The Middlegate - Pembrokeshire

My Wife and I called in for lunch today.We both chose Ham,Egg and Chips,she a tea and me a latte.Although busy Peter was friendly and very obliging.The meal was freshly cooked and excellent value for money.If visiting Pembroke again would definitely visit.

Very enjoyable stay, we only stayed for two nights and wished we stayed for longer. Peter and his wife were very amiable, breakfast was great, while with the evening meal the chips and steak was the best we ever had. Pete’s wife was very friendly and even gave the three of us a packed breakfast to take away, as we were leaving early in the morning. I have stayed in many hotels around Britain, and I recommend anyone to visit Pembroke and stay here. 5/5 in my book, but 10/10 sounds more like it.

After a walk around the fantastic castle, we struggled to find a place to eat as most were fully booked. About to give up and head home, we stumbled across the Middlegate Hotel cafe. We were beckoned inside by the owner but we were asked to fold down our baby buggy for some reason even though there was loads of room (Sure whatever). First impressions were not great, I think we would honestly have left if we’re not all starving. The decor: old and tired and the place didn’t look the cleanest. First of all, the service was terrible. We needed to change our daughters nappy and discovered that there was no baby change. We noticed that the adjacent hotel area was completely deserted and private so asked the owner if we could I use this space.NO was the answer, unbelievably. Apparently this hallowed ground was out of bounds to all customers of the cafe. My wife and mother proceeded to change our daughters nappy on the floor of the single cubicle toilet. We had to ask for a menu after 10 minutes of waiting. Then, while halfway through ordering at the till, the owner suddenly left to serve food to another customer which was baffling. Then went into the kitchen to ferret around in a fridge and knocked over a bottle which spilled liquid all over the place. After he had cleaned that up, chuntering under his breath, we managed to complete our order for which the till subtotal was displayed to us as £9,964.85. “We can’t afford that” said mum (probably dying not to laugh). So we then had to wait until he realised the mistake and put the order through again. The food. Absolutely abysmal. By this point we were in hysterics as it was so comically bad. A safe option of burger and chips (I thought). The chips were poor and rubbery, no salt of vinegar or even sauces on offer. The burger, made up of two 5mm rubber discs with a flappy bit of undercooked bacon with cheese. The whole thing looked and tasted like it had been assembled a week earlier and then frozen to be deep fried at the desired time, dripping with grease. I couldn’t finish it. My mum had chicken soup which looked like a steaming bowl of sick. She had half of it but I think she was glad that COVID had decimated her sense of taste earlier in the year and quite frankly I was jealous of that fact. My wife and Dad both had a scone and their only complaint was that it came with whipped cream. I’m hindsight, I think we would all have chosen to starve a little longer than eat here again. Having said that, it made us cry with laughter at how bad it all was, so perhaps memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Could do with a clean and fresh paint, floor was dirty, and tea cups dirty, And long black hair in food. Cream tea … jam pre packed and cream whipped..

This cafe was a reflection of the ghost town we visited which is a shame seeing as the castle is amazing, in a town with so much history. Anyway it was deserted when we walked in but one of the tables was marked reserved so couldn’t be that bad, we thought. We were with my sister in law and husband all ordering a light lunch before moving on to the castle. The owner seemed obsessed with his bank not allowing him to have a business account not surprising) and said cash would be preferred. We ordered 2 prawn salads and a cheese sandwich. Well what can I say ? In between updates on the business bank account and some terrible jokes. Our lunch turned up , which we had to prepay with cash only due to the buisness bank account situation. Old beetroot, turned brown, silver skin onions, also turned brown and a pile of old prawns, which literally squeaked on eating, . The cheeses sandwich was your standard brown bread , soggy bottom, and totally tasteless. The final straw was the dried up lemon to squeeze over the prawns and a tomato with something white and indescribable smeared across it. We got up and left !,