The Riverside — Restaurant in Wales

We chose this establishment to celebrate my sisters birthday. We as a family don't get to meet up regularly so when we do, we like to enjoy ourselves and sadly this establishment ruined the end of what could've been a very nice lunch. Reading reviews it looked perfect for a relaxed Sunday lunch which on arrival it was. The starters were very nice (although only 2 to choose from), Squid & cous cous and a Stilton salad. The mains were traditional roast lunches, again very nice with extra gravy and sauces automatically brought out. This was sadly where our enjoyable time ended. We asked for the dessert list and a board was brought out with 1 choice - an apple & blackberry tart. This extensive list didn't inspire us so we decided to bring the cake out that we had brought with us to celebrate. Who i'm supposing was the manager then asked if we wanted any desserts to which we replied no but we would like some plates for the cake. His reply was "there is a £10 deposit for cakes brought in". We genuinely thought he was joking - he wasn't. And by deposit he meant charge and he said it was policy and had been for a long time. We have been and brought a cake to budget restaurants, middle of the range restaurants and fine dining restaurants in the past and have NEVER EVER been charged CAKEAGE (as we're now calling it). We made our thoughts known to this gentleman especially as we we're going to celebrate by buying a bottle of Champagne. We paid up and left feeling thoroughly disappointed and annoyed. He wasn't concerned he was losing trade considering we were the only table at the time and a table had earlier walked out due to lack of choice on the menu. I myself work in a hotel which has a fine dining restaurant and we are more than happy for people to bring in a cake, in fact we encourage it as we understand how much something as simple as a cake means to a family occasion. Very disappointing, we certainly won't be...

Horrible experience & never even got as far as the food- drove from Swansea but sadly turned away at the door as my 8 week old daughter wasn't allowed in (fast asleep in carseat on arrival) - it was 530pm on a Sat with a party of 12 adults booked in for my sister's 40th bday & planning to be finished by 7pm as her night party was starting in a nearby hotel at that time - horrible attitude of staff & terrible business too seeing as the restaurant was empty at that time aside from a handful of people around the bar watching the rugby - my sister attempted to appeal to no avail so sadly we all left before eating, ruined a special night & totally knocked my confidence as was my 1st evening out with the baby (who is breastfed so could not be left behind!)! Even more annoyed by the fact that my sister went in to book the table the previous week with her 3 year old in tow, yet was not advised of their "children not welcome" policy (despite a large number of seats being booked for early evening by someone who obviously had kids?!) Totally lacking in any thought, tact or kindness...

My partner and I went here for food last week - we're fans of the other pub the new owners run, so we're excited to give it a go!

The service was great and atmosphere was lovely- there was an acoustic guitarsit which was really good.

The menu looked great, and they've been refurbishing the place to make it look more modern and fresh.

However we were quite disappointed with the food. I had fish and chips and the fish was very dry and rubbery, as if it had been frozen and reheated. The curry sauce that came with it though to be fair was a stroke of genius and very good!

My partner had the mussels and over half the mussel shells were broken, with loads of tiny shards in his sauce, and many weren't open (you often get one or two like that, but it was a big portion unopen), and the sauce was watery.

It's a shame as the location is great and the food at their other place is really good!

Hoping they take on feedback and change their practices a little as this could be a fabulous new place if the food lived up to...