The Druidstone - Pembrokeshire

As this place was recommeneded by almost all internet results for top ten pubs in South Wales we really thought we were on a winner coming here on the second day of our holiday. When we drove up to park the beautiful coastline took my breath away it was a gorgeous day so we decided to eat outside on the benches to admire the view of the beach. So far so good! As South Wales has wonderful culture history (my dad was Welsh I wanted to experience all this I was looking forward to enjoying some Welsh food, however the menu we were given was lacking. It was a Sunday so I settled for a Sunday roast only to be told No Sunday roast (only if you booked in advance ....Ok..I looked back at the menu did not understand most of what was on it. Even an Iranian dish was listed I joked to my husdand that we could have Iranian Stew! So it came down to a choice of just one vaugly English dish on the whole menu. Steak pie. This arrived in about 40 minutes but the pie was not a pie at all! Just a dish of steak stew with a pastry lid. I should have been impressed as this was the only part of the dish that was edible. The mash was swimming in butter making it more of a potato slop rather than mash the veg, a mixture of sugar snap peas (I hate these!! brocholli peas was raw! Not just undercooked but raw completely inedible. Even my dog turned his nose up at this. It cost a small fortune too to be honest the McDonalds in Haverfordwest would have been a lot better. Is it so difficult to get Welsh food In a Welsh pub? It is such a shame as this place is in an amazing spot but unless you are an Iranian backpacker homesick for Irainian food, forget it. As someone else has said.... Take a picnic eat it on the lovely cliffs! I only wish we had!

We arrived at around 5:30 pm just looking to have a drink and enjoy the view for a moment. Despite there only being one other couple there, we were informed that they were understaffed and unable to even serve us a round of drinks. This made us feel very unwelcome.

Weirdly wonderful.. or is that wonderfully weird?! Either way we had a wonderful lunch here at the quirky, accommodating Druidstone Hotel. I wanted to try this place and so phoned on the off chance of grabbing some lunch within the hour and we weren’t disappointed. From the wicked little cellar bar that opens up onto the terrace with the best view ever, to the ‘different’ menu using the redhead and local ingredients, and the quirkily decorated rooms that make up the ground floor of the main building, all was just weirdly wonderful. I had read some reviews on here that mentioned getting a cold reception, but this was not the case, they couldn’t be friendlier even rummaging around in the sheds to find extra shade for my daughter (hair only just growing back after chemo) so we could continue to enjoy the most incredible views of the beach below. We’ll be back.

Tiny portions (one of our chicken curries had 1 1/2 pieces of chicken in it! ; poor service (messed order up for starters and main courses, no apology after we had to wait so long for two missing curries that everyone else had finished eating and expensive for quality and quantity of food. Very quiet service, so God knows what happens when they get busy! Such a shame. This is a prime spot and this place has just never managed to get it together well enough. Don't think we'll return here to eat and we 12 of us come to this area every summer.

Beautiful spot looking out over St. Bride 's Bay. Varied menu, tasty and filling meals. Good service, even when quiet. It does say 'bookings only ' on the gat but it was no problem (probably glad of the trade).