The Warren — Restaurant in Wales

We've been lunching at The Warren for a good few years, typically 6 visits a year. Like many restaurants, prices keep rising but they face challenging times, especially with energy costs. Without exception the team members are great as is the food. The best thing is the menu gets a regular refresh, important when the choice is limited. I prefer a limited choice to an extensive one where food is mostly pre-prepared and warmed in a microwave. At The Warren, the food is always freshly cooked. Everyone we've taken has enjoyed their visit and always want to go back. Unfortunately my near-empty wallet has to ration these treats.

Update March 2025 Just made our first visit for 2025 and what a disappointment. This is a review I never expected to write. After all our visits over the last decade, everything today was poor, including the food.

I can only assume the business is suffering. Lots of changes!

The first thing we noticed was the absence of table service. Now you have to find a table, order food and drinks from the bar and pay up-front. To be fair, the drinks and food are delivered to the table but I really don't like this arrangement in a restaurant. OK for McDonalds or a pub but not a restaurant!

Next, the menu is pretty sparse, just soup for starters and a choice of three mains. There are snacks and a couple of "brunch" options, but nothing like the choice we had before. And no desserts. I used to love the sticky toffee pudding or chocolate brownies with Conti's ice cream but they've all disappeared. Just cakes from the bar, not even listed on the menu. It's turned into a self-service cafe!

Then my meal. I ordered the Pork Open Sandwich. For £13 I got a few pieces of overcooked pork, dark brown and leathery, covered by what looked like melted cheese, The menu refers to "smoked rarebit". It arrived piping hot as if it had been prepared earlier and warmed up in a microwave. I know this sounds harsh but I've never had a bad meal in The Warren and everything used to arrive, freshly cooked and tasty. But not today. My wife's sausage, egg and friend mushrooms on sourdough was OK but nothing special.

Deri cleared away our plates and asked if everything was OK. I felt I had to tell him it wasn't and that, after all the years of enjoyable visits, we wouldn't be coming back. Too much has changed, in our opinion, for the worse.

We loved The Warren for the food, people, service and atmosphere. The people are still good, but a lot less of them and although the atmosphere is the same, the usual buzz was missing. But the most important part - the food - isn't as good as it was. As for service, that's now down to the customer!

What a shame. We always took our visitors to The Warren and they all enjoyed it. And I've always voted for all the awards going. Alas no more. A sad day for Carmarthen as The Warren...

I was really looking forward to lunch at The Warren. We were greeted by a polite professional waitress who showed us to our table. The male waiter was also very pleasant. Our table was inline with the doors to the kitchen. It felt like being seated in a corridor. It was cold, and a member of staff opened a window, making it more cold. I opted for the “Meaty” grazing board. At £18 it was the most expensive item on the menu. My expectations were, at £18, to have a decent bit of meat. With a title like “Meaty grazing board” I don’t think I was expecting to much. My meal arrived on a quirky piece of wood. At first I thought it was wrong, as I could see no meat. After clearing a section of enormous salad I found 2 very tasty little pieces of belly pork. 10/10 for flavour. 1/10 for portion size. It was so thoroughly disappointing. The hummus, Aioli & jam were delicious. The garlic bread very good, chips nice (but over cooked). There was also a fish cake. This was inedible. It was foul. I tried to palm it off on my wife who loves a fish cakes. She took one bit and spat it back out.

It’s subjective. One man’s meat is another man’s poison and all. My bill came to £41.50. I don’t feel that was good value. Maybe I’d have been happier giving a better review if I’d had the burger. Maybe if the “Meaty” platter was £8 less I’d have thought it was good value. Maybe if they’d called the platter “Hardly any meat” platter, I’d have enjoyed it. Maybe if I’d ordered a cup of tea, I wouldn’t have been cold. They’re all sliding door moments.

My expectations of the Warren were a quirky venue with good food at fair value. My opinion post visit is that it’s mostly correct. I just appear to have had the naff table, and chose poorly from the menu.

Don’t let my poor experience stop you from visiting. But if this is read by the owner, please look again at the menu & the temperature in...

I make a point of hunting out good roast dinners. The best roast I’ve ever had was the Bunch of Grapes in Bradford-on-Avon. This roast is so good it makes no difference!!

The staff were so friendly and welcoming and the atmosphere and decor in the restaurant was pleasant, fun and relaxed. Probably the nicest vibe in any restaurant I’ve been in around Carmarthenshire. Felt like places I’ve loved in Bristol but all the better because it’s so close to home!

We were served within 10 minutes of sitting down. The food was properly knock-out. The beef was super tender brisket I think, the roasted half carrots and parsnips were perfect, the potatoes were really nice and crunchy even at this time of the year when they can be difficult and Yorkshire pudding was light and fluffy. Gravy is important with a good roast and this was one of the best, AND, it came out in a well sized jug and I’m sure had I wanted more I could have got some because of how nice they were. The side veg was tasty and fresh. The review from my partners veggie roast was equally shining.

We shared a sticky toffee pudding - it was SO good. They’re often drowned in the toffee sauce which completely ruins it for me. This one came with a light drizzle of the sauce on a very moist pudding with some nice ice cream. Perfect.

I will 100% be coming back and I think everyone local should be making every effort to keep gems...