Scholars Restaurant in Caerphilly

Fantastic meal, as ever, particularly impressed by Creed who was head chef and fully in control of his kitchen. We also discovered that he had made us possibly the best chocolate fondant we’ve ever eaten! Well done to the whole team 👏👏

Excellent food and service, the. Young chef was brought out to meet the dinners and listen to any complaints (which we had none) or complements,which was a nice touch.

Had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch here today. Head chef Dan did himself proud. Beautiful fresh ingredients and very generous portions. Relaxed and elegant environment. Particularly enjoyed the chicken breast with mushrooms and leek. Little touches like the paprika butter made it feel like a real treat at a very reasonable price! Look forward to returning.

This restaurant is a little gem. Perfect service and delicious food served. Very VERY impressive. Absolutely worth the visit!

Amazing Christmas meal delivered by friendly and enthusiastic staff. Excellent value for money here and am never disappointed.

Visited the restaurant for the first time with friends and was absolutely delighted and impressed with the environment, welcoming reception and the outstanding food. My friends and I had the Christmas lunch which was well presented and totally divine. The learners are a credit to the college and I would highly recommend you book a table as soon as you can! Well done all at Scholars.

What a fabulous Xmas meal at Scholars Restaurant . From the time we arrived the students were pleasant and helpful, and service was top class. The meal was full of flavour and presentation was excellent, well done everyone.

Once again myself and Brian Jones of Castell Howell would like to thank the students for an amazing experience, and food of the highest standard .The service was again above and beyond exceptional. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, and congratulations is in order for all that worked hard to deliver such high standards of service and quality. We both were very impressed and thank the collage for the warm welcome we received Diolch yn Fawr Anthony Evans and Brian Jones

Waw , waw waw . I am a highly qualified tv chef , that has just had one of the most amazing food experiences . I came here to eat today and I was blown away by the High standards of service , and food . The students here put 100% into the food and service , and guided by the fantastic team of staff at the collage , they really did shock me to the core . The students here are truly amazing, the food they produced was world class standards , and I would definetly reconmend you come here and experience it for yourselves . Truly a High standard , in every area of service . Thank you so much for giving me that honour of seeing the highest of service and an eating experience to remember . Once again they have proven that there is amazing food in Wales . A big well done to all the students . XX

Hidden Gem of the valleys. I have heard many people say how good this little gem is. So we thought we would give it a try. We are so glad we did. This has to be the best meal we have had in many years. Visually the food looked on par with any 5 star restaurant. did it taste as good as it looks?. Omg yes, it does. Every mouthful was a sensation for your tastebuds. Its hard to think the meal was cooked by students. The chefs even come out to talk about how they design the menu and put the flavours together. This is a Gem and a must-visit for any food lover and at £15 you can't go wrong.

Visited with a group of friends for a Xmas lunch. Great service from the students. Each of the three courses was delicious. Wine was good and the mince pies and stollen to finish with tea/coffee was a lovely touch. Can’t wait to visit again 😀

Can't praise Stuart and his staff, Head Chef Martin and all the students at this restaurant highly enough. Fabulous food and a really great experience. The goose was fantastic. Can't wait to visit again. Highly recommend it.

Amazing food. And amazing and friendly service well done all well worth a visit will be visiting agan

Food was absolutely lovely, the students treated us with a manner that demonstrates how pressional they acted towards us as well as making the atmosphere very comftable.

Our first meal back here in 2 years thanks to Covid restrictions, and it was as good as ever! Everything we ate was delicious and presented beautifully. Polite and helpful service from Josh and Kyle. Well done all, welcome back.

Each time we visit I say that it has been the best meal ever, but today they really outdid themselves. The menu was not only adventurous- a selection that included veal, guinea fowl,smoked oysters and Mooli- but as usual was delicious and presented to an incredibly high standard. Callum and Josh had a challenging service with nearly 30 customers today, and are to be congratulated ( along with all the staff and students) for a wonderful dining experience.

