Pillars — Restaurant in Wales

I have made it my commitment to visit and support local independent businesses during these tough times and to give honest feedback for others looking to spend their money wisely and still enjoying a meal out with family and friends.

To that end l visited Pillars in Cardiff Queen Street.

Advertised

They have a sandwich board outside advertising their choices for a hot breakfast. They start from 5 item and go up to a 9 item breakfast.

I was impressed by the choice of food on offer. They do not force you to choose a set menu,

You grab a tray and que up in front of the counter where there are several people behind the hot buffet style counter asking for your selection.

Food :

I chose a 5 item vegetarian option as the vegetarian sausages were not available and needed to be cooked up, my order was taken, l was given a slip and proceed down the line to the till and to find a seat to await my meal being prepared and brought to me. I was impressed and the food was delicious. I give a 5 star for the food.

I will return with my three daughters, they will definitely appreciate the variety breakfast items on offer, including the fussy eater, she will find something she likes. Because it does make it difficult to take her out for a meal.

If you don't have a specific dietary preference, then you can proceed along with the standard options and have your food faster.

Service:

I give 4 stars, they have more than enough people to cope with the large amount of people coming to eat, you don't have to wait long to be served as happens in other outlets because they are being stingy with staff.

That is definitely not the case here and the staff are smiling, friendly efficient, to a point. However I do have one point of criticism which would be very easy to rectify and bring the service up from a four to a five for me.

The restaurant is vast from my vantage point, the people tasked with taking food out to the tables if it was required faced great difficulties locating and identifying because of the sheer volume of people.

This can easily be rectified for little cost by using a system l have seen used to great effect by two cafés l visited in the city.

By use of a simple stand that holds a number card. That number is put on your ticket item for your order and you take it to the table with you.

It allows the extremely busy staff the opportunity to locate you with the missing part of your order very quickly and efficiently.

These stands could easily be DIY with a small block of wood as the stand and a wire with a curly bit at the top to hold a numbered card. This would increase their efficiency 💯, because l saw them return several times to the counter after being unable to locate the customer, in the meantime their food was getting cold.

Other: 3 Star 🌟 very weak

WiFi password is given when you ask, it kept dropping for me, it was very weak so after l had my meal l had to leave for an alternative venue.

Toilets : 2 🌟

The code for the ladies toilets is given on the ticket.

They were run down and not in the best repair, there was a weired wad of toilet paper discolored, so it looked like it had been there a long time, stuck behind the arm of the door out of the toilets.

Sadly they were not inviting, my fussy kids would not be using those and neither will I, such a shame because though the entrance to the restaurant has such charm.

The toilets heavily...

Went here today me & my partner got told we were to early to order lunch by a member of staff and only breakfasts were being served when we asked what time they were serving lunch she replied 11.30 we said it was 11.35 and showed her the time she told us she would write down our order and bring it over to us when ready (with a bit of attitude) so I had chicken curry rice & chips & my partner only wanted a piece of corn beef pie and NOT a meal she wrote this down so we get to the till were a big mouth loud manager was taking payment so we passed him the paper from the ladie and he tried charging us £18.36 for 1 piece of cornbeef pie and chicken curry,rice & chips with a medium tango when we looked at the receipt he tried charging a meal with the cornbeef pie so we explained it's just a slice we wanted and not the meal and he took £2 off we still thought this was expensive but didn't say nothing and went to sit down and wait for our food he then came over and give us our ticket as we forgot it my partner then questioned a bit of cornbeef pie £6+ he said I could see by your faces you was shocked at the price then started walking away talking loudly around other people saying the chef worked hard to make that pie.he then brought us our food and slammed a £1 on the table after giving us our food as he knew he was ripping us off absolutely shocking behaviour and very rude..as we was leaving he said sarcastically have a nice day which we didn't reply then he shouted again have a nice day again sarcastically..you do not expect that from a manager and I will never return here again PS the rice was like mush & the breakfast...

How this place has gone downhill visited yesterday for lunch before we went to Bute park. The young man serving stood talking to another member of staff while we stood there. Ordering food was chaos, several attempts at taking down two kids meals. Told to go and get drinks before we had ordered the adults meals! After paying, went to pick up cutlery but first tray was empty and I noticed how grubby it was, the other side was full but had to search for cutlery that didn't have dried food on. If the children hadn't been hungry I would have asked for my money back. Anyway sat down and food came after a few minutes. My salad was fine, my husbands pie was lukewarm but ok, the children's food was shocking, the nuggets were a weird grey/pink colour inside and the sausages had a strange tang. Neither child would eat their food which meant that as soon as we left, I had to take them to Greggs as they were hungry. Overall, really think this place needs a good overall and a deep clean. Having been to Pillars almost monthly some years ago and always having a good experience, it was very disappointing and will...