Blue Boar Pub in Powys

The blue boar is a traditional old pub that does a nice menu. The staff are friendly, with a good clientele and tasty food. The prices can be at the higher end of normal, but the food is very good quality. Would definately recommend.

We initially came in for a drink on a Friday afternoon to early evening. Beware, paying for drinks and food is card only which has upset some other reviewers. The bar was friendly and packed early doors with locals who were friendly. There was a good convivial atmosphere. I chatted to a local who recommended to come to eat on the Saturday rather than our booked place and we were so glad we did as the food was very good. We just had mains which were ample and good. One of our group thought it was the best lasagne he ever had. It wasn’t cheap -as previously mentioned in reviews- but good quality.

Friday night. It was packed so we’re glad we booked a table. There was a very convivial atmosphere. Good choice of dishes on the menu and very friendly and efficient staff. Not cheap (my partner’s venison and mash was £25) but it was excellent, as was my burger.

Popped in for a quick drink whilst waiting for a take away. All fine except for the card only payment policy. A gentleman came in, ordered a drink which was poured, cash was offered only to be told policy. At which point very rude barman stated ‘I cannot serve you then’ and promptly removed drink! Customer also wanted a meal. I stepped in and paid by card so he could eat and enjoy a pint. Just disgusted by policy and attitude of barman.

We had a weekend in Hay on Wye and came to the blue boar for our evening meal My partner only wanted soup of the day which was leek, potato and spinach which was a good bowl with some nice warm bread which she enjoyed . I had the steak which was cooked to medium and was beautifully tender and well seasoned there was a nice big mushroom and some vine tomatoes which I enjoyed the peppercorn sauce was very watery and for £5 could of been better and the chips were of a frozen type which is a shame when they charge a premium for a decent piece of meat they can’t peel a potato and make a decent chip The pub is a nice place and staff and service was good

On a wet and windy lunch time in mid February the cosy Blue Boar is a great destination for a family meal. Good menu, excellent service, delicious food quite reasonably priced too. For the hungry among us, we didn't have to wait too long for our food either. We enjoyed leek and potato soup starter, hake and chips mains and an exquisite cheese cake pudding. The open fires and good food kept us nicely warm, ready to do battle with the chilly Welsh weather outside. Would easily recommend this place.

Enjoyed a lovely meal here. Great food proper home cooked pub grub. Such a lovely and cosy atmosphere with the fire roaring and jazz music playing in the background. Would highly recommend and look forwards to returning.

I’m sure the staff involved tonight will be expecting this review and hopefully it will be food for thought. Lovely meal and service can’t be faulted as far as serving the meal goes, but bring your glasses if your wanting to pay by cash There’s two small signs on the bar saying card only and if you miss them as we did you will be humiliated In front of the whole pub for trying to give cash!! If you had a sign up saying no dogs, then walked in with a dog, the bar staff would point to a sign saying ‘sorry no dogs just in case you missed it.’ If you’re going to be card only establishment, surely it would be sensible thing to make the customer fully aware of your card only policy. The obvious opportunity for this is upon placing their order or even on their pre booking a table !!! Also just a note, shaming people for being ‘the only people to want to pay cash in x amount of time’ is absolutely not appropriate. We have never felt the need to write a review ever, but our treatment tonight for trying to pay for our meal with legal tender was appalling. Very disappointing end to our stay.

Fantastic cosy pub, friendly staff, beautiful open fires. Looking for a good Sunday roast, and we found one! The vegetarian option was one of the best roasts I've had out! Would highly recommend. Served until ~16:30 on a Sunday, then their usual menu goes on into the evening.

Visited for an impromptu lunch this Friday afternoon. Great welcome from the staff and excellent friendly service from everyone. Open fires and atmosphere will lovely house music. Food well prepared, presented and plentiful. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had booked the table about 10 days in advance due to it being the Hay Winter Festival weekend. Unfortunately when we got there we were told there was no record! When I described who I'd spoken to the staff exchanged a look. They did find us a table thankfully. I think it would be a good idea for them to start taking online bookings rather than relying on the phone if the diary is not kept updated. We had the Camembert and white bait starters. The Camembert was much smaller than the standard supermarket ones, so felt pricey for the size of it. We then both had roast. Unfortunately they were clearly left under the heat lamp for a long time as the gravy had a skin on it! Overall not particularly impressed but maybe it was a busy day.

