Black Mountain Lodge Restaurant in Powys

We haven't visited the restaurant for a couple of years but we were delighted that the place and food was still of an excellent standard. There is an extensive menu which should cater for all tastes

We had booked the Horseshoe Inn for our company Christmas Dinner and when we arrived we were kindly shown to our table, which looked neat, clean and tidy as one would expect from a professional catering operation. We were all in a positive frame of mind and were comfortable enough enjoying each others’ company. Sadly, I have nothing good to say about the food from the Christmas menu, an opinion that was shared by a fair number of my colleagues. MAINS: The meat dishes featured generously sized slabs of overcooked, tough meat smothered in bland packet-style gravy to disguise the crimes committed in the course of its preparation. Also the salmon was very dry and the sauce appeared to be a left-over prawn cocktail from the starter menu that was tipped over the top - a bizarre combination of flavours and unfortunate for the customer who already had the prawn cocktail as a starter! The vegetarian Wellington suffered from a pastry that was rather soggy and the filling was all in all a hard to define characterless mush. The vegetables were unimaginatively boiled in water and distinctly lacking in taste. PUDDINGS: The puddings appeared to have been bought in cheaply and were not even reaching the quality of a supermarket dessert. I restrain myself here and will only comment on the sticky toffee pudding. Cooking time was an issue yet again, a stodgy sugary mass instead of a melt-in-the-mouth experience. We did not say anything, as it did not seem to make sense and would have felt unkind to complain about a cook who was obviously not very practiced in catering for groups, let alone understood how to prepare a tasty meal in the first place. I would suggest hiring a different chef and focussing on creating a small but tasty menu! On a positive note: We enjoyed each others’ company and had a nice evening in a comfortable setting. The front of house staff were friendly!

We dropped in without booking hoping to get lunch. I was with my friend and her disabled dad. They were able to offer us a table and from the start the experience was excellent. The staff member ( I think it was the Manager) came out to the car park to see if we needed any help with the wheelchair. We were promptly seated and drinks and food order taken quickly. All members of staff were polite and friendly. The food came in a good waiting time and we were all really pleased with the food. I had an ultimate burger, my friend a Thai beef dish and her dad an all day breakfast. Great portion sizes, hot and all tasty. Really reasonably priced as well ! Thankyou for such a great experience

For a fish and chip shop, you would think they would know how to cook fish. My takeaway contained uncooked batter on haddock. In addition, the chips were a soggy mess having not be drained properly. A brioche bun chip butty??? Curry sauce was good, but guessing that was bought in. Maybe a bad night, but def not going back.

Had visited a couple of times before, had the cheese platter which was amazing. They've done a great job with the pug.