Tŷ Melin Bakery (Wellfield Rd) — Restaurant in Wales

I heard about this place after I saw a short on Instagram claiming it was voted in the top 13 bakeries in the UK. Hearing this, I decided to go but was very let down.

the coffee sizes were tiny, a regular is about 300ml ish and for £3 that’s quite expensive imo. I will say it was the strongest latte I’ve ever had and it tasted quite nice but it was the portion size which was the let down. And when I can walk two minutes away and pay a similar price for 2X the size from the many other cafes on the same street, why would I get a smaller portion here?

I saw a unique pastry with a Welsh name I’ve never heard of before, so I asked what it tasted like and was told it was like a croissant coated in caramel - so I bought it. But when I tried it, it tasted really really really salty. Even if I was told it was like salted caramel, I still would have thought it was way too salty. I mean to the level that I’m wondering if they accidentally used salt instead of sugar. The actual croissant dough itself was very nice tho, so it’s clear that a lot of effort was put into the dough yet for this amount of salt to be added at the final stage (and for no one to taste it?) is very strange.

when I was waiting for my coffee I saw a barista ask two men at a table behind me, if they were ok with receiving burnt toast. They said it was fine and they accepted it, but how does a highly rated, expensive bakery offer burnt toast? After this the barista showed them a singular slice of toast that was even more burnt and asked if that was ok, to which the men said yes as well, she then admitted that she had turned another piece completely black and would replace it for them, yet from what I heard at least she didn’t offer money off their bill for it. How could someone who burns 4 slices of toast in a row work in a bakery?

This part of my visit is the largest reason for why I have given it a lower rating. I went in with my partner who is Asian and was the only non-white person at the time and while he was waiting for his croissant after me, one of the other baristas (a brunette) gave him a glare immediately after giving him his order and asked in a harsh manner if he was waiting for anything else, when he didn’t immediately leave. I was served by the same barista two seconds before that and I didn’t receive that treatment at all, as I waited for my coffee I also watched her serve other people and she didn’t treat them this way either - this is why I think this could be racial discrimination, as me and everyone else were white. The reason my partner didn’t get his croissant was because the same barista who burnt the toast forgot it, though this was rectified in seconds, thankfully.

After this experience we quickly left and ate our pastries at home. My partner said the croissant was ok. Ultimately I’m not sure if this place was super good, then received high ratings and the service nose-dived or not but I would not recommend. I will not be going back here ever again and instead I will try the many other independent cafes on the same street.

Edit in response to the comment from the bakery: as u can see from my review I did ask what the pastry was and I wasn’t told it was salty but even if it was supposed to be like salted caramel, then in my opinion it was still way too much salt. having employees that are from a mixture of cultures doesn’t mean that they can’t be discriminatory. The employees that served us today were all white women. Even if the employees we met today were a mixture of Japanese and Koreans, because my partner is from HK and not their country, there is still a chance that they could be discriminatory towards him. I will repeat: having one Asian on your team doesn’t mean your employees are suddenly incapable of...

What to say about this bakery…. Its such a shame and waste of opportunity. I’m never one to write a negative review, especially about hospital staff as not only do they usually work extremely hard but for lower than average wages in most cases.

However with Ty Melin, ALL of the staff seem rude, stand-off ish and like they just couldn’t care less. I’ve been in multiple times to give them the benefit of the doubt and with multiple people and every time I leave dissatisfied in not only the flippant way I’ve been dealt with but the overall quality of the coffee and baked goods.

Every time I walk in there is a disappoint offering of baked goods regardless of the time of day,the last time I was in 5 groups of people came in around 11am asked what time items were replenished and when they were told that’s it for the day they walked out and went else where. You have too much competition on welfield rd to be taking the when it’s gone, it’s gone approach!

The coffee is always way too hot, perhaps re-training is needed as it’s hot enough to cause potential lawsuits as I have actually quite badly burnt my mouth the last time I had coffee here.

Also the shop is never open at its posted time and in recent weeks has gone to look so shabby and unprofessional with had scribbles signs written in sharpie on brown paper bags tapped all over the door and bakery counter.

I was considering not posting this, I was instead going to email the owner directly but after searching for a while and not finding it decided the best course of action was to post it as a review in hopes the owners do see this and take it...

I like this bakery very much but getting increasingly annoyed with the fact that it NEVER opens at its posted opening time of 8.30am especially on a Saturday morning. Perhaps the staff need to get in earlier? Perhaps they should think about cleaning the cafe after close so customers aren’t made to wait outside (sometimes in the teeming rain) after 8.30am opening time while they mop floors before allowing customers in. Anything, just organize their time better so I can organize mine instead of arriving there at 8.35am only to have to wait outside for them to finish cleaning floors/display product faff around etc etc. Today a queue at least 10 deep outside at 8.36am; testimony to good, quality baked goods but also to sloppy time keeping and a disrespect for its customers time. Frustrating! Get your acts together - arrive earlier or change your...