We have a problem... my wife has a number of non standard allergies,so finding somewhere to eat can be problematic. So we call in at the Blue Boar to find out of they could help us. After a quick check the young lady behind the bar brought the chef to chat with my wife. They talked for quite a while and came up with a dish that was suitable and sounded really great. He promised to look after her meal himself, ensuring she would be safe. We booked a table and came back later, our meal was excellent with great service from everyone. But Freddy the chef deserves an extra pat on the back for taking care of my wife's meal. So... the meal itself was great value, not cheap but worth every penny. It was well cooked and presented. The menu itself was very good with nothing on it that that I wouldn't choose. All in all a great evening in a lovely pub.

Fantastic pub- it has the best facilities by far in the town and surrounding area and serves wonderful food we visited 4 time during our stay and enjoyed each meal. Sunday lunch is fantastic also if you happen to be in the vicinity on a Sunday. we were looked after by a wonderful bunch of staff and thought the modern cashless approach invigorating. top marks

It is never acceptable to refuse cash in these situations. The price of our burger was high, for what it was. The burger was about adequate. The chips were not great. This place needs either to up its game or reduce its view of itself. Could do better.

Staff aren't interested, and the food is way over priced! Terrible terrible food! I mean who serves a steak on top of chips (mummy yes please I love soggy chips) simple alternatives.....serve the chips in a separate bowl if you've decided to to invest into new plates! If you fancy playing 'where's the barman' and enjoy overpriced mediocre food then come here!

Opens at 17:00 hrs, Great food, nice people behind the bar and a good atmosphere with mellow jazz back ground music playing.

This used to be a really pleasant place for food drink and a chat. Avoid now! Horribly overpriced food. £22 burger! Witnessed the owner being horrible to staff so note the desperate card advertising for staff, will take kids... The owner harangues about how people don't want to work...but actually his attitude to hapless staff is really poor. There are nicer places to eat in Hay which are cheaper and the staff are treated better

Ordered steak meal and hake and chips (very costly). For the price we paid we didn't expect frozen chips.. Also the batter on the fish very pale and soggy, peas were hard. Not very impressed with the waiting time neither.. We Shall not be returning.....

As a literary town, Hay-on-Wye should be proud of The Blue Boar. JM Barrie only managed to imagine a Land run by children. Had he more specifically imagined a pub - it would have been The Boar. While it looks fantastically historic, today it is run by teenagers who haven't got the management, or people skills, to continue the centuries old reputation that the establishment has built. You will struggle to find a seat amongst the swathe of 'reserved' tables, in which noone is permitted to sit - but nevertheless your burger will still take an hour to arrive. All this isn't necessarily worst thing in the world - while I'm sure the kids are lovely in their own right - at work there is a prevailing rudeness from staff that just wears a bit thin. I would love to suggest to you a decent alternative establishment...but you might have to leave Hay. (Leave Hay)

What a rare gem! There aren’t many pubs like this anymore. Delicious food, friendly and polite staff and a great atmosphere. We had the beef curry and a few steaks. All very well cooked. Lovely place to go with family. Dog friendly. We will be back!!

Not a lot to say ….we were quite speechless for the entire evening. All young staff with the girls more interested in their eyelashes than customers in an evening where the pub had more members of staff than customers. We waited one hour and a half for 3 burgers and clearly they forgot to pass our order to the kitchen. No apologies from staff and a quite poor one from management after we showed our disappointment. All in all a very poor experience. A real shame as it is a nice pub in the heart of Hay-on-Wye.

