowls despite shell on prawns and mussels in shell

Mains; Tuna - completely plain and unseasoned. Asked what side dressings came with the fish when placing the order, was informed there was nothing, just grilled fish as seen. This is despite there being monkfish, lemon sole etc and no accompanying dressing offered with any of them. Displaying a total lack of care and culinary knowledge. Was told that a tomato relish was available and to ask the waiter when food was served. 'Tomato relish' turned out to be hamburger relish, as found on a Tesco shelf (other stores are available)

Tomahawk steak - had to ask for pepper and mustard. Steak was good (more down to the cow and the farmer than down to the chef!) Chips had a very strange taste, as if cooked in stale, old chip fat. Garlic bread arrived as we finished eating so unable to verify if good or not as un-eaten! When highlighted to the waiter, was assured that the cost of garlic bread would be deducted from the bill.

All food had the same tang of stale fat as if basted in the same oil and food delivered to surrounding tables on 'sizzling', but cool to touch, plates dispersed the smell throughout the place. Not a pleasant atmosphere!

Were asked had we finished our food whilst still eating the steak! Asked, what appeared to be from his behaviour, the head waiter, why the atmosphere was so frantic and they seemed to be in a rush to get people out in very quick turn around. Was told it was due to new staff?? Did tell him that we would have gone to McDonald's had we wanted fast food and had no response.

Asked for bill and was presented with a card reader before the bill! Stated we wished to check the bill 1st and were met with a blank, glazed look. Bill still had garlic bread charged which we protested. Eventually left after paying £104.00 (£70 of which was for food)

Very poor service, badly cooked food in general and a massive disappointment.

Have a hospital staff Xmas group of 30 booked there in December and will be cancelling forthwith following...

I and my wife have visited this restaurant on many occasions over the last 20+ years, and always enjoyed the food, service and Spanish atmosphere. We made a last minute decision to eat there today, as we were in the area to do some shopping. We chose our usual lunchtime menu (£14.95, starter and main from a selection board). I asked for thr Hake fried in batter, which is what I always seem to end up ordering, preceded by calamares in batter. We added a portion of garlic bread to have with a glass of wine, before the starter came. My wife had stuffed mushrooms, followed by 7oz sirloin. The starter arrived before the garlic bread, we had to remind them about it. Both starters were very nice as usual. The garlic bread arrived just after our starter. The main meals arrived and although the steak was slightly more cooked than medium rare, it was still very tasty, the same cannot be saud for the Hake. In the past, the batter on the Hake is very light and crispy, with the flesh of the fish being moist and the flakes easily separated without the need to slice at all, but not today! The batter was dark, heavy, soft and was the texture of bad fish shop batter. There were no discernable 'flakes' of fish, it was more like a large fish finger, clearly overcooked and very dry. I tried to enjoy, but could only get through a quarter of the fillet, before I conceded defeat. It was noticable that while we were clearly enjoying our starters, the staff were quick to ask if everything was alright, but when it was clear I had given up on the Hake, none of the staff stopped to ask how the food was. I waited until we had finished, and only when the waitress started to clear up, did I take the opportunity to say how poor the fish was. She said she would get the manager, 10 minutes passed... but no one came, we got the bill, went to pay, telling the 'head waiter' of our discontent, his response was, 'no one else has complained today'. I replied that, that was a poor excuse and added that it does not address the fact that I had just paid £51 for substandard food. We have always left a healthy tip, on our very many previous visits, this time I felt that they deserved what I gave, which was nothing. To be clear, usually the service is excellent, the food and drink arrive in timely fashion and is cooked to perfection, on this occasion the whole experience was the exact opposite, it has to improve or customers will...