Gwynedd
At The Portmeirion

At The Portmeirion

LL48 6ER, Penrhyndeudraeth, United Kingdom, Gwynedd

Welsh • Vegan • British • European


"I made a reservation for Sunday lunch at the hotel, as last time we tried to visit there was a private function and we had heard great things about the food. We had high expectations, but the experience far exceeded them. The food was spectacular. It was a windy and wet September 24th Sunday. We arrived early with the intention of going for a walk, but the weather was so bad that we decided to seek shelter at the hotel and enjoy a warm coffee while taking in the view before our lunch reservation at 2:15. We were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome we received from a young man who informed us that our table was ready but encouraged us to relax and come in whenever we were ready. A talented harpist played beautiful music in the bar reception area, creating a calm oasis on such a stormy day. The hotel's decor and stunning views impressed us, and every staff member greeted us with a warm smile and professional demeanor. We enjoyed coffee in the cozy lounge, soaking in its relaxed beauty before moving to our window table for lunch. Our Sunday meal was delicious, with Alex ordering the perfectly cooked roast beef and me opting for the cauliflower soufflé, accompanied by roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and the most decadent cauliflower cheese I've ever tasted. It was truly fantastic. Our attentive waitress, a young lady with red hair and a big smile, kindly got the recipe for the cauliflower cheese for me. We were so full that we decided to have our cheese and biscuits packed up and enjoy a drink in the lovely lounge. The staff members who greeted us, showed us to our table, and served us throughout the meal, including the young lady with dark hair and glasses, the young lady with red hair, and the young lady from Newport, were all warm, welcoming, professional, and made our Sunday lunch experience special. We will definitely be returning. Thank you to all the staff for a wonderful afternoon."

Blue Sky Cafe Taproom

Blue Sky Cafe Taproom

236 High St Bangor LL57 1PA, UK, Gwynedd, United Kingdom

Welsh • Coffee • British • Vegetarian


"Blue Sky Cafe is a fantastic cafe based on Bangor High Street. The cafe is accessed through a signposted alleyway, which is tastefully decocorated in bright graffiti style art. The cafe has two floors with the ground floor also functioning as a taproom during the evenings and serves a variety of interesting drinks. Blue Sky also hosts events in the evening, ranging from live music to poetry nights. I went in for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed my meal. I had the Buddah Bowl with a side of small Salt and Pepper Chips, both of which were incredibly delicious and generous in portion. The salad was well seasoned and fresh, and the falafel was the best I have ever had at a cafe that serves meat. I had an Iced Coffee with Oat Milk to go with my meal, which was also very good, but they do charge extra for non dairy milks. There are many vegan options on their lunch menu, and their breakfast menu also had cooked vegan options (served until 11:30), but I did not see any vegan cakes in their cakes display. The atmosphere in Blue Sky is great. The staff are welcoming, and Welsh language service is available . The upstairs floor is brightly lit up by a sky light and is full of plants and artworks for sale. The cafe also stocks many products from local vendors and has a section of drinks such as Iced Tea and Pink Lemonade made in-house. I highly recommend Blue Sky Cafe to vegans looking for freshly prepared food in a comfortable and contemporary space. Booking is highly recommended as the cafe is popular among students and locals, and information about events can be found on their social media."

Plas Yn Dre

Plas Yn Dre

23 High St Bala LL23 7LU, UK, LL23 7AG, Gwynedd, United Kingdom

Food • Sushi • Steak • Mexican


"Me and a few friends had travelled to Bala lake for a nice day out, we walked into Bala centre to find somewhere for food and drink around 4pm. This was the first place we crossed, so we went in and waited by the sign where it said ‘wait to be seated’. We saw people sat outside with finished plates so we thought they’ll be serving food. We were waiting a fair few minutes, I popped my head around to the bar where this middle aged grumpy looking guy was working. He could definitely see us as I tried saying excuse me a few times, but he proceeded to ignore. So I went through to the bar where he was serving people and politely asked if they were serving food. He looked at me as he was pouring a pint and in a really grumpy way went ‘no’ and looked back down at the pint he was pouring. He looked angry? Even people at the bar noticed, we all just looked at each other a bit surprised. As we walked out, some people from the bar followed and said ‘yeah he’s a ‘wan*er, you’re better off trying somewhere further up’. Which we did and found a much more welcoming and friendlier place. It was just a shame he was so cold, like he didn’t want us there. We were tempted to get pizza from next door and all have drinks outside, but after the way he was we didn’t want to spend our money there. He lost out on 8 of us who were happy to fork out for drinks at least."

The Royal Ship

The Royal Ship

Queens Square, Gwynedd, United Kingdom

Pub • Steak • Pizza • British


"I do not understand why this place is so busy. Started with drinks and my wine glass was dirty with lipstick round the rim. Replaced quickly. Starters were average but my salad was slimy. Chutney and pate nice. Mains were terrible. The young female server smashed my husbands plate of food down and dropped onion rings on him. No apology. I queried my dish as it had gravy with it and that was not on the menu description. Her reply was that she had just bought Table 6 food and had no idea what it was. My husband had a burger which was burnt and a hard egg on it menu said it would be runny. I had the Cheese and Onion pie. Frozen chips and hard peas. The pie description said it was caramelised onion and roast potato with Red Leicester sauce. There was no onion in it, the potatoes were not roasted and were dry and undercooked. Red Leicester sauce may have been the tiny rim of orange gelatinous material that I found upon searching. It was served with gravy which was not on the menu description and did not solve the very dry pies lack of flavour. When asked how our meal was and we said we were unhappy the very efficient lady server (the best thing in the place! said she would fetch the manager. After 10 minutes we were told he was too busy and that we could have our main courses free. We said that was not why we had complained. I assume it was to prevent me writing a review... I wanted a nice meal out and was happy to pay the price. Substandard food and, apart from the one lady, poor service."