Mama Fay's — Restaurant in Wales

Mama Fay’s! The once-upon-a-time gem in Aberystwyth, now, sadly, not so much a gem but a troubled establishment!

Having always thoroughly enjoyed the faultless visits of the past, to say I was excited to try the new venue is an understatement.

My first visit was that of opening night. But having hit a few troubles, I decided to venture once again in the hope that issues had been addressed and resolved. Sadly, they have not!

The focus of the relocation, I assume, was to increase covers. With some absolutely stunning décor, the cover count indeed has increased but at the expense of comfort: expect to become intimately seated, and if you are unfortunate enough, expect to be seated at the barrel tables. The owner obviously didn’t sit in these seats before opening. Though it’s reminiscent of having to eat your TV dinner from a lap tray, there is absolutely no comfort and a struggle to sit comfortably for any length of time: particularly when the food takes so long to arrive!

The décor is an absolute feast for the senses. Not only is it visually stunning; but it’s also a complete sensory overload for the ears! With emphasis on style over practicality, the materials used, and the lack of all soft furnishings, make for one of the loudest restaurants I have ever visited! So much so, on our first visit, two tables chose not to stay because of how loud it gets!

Service leaves a lot to be desired. With a distinct lack of any training, the front-of-house team seem to struggle with even the simplest of things with absolutely no knowledge of what drinks they sell, where the table numbers are, and worryingly, they aren’t even aware of what the food they actually sell looks like or what it is! No wonder there are no smiles or interactions. Imagine being thrust into a job you have no idea how to do with no training! I’m not too sure I’d be smiling in that position either, and sadly, it shows!

On our first visit, our meals were sent back to the kitchen three times due to them being served with the incorrect accompaniments: an easy mistake to catch before the food even leaves the kitchen if you know what the food looks like! And then, sadly, when the food did come back corrected, we were saddened to find that it was all cold! You could mistakenly assume this was due to it taking a guided tour around the building three times, but notably two other tables sent their meals back for the exact same reason! I’ve always been one to say if you’re serving hot food, serve it on a hot plate!

An opportunity for redemption; our second visit, again the food was incorrect, but having learnt from the former, we let it slide only to find the same issue: the food was cold. Not only cold but a variety of bland, salty, and drastically overcooked.

It’s disappointing at the best of times, but when the food is priced absurdly (we have to assume this is to get a return on investment for the relocation), the food needs to be absolutely spot on; sadly though, it’s evident that this won’t be the case unless drastic changes happen.

There is a good variety of overpriced choices on the menu, and the recently launched ‘specials’ look absolutely delicious, but when the basics and the foundations can’t even be met, I’m not sure it’s a great idea to be expanding a menu.

Our first visit ended with the full price bill, which obviously we contended as we did not eat: having to send food back four times tends to ruin an appetite. Fortunately, the food was taken off the bill.

Now you have no say in the matter! Having to pay for your food before the order even reaches the kitchen! Possibly a telltale sign that so many people were refusing to pay. This is a shocking new ‘company policy’ which speaks volumes about the food, service, and how they actually value the customer!

It’s saddening that this once upon a time gem has fallen into a position where I honestly believe the business is at risk! Style over substance, poor service, poor food, ridiculously high prices, and now you have no say in the matter!

Let’s hope that the owners are receptive...

In short: whilst I love Mama Fay's and still do, their struggle to adapt to their newer, larger building has cost them their excellent customer service. For that alone, I can no longer recommend visiting until they retrain their staff to handle the new environment.

A couple of weeks ago, we rang up to book a large group booking. No problem, we were told: they have been in their new building, a gorgeous former gas works, for over a month now.

Since they move they have dealt with groups much bigger than us, we were told. All we needed to do was give them a time - any time would work for them. 19:30 booked in, ready to go.

The day before our booking, we were told that due to booking clashes, we could no longer be accommodated for 19:30 and only 20:30 would work.

We were also told that we would have to pre-order our food. This was fine with us, but somewhat annoying this was done with 24 hours notice rather than when we had booked two weeks prior.

When we arrived slightly after 20:30, our table had not yet been prepared - although this was fixed pretty much straight away.

