The Brook Bistro — Restaurant in Wales

I was debating leaving a poor review, & when I read the owners responses to low scoring reviews and saw how rude they were, it made it clear to me that certain employees/owners there feel very comfortable to be rude to customers from behind a computer screen AND in person. So I now feel compelled to share my experience.

I chose not to leave 1 star as the food was good and the waitresses were very polite, even making efforts to entertain my 10 month old son which was much appreciated. We paid the service charge in the hope that they would receive this.

I never leave a bad review after one experience but this was our second poor experience and was particularly embarrassing and also infuriating for my partner and I. Most of my reviews are positive.

On the first experience my pregnant partner was served alcoholic beer when we made it very clear that it had to be non-alcoholic (lager was her craving), also a waitress tripped over me while I was eating my food, due to too many tables being crammed into the room. But we were happy to forgive this.

When we visited yesterday we were around 15 minutes late, we phoned ahead before our booking and were told that it will be fine, it also states on the booking site that this is fine. The other 6 people we were meeting we already in attendance.

When we walked through the door we were met by the manager (man in a blue suit) or concierge or whatever he is. We told him the booking name and everything seemed okay. Until I tried to walk through the restaurant with a pram. This infuriated the suited man. He said to us "why didn't you tell us you were bringing a baby? That pram won't fit in the restaurant and now I have to find a high chair!"

We regularly go for meals and we have never been told off for bringing a pram and a baby! If we needed to make them aware of this then it should be stated on the booking form. There is no option to add a baby onto your group. There is a special request section but as we've never had an issue before we assumed that we wouldn't need to mention it, as there was no indication on the form. I advise that this is updated.

The tone that he spoke to us in front of the whole restaurant was embarrassing and infuriating as we felt that it was unnecessary. I just wanted to get away from the rude suit and in a fluster I tried to walk through the restaurant to meet our friends. As the tables are crammed in so close together I got stuck with the pram not even half way and stopped all of the kitchen team being able to serve the tables. Adding to my embarrassment. If we weren't meeting friends I would have walked straight back out.

The suit then proceeded to tell us off again advising that we had to collapse the pram so they could store it away. I walked back through the restaurant, sweating at this point because the heating was on full blast. I took the pram apart to make it as small as possible. He took it away, we ate and we left.

I could see that the suit was stressed and the pram/baby made him even more stressed but it's not our fault that too many tables are crammed into the restaurant. Had he politely asked us to collapse the pram, we would have had a nice experience. Sadly it resulted in the rudest interaction I've ever experienced in a hospitality setting.

I'm already anticipating a rude response. You like to refer to CCTV to suit your side of the story. Obviously I don't have this tool to support my claim and unless you are recording sound (I hope not!) then it doesn't actually prove anything. However before you mention it I would like to know where I can find your CCTV policy please. This is required by law for GDPR purposes. I can't see anything on your website.

Also, as I've mentioned a few times, there are far too many tables crammed into the main room and this raises a lot of Health and Safety concerns. I assume that you have an in date fire risk assessment? And this would highlight that wheelchair users cannot use the restaurant as they cannot exit safely and quick enough? This would be extremely dangerous.

Looking forward to...

We don't normally leave reviews but after reading some comment's here we thought we would share our experience.

As we are repeat customers that have visted this bistro on many occasions for Dinner,lunch and breakfast with the occasion take away thrown in here and there we have never had anything other than a fantastic meal combined with great service.

Last night was no different, we arrived 7 min early and was shown straight to our table, I would like to add we had comfortably past other tables and one had a pram at the end where this family looked to be enjoying themselves.

The service was excellent and the staff was very attentive, we had a jug of water and our menu before our alloted 7:30 table time.

A waitress came and took our drinks order in minutes of sitting down and game back shortly afterwards to take our food order.

We finished our starter and mains in good time and was asked on both occasions if the food was OK? I jokingly said the starter was awful to which they offered a replacement as I was laughing with a empty plate as I obviously enjoyed the bruschetta and my wife loved her calamari, My fillet steak was cooked perfectly and the chips were piping hot, My wife really enjoyed her halloumi burger(she has had this many times and has never been disappointed).

When it came to dessert I personally wasn't fancying anything as sadly my only complaint was that there was no cheesecake which is my go to but there was plenty other options and when it came there was no complaints, I had the chocolate fondant which was perfectly done and my wife had the meringue.

I'm sure reading this the SUIT 😂 can be proud that his staff last night were a credit to the buisness, as the suit wasn't present for the first time in the many years we've been for food.

Thanks for the great experience as always we will...

Visited the Brook on two different occasions.

First was in November and the food was beautiful. We both had a burger and a side of some fancy truffle fries to share.

Our second visit was today 28th of Dec and we both ordered a Fillet Steak. I had a side of Cauliflower cheese and my partner some chips.

The steaks were cooked to perfection and melted like butter. The black pepper & brandy sauce was delightful.

The staff were also friendly and polite on both visits. Though even in a not too busy environment, it felt a little hard to get their attention sometimes and they seemed to all vanish when you needed something. This wasn’t such an issue in our second visit as we were in the conservatory, so they were attentive as possible.

My only personal issue as per the menu(pictured), the steak, along with its accompanying tomato & mushrooms, were on a bed of drizzled Balsamic Vinegar.

I have a few very specific strong food aversions and the balsamic drizzle wasn’t mention on the menu. So the smell alone made it rather hard to enjoy the rest of my meal, but thankfully after moving my food to the clean side of the plate and drowning it in the sauce pot, I couldn’t taste the balsamic.

I didn’t say anything at the time as I genuinely enjoyed what I had and am incredibly anxious at the thought of being awkward or problematic but I feel from a dietary req perspective, if it’s going to be on the plate, it should be listed on menu.

Just to limit disruption to the kitchen and people feeling awkward because they need to second guess what might come out to them. I don’t want to have to second guess every meal or ask if x, y or z will be on the plate every time I eat out.

While this is a very niche req, hence the 4 stars for me, I would still say it is a lovely dining establishment and would encourage locals to...