Ffynnon Wen in Cardiff

Welcoming at front of premises. Clean and tidy premises. Good portion sizes. Value for money

We had a rather unpleasant experience, bordering on discrimination, at a pub we came across on our way back to London today. Since all the pet friendly gastropubs in the area were fully booked, we called this one and were surprised to get a table with table service. When we arrived, the pub was completely empty—no one at the bar, no pints being poured. A male waiter approached to take our orders, and we asked for Sunday Roasts. He informed us they had run out, so we politely requested a couple of minutes to look at the menu again. To our surprise, as he walked away, we heard him let out a long sigh—clearly annoyed at the idea of coming back. Only a minute later, he returned and curtly told us to place our orders at the counter, then walked away again. While this wasn’t a huge issue, it was undeniably rude. Moments later, we noticed that Caucasian customers who arrived after us were being served at their tables. What made matters worse was that we were still charged a service fee, despite having to order at the counter. After the meal, I discreetly spoke with the young male owner, hoping to share my experience constructively. Unfortunately, he became defensive and insisted his staff had done nothing wrong. I gave it my best effort and left, saying we’d have to agree to disagree. (This kind of resistance to feedback would never fly in London’s F&B scene. How difficult is it to accept an alternative opinion?) What made the situation even stranger was the owner following us outside, passive-aggressively declaring we wouldn’t be welcome back at the pub. I almost laughed. The conversation had been calm and professional—my intent was simply to offer feedback, not start an argument. The irony was, we weren’t locals and had no intention of returning to this out-of-the-way pub anyway. We would probably forget about it by the end of the day. In retrospect, it’s a relief this isn’t our local. The food was averaged, and the service, at best, discriminatory. If only the owner had been more professional and mature, taking a moment to empathise with customers and listen to their concerns. Having worked in F&B myself, this kind of engagement was part of our daily routine. The fact that every other pub in the area was fully booked while this one was empty speaks volumes about the quality of its food and service. One thing we did learn from this unpleasant experience: we’ll be appreciating our local pub by James Blunt in Chelsea even more from now on. You don’t realise how lucky you are until you encounter places like this. I'd suggest the young owner take a humble step and visit our local pub to learn a thing or two. My two cents. Drinks are on me!

Albeit we were at a wake having come from the crematorium the atmosphere was non existent. The bar that was nearest to the lounge area wasn't being served from and we were directed to the other bar down a few steps, then the bar staff would appear at the other bar? Pointless! £4.60 for a Can of draught Guinness!! Then, paying by card hit the green button if you'd like to leave a tip!!! The filtered coffee was weak, see through! Two additional deserts were ordered, £6 each, looked like the server had a hard time keeping her mitts off 'em! Overall it was poor.

Met up with ex work colleagues for a meal and catch up. Excellent food and excellent service. Thanks

Excellent food, service and atmosphere

This place is back to its best! After an awful experience we avoided for a while, however, now it's under a different management it really is great again. Staff lovely with great service, food piping hot and gorgeous, really lovely atmosphere. Definitely will be back - thank you 😁

Staff were brilliant, the food was delicious. Beautiful venue and very clean,

Very nice surroundings. Just been refurbished. Very helpful staff & good foood choice.

Always the best of welcome and staff are very accommodating especially as we have wheelchair users in our group.. they go above and beyond to make us feel relaxed and the food is always top quality .. I would highly recommend 5*****

Food was amazing, could taste every flavour, friendly and lovely atmosphere Well done

Lovely pub and the staff were great, attentive, and listened to my wife, who had some dietary requirements. The food was ok but could be better.

A VERY good experience. Staff courteous and helpful. Food well presented and flavoursome. We have always enjoyed our visits and will certainly do so again.

Excellent food and drinks, brilliant service and ambience!

Great good, excellent Service. Brilliant place for a night out and food.

Been going to the ffynnon wen for years always lovely food but since it as been updated the food & atmosphere is exceptional

Good food freshly cooked and excellent service.

The whole experience was excellent. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The food was delicious especially the desserts! The brookie pie was amazing!

Been hoping to Ffynon Wen for years, very disappointed this time. Don't think we'll be visiting again.

Good was Meh.. Couple of hairs in the dinners. Took sooooooo long to pay

Marques and the team hosted my daughter's wedding last weekend. I cannot thank them enough for all they did for us. So professional about all the details, so friendly serving us all, and so patient when we were still decorating the Reception room long after closing time! A perfect venue and team xxx

Service by Nicky was great. Definitely will go again.