We went with friends to the Blue Boar for lunch, a group of 12 people together. The staff was not professional, as young employees sat in the garden smoking next to the customer plates. Chatting how horrible is working here. Rolled their eyes when have to back to work. When we placed our order, 8 people received their food, but 4 of us waited and waited. After 30 minutes of waiting, we asked where our order was, wondering if it had been forgotten. The waiter just smiled and said it wasn't forgotten, but he would go check. He returned without any apologies or explanation, just stating it would be another 5-10 minutes. If we hadn't been with kids, we might have left by then. Unfortunately, we waited another 20 minutes, making it almost an hour in total for two boar burgers, a Halumi burger, nuggets, and fries. Our friends finished their food ages before we received ours. To make matters worse, the food wasn't cooked properly; the bottom of all burgers was soggy and the roll almost disappeared under the meat. Additionally, we didn't hear any apologies or see any efforts to make up for the long wait. I don't know if it's because the staff is young and needs more training, but something definitely needs to change. As of now, I don't recommend this place, especially if you're spending over £85 for lunch for 4 people; you expect a minimum of good taste in your food.

We have been coming back to the Blue Boar for years now. Even though the menu has changed quiet a bit, the food is still very nice and tasty. Staff seems to be new. They had a challenge keeping up, but they managed

My brother& his family had eaten in this restaurant previously and highly recommended so we all sat indoors for lunch, on a sweltering June day. The interior was nice and cool and very comfortable. The menu was good and beverage selections on bar excellent. Our food was utterly delicious when it promptly arrived. The food is not cheap but the quality is extremely high. The service was excellent too. Toilets extremely clean also.

I've eaten here twice this week. This is a great central venue with many tables & a beer garden close to Hay's main car park. An extensive menu with lots of choice. A little unclear what's a suitable size starter or main. Decent pub grub. The men enjoyed their burgers. My niece devoured the moules. The vegetarian dishes were pleasant but expensive for their content. I had the mozzarella/tomato/basil dish twice which was delicious but a bit stingy for £15. The bread rolls were delicious. A special shout out to Conrad for holding the ship together both occasions. The world is short staffed. Be kind to the ones who show up!

The food is good but expensive for what you get, they need to re think the mozzarella dish and give a whole mozzarella ball for £15 4 slices are not enough. It was mainly a tomato dish. The moule were delicious, burgers were enjoyed, and the honours starter again nice but expensive for a small dish of humous , 3 slices of sour dough and 10 olives £9 . Plus they need to take cash as we still enjoy the good old British pound in this country .

We had a lovely meal and wonderful service and would recommend. Please note however that Sourdough Bread is NOT gluten free. We asked twice, and were ensured twice that it was. It arrived on my plate, and it most certainly wasn’t. It was made with...

We had left a previous restaurant disappointed by the food and arrived at The Blue Boar for a drink before we went home. The atmosphere was great! A chess club in full swing and what looked like lovely food - so we ordered a pudding...

Very inefficient with trainees who had to ask young girl”supervisor” what to do. Meal prices extortionate. No local beers on draught……. 2 beers from Cornwall, 1 from Devon(not well kept), and 1 from Yorkshire……. What happened to local Wye Valley beers.? Will not accept cash...

We went to the Blue Boar last night with a last minute large group dinner booking. The staff were absolutely excellent and the food superb. We ordered all manner of dishes and they were all generously portioned and of the highest quality. The steak was...

Sehr sehr leckeres Essen, frisch zubereitet. Gute Auswahl an Getränken. Sehr nette Atmosphäre, Bedienung freundlich. Burger und Pommes lecker (Pommes...

A very local pub with a good choice of beers and ales. We had a steak dinner and it was very nice, incredibly tasty but incredibly huge!

We popped in one afternoon and the young lady who served us was a delight so booked for the evening. It's really expensive and I don't know why. It's basic pub grub with London prices. They also commit the cardinal sin of pouring all your...

Lunch at Hay-on-Wye Called in for lunch at the Blue Boar and we were met by friendly staff who attended to our needs with a good choice of ales. Although lunch menu was a little bit limited the quality was superb and the toilets reflected...

