The Cherry Laurel in Bridgend

We are a family with 3 children and always have a nice time when we come for lunch, yesterday we came it was lovely as always

We ordered drinks online at the table and waited just under 25 minutes for them to arrive. We went to the bar to order more drinks with our meal as we didn’t want to have to wait another 25 minutes again for our next drinks and the male who took our order and served our drinks was very unprofessional and had poor social skills. Our food arrived and we noticed two meals were missing the onion rings that it stated they should have on the menu. One of the waitress’ was walking back to the kitchen/bar so we told her that we were missing onion rings. She then went to the kitchen and we went back to our table. She shortly returned and apologised and offered us a refund. We simply accepted her offer as this was all that was offered. A manager then came to the table shortly after this and told us “we can not offer a refund as it’s only a side order” so I’m guessing that the younger waitress must have told the manager that we requested the refund but we were just going along with what the waitress offered. The manager stated that we should have been told when ordering that the male taking the order “…should have told you that we don’t have any onion rings when you placed your order”. We were then offered a partial refund for the onion rings which we weren’t told how much it would be and then told we could get free desserts for the two orders that were missing the onion rings. We opted for the desserts. We then ordered 1 cheesecake and 3 brownies and there was again an issue as after ordering the manager came back to our table to tell us that there would not be any custard available even though we were told at the till that the dessert would come with custard.

Quality food cooked well Fantastic service by Laura and very welcoming to us, fair play she went above & beyond. Everything is up to high standards and really clean inside and outside it looks amazing definitely be back again soon

Great food and excellent service from Laura ☺️

Thank you Laura for your great service, we thoroughly enjoyed our night, we had a great time and will be back soon xxx

Our waitresses name was Laura John and we had exceptional service and very friendly, can’t wait to go back

Upon arrival we were told they were fully booked and seated us in the pub area with our family ( I then went online and booked a table for suitable dining area) the person serving looked annoyed after that, drinks took over 20 minutes to arrive, followed by nearly an hour wait for food which was awful, instant products used. Finally settled for a dessert to find a shard of white plastic embedded in the fudge cake which I discovered whist eating it… never again will we be visiting

Food was lovely and service was good

Excellent service from Laura this afternoon, very welcoming and food was amazing.

Visited the cherry laurel last week and had great service by Laura. She looked after us and helped us with our order. Great food and lovely atmosphere. Will come again

Great service by Laura. Very happy and chatty. Lovely atmosphere and great food. Will definitely return.

Excellent friendly venue. Friendly staff. Easy a bit busy and took a while to get food however the visit was at a busy time

I would like to thank the lovely Laura for going above and beyond to ensure that our dinner experience was exceptional. We will definitely be returning!

I must say our recent visit to the Cherry Laurel, was a very pleasant experience, we were greeted by a lovely lady by the name of Laura John, she was smiling & friendly towards us, also extremely helpful, we’ll certainly look forward to our next visit

Sophie behind the bar was great, she advised me to upgrade my mix grill to a Mega Mix grill. I would have forgotten peppercorn sauce if it wasn't for Sophie. Gavin delivered my food quite quickly and offered us deserts. Amazing Experience!

A fantastic evening with good food and drink. Pleasant, friendly staff...Laura. Highly recommend, will come again.

Great food and a great atmosphere! The person behind the bar Laura, welcomed us as we came in. She took us to our pre booked table and explained the menu to us. The food was really good and came out fairly quickly. Will definitely return.

Really enjoyed our visit last week. Food was great and a good price too. Laura who served us was super helpful. We now call you the Cherry Laura 🍒

A Theatrical Triumph in Culinary Indulgence Dearest discerning diners, gather close as I regale you with the tale of a most rapturous evening at The Cherry Laurel, a gastronomic jewel nestled in the beguiling borough of Bridgend. One enters with anticipation, and one leaves utterly enchanted. Now, let us discuss the pièce de résistance—the sticky toffee pudding. Oh, sweet seraphim above, never has a dessert so decadently toffee-laden graced my palate! Moist, rich, and draped in a most sumptuous sauce, it was less a mere pudding and more an edible sonnet. Each bite whispered of butter, caramel, and a fleeting moment of pure, unadulterated bliss. And what of the service, you ask? The inimitable Laura, a beacon of poise and professionalism, attended to our every whim with grace and warmth. Polite, intuitive, and possessed of that rare ability to make one feel as if they were the only patron in the establishment—an absolute credit to her craft. With the spectre of the sherry trifle cheesecake now haunting my dreams, a return visit is not a matter of "if" but when. Until then, Cherry Laurel, remain exactly as you are—divine.

