The Pantmawr Inn — Restaurant in Wales

Guys, what's happened? We've been coming here as our #1 local for 3 years now after moving to the area. We love the pub and the food.

However, we've been 3 times in the last 3 weeks and it's been an absolute mess.

3 weeks ago Table of 8 for a birthday meal, we all ordered food and mine come out a totally different meal. Staff said they would take it back and give me a new one. 10 mins laters, they came back to say they didn't actually have what I ordered. They offered a substitute, with an extra patty and they would take it off the bill. I got my food when the other 7 had finished there food. I did appreciate the compensation and how they tried to make up for it, but I'd rather pay full price for food on time, of course.

2 weeks ago (Sun approx 1pm) After a family walk, we stopped in and there was only one other table in the pub.

We ordered 2 starters, 2 mains. Starters were great, then x2 mains come out. Again, my order was totally wrong. There was a new lad taking the order and a supervisor was with him to help take the order which was good to see, but even more confusing when 2 people were there taking my order, for it to come out wrong - when there was only 1 other table eating. We also overheard apologies to the other table and refunds given since their order was wrong too.

I was asked if I still wanted the meal (which was something totally different on the menu). I declined, and was advised that it would take at least 10 mins to get my order. We had 2 kids under 2 with us, so this wasn't an option. I got refunded with an apology. But again, such a poor visit.

Last Night Then, last night! Booked a table for x7 - I've raved about the food to friends who have travelled down to Cardiff. Our table was reserved and that was great, cutlery and table laid on arrival which was great. I took 10 mins to note down everyone's order so I would make one big order at the bar, to make things as easy as possible (I know how hard hospitality can be!)

As I got the the bar, I was told "we're only serving sides". I was shocked and laughed since this was strike 3, in as many weeks, and I couldn't believe my recent luck with the Pantmawr (or the consistency of poor visits).

We were then told "we can serve food, but no chips". A shame when the chips are incredible! We substituted the meals with chips with a jacket potato, but some of us changed meals completely for those without chips.

7 food orders. 6 came out. They forgot the one order (the first to order) and apologised. His food came out when the 6 of us had finished. All jackets came out microwaved and undercooked. 2 sauces were ordered with the steaks, the sauces did not arrive until we finished our food.

1 out of 4 of the meals actually came with chips! We then saw people ordering food AFTER us, and their food coming out WITH chips - we're just laughing at this point with bemusement.

A round of drinks was offered, but we weren't looking for free drinks (although the value of these drinks would have actually worked out better for us!)

20% off the bill was offered, which we reluctantly accepted. As we went to pay, we then saw 20% only applied to the meals, not sides which seemed really poor given the circumstances.

3 of us paid full price for our meals because we were happy. But overall, it was just a shower of "chip" last night, a Thursday night.

I'm leaving this review because we usually love this pub. But something has happened recently (a lot of new and part-time staff) and we don't want it to continue this way or get worse - so it comes from a good place.

Looking forward to updating this review when things return to how...

Came here for few drinks with friends on NYE at the recommendation of a close friend to watch the football. The place itself is warm, cosy, nicely decorated, and has some pretty good screens to watch the game on. So initial feelings were certainly promising. However having waited 5 minutes without seeing a single person who worked there, we finally saw a member of staff (the biting dog) who immediately shouted at us, saying we couldn’t sit down anywhere unless we had a ticket for the NYE event, fine no problem. She then advised that instead we watch the game outside in the heated undercover section which showed the game, to which we were greatful, and took them up on the offer, again, fine. But then, it started to go downhill… Instead of serving us at this point, she called out the 2 people behind us in the queue by their first names, and asked them what they wanted. Now it was fairly clear this was a regulars pub, but to disrespect people that clearly to our faces was extremely unnecessary & uncomfortable. We were then served by a different member of staff who was absolutely fine, and then went outside. 20 minutes later however, we decided to go back in merely to get another drink, to which we were stopped almost immediately by a man putting his arm out asking us, “where do you think you’re going”, so which we explained to the bar to get a drink. It’s worth noting at this point that he didn’t introduce who he was, additionally he seemed to be standing next to some friends who started giggling, in addition to what seemed to be his own children. So at this point, assuming he’d had a few too many, we smiled and just tried to walk past him, at which point to squared up to us and announced that he was in fact the owner, and no one comes in without his say so, was honestly pretty remarkable. However, staying calm and respectful we explained what had happened above when we arrived, and that we were simply outside watching the game and only wished to get a drink, then return outside. At this point, the owner had relaxed slightly, however once again made it clear that this was HIS pub, and you don’t just get to walk past him when he asks us a question. Once again I reiterate, this was in front of his children. Before we were able to continue however, (the biting dog) leaned over a table and screamed that she told us to stay outside as there were no seats for us, at which point the owner then turns around and tells her to shut up as he’s handling it. It really has to be the most unnecessary sequence of events I have witnessed at any establishment. We were allowed to pass, at which point my friend and I looked at each-other and simply said we won’t be coming back here again. Just for good measure also, when we then had our drinks, we passed the biting dog who said “I told you I’d make you go back outside”, an absolutely bemusing comment to literal paying customers.

I do want to finally say that I completely understand they were doing preparations for a NYE event, hence why we couldn’t sit inside, however the issue lies with the pure aggressiveness of the apparent owner, and the one member of staff who went out of her was to ruin our nights.

Safe to say we will not be returning here, which is a shame as it is a fairly local...

My family and I went to the Pantmawr Inn on Sunday for Sunday lunch; there were about 10 of us attending. Overall it was a fairly standard procedure - no frills and got the job done - but i wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. There are better places in Cardiff to go for Sunday Roast (at any price range).

Food: I had pate and toast to start. The pate was okay (a bit too course for my liking), but the toast was terrible. I didn’t realise bread was such a hot commodity right now because with the 4 scant quarters I was rationed, you’d think the Germans were back flying overhead.

I had the beef Sunday roast for my main. This was fairly good actually. The beef was tender (although not nice thin slices like you’d expect but rather a slow cooked thing - nice either way). The veg was good. However the roast potatoes were truly abysmal. It was almost like they’ve never selected a roasting potato before because these tasted and felt like undercooked peeled baked potatoes. They weren’t crispy at all and they felt raw in the centre, and they were huge as well so you couldn’t even try and be polite and attempt to finish them.

Staff/service: We were left without cutlery after our starters so had to wait a while after our mains were served before we could eat. The wait time for service was already quite long, so this last minute hurdle before eating was particularly frustrating.

I asked one of the waitresses if they served mushy peas with the fish and chips rather than garden peas and she said no (which influenced my decision to go for the roast)… later I saw many other diners with mushy peas! Put the option of “mushy or garden” on the menu to limit your staffs’ confusion perhaps?

Lastly, why don’t you have some sort of uniform for your waiters/waitresses? Half the staff were walking around in sports gear (tight gym stuff) which just wasn’t nice to have around near the dining table. I’m sure they were clean but I’ve seen that sort of attire in my local gym and it just reminded...