I have visited Scholars many times and have always been happy with the exceptional food and service. The students are always courteous, polite and knowledgeable about the food that they are preparing and serving. All students work under the expert guidance of the professional college staff (Stuart and Mark). Many of the meals contain locally sourced ingredients and the menu is always varied and interesting.. Petit fours are often provided after a meal and they are freshly made on site too. You would struggle to find many a la carte restaurants this good especially considering the prices here i.e £11.00 for a 3 course lunch!

Excellent food, students are very attentive and the atmosphere is good. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Visited for the first time today with friends. What a treat. The food was excellent, beautifully presented and the service was very good. Staff were friendly and helpful. There was also a choice of wine or soft drinks. Excellent value for money. It was a pleasure to visit and will definitely visit again. Well done to scholars and tutors. Bookings must be made in advance.

Visited for the first time with my elderly father. Lovely food, beautifully presented and excellently served by the waiting staff. Well done to Head Chef Ayeisha (A) and all the team. You made us feel very welcome.

Great food and excellent service. Well done to Shelley and Shannon for a superb meal, with particular mention to Josh - Soufflé maker extraordinaire!

Lovely food, well prepared and presented. Easily equivalent to any top-end restaurant, and it is a nice touch that you meet the students who prepare your food. Definitely reccomended

We visit Scholars regularly and can not fault the food and the service. The students are constantly learning and improving. It's a pleasure to attend and we will continue to do so. Great food. Great service. Great experience. A must try restaurant!

Blackwood Stroke Support Group wanted to start the year 2020 with something special so there was really no option other than to start where they left 2019 - The Scholars Restaurant in Ystrad Mynach College. With the word now spreading on just how good the food and service is the numbers wanting to attend quickly rose to 32 which with another party of distinguished Welsh Politicians already booked some is just about the maximum numbers for the venue. It was also an ideal opportunity to witness just how well the young students could cope with the added pressure of a full venue.I am happy to say they coped as well as they cooked . It was another super meal cooked by the young chefs served by warm friendly young staff. Our only diabetic, Lynnette, was over the moon with her diabetic, "pudding" saying it was best she had ever had. With many of her friends "having a taste" I fully expect there will be a lot more claiming to be diabetic for our next visit.To show our appreciation we insisted all the staff joined us around our for another group photo. We then presented Stuart with a very special thank you card made by Helen, one of our Volunteers, to show our our appreciation to him and all the staff. That card went straight into the Scholars Trophy cabinet for all to see(and be proud of).Also in that trophy cabinet is an award showing Scholars came second in last years national awards for catering colleges. Judging by their standards on our two visits I truly think they can go one better in 2020. Time to think about a bigger cabinet.

This was my first visit but will not be my last. The food was of the highest quality and served with pride and perfection by the students.The tutors of the college must take credit for the way they work with the students to achieve such results.

Food cooked to perfection. Servers professional under supervision of Stuart Davies who is an absolute professional himself. Great experience and would recommend!!

I went with a group of friends and was totally amazed by the quality and presentation of the meal by students, The staff were fully efficent and polite and could not do better if they were working professionally.

What a pleasure it is to eat at The Scholars! The setting is warm and welcoming and the imaginative menus, subtlety of flavours , lovely presentation and commitment of the students is a real joy!

I was feeling hungry and I thought I'd settle for a festive lunch at the obviously well run Scholars Restaurant nestled on the Ystrad Mynach (in South Wales) College campus. I started with one 'just like mamma make it' mince pie washed down with a very nice white coffee (I had work to get to shortly afterward, so time was of the essence!). For starters I had a simply divine, creamy Jerusalem Artichoke soup. My main dish being a sumptuous and flavoursome beef treat, this coming with a not at all disagreeable roasted shallot puree alongside a fine range of other trimmings. Portions just right I might add. Service keenly administered by the college's students. Cleanliness and atmosphere there, just bang on I would say. And my pudding? A pistachio and white chocolate parfait -if you please- topped with (among other lovingly prepared sweet things) Drambuie syrup!

