Pontardawe Inn — Restaurant in Wales

I really don't like putting negative reviews up. Myself and my husband today decided to have a Sunday lunch, we have not long moved to the area, so we googled nearby places to eat and saw you had very good reviews mostly. So we phoned up and was told to come straight down. On arrival the girl serving us was lovely at the till. We were told it was a 30 minute wait but that was fine. We ordered 2 beef dinners and 10 pigs in blankets between us. Honestly this was the worst roast dinner myself and my husband have ever had. For both of us to say the same trust me, it really was.

So to start, the vegetables which included broccoli (that was brown in parts and clearly reheated tasted like it had been prepared days before and was "old" as my husband called it)

The carrots both of us found extremely inedible . We had to pick the peeling off each carrot , that was left on them all from being Cooked. The carrots were discusting. Only word for them. The peeling was brown the insides were soggy. We both spent time trying to eat as we were both hungry. But left all the peelings on the plate and in the end couldn't eat the carrots. These are simple to cook. I do understand some people cook with peeling on carrots. BUT as any cook would know the risk of this is a bitter taste plus it can be hard. These carrots were both those plus worse as they are undeniably not fresh.

The only other vegetables were red pickled cabbage that really didn't go with the meal and neither of us ate any of it . I had to remove it from my plate and put it on my husbands as it was affecting me eating any of the food that was edible. He couldn't eat any of it either. The potatoes mashed were OK. We ate that.

But the best part for me in a roast dinner apart from the meat and gravy are the roast potatoes , these were so bad that for the first time in my life honestly I couldn't eat them. They were clearly reheated and cooked days before. There is no way any of this food was cooked fresh. It was old tasting, we felt sick .

The gravy was like water, and I love gravy always, but this was awful .

The beef was edible. If I were to be picky it was a bit dry but we both ate that which was a relief

My husband clears his plate at home and everywhere he goes. So for him to leave so much food and myself speaks volumes.

I mentioned to one of the other girls working there about the carrots having the peel left on because it was so bad. She spoke to the chef and came back and said " that's the way he cooks them " as she saw us struggling to get the hard brown peel off the carrots to try to eat them.

I love a roast dinner. I've eaten in many many pubs, bars restaurants , hotels and this was so bad. We just walked out leaving our plates of food.

It was a total waste of £28.65 for the food, plus fuel , and time plus we both felt queasy after it. Then we needed to go and get food straight after to eat as we were both hungry.

I'm sure the reply will be you cooked it fresh but I took photos of all the food and the meal. Which is a shame it won't allow me to upload on here for you to see. It Clearly backs up each part of this review . I believe in giving credit where its due. Like I said I don't like leaving a bad review but both of us were so disappointed I feel that its important for a business to know when their customers are not happy. Which I did show whilst there. But nothing was done about it .

No one at any point came up to ask how our meals were, whilst we ate or near leaving which is common practice. It was very busy and loud and we couldn't wait to leave .

We won't...

I pop into the Pontardawe Inn regularly, after walking my dog. Yes its very dog friendly. Dogs can be outside, or in the bar with their owners on a lead of course. They now have a dog food menu great if your out and your dog needs food, so there,s no need to rush home for that reason, and the prices are very reasonable. The place has a rustic feel with wooden floors and log burners to cwtch up on cold winters days/evenings. The food is hearty and outstanding all homemade and freshly prepared to order. There is a wide variety of real ales, lager, wines etc although ive not sampled all of whats available lol🤣🤣🤣🤣. The staff are very friendly and work hard to provide a really good service. There are live bands playing on Saturday night, and Sunday afternoons. I,m not sure if meals are served everyday?? However you will not be dissapointed. As food out these days is expensive, i expect high quality for that price and so far ive always paid compliments to the staff or chef for the meals ive had served to me. In August each year the Pontardawe folk festival is on and this venue has always played a big part in that for donkies years. Very accessible just off the A465 bypass, and has reasonable parking spaces. As an older woman with her dog i go there alone to have a pint, some food and if music is playing ( bands ) thats a bonus, i feel comfortable in rustic comfortable surrounding. Try it and see...

This used to be somewhere I loved to go. I don't know what's happened...but for a Saturday, they clearly didn't have enough staff. The service was WAY too slow. Queuing at the rear bar with just 1 person serving the 2 sides and was clearly flustered and overwhelmed. She had tried to alternate serving sides and ended up serving several people that had arrived after me and my family on the opposite side. Then the food order. We only ordered two dishes. Specified that we wanted plain mac n cheese with zero toppings...just plain cheese and nachos as a second dish. After waiting about 45 mins for these 2 simple dishes...the mac n cheese was incorrect. This spiralled my child with additional needs (Autism and Sensory Processing Dissorder) to have a meltdown. I had to go back to the bar to explain and request a refund. At this point a second person had started their shift behind the bar, however I still didn't get served for over 25mins. The original staff member that served me, was being complained to and couldn't get an order right for a dissatisfied customer which was holding everything up on the front bar. So I had to eventually run round to the back bar to get this situation sorted as the other staff member was more efficient. An extremely bad experience, which has made me and my family feel that we will never cycle down the path and stop...