Oriel Davies Gallery in Powys

I have been to the Oriel Cafe before in fact quite a few times but mostly morning and lunch time. Today myself and my aunty of 83 called in at 3.35. i asked if they were shutting and she said at 4pm. I then thanked her and ordered tea and a coffee. The whole time it was an unpleasant experience she cleary didnt want to serve me. Admittedly the reason was in the middle of the room sitting around a table were her friends or family? The drinks were thrown down with no eye contact or any words spoken. It was an unpleasant experience as up till then had always told people to call in if they were in Newtown. wont be going again and will not be recommending. Such a young girl but really does need to learn customer service is with a smile!

Meal was ok, but very basic ingredients meant it was nothing special. As others have stated above, a smile and a little friendliness wouldn't go amiss either. I went to the counter, said hello, smiled and ordered but was met as if I was a nuisance with a bad smell. Said goodbye as I left but was totally ignored. It's an okay place, but just to refuel, not to enjoy. What a shame. This used to be so nice and still has the potential to be, but I don't think they care

We used to really look forward to eating here and then looking around the gallery and shop.

Pleased to say the restaurant is still very good after the change in management. Menu has changed and is still very good.

Had many nice meals at the Gallery cafe but taking friends their last Friday i found it a little disappointing. I can understand the menu is much more limited than it used to be but the portions also seemed a little smaller. Salad leaves don't cost that much and just a few more would have enhanced the meal. My taste buds may not be as good as they were but when I asked for more salad dressing I was told rather abruptly that dressing was already added. Well that told me! As curator at a local Museum I always recommend Relish to our tour groups and I hope this experience was just a one off but can I say to the staff please remember you are running a business and rely on your customers so maybe smile even if you are having a bad day.

The cafe has plenty of home-made cakes and light meals like delicious salads for a mid-morning snack or a lovely lunch with friends or a loved one. There is an outside eating area, bright and comfortable, with a view over the park. The service is good and the inside space is pleasant and clean. I can vouch for great coffee and hot chocolate.

One of the few places in Newtown where you can get a consistent well made coffee. The staff understand the process of how coffee needs to be made, unlike many of the other Newtown cafes which quite regularly fall short. On the occasion that I visited the scone was very unpleasant. Stodgy and bland, lacking any flavour, a ball of dough in my mouth with an after taste of uncooked flour at the end. A welcome to customers upon arrival would also be nice.

Small cafe in the art gallery with outside space for eating/drinking. Great service and imaginative menu. Good quality and taste in a relaxed atmosphere

Love the salads, love trying to identify the different flavours because there are so many of them. Fresh, tasty and varied. Not expensive either. Only thing: the service is *really* varied, from (mostly) great and friendly to (occasionally) unfriendly, uninterested and frankly strange. Don't let that put you off though as the food is definitely worth it!

Been waiting 30 minutes for a coffee! Waitress has bought out two bowls of water for the dog with the other customers though!!!??? Would not go back!!!

Lovely tea and coffee, and cakes to die for. The service in this tiny cafe is excellent too. Around 20 covers catered for.

Lovely little place serving tasty cakes and lunches. Excellent choir on the menu with good vegetarian and vegan options. Food and service were excellent. Would recommend!

Small but perfectly formed cafe, great scones and mince pies, best place in newtown! Also attached to the gallery a shop with interesting art and wares!

Visit for lunch, the menu is varied with a good selection of vegetarian food and choices of the day. The eating area is small but if there is a free table it is worth a visit. There is an outside seating area but this is not covered, diners with a dog can use this space which is located overlooking a green area. Choice of cakes and snacks. The cafe / restaurant is located within a glazed area at the front of the gallery which houses an exhibition with free entry and a shop which sells books with an art craft theme. Toilets are very clean and modern.

