YSGETHIN INN — Restaurant in Wales

Great location, nice surroundings with the stream next to a children's play area outside. We used to love it here and it was our favourite place to eat in Talybont.

Sadly a couple of years ago they decided they would no longer take reservations and you now had to turn up and hope they had a table free. We came last year and it was rammed with big queues so we left. This year we thought we'd turn up at 1630 and if we had to wait then fine.

They weren't serving food until 1700 so we got drinks and sat at a table outside by the play area with the hopes of entering the restaurant later. They said we could 'sit anywhere'. Great!

1700 came so we went in. The restaurant was locked and we were in a big queue of people ordering food and drinks. The bar was pretty full, maybe 2 tables free. I had a feeling that despite us coming early we could be left without a table so I re-grabbed the table outside. Good job I did!

When the very young member of staff dropped our cutlery next to the bird muck on the table (everyone else had little cutlery trays - did we do something wrong?), we asked if the restaurant was open. She said she'd check but never returned.

I later enquired at the bar and was told that it's now an overflow and is only opened when the bar has no tables left.

I exaggerated my scanning of the packed room, obviously wanting to go into the restaurant. No response.

So you have to sit in the rammed bar or outside (a bit cold).

This is a ridiculous system. Great for them. They're still filling the tables and they don't have to worry about a booking system or manning 2 rooms for longer. They're probably taking the same amount of money. But it's really bad for the customer who wants to know roughly when they'll be eating and doesn't want to play the seating lottery.

A few more people turned up and the lucky people who turned up at about 1730 got to sit in the restaurant. There doesn't seem to be any queuing system either. Just be in the right place at the right time. Who are these mealtime roulette players that are ok dining like this?

People were turning up in the beer garden and asking staff what to do. They were told to 'sit anywhere'. They looked around in vain to find this 'anywhere'. It's like they don't care. There was even a sign outside the locked restaurant saying 'please wait to be seated'. Obviously left over from more civilised times.

When our starters were dropped off the barmaid said 1 word:

"Nachos!?"

Then dumped the nachos and my whitebait and left.

Meanwhile loads of kids are running around us - like literally right next to us. We'd never tell off the kids, they're just having fun. We WOULD tell our own kid not to do that to people if we saw it happen though.

Our mains arrived (two words this time: 'Welsh burger!?') and I'd never seen such a sad little burger in a restaurant or even a pub. The bap wasn't that big but I had to eat a lot of bread before I got to the burger. It didn't taste bad but it wasn't great.

By the way I'm not this sad little 'leaver of negative reviews'. I'm on holiday and I happen to have a bit of free time. Their rustic fries are actually great. BIG fan of their fries. And the guy who collected our starters was very polite. The play area was well maintained and looked very good. The place is beautiful. Great parking too. But the way it's run leaves a really bitter taste in the mouth. We don't want a big chat with the bar staff but it is weird that they don't say the usual 'enjoy your meals' or pop back to check it's all ok. We wondered if they'd changed into one of those new 'rude to the customer' restaurants and we missed the signs.

Near the end of our meal we realised we were meant to get onion rings but hadn't. We couldn't be bothered to say anything. We didn't want them at this point and just wanted to leave.

Oh our son's pizza from the kids menu was the same quality as those frozen ones you get about 10 of in a bag. Meaning he obviously loved it. More than the posh rabbit pizzas you can get down the road at Nor Bar.

We skipped dessert. Big...

Have been to this pub several times over the years. It always had average pub grub at above average prices. So, when we arrived this evening, we were not expecting anything different. How wrong could i be!!! Because of the time of year (October), the pub was open for food at reduced hours - 5 till 8.30pm and being Saturday, was very busy. Arriving at 6.50pm my party of four plus a dog sat outside whilst i requested a menu at the bar inside. We all decided to have steak (1x med and 3x med/rare along with soft drinks and alcohol. Our order was taken quickly and the staff helped bring the drinks outside. The staff made a fuss of dog and gave treats. The food came quickly (about 15-20mins). It was getting a bit chilly outside and we were asked if we wanted to sit inside if a table came free, we said yes. Within 3 mins we were moving into pub in a corner position with good lighting. This was important as one of my party was partially sighted. I have to say that the food was outstanding. Steaks cooked to perfection along with accompaniments. Nothing was too much trouble. Lovely ambient atmosphere. I highly praise, Gayle (owner) and all her staff for their outstanding service, and compliments to the chef for our fab meals. As someone mentioned previously, i would give this pub 10 stars if i could. Deffinitely coming back...

Upon arrival there was plenty of parking and the entrance was made clear by the many signs. After wandering through the restaurant we went to a table in the outside area next to the kids play area which was very nicely maintained. The table, even after being cleaned was visually dirty though. As it was raining, they came out with umbrellas which was very nice. For food you had to go down to the inside bit and order. In another review I read times here were fast but we ended up waiting for over 30 minutes. The food situation wasn't much better with it taking another 30 minutes. I had lasagne and it was alright. The burgers looked ok but the type you would get at small restaurants like another I reviewed today. The ambiance was very nice as a river was right next to our table and provided a nice sound for while we were eating. One of the burgers we didn't eat was kindly packaged up by the staff for us. Overall the place was alright. I would probably go somewhere else due to the price but if the price wasn't a factor I still probably wouldn't to but was a great...