Y Polyn — Restaurant in Wales

Excellent food and service, well worth the £40 for 2 dinner courses.

The three of us enjoyed everything we ate. It was all delicious, as were the included home baked breads.

Complimentary carafes of sparkling and still water were on the table from the start, and were refilled whenever it was needed, without us having to ask.

The service was similarly attentive when needed and friendly throughout our visit.

I was impressed by the kitchen's willingness and ability to adapt almost anything on the menu to avoid my food intolerances of onion, garlic and chili. A notable contrast to many other  restaurants.

Although the overall experience was still good enough to give five stars, there were a few things that could be readily improved.

I would not have been able to sit for long on the hardback chairs without a cushion to support my problematic back, but these were available.

I was disappointed that the only low or zero alcohol drink available was Peroni (and I don't consider that the suggested Coke, lemonade, fruit juice etc fall into this category or would adequately complement the standard of food on offer). I would expect Guinness Zero, a low or zero apple cider, and perhaps a Welsh ale (such as Gower Zero). Maybe Erdinger Alkoholfrei. I stuck to drinking the free water.

For several years, the low/zero sector has been the fastest growing, and profitable, sector of the bar trade. Perhaps the good folk of Carmarthenshire have not caught up with this trend.

From my seat, I could readily see behind the bar, with its messy piles of buckets of cloths, gas cylinders and so on. It doesn't enhance the ambience of a fine dining restaurant. There should be a closed side door to the bar area to screen this, or at least curtains covering what I have described.

We were surprised that we could not use cards to leave a tip, so we will remember to bring cash for this next time.

I only wish we lived nearer Carmarthen to make this gem practical for a more...

Cannot fault a single thing. We stumbled across this place while on holiday & it was probably the best surprise of the holiday… From the moment we walked in we we’re looked after, they accommodated the dog in the bar area and sat us at a nice table tucked away! Free homemade bread (which was probably the best bread I’ve ever had in my life) and sparkling water set the tone for what was to follow… which was the most sensational pork belly ragu. It was a taste sensation!!!! I blinked, and a new drink was next to me. Bloody magic! Within 4 micro seconds of finishing, our licked plates were removed and we were on the edge of our seats ready for the next course. Within a few minutes, it was delicately placed in front of us and we were immediately excited. Pork loin and my partner had steak pie. I had to tell myself to put the knife and fork down every few seconds to stop myself looking like Oliver Twist. However, all of this amounted to nothing when believe it or not, the star of the show for me was literally, the chips. I shi* you not, you’ve never had chips like it. And trust me when I tell you, I love a chip. These beef dripping chips have excited more to me in 10 seconds than the hustler under my dads bed did as a teenage boy. If this restaurant wasn’t 4.5 hours away from our home, I’d remortgage my house and come here every day for lunch and dinner. The only thing I’d like to add is to make sure you bring cash with you, because you’d be an idiot not to tip these...

This was an amazing place to enjoy a very good meal a few years back. And I have eaten here a few times a year for the last 5 or so years. Unfortunatly it has of recent gone dramatically down hill, as the management sits back and relies on there previously good reviews. They have almost definatly changed the chef recently or they have given up. The faults are with basic things like there inability to cook meat often over or under cooked, to take for example their duck breast was fatty, chewy and simply raw in the middle not pink as it should be. Any chef worth there weight knows to slowly render the fat skin side down in a cold pan and then flash the other side. To produce a beautiful pink tender piece. They dont! The sauces and starters are now fairly un-eventful and boring served with way to much salty seasoning. When this establishment was good they used to present to the table a nice communal dish of vegetables and potatoes and concentrate on the main elements of the dish you have ordered which once upon a time was really cared about. Now it is just food for the masses and on top of this they have hiked there prices while still allowing the product to slip considerably. Bring real good food back Y Polyn and start caring again, your food used to be...