Took the family to the cherry laurel, and was greeted by our friendly waitress Laura, had a lovely meal. I had the pie and chips, daughter had a few sharers dishes to try and was impressed on the tasty dishes, children had burger and chips and chicken wings, son in law had fish and chips. Would highly recommend. Can't wait to go back.

Had an amazing experience at The Cherry Laurel, and the highlight was the outstanding service! Laura was absolutely exceptional—attentive, friendly, and went above and beyond to make sure we had a great dining experience. She anticipated our needs before we even had to ask and made thoughtful recommendations that we loved. The food was great, but it was Laura’s warmth and professionalism that truly made our night special. If you’re dining here, I hope you get lucky enough to have her as your server!

Called into the cherry laurel one evening last week and was greeted by a young lady called Laura , WOW couldn’t believe how special she made us feel , her attentiveness , energy and charisma was something you don’t see much these days , food was lovely and will definitely be coming back , superb 😀👍

Visited for the first time in a long while and was pleasantly surprised. Food was lovely, great atmosphere and service was outstanding. Laura looked after us while we were there and I couldn't speak more highly of her. Will definitely pop back in again!

Great atmosphere, lively staff .

The food on this visit was a little disappointing small portion the wife had a hunters chicken I had the curry and the would not do half and half shame had to buy a separate portion of chips

Great service and the food was lovely perfect place to take the children!

Excellent service, very friendly. Great food and value for money. Would highly recommend.

Like the qr code ordering. But needs updating as no Pepsi on app. Had to go to bar to order drinks.

Food took over an hour to come out. It wasn't very busy at all. Food was mediocre. Wasn't very hot. Not impressed. Won't be coming back.

Hi,I went to the Cherry Laurel last night for a meal. Unfortunately my partners steak was rare not medium well cooked as requested resulting in it being sent back. This was not good as I had finished my meal by the time my partners meal returned. This resulted in us wating separately. After complaining to the manager an adequate compensation was received. The bar service was ridiculous resulting in very long waits at the bar for food and drinks. I saw at least 2 couples leave the pub disillusioned by the long wait. This is the first time I have been there and will not be returning there on a Friday again Unfortunately.

When we arrived, restaurant was around 60% full. Waited for someone to show us to our table which we had booked but no one came so we just grabbed one of the reserved tables. Booked food and drinks on app at 6.10 as only one serving at the bar and a long queue had formed. Food finally served almost an hour and a half later after chasing twice and being told it would be about 5 mins. Appalling service. Nearby tables not cleared for over an hour and when finishing our main course had to put our dirty dishes on another table ourselves. A very poor experience and will definitely never return. Overheard another table complaining about the wait to which the answer from the staff member was ‘well don’t come back’! Hardly a good advertisement for the Marston brand. If I could have given it no stars I would have.

Very kind people the food was not very good

Called on Wednesday early evening, very quiet in the restaurant so expected to have a lovely meal but it was below average, just warm food, so disappointing, won't be parting with our hard earned cash here again x

Staff were friendly and helpful. Food was beautiful and served quickly. My kids loved the board games provided. We have had good service and Food everytime we visit.

Went for Sundy lunch, it was terrible. Arrived about 1315, the place was half empty. Went to the bar, ordered 2 beef roasts, told sorry, no beef. Went back to wife to choose something else, we decided on gammon steak. Had to wait a second time, got to the bar to be informed, sorry no gammon. Went to see wife again, back to end of the queue. Eventually ordered turkey roast for wife and medium serlion for me. Ordered Guiness for wife, Sorry no Guiness. Went back to wife, she said I'll have J2O, barmaid poured J2O and put ice without asking. Food took about 40 minutes, wife's turkey roast, roast potatoes were like wedges, gravy like water, no cranberry sauce. My steak was burnt and tough when I ordered medium All in all it was terrible, a rip off even with the Blue Card discount. With the resturante half empty on a Sunday lunchtime and no beef not far after mid day, alarm bells should have rang, and we should have walked out, so our fault really.