I really enjoyed this restaurant as the ambiance is fab ! When I went they had a ukulele club downstairs in the pub and there had got to be over 50 !! This created a warm friendly atmosphere. They were not to loud but had a gentle background sound when eating. The food is fantastic an all around 10/10. The range of different foods is amazing plenty of choice. My personal favourite is the cowboy burger. This includes two beef Patties lettuce and even bacon 🥓. The waiters are welcoming and good restaurant hosts.

The restaurant didn't appear to be very busy, upstairs or downstairs. As we sat, I asked how long the food was taking and was told 20-25 minutes. We ordered about 1.25pm (very quickly), and I was disappointed that the chicken dinner had sold out. The food arrived just after 2.00pm, longer than the expected time. The vegetables were very watery. This is the second visit in a couple of months where the food has taken about 40 minutes to arrive and is very disappointing.

Served Maggie she was wonderful

Family wedding held here yesterday 24/08/24, brilliant venue

I work at the ffynnon wen we have just had a wedding what a night all the guests had a fantastic time, it's definitely the place to go

Once again, we have enjoyed our monthly get-together and lunch. The atmosphere, service, quality of food was,as ever, first class, thanks also to the hard working Nikki, our waitress, cheerful as normal.

Staff are very friendly and always do their best to make your visit experience the best it can be - the menu is large and there are daily specials too.

Brillaint pub, fantastic staff lovely food

Very nice pub lunch today, the staff were familiar faces and very helpful. Took more care with our reservation to ensure we were not clashing with a family event.

Great dog friendly pub. Nice atmosphere. On normal menu plenty of vegetarian options, not so much on Sunday menu especially as Sunday roast was over for the day at 5.30pm

Very busy, packed pub. I had the cauliflower wings, they were nice enough but some tasted a bit too greasy.

Still the best local (in my humble opinion) in North Cardiff. Lovely pub, and the new manager Marqus is really on the ball. Love this place

Great staff and excellent buffet in the function room. All round good service

We have visited a few times with family as we have always been pleased and happy with the food and service. On this occasion, however, we were left disappointed with both, the food and service. The staff looked unkempt and untidy, with the uniform standards not being what they used to be. Customer service skills again, not what we have experienced in the past, with staff looking rushed off their feet and disorganised, carrying cutlery in hands to lay tables, rather than using a tray? When it came to the food, one of our starters wasn't hot (nachos), and the main courses were not the quality we experienced in the past, nor the dishes they were presented in. The lasagne was burnt around the edges and some of the food was not overly hot. In the past, we were always impressed with the Specials board, as the menu was varied and interesting. We feel that the current menu lacks imagination, and has gone very mainstream pub/cafe food style. Unfortunately we won't return.

Lovely atmosphere, great selection on the menu. Staff very helpful and friendly. Food was hot and tasty. Snakes and ladders board on the table was a great success. Two minor issues, food took over an hour to arrive and whilst the children's menu had colorings and quizzes printed staff were unable to locate any pencils or crayons for us.

Great food amazing service lovely atmosphere

I come for food and drink quite often here food is lovely and staff are so helpful Dog friendly which is a bonus! Would definitely recommend here!

Great atmosphere, service and food!

Great friendly, staff great food, quick service

Loved the place and its atmosphere.

Absolutely wonderful experience as ever. Great pub staff and service

We arrived early at the Ffynon Wen and had a pleasant welcome. Service was speedy and pleasant. The turkey roast was delicious. Alcohol-free lager was available. The cod and chips were very greasy and the water jug was diabolical and covered in cracks and marks. Neapolitan ice cream was available for desert and the prices were reasonable. I look forward to coming here again.

New management on board - Seen some very good improvements across the board here in recent weeks. Staff are always friendly and welcoming and hospitable and strive to give a a good service. Food is always of good quality. Never had a bad meal here. It can get busy as is a popular location for food. A child and dog friendly environment (treats are at the end of the bar 😉for the dogs) and fresh water available (just ask the staff) My dog Larry loves his spot in front of the fireplace! Ideal place for a quiet meal, or just an evening drink! The choice is yours! Opposite Thornhill crematorium so a nice meeting place to gather with friends and family. All in all, a lovely homely pub, with excellent beer garden for the sunnier days! Good ample parking and a function room for hire aswell. Recent additions are quiz on wednesdays, live music being introduced at weekends and beer promotions. Some great recent changes. Keep up the excellent work!

Food lovely but kebab was bit overpowering with 2 sauces

First time I visited Ffynnon Wen i was greeted by friendly staff food was amazing great service would definitely recommend and I have been back since

Have been coming here for a number of years off and on. Had a recent change in management. (And for the better) therefore Ive been a more frequent visitor! Seen an excellent increase in custom more friendly atmosphere - always welcoming! With some good offers on and events nights such as quiz on Wednesdays. Great atmosphere, current staff are fab and hospitable. Very dog friendly - had a table reserved for my dog Larry! (Dog treats are near the bar!) I cant fault the place to be fair. Food is always value for money and good portions. Will defo be back. Keep up the good work.

