Cockleshell in Swansea

Very quick service, and friendly staff :)

Me and my daughter love this place, staff are so friendly and welcoming. Food is always 5*

we have visited here on numorous occaions and there is only one dissapointment there is no wheat and gluten free desserts on the menu,the staff are great and friendly also helpful.our favorite place to eat

We were seated quickly and our food and drinks order was taken quickly also. Our server was friendly and professional. The food was warm and well cooked.

Great Toby Carvery, Emily was super helpful and friendly

Had a great time, wonderful service thanks to Emily

Ok, here goes. We stood at the greeting desk for at least five minutes. Five minutes standing around is quite a long time. We were finally shown to a table and waited again, a long time, for drinks orders to be taken. When we got to the carvery, 4 of us, there was nobody there so we waited yet again, occasionally asking passing staff who said 'they'll be here now!' It took ages. Finally, when we did get served, the girl kept going back out the kitchen for new Yorkshires , then back again for hot plates. Slowly. Our friends finally went back to the table as we went to the gravy station. None left. Had to find someone to get more, and asked for the horseradish to be refilled. Another wait for gravy, then he went back for the sauce. By the time we sat down our friends had already made inroads and ours by then, was lukewarm. I'm sure it would have tasted better if hotter, but it was disappointing all round as we'd driven from the seafront where there are plenty of local restaurants, and it was a farewell dinner as our friends were returning to Belgium. Sorry, but you did ask. We all said maybe it's better when it's busier, but then it wasn't exactly quiet, despite a Monday. My thoughts overall were that the staff just weren't paying attention, and I've never been left standing at a greeting desk without even a 'someone will be with you shortly'. And there were members of staff walking between the bars, and cleaning nearby tables.

Always enjoy Toby, staff at Cockleshell are always very friendly and welcoming. It's a good dinner for the family.

Food was not as good as previous visits. Chef did not replace Pork or Ham when it run out.

Superb as always really can’t fault the staff especially Beth always runs a tight ship and it shows superb food and the best beer in Gorseinon

Quick seating (but had booked table in advance) and pleasant welcome. Took a while for our order to be taken. All meats looked very appetising. Had beef; very tasty. All veg were pretty fresh and looked appetising. Disappointingly, it then took nearly 15 minutes for our desert order to be taken, a further 5 minutes to be informed that they had run out of ice cream and then another 10 minutes for the remaining desert to arrive.

Edited review. Your sarcastic comment caused me to rethink this, so here goes... sausage half cooked, bacon cooked on one side still with sticky white bits all over, hash browns soggy, limp and soft, tomatoes, beans cheap and nasty. Mushrooms over cooked and disgusting. Atmosphere, dead and looked like it was too much of a effort to serve a customer, was charged £3.20 for the smallest glass of the cheapest orange juice you will ever encounter, the only effort I've seen them put in was the sarcasm to my original review, if only I could give them negative stars. Is that a better, more detailed review for you?

Pretty standard carvery, however the pork & gammon were exceptional. The staff are brilliant, customer service is outstanding, our server Chloe went above and beyond and then some more, use her to train staff in other branches.

Absolutely ridiculous. Apparently kids eat for a £1 WELL PUT MORE STAFF ON TO COVER IT. our que did not move for 38 minutes that's two people money back and we walked out.

Lovely food, nice and hot and really enjoyed a family meal.

Awesome place with buffet services

We had a booking for 30 brilliant

Nice atmosphere, friendly staff.

Excellent service. Everyone was so friendly, made the experience fantastic

Chief was friendly food was brilliant

Busy had to wait a while but worth booking for. Sundays I'd say are always there busiest.

Absolutely delicious, 💯 recommend

The ladies toilets are filthy wroth broken toilet seat on the floor. Smells horrendous in there. The carvery-given the smallest amout of meat, the best part of the veg selection which is the douphenois potatoes have now been taken off the carvery and you have to pay extra. Ordered them reluctantly as the carvery is dear enough as it is and they came out as practically dry potatoes with a bit of cheese on the top. Sent them back. Expensive meal for poor little meat and poor veg selection.