No Guinness, no beer on the pull. Only one bar person. Poor show not the first time this has happened. How is one person supposed to serve drinks and food to everyone that comes in. Guess this is why it was so quiet in there

Sat on Table No 40, we ordered two Cumberland Sausage and chips using the QR Code on the menu. I paid with Apple Pay and got an email confirmation immediately. Excellent service and we will go there again.

Typical brewery tied menu but , good quality grub, good portion sizes and good service.

Totally disregarded specific request for teas & coffees for a wake but still charged for even though arriving after most had ordered at the bar!!!

A nice pub, with decent food on offer. The staff were lovely and very helpful.

Food was good and staff very helpful nice calm place for a family meal

Gamon was cold and dry they did offer to do the meal again but the first meal took a very long time to arrive so asked for my money back, at no time did they apologise

Food pretty average and what you expect for the money but staff earn it a 5 star. Really looked after us on NYE, thanks to the beardy barman whose name I forgot to get

Booked a table for for 17:15 for me, my partner and our two children ( 5 and 3) when we arrived we were told to find a seat anywhere we wanted due to the place basically being empty. We ordered via the table QR, The drinks seemed like they took a fair while longer than you would expect considering there was approximately 8 tables occupied and nobody at the bar ( x2 pepsi and a squash) . After around 40 minutes and the table behind us asking multiple times how long food would be my partner walked to the bar to ask how long ours would be also. The gentleman behind the bar shrugged his shoulders and said "I don't know maybe a minute or two" with no care in the world like he really couldn't be bothered. After another 5 minutes our food was brought out too us. Both the kids meals were luke warm but this wasn't major deal as it allowed them to eat straight away, both the mains on the other hand were stone cold. I don't mind waiting 45 minutes for food but atleast make sure that the food is not stone cold when it gets brought out. After raising our concerns with the server they took our plates back to the kitchen to rectify the problems. We then waited another 20 minutes for the plates to be brought back out, in the mean time both kids had finished thier plates before ours had returned. This then caused issues while we were trying to enjoy our meal, We had a 3 year old getting tired as it was now coming up to half 6 nearly an hour and a half after sitting down and also a 5 year old with additional needs that couldn't understand why it was taking so long. We basically had to rush through our food just to try and satisfy the kids on what was only ever meant to be a quick stop on the way home. Safe to say I won't be returning in a hurry

Good food at reasonable price. Friendly staff. Outdoor seating.

Very short staffed, old glasses and food plates left on tables and bar area

Nice family meal. Limited people serving at the bar so we ordered on the app and was still quite a wait for drinks.

Updated on the 26/12/2024 Well where do I start, Firstly, we waited 25 mins for our starters, they were good, so when we finished our starters, we waited 45 mins for our mains and that was only because I went to the bar to ask where it was, we ordered 3 sides the garlic bread was missing, it then turned up 3 quarters if the way through our meal, I told the waitress we nearly finished our meal so take them back and we'll have a refund on them, when we finished I went to the bar and asked to speak to the manager, he's name was Gavin, Firstly he said we didn't order garlic bread as he checked the ticket when he brought our mains out, so he checked the order and was found to be on the order and he said we had chips instead I said no we ordered chips as well and he just smirked at me, I asked who I was to complain to in head office and gave me a Google QR code and not once did the word sorry came out of his mouth the whole time !!!! Shocking !! Will never go there again while he is in charge no people skills at all, I worked in the industry for 25 yrs and would never have treated customers that way !!!

Christmas lunch was something I will never forget. I wasn't the only one who was shocked at how bad it was, every table of customers looked very unhappy, I wonder if they will review also. Very slow service, just ignored. Prawn cocktail just lettuce and a teaspoon of sauce, very little sauce, Sprouts hot but raw. Other veg left to dry out. Long wait for food. Drinks at bar very slow. Barman had no idea about anything, Won't be going back.

Went there on Saturday 21 on arrival after a lengthy wait I approached the bar only on mail serving at the bar the manager sat playing with his laptop not caring about customers after a long waiting time I ask the barman for a table for two the bar man replies any table that's not reserved there were two other staff cleaning tables asked them for a table for two the reply was find one fairplay Marsden's Sertanly don't care about there customers only Monny

Great service.Welcoming Staff, good food, reasonably priced.