When we sat down, we were told that we they had been trying to get in contact with us to try and get a deposit. We had no recollection of this.

Although after our visit, we did note they sent one email asking for this at 23:30 the night before, after we had sent our pre-order.

Like many recent reviews on here, we were asked to pay in advance. Again this was fine with us but a bit odd that we'd never had this in the old site.

However, it is clear that the staff do not know the new, more expensive prices. I have no qualms about price increases - in the current world of hospitality & their big move, I'd be more surprised if prices didn't go up. However, £8 for a 330ml bottle of Red Stripe is definitely pushing the limit of what a restaurant can charge in Aberystwyth.

When we got around to paying separately (which they agreed to after some resistance), the staff were often charging more than the printed menu price. For example: I was nearly about to be charged £4.80 for chips until I challenged that their printed menu price had them as less.

And here comes the big disappointment: it was only after paying that we were told that some items that we were told to specifically pre-order were out of stock and would be substituted. This is simply poor customer service.

Food came out quick for a group our size (about 30 mins) and was delicious as always. I dispute other reviews that say food has gone considerably downhill.

With the exclusion of the rice and peas portion being about halved and the chips being swapped out to more generic freezer pub chips, the food was the same Mama Fay's you know and love. Definitely nothing was left to waste!

To conclude: I know a restaurant being as bold and ambitious as Mama Fay's is is hard. Especially in a location such as Aberystwyth.

Any of the above problems we had, if in isolation, would've been completely understandable. Even without their big move in context.

However, all of them together shows a systemic problem of management not giving what are their brilliant waiting staff the guidance and training they need in order to navigate the new challenges of the newer, larger building.

I look forward to coming back to Mama Fay's once these problems have been ironed out. And I know they will be. They're a great Aber success story.

But for now I'll...

Unfortunately, our experience at Mama Fay’s was one of the worst we’ve had dining out in Aberystwyth.

First and foremost, the flooring is dangerously slippery. It’s a serious safety hazard — particularly worrying for elderly guests or those with limited mobility. It feels like little to no thought has gone into the practicality of the surface, and it’s genuinely surprising this was considered acceptable for a busy restaurant.

Pricing is deceptive and completely out of order. Their online menu listed wine starting at £19.50, yet we were charged £35 for a bottle (was meant to be £23), a price point that is nowhere to be found on their own website as of 4/6/25. The same goes for the food menu which you can’t even read which feels very deliberate. It’s misleading at best and dishonest at worst. You have been warned.

You’re also required to pay for everything upfront, which only adds to the feeling that they don’t trust their own offering to hold up once experienced.

The atmosphere was claustrophobic and uncomfortable. The place is overcrowded with tables packed far too close together — they appear to be cramming 100 seats into a space that should comfortably seat half that. The result? Tiny tables, hard iron chairs, and barely any room to move. After 20 minutes, both of us had back pain. Add to this a noisy, echoey room and you’re left with a setting that makes conversation almost impossible.

Service was rushed and unpleasant. Our waitress seemed overwhelmed and, when we politely raised a concern, responded with “can’t you see we’re understaffed?” — not the response you’d expect from any professional venue. Drinks took over 30 minutes to arrive, and when they finally did, the cocktails were poorly made and overpriced — frankly, Wetherspoons across the street does a better job for half the cost.

As for the food — deeply underwhelming. The goat curry was overwhelmingly spicy but dry and chewy, the rice was soggy and the potatoes frozen. The jerk chicken lacked authenticity and flavour, and overall, the ingredients felt cheap and uninspired. There was no love or care in the cooking, just a rushed attempt to push out volume.

This is not authentic Caribbean cuisine. We’ve dined at excellent Caribbean restaurants across the UK, and this felt like a poor imitation with inflated prices and you can’t tell there’s no heart or passion in their cooking.

The bottom line is: being understaffed is not the customer’s problem, and the high prices charged are completely unjustified by the quality of food, drinks, or service provided. Mama Fay’s is basically a glorified Maccies trying to pass off as premium and failing.

You’re far better off spending your time and money at one of the nearby alternatives like Wetherspoons or...