You could not wish for a better meal, lovely flavours and superb presentation. If you are ever lucky enough to get the Chocolate Fondant on the menu......it is to die for, so well done Josh,Scott and team for a remarkable dining experience.

With the winter months drawing in Blackwood Stroke decided to look after the "inner man" for their November outing. Acting on a recommendation from a member , the secretary, Mike Rees,booked up a party of 24 for lunch the Scholars Restaurant in Ystrad Mynach College for last Friday. The College has a thriving class of budding chefs and related personnel all striving for a qualification in the catering industry . It opens up to the public on Thursdays and Fridays during term time.

The food was 5 star it was exceptionally served and prepared by the staff either on floor or in the kitchen so well done to them all. The atmosphere was welcoming, everyone was interactive with the customers and left everyone happy with the service which was provided and the knowledge the staff had was extremely valuable and helpful.

High quality, fab customer service , lots of choice Would highly recommend and would return again 😜😜

Myself and 4 friends visited the Scholars restaurant at Ystrad Mynach college and were overwhelmed by the sheer quality and efficiency of the service. The food was excellent and what you would expect in a top class establishment not just a working school. The pupils and staff supervising deserve top marks. Can't wait for my next visit.

My friends and I visited this restaurant and what an amazing experience. The service of these young learners was very good and they all new their positions and were relaxed and knowledgable . The food served was exceptional well cooked and very tasty. This is a wonderful learning experience for the pupils and their lecturers deserve huge credit. plus the food was wonderful. Wins all round

Visited yesterday. The lunch was first class. To start I had Beef Carpaccio. The beef was so tender and flaversome and beautifully presented.Main course was goose. This meat does not appear on many menus at all so I thought I'd give it a try. Again, the meat was really tender and cooked to perfection. It was accompanied by a selection of veg and a celeriac and blue cheese sauce and a jus. For dessert I had the cheesecake. This was a little dry. The 3 course lunch was £11 which is superb value. We passed our compliments on to the students who were a little nervous as I understand this was their first service.

Thrilled to see ex pupils of Rhymney Comprehensive in the kitchen and front of house and all doing a great job. The staff especially Robb kept the drinks flowing and the table clean. The duck starter was perfectly cooked with lots of flavour, and I had Pork Belly for main which was the stand out dish for me, soft tasty pork with crisp crackling and a lovely cider Jus and apple puree. This is a great opportunity to try really exciting an inventive food at a great price, whilst also supporting the students. I can't wait to go back well done all at Scholars

This is my 4th visit to Scholars and I have not been disappointed. The food is always cooked to perfection, and the menus are always different every week. The pupils who cook are professional in the kitchen and the waiting pupils are always welcoming and polite. This is a real gem of a restaurant and if you are looking for somewhere with excellent food at very reasonable prices then look no further, star chefs of the future.

visited there today Friday 10th may.Fantastic food, beautifully presented,tasted amazing,We had a menu by Kieran Parker. The lamb was cooked to perfection. Also the Fish cooked by Sky was sensational. The desserts were to die for. The staff were polite,friendly and very pleasant. We had a lovely experience and would definitely recommend this place and also visit again.

As the title says, the meals are all freshly prepared from the finest ingredients and do not disappoint.

Scholars is a fantastic restaurant... always great value meals and the students who make the meals are so professional, it’s hard to believe that they are trainees!. The menu is always imaginative and caters for all... the food is better than many expensive city restaurants... a real hidden gem. The teaching staff operate such a supportive environment for the trainee chefs and waiting staff which brings a great vibe to the place. I will certainly visit here often.

Visited here on Thursday for a meal with family as an early mother's day lunch. Food is Michelin star quality and higher, the students are a real credit to the college and work so hard from front of house to the kitchen staff.

Just had an amazing three course lunch at the scholars Restraunt delicious food and lovely waiting staff.

The meal, the service and the students were far better than I expected. Staff were there but unobtrusive and we could have been dining out at a top class restaurant

SIMPLY WOOH, Best yet,but always top class. I doubt if a better meal served at. Cheltenham Races I really mean that. You should all be very proud of yourselves. Good luck to you all in the future. A top dining experience for silly money.

