Ship Inn, Tresaith — Restaurant in Wales

The view from the beer garden was incredible!

As we had booked an indoor table (when we booked the weather report was for torrential rain), and we had our dogs with us, we were seated in the rear of the pub in a dark alcove.

My partner, son and I ordered our meals.. my son asked for garlic bread to start and chicken tikka (with samosa, for an extra £1). My partner had seen the famous 'bread of heaven' on the online menu and was disappointed to see that this was no longer on the menu. Instead she ordered the cockle and bacon on laver bread starter, along with fish and chips. I ordered the cauliflower bites to start, and sausages and mash for main.

The garlic bread was dry and overcooked. The cockles dish was ok, but a bit bland. The cauliflower bites were very tasty. The chicken tikka tasted as if it had come from the supermarket's microwave meal section (was listed on the menu as coming with skin on fries - which were missing), the fish was overcooked and dry and the sausages tasted like they were from the budget range at a supermarket, on a bed of microwaved ready made mash.

We had noticed that there was a sign offering a set 2 course meal for £12.50, but when my partner highlighted this to the server, she sought advice from the manager and said that the pub was no longer a Brains' pub, but is now a Marston's brewery pub and the sign shouldn't have been there, even though Brains' beers were advertised all over (I even had 2 pints of Brains' Bayside lager).

Overall, we found the whole experience disappointing. If it wasn't for the fact that we were hungry (having a very light lunch in anticipation for a lovely meal) we wouldn't have eaten it at all. In fact my dogs had more of the fish than my partner ate, and my son left a good amount of his meal.

I've had better meals at a...

Below is a review from two years ago, we have lodge nearby and eat here at least once a week in season. The truth is it’s a managed pub and it’s not been managed well for a number of seasons.

First, the good side. Most of the staff are lovely and try their best and the location and view will remain unparalleled.

However, it is unquestionable that overall there has been a decline in quality of food and service that has been mirrored by a rise in price. Drink prices are London levels (over £6 a pint and £9+ for a large glass of average Rose). Not that you can get served at peak times of course when staff watch as a queue snakes out of the bar a one staff member takes 15 mins to serve a couple of cocktails to 1 customer. We normally don’t bother anymore, it’s so expensive that it’s not worth the wait.

We ate there last night, for once the menu was fully available (a novelty I promise you) two burgers, a veggie curry and a kids meal. ‘A Buttermilk chicken burger’ that was three breaded chicken goujons and a wet lettuce leaf in a bun (£16) that I simply refused to accept (kids party bbq fodder) accompanied by a small handful of fries. That was replaced by a signature burger without cheese, which of course came with cheese. Portion sizes in general just small and poor value.

The weather may not reflect it, but it’s high season, and yet at 9pm last night there were only two people left in the pub. It was dead. The decline in two years is marked. I post this in hope that it encourages Marstons to up their game. Support their staff and help them make a once great pub much better.

Two years ago…

Good service, reasonably priced food. Table near toilets not great and only one veggie option available…

Pretty good...

We had high hopes for The Ship Inn, having received great reviews from friends. Unfortunately they weren’t met. We were greeted by 2 young waitresses and shown our table, where we were given menus and left for 10-15 minutes without a drink order. When we were asked for our order the waitress said that they had no pads to write the orders, so would try and remember our order. She then recited the order back but forgot half of it and decided it was best to write the order down on her phone, something that she said she shouldn’t have done. The starters arrived promptly and were fine, nothing to write home about but ok (chicken bites and calamari). However, the chicken was to come with a blue cheese dipping sauce, but wasn’t present on the plate, when we asked the waitress for it she said she had just been told by the chefs that they had run out and I asked for alternatives, which she was very accommodating of.

The mains then arrived, my husband complimented his lamb shank, however the seabass that I ordered was so terribly, I couldn’t eat the dish. The fish was fishy and tasted “old”, it was limp and made me question how it was cooked. The potatoes were under seasoned, the greens were mushy and the sauce had dried on to the plate, it was inedible.

We tried to salvage the meal with a shared dessert, the brownie. The brownie was undercooked and grainy leaving us disappointed in the meal and we felt as though we couldn’t say anything to the waitress as she was nice but seemed ill equipped to support us with our experience.

It would have been nice to have a managerial presence on a Friday evening, that we could have raised these challenges to.

Sadly, we won’t be back despite the lovely atmosphere...