Visited Relish cafe today for a quick lunch on a shopping trip & it was fab. Was spoilt for choice but chose the sausage and lentil stew with delicious fresh homemade herb bread and a selection of salads. We were served quite quickly, considering it was extremely busy - service was friendly & welcoming. Nice surroundings - there are extra seats outside in the park, weather permitting. All good value, car park alongside,great place - thoroughly recommend it. Well done Relish!

if you go to Newtown for nothing else, go for Relish at this lovely little Gallery. Fantastic service from two very friendly young women, an extensive menu of so many goodies it was hard to choose just one or two, and the best-ever soup (corn, coconut and wild garlic, since you ask) and home-made focaccia ever tasted. The place was full the whole time we were there - there are nine tables - and deservedly so. Brave the traffic into town (the by-pass is under construction but don't hold your breath for that) and visit the Gallery /Shop, and reward yourself with refreshments at Relish. You will not be disappointed.

Un gran lugar para comer, especiales siempre muy sabrosa. Sin Gluten o lácteos gratis? Absolutamente ningún problema. Café y tarta.

Visita muy decepcionante. Había un problema con nuestra orden (la mitad de lo que falta). cuando tratamos de hablar con el personal nos rajo. No hay alternativa o reembolso ofreció, parece que esperaban que pagar el precio completo a pesar de que se había acabado. El hecho de que se quedaron sin comida no es un problema. Si hubiera sido explicó amablemente me hubiera probablemente ordenados otro plato, pregunté por una alternativa, o se lo estaba disponible a un precio reducido. La comida estaba bien (lo que había), pero por desgracia la mala actitud del personal estuvimos completamente lo arruinó para mí y me voy a visitar de nuevo.

Este tipo de comida es raro en esta área en la que es bueno producir, con un influencia española, preparada en una manera interesante, para vegetarianos y consumidores de carne. Sin patatas fritas!

Siempre nos hacen una línea bee por este lugar cuando estemos en Newtown.

Mi esposa y yo hemos comido aquí en varias ocasiones. Personal amable, excelente menú de comida naturista, que cambia regularmente, ya que probar cosas diferentes. Bueno tartas caseras. Porciones de buen tamaño y excelente relación calidad-precio

Had lunch with hubby today after visiting food festive, we both had something light I had salad and he had mackerel pate, it was delicious - I was just so sad I couldn't lick my plate clean!!!

Coffee and scones here are excellent, and worth the slow service, but was disappointed with the salad lunch. Lots of choices in terms of things to add to a salad plate but the salad itself was incredibly poor. Quinoa cooked to a sticky sludge, alongside overcooked courgette which covered the rest of the salad thus impacting all of it. A real shame. I'll stick to coffee and scone next time.

We have been here twice and got a really interesting lunch both occasions. Has a "home cooked" feel about it. Chick pea & hazelnut stew is amazing! The service is great, even when it was full, as on the first occasion last month. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed. You can walk round the small gallery afterwards.

My daughter and i often decamp here - called Relish, and situated within the Oriel Davies Gallery - to do 'ladies who lunch', as the soup is home made, imaginative and delicious and, served with either the freshly made herby focaccia or a cheese and herb scone, it makes a substantial lunch.If we have room, we also indulge in the amazing cakes and slices - scones, brownies, apricot flapjacks, courgette and lime cake, carrot cake etc, some of which are gluten free.The menu has it's staples - panini, tapas, baked potatoes with a range of fillings (and different from the usual baked beans and cheese) and plenty of salad options - plus a daily specials board, which is always worth a study. On our recent visit, specials included:Caramelised Red Onion and Welsh Cheddar Quiche / Cuban Chicken and Rice / Lentil and Polenta Pie / Cheesy Cauliflower and Broccoli Gratin with a Herb Crust Vegetarian and special diets are well catered for here, both with food and drinks - speciality teas and caffeine free tea are available, as are a range of non-diary milks.The restaurant area itself is compact, being integrated into the Gallery building, and sharing washroom facilities. There is a mixture of standard and high tables, seating for 20-25 in all, overlooking the bus station and old bowling green. In good weather, there is additional seating outside, at the rear of the Gallery building overlooking the park area outside the town hall.Plans to refurbish and extend the Gallery include the intention to relocate Relish so that it has a discreet entrance, which would allow it to open longer and be more accessible. This will be a really welcome build, as it can get quite busy around lunchtime when seating is at a premium, and everything is pretty much closed up by 4.00pm, when it would be nice to be able to pop in for coffee and cake.Would highly recommend Relish for good food in a pleasant environment.

