44 - The Vale of Glamorgan

Visited tonight (10 May) two weeks after our last visit and what a difference in service and quality of food. Turned out to be a very expensive disappointment.. This used to be a great place to eat and whilst not cheap used to offer more value. Charging £15 for 4 tiny slice of cheese and £18 for 9 paper thin postage stamps of ham is just not on. The rest of the food was lack lustre and just not the quality I expected for the price. It appears this bar restaurant is living on past reputation, no wonder the place was less than 25% full at 7pm on a Friday evening

Awfully disappointing. So sad to say that. Been coming here for over 10 years. Food is ok but service is such a disappointment. Used to be amazing however this afternoon I was made to feel (as a woman dining alone and taking up a whole table) like an inconvenience. I was acknowledged after a couple were served before me despite being there for five minutes. Drinks left on the bar, I was tempted to serve myself, food “placed” on the table, no check back and no interaction whatsoever. Apart from a slightly begrudging “was everything ok?” when I declined to pay the discretionary 10% service charge. Staff more concerned with themselves then the customers echoed in others reviews hence lack of service charge. Won’t be back.

Have always enjoyed coming here but tonight was sadly very underwhelming. The staff are nice but the standard of service has dropped dramatically. This seems to have coincided with the departure of the lovely manager was in charge over the last couple of years. The staff are very young and appear to have had no training in how to deliver great customer service. No one seemed to be in overall charge and they were more interested in chatting with each other instead of checking on customers. At no point during our meal did anyone check to see everything was ok. At one point during our visit 2 staff members were rolling cigarettes at a table at the bar! They may well have finished shift or been on a break but this to me is inappropriate. The food was ok, patatas bravas were however very crunchy and overcooked. As much as I want to support local businesses I don’t think I’ll return.

Incredible service, outstanding food and a beautiful selections of wines and sherry. Could not recommend more. Best penarth restaurant.

We were very disappointed by the tiny portion sizes, none of us in the group have big appetites but found the portions very small, not particularly well cooked (patatas bravas were hard) and the prices far too high, comparing poorly with other restaurants nearby serving similar food. A bottle of house white was £29, definitely nothing like Spain. There was a long wait for food and it came randomly, one person having all three tapas at once and the others over a period of time. One person's starter came with the main course. It was also incredibly noisy and we struggled to hold a conversation. Overall a very disappointing experience.