Worst Toby carvery ever! Food quality is bad, availability even worse. Always very short staffed. But if I change this review to a 5 star one and show them whilst I do it I get a roll of 2 dices and if they amazingly roll double six I will eat the tasteless dried up slop for free! 😲

Was very happy with our service.. table booked last minute for 17 guests for a birthday meal and I was amazed that it went without a glitch. Staff even stood and sang happy birthday to my son which I’m thankful for.. our waitress couldn’t have been anymore helpful. Over all service for us as a group was 5* from all staff who were fast and friendly. Thank you

Lovely staff, super helpful even when it's really busy there, same service! :)

We visit The Cockleshell regularly and always get a warm friendly welcome from the staff. There is always plenty of room to park on arrival. There isn't usually too long a queue for the food and there is always plenty to choose from. The meat servers are friendly and everything is always hot. The gravy and parsley sauce are delicious too. Chloe is very friendly and welcoming and, as we are regulars, she remembers what we want to drink with our meals. I definitely recommend the lemon sponge with custard for dessert. Our grandson loves to come with us when he can as he doesn't like other restaurants where he has to wait ages for his food. The toilets are always clean and tidy.

Food was lush as per usual 😁, desert was lush, service was efficient and polite and very helpful. Served by Ethan

We booked a table at 4:10pm and arrived at 15:30 supervisor Jess was lovely and seated us early to be fair, it’s important to note throughout this, the staff were fantastic despite working against ALL odds. Unfortunately there was a Que to the bar which saw us wait 15 minutes to order food, which wouldn’t have been an issue but there were then items missing- the lovely barmaid offered to move options around for us which I was really grateful for. I don’t know this staff member but she was lovely with long dark hair. I left my partner with the 2 children to join the carvery at 15:55 for us both as the Que was huge! At 16:30 I was still waiting. IN THE CARVERY LINE?! How is this even possible. The staff were working so hard but the restaurant was overwhelmed with take out orders, walk ins and reservations which meant they clearly could not cope. The kitchen staff couldn’t provide the turnover of food required. There were empty plates or half eaten food all over the restaurant- I’d be interested to know if some people decided not to pay as nobody would notice the staff were actually sweating, running around endlessly. At the carvery line at 16:30 I then requested crackling and waited for 10 minutes before giving up. I moved onto the gravy station to my dismay, empty. Waiting for 5 minutes, mint sauce finally appeared - joy. Again waited a further 15 minutes before giving up on the gravy situation. At 17:00 I took what poor effort of a carvery was left to the supervisor and asked very politely for a full refund, £57 and an hour later and no food. The food was freezing, not even a defrosted gravy could help me now. I left disappointed but what was worse was there were hordes of people still in the carvery Que from my 16:30 troop and ques outside the door. The staff are clearly overworked and underpaid. This is an establishment issue. There is clearly an overwhelm with walk ins, bookings and take away. This needs to be rectified for the sake of your staff- the atmosphere was toxic with miserable customers. There were complaints heard throughout the restaurant. I would never go again for fear of the same experience, we could not wait to leave. I’m sorry to the staff but the bigger picture needs to be addressed.

Cleanliness, covid safety and service was excellent and the food too. I really enjoyed my gammon at the carvery and my raspberry Arctic roll. I would recommend it and look forward to my next visit.

Very little meat given. No longer have Douphenois potatoes on the carvery, you now have to pay extra for them separately. I did order some and they came out as practically dry sliced potatoes, no sauce on them and tasteless. I gave them back to the waitress and told her I wouldn't be paying for them. The toilet facilities are awful. Very dirty toilets, they absolutely stink and one of them didn't even have a seat it was on the floor, next to the toilet. Worst meal we've had, so disappointing.

Amazing meal and great service from Ethan! Would recommend highly to everyone who want some good food and great service!

Great carvery, always exactly what you want. Can come with a group, couple or even on your own, always warm and welcoming staff everytime.

Very short staffed so long wait. Refill machine not working. Queued at bar to get more drinks food going cold while waiting. Toilets stall in men's toilets out of order.

Incredible good value. Plain cooking at its best. One of my favourite places.

A carvery should consist of tasty slices of carved, roast meat. VERY disappointed to be served with a few stingy "shavings" of meat. Shocking! Thank goodness for the vegetables.

Needs to be decorated to a higher standard in my opinion and the queueing system to get your carvery is terrible!!

The food was good once we had been seated after queuing for 10 minutes to get in, despite booking ahead.

Excellent service, lovely food will be back soon! Kate our waitress was amazing with my granddaughter too.

Really good hospitality, Alex the carver was really good and made sure our needs were filled! 10/10. 100% recommended!

Came for dinner here today. One particular staff member, a young girl was so rude! I asked to pay my bill and she asked where i was sitting so i showed her. She printed out the wrong bill, told her again where i was sitting, she printed out the wrong table bill again so i showed her a third time all while she was huffing and puffing like it was my fault she couldn't do her job properly and clearly didn't want to be there. I saod thank you and she ignored me. Won't spend my money there again! Custom is very important in this day we are living in and i would rather take mine somewhere who appreciates it! Should of asked to speak to the manager really.

Popped in here for lunch today and I was not disappointed! The servers were lovely and helpful and the beef was so succulent!