This cafe is better than most in NewtownThere are good cafes in Newtown Don't get me wrongBut I enjoyed my Lunch here.It is a warm Light Relaxed Friendly environment to be dining in and the prices were worth paying that little bit extra Spot On. you get what you pay for as they say.I Love a Good coffee and tasty food so As this was my First visit hereI Know it won't be my last....... Guaranteed!

Had a super lunch here with our six year old granddaughter. Really good choice of food with interesting, healthy combinations for the sandwiches and jacket potatoes, all served with a good salad and crisps on the side.The service was excellent, friendly and efficient. Nice atmosphere. We shall certainly return!

I love this cafe for its lovely home made, interesting food. The 'abundance bowls' are wonderful. Friendly, helpful staff and nice setting. It's my first choice always in Newtown.

We had a private room for a group lunch. We didn't ask for anything special in terms of menu because we know Oriel café food is lush and home made. Oriel did not disappoint. All 8 of us guzzled down our lunch and puds with lots of warm spiced apple drink too (yummy). The gallery has beautiful exhibitions (free) and the shop is inspirational. The café menu will not disappoint - something for everyone & particularly good for vegetarians or gluten intolerants etc. The food is home made and outstanding. Given its setting (in the park) it is the jewel of Newtown.

They have specials each day which are usually very good. They also have free wifi which can be useful if you are working, and will do food and sandwiches to take away. Right next to the car park so convenient place for refuelling before or after a meeting.

My Moussaka with salad and bread was absolutely lovely. When it arrived I thought the portions looked a little small but actually it was just right. We finished off with Coffee and cake - staff were friendly and nice, food was very, very nice.

A great little café. The cakes and coffee were fabulous and they offered a good range of lunches at a reasonable price. The staff were friendly and offered suggestions and alternatives due to food intolerances. It does get busy and we had to wait a short while for a table.

We stopped off in Newtown on our way to Pembrokeshire and we struggled to find any nice cafes for lunch. Then we stumbled across this, next to the park; what a find! Small, but great coffee and interesting, different menu including gluten-free cakes. Happy to amend a sandwich for one member of our party and provide a doggy bag!

this was our third visit to this little café and we were not disappointed. The coffee was great and the cakes equally good. On the downside there was quiet a long wait and the member of staff behind the counter failed to give us a table number so receiving our correct order relied on myself having to catch the severs eye when they were trying to work out who to serve the items to. All that being said it is probably the best coffee in Newtown and the lunch menu appears varied. So as long as you are not pressed for time or lacking patients pay this little café a visit

There were not many lunch customers to serve, and plenty of staff behind the counter. We drank our good filter coffees, enjoying the pleasant al-fresco sitting area. But after a longish wait we began to wonder what had happened to our small order for food: just a panini for me and a scone for my guest. We sidled back to the counter inside, but there was no attempt at explanation, as the scone was placed there and then on a plate. Some few minutes later the food appeared delivered by a silent unsmiling waitress. No explanation, no apology. BUT the panini was very very tasty, and the scone was pretty good too. Normally we'd have left a tip, but......oh well, good value food anyway, and the sun was shining.