Attentive staff and lovely food. Great surroundings and very clean.

Visited today 10.08.24. Excellent Service, lovely food, and great customer service. Will definitely recommend & visit more often.

Staff are really friendly and food was lovely

Lovely family meal out again. Mega Mixed Grill was awesome. Food was quick, hot and very nice. Staff friendly and helpful as ever. Certainly worth visiting.

Beware the floors here as you walk in. My mum slipped here on liquid on the wooden floor as we were being led to a table (the waiter dashed off too fast) falling and an ambulance had to be called. She spent nearly a month a hospital, breaking multiple bones and had to have an operation. We had no follow up from the place or anything. I will never return!

Lovely decor and atmosphere of the pub. Sat in a lovely alcove with big table and windows. Great food , great service.

Good service, good food, pleasant atmosphere.

Always a lovely bit of pub grub here, we are regulars. When Sam run the place everything was top notch, and whilst it was still good when we last visited, It wasn’t quite to the standard it was previously. None the less, we will continue to visit. Reasonable prices, service is usually pretty quick and majority of staff are polite and friendly.

Great atmosphere and great food! The service is very good and I have been here few times having always a great time.

On arrival, we were seated upstairs above the bar. It was a busy room with a lot of noise from chatter. There was a TV on the wall showing the Olympics, which I found distracting. Once seated we took a look over the menu. It took an unusual amount of time before we were approached to order drinks. So much time in fact that by that time we were also ready to order our chosen meals. I say unusual because we have visited the Ffynnon Wen at least 10 times before and drinks orders are usually taken within a few minutes. Once our order was placed we waited a further 10 minutes, at least, for our drinks to arrive. However, it was very busy and staff, as always, were very polite. I found the chairs where we sat uncomfortable, a little too upright and wooden back rests. The room was also a bit stuffy following a spate of warmer weather earlier in the week. The windows were open, but only an inch gap was possible due to security latches. Our food arrive, which was pleasant, presented well on the plate and hot. However, I did note that my plate was chipped. Overall, it was an okay experience. It wasn’t one of our better visits. However, this was largely due to how busy it was, and I suspect many patrons were also taking advantage of the 30% off mains offer.

All was brilliant. Great food, service and nice set up.

Fab food and great fun playing snakes and ladders at the table

Food lovely.. staff very friendly

£3.95 for a glass of coke? Its a tiny squirt of syrup from a dispenser and fizzy water. Other places are cheaper for refillable drinks.

Friendly staff and great food which came quickly. Shout-out to Harley in the kitchen for excellent service

I had a spicy burger and when I arrived home a few hours later I immediately felt quite queasy which I tried to ignore and went to bed. The next day I still felt a bit sick throughout the day and avoided eating much. Ended up having a horrible case of food poisoning which kept me awake all night until the afternoon the next day. Obviously haven’t learned their lesson from when they had to shut down from 90 odd people experiencing the same thing. Also rang to let them know and was being quite considerate of it as accidents happen and was told to expect a call back from the manager which I never received. Avoid this place as clearly it has a reputation for this sort of thing.

Me and my family got food poisoning, won’t be returning!

Thank you we had a lovely meal and the service was amazing. What a very helpful and pleasant boy Ben was nothing was too much trouble. He is a very nice lad

It was a busy evening and there were slight delays but staff was very pleasant and the food was very nice. Great value for money and a wonderful evening overall!

I visited Ffynnon Wen on Wednesday evening to celebrate my Dads 80th birthday. We had a table of 12 people, the service and food we couldn't fault. The restaurant was very busy and we were very impressed that the food was brought out in a reasonable time from ordering and every meal was perfect 👌 thank you to all the staff.

Lovely pub great food and we were served at the bar by a great gentleman called Ben who was really just lovely and was friendly to all we saw as was a great help I would definitely recommend this restaurant and bar my auntie’s birthday was just brilliant x

We ordered steak (well done) and salad.it was pink in the middle,and tough. Sent it back.came back well done,but extremely poor quality.the waiter offered us,a free drink. The bill came to £43 and we only ate the salad.we are regular customers,and very disappointed

Great food, friendly staff & clean environment (most important). Many pubs do not clean tables, walls around seating area & condiments. Well done Ffynnenwen!

