The Hoptimist — Restaurant in Wales

My Girlfriend and I tried Aberystwyth Whetherspoons after their renovations, but found the place was exactly the same and their menu was awful, so we decided to cross the road and try Lord Beechings Pub. We had attempted to eat out here a few weeks prior but they had stopped serving food early on the Sunday. My Girlfriend and I ordered the starter sharer which was £9.99 (picture included) and was absolutely stunning. The Thai chicken skewers were tender and soft and tasted amazing, the cheesy GB was just lovely, the Cajun onion rings were different, every single bit of it was delicious. She had the Hunters chicken for her main and I had the Steak and Ale pie. I'm not a fan of that kind of pastry (which was crumbly), I prefer flaky pastries, however this was delicious! We also had 2 Desserts, A Jaffa cake sundae which was stunning, and she had fudge cake, which was light and spongy and she enjoyed it. We went for a Sat+Sun deal called 'Wallet Saver' where a main and dessert only cost £9.99. so we had a 3 course meal and 3 Drinks (1 alcoholic and 2 pints of Coke) and it came to just under £35. What a bargain, especially considering the quality of the food. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as staff were also very friendly, and the Pub also allows DOGGOS. 10/10...

The staff are very helpful and the food is good quality. I don't wish to discourage you from going to Lord Beechings because it has to be said you will enjoy your meal. However it used to be a lot better as you got much more food for your money (this was before the pub was renovated and the menu changed). I used to enjoy their hot dogs and chips ... it was brilliant, relatively cheap, good quality and very filling! Now though you won't have much change out of £10 with a decent portion of Fish and Chips and a pint of lemonade. Also at the moment they don't have coca cola on tap (which I believe they say is because of the recently introduced sugar tax in England and Wales. Having said that the tax itself is not a ban but I assume they are banning it to discourage drinking fizzy drinks). They only offer bottles. This really puts me off as I would pay extra if they were willing to offer the option. It seems when you renovate a business, bring it up market and then try and make it more ethical and have what are now considered 'respectable' morals (which encourage good health), you lose what...

The food was totally unseasoned, lacking even the most basic flavour. The vegetables were overcooked. The taste of the cheap ingredients was barely masked by the copious quantities of low-quality supermarket gravy - which I now suspect is unlimited to mask the atrocious flavour of stale ingredients. I would have probably withheld my complaints if I'd paid £5/6 for the Sunday roast I received, but a price point of £10 for some overdone budget ready-meal grade tidbits represents astonishingly poor value for money. It's not hard to cook a Brussel sprout for the correct amount of time, or reduce your prices to account for your disappointing inability to do so. I left feeling filled with a deep sense of regret...