The Relish Cafe at Oriel Davies is a very good place for a refreshing break. Very good coffee, excellent salads, snacks all served in a pleasant environment overlooking the newly laid out bus station. You can spend time trying to work out what advantage the new bus station lay out has over the old.In fact don't go to the Relish if you are in a hurry. The food is good quality and is put together fresh for each order, which takes longer. I have not worked out why their coffee orders take so long, but there always seems to be a backlog of orders, even if you are the first people in! The staff are very obliging and work hard, and are very nice.I have not, so far, been excited by any of the art exhibitions at Oriel Davies, but the shop is well worth a visit, and so is the cafe

delightfull if a little expensive food next to Bus Station and main car park so makes a good meeting point

We have visited the Oriel Cafe twice within a few weeks. For a small cafe they have a varied and interesting lunchtime menu with soups, salads, jackets with exciting fillings and a tapas selection. First time around I had a cheese platter with Welsh cheeses and salad. The second visit we both had nut burger in herb bread with a salad and dips. They were a delight. Good, nutritious food, beautifully presented and excellent friendly service with the bonus of art all around you and a fascinating collection of Welsh authors in the attractive looking shop. There are also gorgeous cakes on offer and the hot chocolate is excellent. Good range of soft drinks as well.

This is a good place to nip in for lunch when shopping if you want something a bit better class. The service was excellent and it was good value for money

the food is obviously freshly made and of exceptional quality but perhaps a little pricy for a casual snack but ideal if trying to impress an infrequent visitor or relative

The Relish Cafe is a nice little place that I have started to visit in between work. It is clear that an effort has been made to offer a high standard of coffee in a modern way. I hope to have food here one day too. On the Oriel Gallery website it is billed as a new wholefood cafe - so I imagine the food will be quite healthy and tasty. It's great to have a place like this to go to in Newtown.

high quality food if a little pricey not always open they woulod do well to be open on Sundays and not open always when events on in Park

I had some time to kill bought a paper and went to the restaurant at Oriel Gallery. What a treat it turned out to be. An excellent choice of home made dishes mainly vegetarian but I think one meat dish. I ordered the spinach and goats cheese quiche which came with a side salad of spinace, pickled broccoli, green lentil and a beautiful dressing plus a good helping of coleslaw.It was excellent and the potion size was ample for a hungry male. I noted others enjoying their meals and all looked as appetising as my own. Comments were freely offered and everyone seems to be very pleased with their food. I ordered a cup of coffe which was good and strong.Recommend this restarant. Its light and very pleasant just a little cramped.

Visited this gem of a place for working lunch with a colleague a busy day last week. Good choice of food, lovely flavours and nice presentation. Not only good food but good selection of art and craft work to view. So impressed have since booked the meeting room and lunch for our work team meeting.

I love this place.The food is gorgeous and the staff couldn't be more friendly and helpful.The only sad thing is the premises are a bit small and it's not open in the evening.These people really know how to cook.Hard to know what to recommend as it's all delicious..

The cafe is small (only seating around 20 indoors) but you can usually get a table even on a Saturday lunchtime. The food is fresh and flavoursome - today I had carrot, orange and ginger soup and it was a generous portion with bread for £4.50. The kids both had falafels with pitta and salads for the same price. Food arrived quickly and friendly service. Good shop and gallery in same building. Mainly vegetarian food but good choice with quiche, lasagne, paninis etc.

Enjoyed an excellent lunch at Relish after visiting the latest exhibition at the wonderful Oriel Davies Gallery. The tapas and focaccia bread was divine and my husband enjoyed the Moroccan soup. Can't wait to visit again!

Popped in here for lunch with 3 friends. Service was excellent and choice and variety of food superb. You could taste that the food was fresh and lovely selections of salad.

Our first trip to Newtown and we stopped here for lunch. The food was all home made and freshly cooked. I am a vegitarian and their was so much choice, I had a home made nut burger with relish and salad. If your a healthy eater this is the place to go if you are in Newtown. I will definately go back

We recently went back here, it was raining and everywhere else was shut - B/H. We came in December last year and the food was AWFUL!!! This time we had a Jacket each. It was gorgeous as was the Coffee. We'll certainly go back. Well done all.

have eaten here numerous times and seen change of management and staff over the years. recent visits provided us with good lunchtime snacks/meals BUT.... service today has been without any smiles and if you can turn a blind eye to the disarray behind the counter, the obvious dust on the kitchen floor, cakes not covered on the counter top and person doing food prep with her long flowing hair not tied back you will enjoy the food on offer. Tapas recommended. Sorry ladies for this feed back but has to be said and we(husband and I) have pointed out the uncovered cakes before to you...and nothing has been done ...