Came here for some lunch just by chance as we was walking past. Lovely rustic pub interior Bar staff very friendly and helpful. Food was lovely but slightly overpriced in my opinion, I had the blue boar burger which, for the price was a bit...

We were at Hay for the Festival and have always just had a few drinks at the Blue Boar. This time however we tried the Burger Kitchen, I had the wild boar sausage and my wife had a burger and they were delicious. We also...

We ate at the Blue Boar while staying at the Firs B&B & walking Offa's Dyke. Great dinner. Radnor sausages v good.

Have been many times. The chef is very good. Sunday lunch is absolutely right. Great execution of flavour. (As an ex chef myself I really appreciate that). Currently not over priced. Always memorable.

We have visited this traditional old pub on several occasions and it never disappoints. The food is a variety of good pub fayre with a few twists. The rare sliced Beef with Tonnato sauce is delicious and a generous portion. The cask beers are beautifully...

Apart from the rude and aggressive manager, the meal was fine and the bar staff friendly. The manager was another case all together though. When going to pay my bill, (with cash) as that is all I use these days, he refused the cash and...

So to set the scene I will say I came to the pub on a busy easter weekend, probably looking a bit scruffy, but after working for 2 weeks straight on a farm I was looking for a rewarding hearty meal in peace. I did...

After reading some reviews we weren’t sure about Sunday lunch here, however we had a positive experience one week night recently so decided to give it a go. Firstly the service was excellent, young staff (to us!) and all were very pleasant, friendly and helpful....

Multi generation meal out and everyone was very happy with their food, portions are generous, tasty and piping hot. Cosy seating in the bar area and the service was excellent. Prices are up a bit from our last visit - as they are everywhere and...

Lovely classic British pub and very popular I messaged tbe owner privately as I feel that is the way to handle comments

We went to this pub last week on the Sunday and 6 of us had Sunday lunch, 5 adults and 1 child. Sadly the beef was awful, it was very very tough and had been cut incorrectly. Also all were swimming in gravy and would...

Really lovely atmosphere, delicious food, particularly the burger and linguine. Will definitely be back.

Such an amazing dinner - I had the carbonara which was so creamy - best I've ever had and daughter had a really delicious burger. Highly recommend.

We booked in for a valentines evening here and straight away made to feel welcome by the staff. Showed to our cosy table beside the fire and ordered the steak and my partner the classic burger from a small but satisfying menu. Both came out...

We have been regular clients of the Blue Boar for 15 years, it used to be our favourite pub anywhere. Standards here have been steadily declining. Our last visit on a Saturday night was extremely disappointing. The quality of the meal could not be faulted,...

Fab food, lovely staff & dog friendly. We called in after a walk in the local area with my dog. There was a 30 mins delay on food which we were advised at when we entered and was not a problem off us as we...

A really old and interesting pub with lots of history( John the owner has many interesting facts about the building, lovely people and fantastic food, will come again soon

Called in for a light lunch. Very nice welcome and areas to sit most comfortable. Also dog friendly. Not too busy and we had a nice chat with the young man behind the bar who gave us information about the area. Only had a light...

Very disappointed to visit yesterday, ordered food which took nearly an hour to arrive, soup and a burger, it was after 3pm the pub was busy but not too busy, when it eventually arrived the food had obviously been sat under hot lights, the top...

Quiet Thursday evening...good food and beer. Staff very helpful and friendly. Sat by roaring fire. Would go again.

Delicious food but service painfully slow, never did have our plates cleared or pudding offered. Pint of beer took 20 mins to arrive. Overpriced too, £18 for pasta dish. Sweet little pub though.

I’m not usually a fan of British pub food, but this place is an exception. Three of us ate here during our stay in the town, and each of us commented on the quality of the dish we had. It wasn’t cheap, but is was...

during our week long stay we ate here 4 times.lovely food healthy choices and delicious puddings. friendly bar staff and great relaxing atmosphere

Cosiest place to have a drink. We didn't eat here, although the food looked good. Friendly Staff. Great traditional pub. Although they didnt serve any local ales, Just Devon and Cornish ones. Dissapointing.