The staff simply couldn't be bothered. Just threw food or drinks on the table without so much a glance let alone a word. The food was abysmal. The only thing hot of my food was the plate. The chips and onion rings were stone cold. The hunters chicken was Luke warm and dry. I think they actually forgot to put any cheese on it too. And get charged close to £50 for the experience. Truly the worst place I have eaten in over a decade. Soul less venue. Tasteless food rude ignorant staff. Couldn't recommend any less if I wanted to. I am not the complaining type. I'm not even the fussy type but this was just so bad.

We were a table booked in of 16 from 17:00 for a works Christmas meal, in part paid by personal means. I'll start with the positives: Staff "seemed" friendly and the establishment was clean and tidy; sadly this was the only positives of the night. It wasn't until nearly 6pm we got our starters, after informing staff we were ready at about 17:15; one of which wasn't served until everyone else had finished. Upon finishing them relatively quickly, we weren't served our mains until 18:45. I had the 'Festive Burger', which was pretty sub-par (not very "festive", even Santa would wonder were the festivity aspect had gone to) and the fries were horrendous sticks of rock hard cardboard that could be used to nail an IKEA cabinet together. My colleague sat next to me said his turkey was cold (I did bring this up and the waitress who I spoke to was accommodating in suggesting they reheat it) and colleague across from me did not like his turkey dinner. This sentiment was felt up and down the table. If the restaurant was extremely busy, I can understand as I used to be a chef in a very busy restaurant so I know how frustrating it can be to get multiple covers some over the course of several hours; but this was visibly not the case. We could see the staff standing around talking and just hanging about. I, and a few of my colleagues decided to leave by 8pm as we were fed up with waiting for our desserts and couldn't be bothered to wait any longer. Just as I was leaving, a colleague asked where the desserts were and I have been advised there was another 10 minute wait from then. We were never asked during the course of our stay if everything was okay, nor did anyone come to apologise or let us know how long the food would be. Collectively we have all had an extremely unsatisfying experience at this establishment and as a result, will not be attending ever again.

Very good food , staff were polite and friendly.

Great food and friendly service at a good price.

Called today for lunch was a bit apprehensive after last week going to the Sessile Oak in llanelli.Today the cheese and potato pie was cooked perfectly not like last week when it had been microwaved . The staff members today Louise and Gavin were amazing and make you welcome I will differently be returning soon

Understaffed. Felt for the staff who did their best to stop waiting times. Very polite and very helpful, food was amazing.

Burned food and very long waits. Won't be returning. This is supposed to be a mega mixed grill

Met up with friends here, had a very nice meal.

Amazing food, great atmosphere. Sophie and Louise who served us were very friendly and attentive. Great place

Good atmosphere, family friendly, decent food

Good overall. Something we ordered wasn't processed in the ticket. However, staff brought the item out anyway when asked about it. Dessert was quite a long time coming and lukewarm to cool in temperature when it should have been hot.

Lovely greeting and the food was delicious. Choose from the small bites lunchtime menu.

Great service and the online booking is great. Food is decent for the price you are paying. Louise was working flat out and always very friendly! Thanks Cherry Laurel.

Booked the Festive menu for 14 of us, for our annual car club Christmas dinner. The staff were very helpful and friendly and the food was excellent. Very impressed!

Great food and drink fantastic service

Came with a friend for food, ordered at the bar. After 20 minutes of waiting a waiter came to the table and explained food was delayed due to an audit being done. We then proceeded to wait an hour for our food, the portion sizes were like a kids portion. 5 mins after our mains a portion of pigs and blankets came that looked microwaved and severely undercooked and just to top it off there was a hair in them. When asked for a refund due to the hair no one seemed that bothered by it. We normally have a brilliant meal there but this has let us down.

Had a meal with a friend, both our steaks were ment to be cooked medium rare and both well done and could bearly chew it! Peppercorn sauce was like water and didn't taste of nothing at all. Service was pleasant.

I just wanted to share my amazing experience at a restaurant I recently visited! The service was brilliant, and the price was very reasonable. The food portion sizes were generous, especially on their small lunchtime menu. The only minor issue we encountered was with the cutlery on the table when our food arrived, but it was resolved quickly, which I really appreciated. I also loved that they offered the option to have a tab open, making the payment process at the end much easier. Overall, it was a delightful experience, and I can't wait to go back. And to give out a big shout out the staff , they were brillant.

