Langland's Brasserie — Restaurant in Wales

I booked a table for two on the restaurant's website a week in advance as my wife and I were spending a week at the gower coast to celebrate her 60th birthday. We had been to the Langland brasserie before a couple of years ago for a lunch and found it relaxing and the food was good although a bit pricey, I noted that my wife enjoyed it which is why I booked again for her birthday. The booking was at 7 pm and the car park literally backs on to the restaurant. This was a pay and display and did not become free until 9pm, the ticket cost £4.50 for the two hours! We sat down at the table and noticed the two menu's we were given were both the same except one was for lunch the other for dinner, they were both the same except for the price. You had to have a minimum of two courses at £31.95 per person, the lunch price for exactly the same was £26.95. you could have one of the specials but prices ranged between £30 to £40 per dish. I was expecting a stunning meal at those prices. The waitress was pushy and asked on four separate occasions for a drinks order, I do not drink alcohol and prefer water with my meal which was provided but my wife felt pressured so ordered a glass of pino grigio, we were shocked to find later on that it cost £9.95!! London prices!!. We really only wanted a main course but had to order a dessert as well. I had the Langland brasserie fish and chips and my wife had the pork belly. The food arrived and I had three extra large fish fingers in batter about 10 chunky chips a pot of mushy peas and a small pot of tartar sauce. It looked nice but on starting to eat found the fish to be watery and the batter was getting soggier by the minute. They were not fresh but frozen! The chips also were not real chips but of a frozen variety. I was totally disappointed and wished I had gone to the local fish and chip shop instead. My wife's meal was small and consisted of a piece of pork belly a small patti of reconstituted potato and some red cabbage with a drizzle of apple sauce. My wife enjoyed it as she does not eat large portions but was disappointed at the lack of sauce as the meal was very dry. Instantly we had finished eating the waitress cleared out plates and asked if we wanted the menu to order the dessert, not remembering that she had already insisted we order the dessert on ordering our mains. The desserts arrived and we had both ordered strawberry pavlova. The meringue was shop bought, the chantilly cream was off and sour and it was topped off with one strawberry quartered on top with some pistachio pieces. My wife did not eat hers as the cream was sour but I ate mine as I thought it was supposed to be like that to compliment the sweet meringue, how wrong I was as my tummy found out the next day. Another waitress cleared our plates and asked if we wanted coffees which we declined and we asked for the bill. This did not come, we engaged in a conversation with a couple on the next table and asked again about 15 minutes later. The bill arrived and was £73.40. I am very disappointed at the way this restaurant has gone and it appears that the whole aim is to get through as many people as possible with as little effort and value as possible. We will not be back and will not be recommending the Langland brasserie. If I could give no stars overall I would. In hindsight we should have left before we ordered as we could feel the bad vibe from the start, it was shove them in shove them out and had a...

Love. Love. Love this place. There are hospitality business' where the sum of all its parts go further than each individual aspect if you took these at their own value. The brasserie at Langland is one of those places, the view, its outside balcony seating area and its location are the main stars in this constellation. On the balcony sometimes when it's busy you can feel the tables are a bit too close to each other, while inside I could wish for a better interior design theme and more attention paid to the washrooms. I have also to especially praise the staff, their attention to service is fantastic and their work rate is top notch, the owner is clearly proud of his team and for good reason.

The last two occasions we visited I had a hot chocolate and a custard slice, then the crab gratin with baguette. The hot chocolate was excellent, sooooo many places bring the hot drinks to you slightly not as hot as it could be or something else ever so slightly lacking. Not here. The custard slice however ... I think I understand why it's there, it's the price point, offering a cake choice that doesn't break the bank in this age of constrained household budgets. But honestly, I think it's let's them down. The custard has a gelatine firming agent in it and it spoils the taste and the experience. I also have a slight worry about the crab gratin, I'd have been a lot better informed if on the menu it specified brown crab meat, either that or mix more white crab meat into it. For some people the more fishy brown crab meat is perfect, for others, like me, I much prefer white crab meat and am not much of a fan of brown meat only.

It sounds like I'm complaining and really I'm not, we stop here fairly often and we will continue to do so. First because it is absolutely fantastic and second because excellent hospitality businesses like this need the support. Imagine if places like this went bust and we no longer had them. Life would become that much...

On the 7th September, we had a lunch for four. The service was excellent, friendly and helpful, and you felt the staff wanted to look after you. The food was excellent, well presented and cooked. No complaints whatsoever, and will definately come again. The only pain was parking in the car park which is local authority controlled. The weather was dreadful and raining heavily. The parking machine would only read Welsh, which is not helpful, and there were no instructions on how to make it read in English. Apparently there is a little flag icon in the corner which changes language. There was no explanation of this on the very large and complicated sign which gives you the charges. To try and read this in the pouring rain, and make sense of this and find the flag, which you did not know was to change the language, was very annoying, frustrating and off putting. The local authority should try to make it easier for people to comply. Consequently, we were soaked through upon entering the restaurant, which was not a good start and not the restaurants fault. Clearly the parking is designed to frustrate you from trying to pay, so that Swansea Council can obtain a large fine, at the motorists expense. Swansea Council have helped to ruin what was a nice day, and are also affecting the clientele of local businesses. We were told by the restaurant that this is a daily experience, and they have complained to the Council, but nothing is done. Hence, a severe impact on local business, employing local people, and in my view the restaurant should appeal to the local authority for a rates reduction, which is the only way the council will consider this matter. Shame on Swansea...