The staff were lovely and the food was fine but £22 for fish and chips and peas???? The fish was perfectly fine but the chips were average and there were more peas than anything else. I would have expected something special for the price. Everything...

Couldn't fault a thing! Lovely staff and a fantastic menu. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Lovely pub, friendly and helpful team and very dog friendly. Some previous poor reviews seem a bit off to me, I had no complaints...recommended

It's great pub and everything - it'd be hard for it not to be due to it's prime location, but £29 for the piece of road-kill masquerading as Sirloin Steak and McCain level chips that I finished due to hunger alone was nothing but a...

We've been going to the Blue Boar for years, every time we visit Hay-on-Wye, so assumed it was a safe bet for lunch on a recent trip. Sadly, not so. I chose Welsh Rarebit anticipating a delicious snack, made to a traditional recipe and appetisingly...

Popped in for lunch though menu options for a light meal were limited. Welsh rarebit was ok - basically fancy cheese on toast with not much mustard or beer evident. The bacon and Brie ciabatta had very little Brie and would’ve been inedibly dry without...

I ended up coming twice for dinner, but really had wanted to try out another pub in the area but they stopped the food service quite early. Well earlier than expected. So my first time I had the burger and fries. Burger with jalepeno, I...

We popped into the pub without booking and the big bonus was being able to take the dog in. Service was a little slow with there only being one rather ernst barman. I had the coq au vin and my husband the vegetarian curry. He...

We ventured to the boar for dinner this week while visiting the area. The staff were welcoming and provided an attentive service. The food was proper home cooked pub grub and just what we were hoping for. We will be back next time we visit...

The food was very tasty and the pub is a lovely country style pub. The hospitality was questionable. We were told to keep the noise down on our table numerous times, with other people sat on tables next to us questioning the owner why we...

Front end it has all the attributes of a traditional English pub and is very well furnished and decorated. The corridor leading to the very basic toilets is barely decorated though. Where my gripe was that the quality of food was sub standard for a...

Situated in the middle of Town right on a corner, great selection of beers,wine and spirits.Very comfy and very good beer garden with a food hatch serving burgers, all under I've had food there in the past and although a limited menu very nice.You can't...

Dropped in for lunch at the end of service during a visit to the festival, chicken curry was absolutely delish . Sausage pasta ok. Problems with their pumps- lemonade became fizzy water with no one noticing.

Insanely expensive. £4.80 for a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord ?!?!?!!! SERIOUSLY !! The most expensive pint of ale l’ve come across. Don’t go unless you’re minted, go to the Three Tuns at the bottom of town for a HPA at a way more realistic...

We are down for the Hay Festival and popped in today for a drink at The Blue Boar; my boyfriend and I ordered two drinks from the bar, I was working out what to have, and I asked the barman if they made an excellent...

We found the food and drinks over priced and basic. The staff are very friendly and helpful but the landlord is rude and likes to cause arguments with customers.

Came here as a group of six and we were all under-whelmed. Every item on the menu was extremely over-priced (and we’re used to high London prices). The side salad was more a garnish, the cheese burger came with plastic cheese and the veggie mousakka...

Came here Friday night and wow the burger is the best I've had in a very long time. Staff were brilliant too. Friendly and welcoming. Definitely be back regularly . Thank you x

We booked in for Mothers Day and were very impressed. Very friendly and efficient staff. Lovely surroundings and so clean. Excellent food from the starters through to the main course. Very accommodating for those with food preferences. Highly recommend and we will go again. Good...