Great service from Brandon Very friendly and helpful Will visit again

Nice food and staff and not to expensive

Very disappointed with my visit here the food was all very unappealing, it looked as if it was approaching closing time. Everything was over cooked and cold. Will not be returning

Food was exceptional, everything cooked beautifully. Plenty of vegetable choice too.

Waited 20 mins to get in.15 mins for food as they run out.Then had to wait for gravy.Food was good and tasty.Staff were great and helpful considering how packed it was.Thanku

All great the only negative thing was the toilet situation which was not good however it was a busy day for your lovely team

Gorseinon summoned up in one word "awful". Never eat in that place again. Cold, stuffing hard, uncooked vegetables especially cauliflower. Had two takeaways from there, first time no mashed potatoes had to return. Second time bought 2 adult meals. Got home only one meal. Went back waited ages. Food was terrible anyway, missing stuffing and weak gravy. More care and attention needs to be taken towards the service of the food and preparation. So many faults with this place.

Order wrong on two occasions. Food was overcooked, roast potatoes were dry and not enough meat....not a very nice meal at all

The food was good, the waitress was so lovely, atmosphere was a bit loud lots of children, but it is a family restaurant so can't complain.

Great food, lovely staff. Brendan was especially kind and helpful.

Normal carvery options. Drinks £4.55 for cider and black. Not cheap but food more reasonable

Very hectic visit and nearly left. Waited 20 minutes for out table after booking a slot. Some staff were excellent but others seemed to abandon the service area, or perhaps were just under staffed. They did well to feed so many people. The meat was very good except the roast pork. The veg was ok and we had to ask for the gravy to be refilled. Macaroni cheese was a nice brucie bonus. Yorkshire puddings were excellent but some people had to wait for them separately. I've never seen it so busy. I'd try to pick a quieter time to go back but I still enjoyed the meal.

Very bad services waited to be seated for over half hour terrible queue what are the staff playing at and the tables are dirty

Excellent food and staff. Really welcoming, especially for young children. Who doesn't love a carvery, especially with such a large selection of veg!

Great meal and service by Brandon!

Always come here and thoroughly enjoy. Friendly staff and clean, served by Brandon.

Emily was so amazing and kind 😇 😊

Emily looked after us well ensuring that the needs of my grandson who is gluten intolerant were addressed. The food was hot & tasty & staff went the extra mile to welcome & look after us. We will definitely be back!

Food is always great, fast service from Brandon - not too busy for a Saturday afternoon

Regulars at this Toby, always a pleasure

My wife and I went here on 24th September for a quiet drink as it was our 25th wedding anniversary. The staff were fantastic when they found out we were celebrating this. We had drinks bought for us and they even presented us with a profiterole and ice cream with ‘25th anniversary’ written on the plate in chocolate sauce. They were brilliant and I can thoroughly recommend this pub as the staff are so friendly, especially the manager Jo Davies and Brandon behind the bar. Five stars

Fantastic meal & Emily our waitress was amazing - nothing too much trouble - many thanks

Nice food and staff Brandon Emily is service very friendy and helpful

Charlotte was an amazing host and made sure we were all happy and made my little one feel very welcomed and gave colouring and crayons

Absolutely lovely meal , and exceptional service, nothing too much trouble for Joanna Davies, so welcoming and professional, Thank you lovely we will be back very soon x😋

The server Brandon was lovely, ask about dietary needs.

Lovely meal. Brilliant staff and served by Brandon could not do anything more.

Brandon was very helpful and professional thank you

Brandon was a Fantastic host and very helpful

Best cooked dinner about Will be going back

Brandon had great customer service

Had a fab roast dinner, enhanced by our waiter Brandon. Great food and great value!

Lovely meal out as family! Brandon was a great server for us and made sure we had everything we needed

Lovely meal our waitress Emily was brilliant

Good food and amazing service from Emily

not my favorite tobys but nice nonetheless. loved the dauphinoise potatoes

The server of meat looked so miserable he maybe should have another job most definitely not inspired to come back, cuts of meat could have been more very stingy ?potatoes were tastless and dry carrots rubbery very dissapointed. Bottomless drink no flavour had to try all flavours to get a good one .On a good note our waitress was lovely and attentive to us .

The food is amazing, and the staff are always smiling and helpful.

Great staff Fast food Great price

Food looked unappetising. New food being brought out in stages. Had to wait for gravy. Service slow, 25mins for drinks 30 mins for desserts which came out not as advertised on menu, which I hardly touched, inedible. Roast potatoes like rocks, asked if we could have fresh ones to be told we would be charged for extras.8

Too busy and dirty walked straight back out

Lovely carvery today. Only a couple of quite negative comments. The roasties were tough on the outside, as if they had been cooked then kept hot and so went tough. Also, the gravy - there were two gravy bowls, one empty and the other hardly any left and that was really thick, much too thick! Other than that, the service was great! Toilets were clean for a change!