Went for a wake. Very respectful, good atmosphere and food

We booked my late fathers wake here as it was where he chose to have my late step mothers wake 7 yrs ago. The service and the buffet food we received was exemplary and cant thank you and your staff enough for doing my dad proud.

Excellent food, premises clean and welcoming, staff friendly and helpful. A special shout out to Maggie, our waitress, whose smiling and friendly demeanour really enhanced our visit. This venue has become a firm favourite of the family and we look forward to many more visits.

Meal arrived quickly and was all cooked well.

Great food great atmosphere. Nikki who served us was great!

Excellent atmosphere and although Christmas busy , Glynn and his staff provide superb unhurried service. Will definitely recommend to friends and return again.

Went with friends to see what the place was like. Had coffees and desserts. The food was delicious ( we had the cookie brownie 😍) and the team working were really helpful. It's a beautiful place and we had visited a few more times since.

First visit. Lovely atmosphere. Good menu choices. We had the chicken tikka massala and steak and ale pie. Both were hot and tasted good. Shout out to Glyn for great and friendly service. Will definitely come again

Service was good and beer was your standard fair, the starters we had were mixed, the nachos were a bit lacking (very little cheese) but the brie bites were gorgeous, then for the mains we both had burgers which were... quite frankly vile, we both wrapped the meat up in napkins and fed it to our dog when we got home as it simply wasnt edible, and the soggy lettuce wasnt much help either, all in all if they get better burger meat it could be quite nice but as it stand 3 stars feels generous

Can't fault the place. 3 of us came in on the off chance and we could see they were busy. I think there were some sort of function on, so we sat in the bar and had food. The young girl on the bar came over and took our order and was really helpful. Two of us had the hunters chicken and it's was so tasty! Such a lovely atmosphere too. We will definitely be back!

Four of us went for the steak promotion, I booked in advance and time. The only thing I would change is the amount of texts I received from the time I booked in 3 days I received 5 texts from reminders yet none on the day. Staff great service would highly recommend and will be coming again

Great food, hot and tasty! Service was spot on, really couldn’t fault anything!

Yet again, another 2 fabulous meals. I had the Spicy Burger, my son had Fish & Chips. Both cooked to perfection. My youngest finished off with the Rocky Road Sundae. Atmosphere excellent as were all staff. Another satisfying experience at The Ffynnon Wen 👍 10 out of 10!

Last minute booking at 8pm on a Monday, staff were so friendly and accommodating! Food was also stunning. Lovely little cosy, family pub.

Excellent meal and service. Extremely child friendly and understanding staff!

Maggie was really nice made to feel welcome x

Funeral reception booked in the upper room. All went well and food and room was ready for us on arrival. Thank you

Good standard of pub grub. Worth a visit if out of town for somewhere quiet to eat. A decent regular if you living around the corner.

Good company, rangs of food, reasonable prices and pleasant atmosphere.

Lovely warm welcome, great atmosphere, staff were excellent, always there when you needed them and nothing was too much trouble. Food fantastic, not rushed at all. Will definitely be back

We were a booking of 16 people on fathers day .We pre ordered our food the staff were well organised and made sure that we were all happy . The lady that served us was Sarah who was fantastic. The food was lovely we all enjoyed it.All round lovely experience. I highly recommend 👌 The prices were great too.

Just recently visited ffynnon wen and the food was fantastic but the service was appalling. We ordered food but had to ask for cutlery no condiments offered plates were left out after we finished nobody came round to ask if everything was ok so just generally disappointing experience than the normal service usually given .

Positives - Service was great, food was good and served quickly, staff very polite, friendly and helpful. Nice big carpark easy to park in. Negatives- Tables and chairs a little bit shabby 4 different styles of chairs at our table same at other tables when you look a round, spoiled the look of the dining room but wouldn’t stop us going back.

Didn't get to try the food as the place opened at 11 but don't start food service until 12 lmfao 😂😂 I

The Sunday roast dinner we had was very poor.The chicken was extremely dry, the veg was so over cooked I couldn’t get them on my fork!!! Completely under seasoned and the Yorkshire pudding a massive, flaccid tasteless thing . So very disappointing. Nobody came to see us during the meal to see if everything was ok. We told the waiter who collected our plates about the food and he salad he would pass that on. Nobody came to see us , so we paid up and left never to return.

Lovely clean place very welcoming lovely staff great food reasonably priced what more can you want

Lovely meal tonight plus cheeky 30% off great tasty good service 😋

Beautiful clean pub. Best vegetarian burgers

My family always come here, the service and food is marvellous and great value for money

Wonderful. To say how dog friendly it is kind of misses the point. Day bed. Bowl of water. Chicken bits. A really welcoming pub for humans too. Love it. I've become a regular.