Saturday 19th March 2022 Menu not to our liking so stopped for a drink or 2. Great, polite service from both the barman & barlady. Nice pub with a warm, cosy coal fire. Blue Boar and Butty Bach highly recommended

enjoyed the biggest sirloin i've ever had. my dog Marley enjoyed the warm fire and bits of steak i couldnt manage. this is a nice pub with nice staff

I wanted to say that the bar guy serving on Friday 18th was very handsome! The food and atmosphere was also lovelu

Fabulous Sunday lunch Staff where amazing definitely be back great afternoon. Food was delicious everything was homemade had the roast beef with a berry crumble. Staff made it even better charming and professional.

Impromptu visit for birthday lunch - friendly greeting and immediately seated with menu. Excellent choice of food - so glad we ordered the pigeon breast salad - it was delicious! Pudding didn’t disappoint - luckily they managed to find a portion of chocolate /salted caramel...

a lot of negative reveiws on prices ,some around where i live on wirral are getting the same , theyve all had a terrible time recentley and a lot are still suffering and if we dont support them where will we be able to go?...

I will start by saying the food was good and you did get a half decent portion..But £18.20 for a roast and £22 for a pie and chips takes the mickey. The staff were even cringing at the prices and were saying they don't know...

Up here for the day. We had already eaten in the Swan, so just called in for a drink! The overzealous barman followed us to the table and asked what we wanted! I ordered a pint of lager and a coffee, came to £7.10! The...

I am pretty surprised at the negative reviews as we had a very pleasant meal for three here. It's a little bit pricy but it's Hay on Wye so there is a tourist premium, that's just life. Very young staff team, a bit scatty but...

As a resident and someone who works in Hay on Wye, decided to go for lunch today after work as it was the Xmas market and felt like getting in the festive spirit. What a mistake! We were seated straight away and food orders taken,...

We have been regular clients of the Blue Boar for 15 years, it used to be our favourite pub anywhere. Standards here have been steadily declining. Our last visit on a Saturday night was extremely disappointing. The quality of the meal could not be faulted,...

We visited on market day so bound to be busy. Barman was friendly but clearly needed some more staff. We ordered Welsh rarebit as thought it must be good due to the location. It was basically a white bap covered in cheese sauce. Very disappointing,...

Meagre portions and very overpriced, one meal did not even match the description on the menu. All in all a very dissapointing meal and will be our last visit there

Popped in on a Sunday afternoon for lunch, the food was lovely but I do think it’s overpriced. We paid £10 for a small bowl of nachos. Staff were friendly and service was a little slow but nothing too bad.

This is my first and last visit to the Blue Boar. Pleasant surroundings and friendly young staff but food overpriced and disgusting. The menu we were given did not match the one on the menu displayed outside. The menu is very limited. They promote themselves...

I have to admit we were a little late arriving in hay but also on a Sunday. We found the blue boar and decided to try some food. We ordered and they brought food and drinks to us which was great. I think either the...

Ordered lunch of welsh Rarebit and bacon and Brie plus a portion of hips to share. Got a very poor cheese on toast and something that resembled bacon and Brie However no chips. We had to wait a while then told we could take them...

Arrived at 2.55pm to be told we could eat . Ordered two burgers a glass of wine and a cranberry juice Over £40 . Food arrived half an hour later . Burgers were undercooked on a small plate with a few chips and some leaves...

Me and my friend had a well deserved halloumi burger here after a long hike. As soon as we walked in we were told that there might be a long wait for food which we were fine with, there was only one lad on the...

Hi We are local people and have been very going to the pub for over thirty years but were disappointed at the unoriginal menu this weekend. There was no fish, lamb or duck. I had a very meagre chicken and sweet potato curry which wasn’t...

Staying with my daughter for the weekend in Hay. Had lunch here - really friendly welcome from the staff. I had jacket potato with (clearly) homemade coleslaw which was delicious. Daughter had chicken nuggets, chips and peas. She said they were very tasty. Soft drinks....

Nice and cosy inside with a good seating area in the courtyard garden. Table service for food which is delicious. Give it a go.

We had to change the time of our sitting which was no problem but that is where the positivity ends. Service was erratic, the meal arrived in good time but the salmon and broccoli tagliatelle was frankly disgusting... broccoli soup and hunt the salmon. We...