Lunch with husband.Firstly thank you to the lads from Electrical and engineering dept we met in the car park who very kindly walked us to the restaurant

Myself and my father visit, scholars weekly. The students are a pleasure to be around and it's fabulous to see them growing, developing and improving week by week. The food is spot on!

Enjoyed a fab meal produced by Connor (Head chef for the day) and his team. My hen's egg starter was beautifully presented. Then the trio of fish main was perfectly cooked. The dessert of white chocolate and raspberry tart capped a lovely experience. Keep up the good work guys.

What a wonderful meal we had today in Scholars Training Restaurant, the Christmas Menu was great, beautifully presented, delicious and well organised, we had a large table and the students navigated it brilliantly, they were all very friendly, professional and for a training restaurant it is incredible, it's better than most restaurants I have been in! I would come back again, the price was great and the atmosphere was really festive and fun!

This was my first visit to Scholars after being invited on a tour of the college. What a fantastic experience! All three courses were superb, in presentation and flavour. The service was excellent from start to finish, from everyone involved. Thank you very much, I will definitely be returning!

What an unbelievable experience. The standard of food was out of this world. The staff were very friendly and the cooks came out and discussed the menu with us after we had finished. We took our 2 year old daughter and all the staff were fantastic with her. I can not speak highly enough of what the college are achieving through this restaurant. Just wish it could open more often as its the best food in the area by far.

I have wanted to dine at this establishment for some time and today (Friday 27 April 2018) I finally got to sit down to a meal.

There were about 30 diners, the food was excellent - 3 courses - my duck's leg for starters was superbly cooked, and very tasty.

I eat at this restaurant every now and then. I have never been disappointed. The students who served me were very professional. I had a three course meal all for £10 and each dish was expertly presented and cooked. My main today was pigeon breasts with roast parsnips. The staff and all the students should hold their heads high.

Fantastic and incredibly cheap food, all presented amazingly. The waiters and waitresses and chef were so so welcoming too!

What a wonderful restaurant. The food was delicious, the service was second to none.

Recently had the pleasure of dinning at Scholars restaurant,from the moment we arrived we were treated by very attentive front of house team.The restaurant has a very professional feel but it's a very relaxed atmosphere and great to see the students preparing the food.

I am becoming a regular at this little gem!

We arrived at 12:00pm and we're seated and brought our food very quickly which was brilliant. The customer service was excellent and the staff was friendly. Starter was Beef Carpaccio with salad which was very tasty followed by Duck which was cooked to perfection finally for desert I had Crème brulee which finished off a great afternoon.

Just had another amazing 3-course meal in the restaurant. The staff, service and food is truly outstanding and well worth a trip. The food is well priced, the service is second to none and the venue is friendly and pleasant; what more could you want? I will definitely be back!!

A team of 9 of us attended the restaurant for lunch. A small college run restaurant that serves delicious food.

Visited with friends for lunch on Thursday. They had been before and were full of praise, though I had my doubts. The restaurant is run by the catering students, in order to give them experience. It was "US" who had the experience. The serving staff were all smartly dressed in matching uniforms, the room was well lit and well laid out, and it was possible to see through a very large serving hatch into the kitchens and watch the food being prepared.When coming to take our order, the students were friendly but understandably somewhat nervous.

Came here for lunch on a Friday. Had heard good reports and seen the Tripadvisor reviews, but the experience here and the food well exceeded what I was expecting. The waiting staff are professional, friendly and helpful, and it was great to meet the head chef of the day, who had planned, researched and ordered the food for the amazing three course meal we had (there was a choice of three starters, mains and desserts) And all this for £9.50 each. Wine was great, just the right temperature. Attentive waiting staff at all times. The home made marshmallows in mint or bubble gum flavour, which arrived with the bill, were brilliant too. More people need to be coming to see the amazing young students at Scholars, and sample their carefully cooked and presented food!! One of the best meals I've ever had. A big thank you to all at Scholars - will be back very soon.

