Shepherds Parlour — Restaurant in Wales

Don't recommend if you have allergies/dietary requirement. I visited yesterday (10th March 2024) on Mother's Day as a treat. But in the end it was rather stressful for a parent of a child with an allergy, expensive, with no options and not remotely filling.

I did my research. I searched all over for websites of places that claimed to have vegan an option for me (dairy allergy baby) and gluten free husband. I emailed in advance to check if they had gluten free options as the website had vegan things but wasn't obviously offering gluten free. They shared they had fresh homemade soup with gf bread and sometimes specials and salads. When we arrived in Hay a little early for lunch, my husband popped in and checked gluten free options to see if they had something he liked and they listed a number of options. However when we returned 15 minutes later- we sat down and got the kids (1 and 3) comfortable, it turned out they didn't have any gluten free bread and the only option for gf was the soup and bread without the bread for £7. It was too late to now scout out a new place (It can be hard to find a place that does vegan and gf, so we stopped researching when this place said they did.) When I asked if about which ice creams were dairy free (as website listed 2) they mentioned 2 and were massively unconfident with which were dairy free. They didn't have the chocolate vegan one mentioned on the website that my son was hoping for. They did thankfully have a procedure to serve the one they did have with a clean scoop as my baby girl is severely allergic to dairy. Thankfully no reaction - but I was nervous as they are all stored next to each other with no covers. They did not fill me with confidence like some ice cream shops do by getting it out of a fresh container rather than the one stored 3cm from dairy. We were charged £7 for the soup and bread without the bread for my husband (so just a small bowl of soup). They thankfully had a gf brownie too. Though my husband was still hungry after both so we had to go to the Spar afterwards to get more food. They had one vegan option for me thankfully. Though I dare not share any with my baby (it was too small to share) and they didn't fill with enough confidence that it was prepared without touching dairy - I didn't want to risk getting the epi-pens. Overall: lovely atmosphere, delicious food, staff not confident serving people with allergies, pop to the Spar afterwards to actually get enough food in your belly to be able to walk Hay Bluff. I imagine it might be nice for a coffee and snack - but I wouldn't recommend...

Lovely atmospheric cafe and ice cream parlour, but sadly service is confusing and harried. Menus on tables are arbitrary as you can't actually order anything from lunch menus with any ease, as you can only choose from what's available in the deli cabinet. On the day we visited most toasted sandwiches were out of stock and then was rudely told that a sandwich on display couldn't be sold to me. Confusing and frustrating. Toasted sandwiches were expensive and small. It would be of enormous benefit to customers dining in to have clear signage re where to order and pay, and whether table service is available or not. Tiresome to have to figure all this out while waiting with grumpy, hungry kids in tow. Would be nice to be able to order from the menu and have toasties made fresh to order. Separate queue system for ice creams, which are delicious, but quite expensive for...

I love Shepherds, not the farmers who tend Sheep and those that played an important role in Jesus early life, but the ice cream and cafe in Hay. The ice cream, especially the new vegan one, is incredible. So today on a rather rainy Easter Monday, a trip to Hay on Wye was great, made great by the stop at Shepherds. We started with a tasty sandwich, with pesto, tomatoes and cheese, followed by the dreamy ice cream. The only thing that troubles my heart is that they shut down the branch in Hereford, so I have to take the scenic drive over Hay bluff to partake of the best sheep's milk ice cream ever. If you haven't tried it or are put off thinking about sheep's milk, don't, one lick and you will be a convert for life. Shepherd's is the best. Oh, and the people that work there are nice and friendly too. 10 out of 10 with...