When myself and my family attended, the lady that served us was very rude and obnoxious when I was putting some food out for our baby to eat she then said she'll have to charge us extra, when I was only giving him some food from my plate! When we finished my partner wanted a doggy bag to which another waitress said she'll get some cling film but unfortunately before she came the rude waitress came and took the food before we had chance to put it into cling film then she returned and gave us a bill which had a child's meal on! Just because we gave our baby some of our food off our plate! I complained to the head of staff and she apologised and took the meal off but that one waitress needs to be sacked! When this happened a lady sitting next to us also complained about the same lady not letting them take their food home! When your paying nearly £10 a plate any uneaten food should be allowed to be taken home with you as I dread to think the amount of food waste the cockleshell is producing im think about complaining regarding how much food waste is made there due to their greedy staff! All of us will NOT EVER be returning to Toby Carvery In Gorseinon! We are all appalled by her behaviour as we have all been coming here for food for well over 10 years, but since this awful experience we will never be returning!

Good old basic breakfast for those a little more hungry and good value too. I had the toast.

love this place! amazing food every time and the customer service is incredible as always! especially one of the managers Louis! will definitely come back again with my kids and husband

Very fast and efficient service with friendly staff.

Had a brilliant family meal earlier in the week, really impressed by the service (which can’t usually be said about the chain usually) - very tasty roast too so happy tummies all round. There was one guy in particular Lewis/Louis (sorry I can’t remember) who went above and beyond to make sure our special day was perfect for us. Deffo going back again.

I found the staff very helpful, the food was absolutely lovely, and everyone was so polite, I would definitely recommend eating here and I will definitely be going back thank you to all members of staff especially the young man louis who i think is one of the managers, he couldn't do enough to help and explained about the food for my granddaughter and allergies ect, well all that is left to say is well done to all the staff excellent service, and i shall be back soon

The carvery is so tasty and filling, the food is of exceptionally high quality and the staff are very attentive

I remember I used to go here a lot something has changed food was terrible the Yorkshire pudding was stale like chewing a boot and my mothers was soggy before she even put gravy on it how people still go there now and spend there hard earned money on that I feel bad for the staff not enough people working to keep up with the cleaning even the manager was chipping in to help

Second time coming here and this time we didn't even stay to get food. We were left by the door, ignored by every member of staff who saw us waiting and we decided to leave to go elsewhere after 15 minutes of waiting. It wasnt even busy in there. The first visit was very similar, service is slow and it seems to be understaffed - the staff that are there don't seem to care about seating or serving customers quickly. Acknowledgement is the bare minimum you can do and they can't even manage that, disgraceful. Won't be coming here ever again.

Great place, food is pretty damn good. Staff are tidy and not a bad price either

Always good value for money here especially when eating during the week. 20% blue light discount ontop too! The food is always delicious, hot and in plentiful supply and the staff are always friendly and polite.

Very disorganised and chaotic! Booked a table for Sunday at 6pm. When we turned up people were queuing outside the restaurant and taking forever to be seen to. After being in the queue for 10 minutes the staff then decided to make everyone aware they aren’t taking walk ins which resulted in some people leaving. We were then told there was a 1 hour queue for the carvery this is just unacceptable especially when you have a 2 year old child. Safe to say we told them we no longer wanted the booking and left. Why carry on accepting bookings if you cannot handle that amount of customers in the restaurant.

Great experience with wholesome food

Very poor ! Booked a table for our 16 yr old grand daughter (her choice) and my wife’s birthday ! Service was very slow , when we eventually did go up to be served there was no lamb left , I had a king size but there were no Yorkshires , so was told by the cocky “Meat cutter” (let’s be fair they aren’t chefs) that if we wanted them they would get a “server” to bring them over , (like as if a server was lower than him) we asked and also went back but never got the yorkshires that we paid for ! My grandson ordered from Childs menu garlic bread starter (because they didn’t have prawn cocktail) and asked could he have it with his Mac&cheese main . The Mac&cheese arrived when we had almost finished our meals and the garlic bread was even longer and came after he had finished , when it did arrive it was vile , tasted of oil more than Garlic ! It seems that just eat is being prioritised over actual diners and the staff are bad mannered and poor standard ! Will not be returning as this was an awful experience

The service was good especially from friendly waitress she was very helpful and made us feel welcome

Amazing selection of food, staff were kind and the place in general was nice