Stunning food, friendly and such a Pleasant atmosphere. Feed you exceptionally well too, which is a bonus. Thumbs up 5 stars.

The restaurant is run by the catering students at Ystrad Mynach College and what an excellent job they do.

My meal was otherwise fine, but the chef at Scholars really needs to throw away whatever recipe book he used for beef daube - a slow-cook braised dish with some veg, that ends up very tasty and tender. What I and one other diner in our party got yesterday was a lump of rubbery beef that had only had a nodding acquaintance with an oven: raw and bloody, it was impossible to cut let alone eat. The rest of the meal was of a high standard, and the service was ok considering the numbers being served. They insisted on a partial refund which was fair of them.

This place is amazing! Hard to believe you are not in a 4star restaurant. The meal was absolutely delicious, good choices and beautifully presented. Unbelievably good value for money too! Nice to be able to see the kitchen activity. Definitely be visiting again next time we are in the area.

This was a reunion memorial evening for an old friend as we all attended the college many moons ago, What a night . The students and teaching staff should all be proud of themselves the food and service was outstanding. Will definitely visit again. Well done to u all thank you for a fabulous evening.

The standard of food here is 2nd to none, I can't fault any meal I have ever eaten here. Simply outstanding!

Visited Scholars today for the first time. Can't believe I did not know about this gem. The meal was excellent and so reasonably priced. The service couldn't be faulted and it was so nice to meet the chefs. Rachel and Aleysha my compliments, I will certainly be visiting again. I can't recommend too highly.

Just had lunch in Scholars tip top quality food the young chef Ben came out to ask us how the food was and in one word fantastic and when I had the bill I nearly fell over so cheap I gave them a big tip for that food it would have cost 3 times as much.

Three course meal. Fabulous. Totally faultless. Tell all your friends and family. Well worth a visit and guaranteed you will make another another.

went to scholars today for lunch food (shoulder of lamb, sea bass) was excellent,. well worth a vist

Went to the scholars today for lunch,had an amazing main course,all fresh vegetables Cooked the way we liked them,and the beef cooked to perfection, the starters and pudding were just as good,the waiting staff appeared a little nervous but did an excellent job with a big smile on they face at all times.

I visited this restaurant for lunch recently while I was in the area. I had three courses and they were all excellent, it was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. It is also great to know that it is helping students develop their skills.

Visited today after finding out about it from Nant restaurant (Nantgarw complex) and I have to say I think it beats Nant in quality and value! Really friendly staff who couldn't do enough for us, so attentive! Manager was also really courteous and friendly. Quality of the food was superb, excellent freshly made pasta and ragu sauce was amazing! Can't beat the value at £9 for a three course, and quite large portions too. I loved the open plan kitchen area, and you could tell everyone there was really eager to get it right and give an enjoyable experience to the diners - we will definitely be heading back here soon and will tell our friends also!!

Many thanks to the students at Scholars Restaurant! We went for the 3 course meal at lunch time today to celebrate my birthday. We were blown away by the quality of the food and the welcoming and friendly staff. Absolutely delicious! You are a credit to the college! It's a lovely atmosphere. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Not to mention the incredible value for money. We'll be back!

A group of colleagues and I had the pleasure of having lunch at the Scholars Restaurant today. The food was outstanding and the service was perfect. Well done to the head chef Kieran for an amazing job. Thank you to all of the staff, you are a credit to the college. We are already looking forward to our next visit!

I went to scholars restaurant recently and the food was outstanding and all the students are a credit to the college and to the tutors great value for money would definitely recommend it to everyone

I had a business lunch at Colg Y Cymoedd's Scholars restaurant on the Ystrad Mynach campus today. My guest and I were delighted with the quality of the meal, which was absolutely fantastic, and the excellent service. I must congratulate Lecturer Stuart Davies and his students on delivering food of such great quality. If you are looking for top cuisine at very reasonable prices, look no further than Scholars restaurant.