We were on a rare day out on our own, having dropped off our son in Welshpool to play golf with his aunt. We don't know Newtown that well and only discovered the Gallery because I visited the public loos nearby! This is an excellent venue, not just art, but lovely ceramics and gifts for sale. As it was well past our lunchtime and feeling quite peckish we decided to have our lunch at the cafe there. It is quite a small space mostly with tables for two with floor to ceiling windows. We ordered toasties on granary bread - a tuna melt and a cheese and onion.The toasties were fabulous, lovely crunchy home made (?) bread, served with potato salad, dressed mixed leaves, kidney beans and chick peas. At £3.45 we thought they were very good value. We also had a lovely large cappuccino each. We very much enjoyed our lunch and will certainly visit again when next in Newtown.

Discovered this last year and so relieved to find somewhere in Newtown serving decent coffee, homemade cakes & tasty savoury dishes. Ok, it's a little cramped and staff can be a bit up and down in friendliness but I like the decorm atmosphere & will continue to call in here on my way home to the valleys from Liverpool!

I am frankly amazed that there is not a string of disappointed reviews about this place. The Gallery is fantastic BTW and well worth a visit. Sadly the same cannot be said for the over priced cafe. Our first ever visit to Newtown started with a meal here. We were on a visit prior to moving here, which we have now done. There was just myself and my partner and we liked the fact it was a gallery cafe which in our experience nearly always means great coffee/tea and fabulous cakes! I had a 'hot' beef sandwich and my partner had a baguette pizza. Yes well the tea was nasty and tasted nothing like the earl grey we ordered. The hot beef wasn't ... luke warm at the very best and trust me there is NOTHING good about semi cold gravy made from Country Larder 'Tastes just like beef' granules. The promised side salad on the plate though miniscule was beautifully presented and dressed ... which made the main event of the butty even more disappointing as they obviously CAN do it right ... (just for us chose not to?) My partners pizza was an absolute joke. It was the thinnest and scrawniest soft and pappy baguette I have ever seen and not only that but it was a 1/4 of a baguette which would give a good size sandwich for one person. slap a bit of tomato puree (yep really) and some bargain basement 'white cheese' and it was all in all a most disappointing thing ... not even the grace of salad. To make matters worse a couple came in obviously regulars, laughing and joking with owner/cook and had 2 jacket potatos. You would believe you were in a different place, the plate was GROANING with food. The jackets were stuffed with cheese and beans and the side salad towered over the spud. Now I wonder if we would have gotten the same treatment had the women 'slinging hash' realised we too could have become regulars and not just one time eating tourists, we would have had the meal of our fellow diners rather than the pitiful half size and poorly made offering we were served up. We paid nearly £20 for this travesty of a meal and avoid the gallery cafe like the plague now ... So we go for great food and coffee at Parkers instead. So woman from the cafe, if you ever read this ... just remember you never know that next person you shortchange on their grub may be you next possible regular ... we eat out at least 4 times a week, and not once will that be with you.

We love it here - always very interesting exhibitions of contemporary art. Brill shop for birthday presents. yummy cakes in cafe. Overall a lovely experience going there. They are also very child friendly.

Contempory art gallery in mid Wales market town, interesting exhibitions, friendly and easy to walk around. Lovely shop with card, gifts, homewards and excellent range of books. The cafe is small and also has outside seating but serves good range of meals and snacks and great coffee. I visit frequently.

This art gallery is right by the bus station and a large central car-park in Newtown, so it's well placed. It's a small gallery with interesting exhibitions, and a fascinating little shop. The cafe's at the front so has a view of sorts. There's very good disabled access round the back! And a disabled toilet. The food's lovely, fresh, and a bit different to standard cafe fare. And it's served with genuine friendliness. Only open until 5pm.