Great as were able to take our dog

We have visited many times so decided to visit here for our son's 18th birthday. 16 of us arrived, staff were fantastic, polite, helpful and nothing was too much. All our food arrived in a timely manner well cooked. The bar staff and waitresses we're absolutely perfect even taking pictures for us and lighting and bringing out the cake. It was exactly what we'd hoped for and we'll be returning again soon, thank you

Very good service, food was lovely, 1 of our burgers came out wrong but they soon rectified it. Would definitely recommend and will definitely return

Sunday lunch was great today, really hits the spot, can't wait to return. I had the Beef dinner and the wife had the Turkey dinner and we both enjoyed

Sunday lunch very disappointing

Fantastic family friendly place to go for food. Staff are so welcoming and accommodating. Louise in particular is just so lovely and helpful! Always makes time for you and your children.

Amazing service from My server Louise, Very polite, Amazing food! I had the Hotdog and was cooked to perfection Credit to the chefs! will definitely be coming back!

Very helpful staff, went over and above.

Visited the Cherry Laurel, had a delicious spicy beef burger which was the best I have ever tasted! It was chargrilled and juicy with beautiful pulled pork and just the right balance of jalapeños spice yum!! And may we just say how excellent the service was by Louise and a big big compliment to the chef Kristian for their excellent cooking ❤️❤️ Thanks 🙏

Very impressed. We have been here twice recently and enjoyed our meal both times. We had the Sunday roast, the steak pie and the chicken and bacon burger and couldn’t fault them. Good price and friendly staff.

We sat opposite the bar and ordered through QR code. We watched our ticket sit on the rack whilst the bartender served others, not a big deal but then our food arrived and I asked about our drinks. The bartender (apparently also assistant manager) placed my drink rudely on the table and said “As you can see I was clearly busy”. She was not. There was one person at the bar who she was chatting with that I think was staff as he later walked in the back. She told the waitress she didn’t serve us because she’d have to ID us and I guess was just being lazy about it. No apology at all for us having to wait longer for two drinks (coke and a vodka lemonade) then a scampi & chips and Mac & Cheese. Only our second time going but I will probably not return if the managers are like this. Waitress was lovely though, promote her instead as at least she actually worked unlike the assistant manager who only knew how to stand at the bar and talk. Went at at 3pm. Place was dead.

Can’t fault this place tonight, quick service from ordering at the table, lovely pint to go with the the food which was fantastic and the waitress was also very nice, will definitely be coming back again.

Really nice pub. All the staff are friendly and polite the atmosphere is good, the food is really nice and it's got disabled access which is a bonus for me.

Early lunchtime so was very quiet but our lunch was lovely and hot, friendly staff Louise had a laugh with us.

Friendly service (we were served by Sophie) food was hot and delicious and the sherry trifle cheesecake was DELICIOUS. We will be back. 👌

Sophie was really friendly and helpful

We have a family member who is gluten free - been to many pubs and very rare we have found a good GF menu so he has been very limited on what he can eat … until we visited cherry laurel - what a fantastic menu he was thrilled he could actually have a burger .

We had a fab time out for food, only thing is a lot of the food that the table wanted to order wasn't available. So we had to pick other choices. Food was outstanding and drink where good, price was reasonable too. Will be coming back again soon

Popped in for a drink with the family. Staff were friendly and the service was excellent. Will definitely go there in future for the Friday quiz and a bite to eat.

Called in last night 5/10/24 found table ordered food appeared to be under staffed as we waited 50 minutes for our food ordered the beef and ale pie when it arrived I was unable to cut the top layer of puff pastry it was solid peas under cooked like bullets my daughter had the hunters chicken the chicken was also hard over cooked and bacon on top was way to o crisp also very over cooked my husband spoke to the bar man who pointed out they were under staffed and he hoped this didn’t put us off coming again We ve been coming to the pub for a number of years but unfortunately I don t think we will bother again

Be wary of the “Large” option on Sunday roasts, my “ Large” Sunday roast contained just 1 stem of broccoli and 2 spoonfuls of mash , the rest of the veg was majorly skimped out on and the gravy was thin. Yorkshire puddings were tough though would have been much nicer had there been more gravy.. it seems the “large” indicates a large plate with your food spread across it. Had many roasts in Marstons pubs and this one wasn’t it. Waiting staff were impolite when bringing food however the meal came fairly quickly. Great pints on tap but I cannot recommend the roast

Lovely food. Will definitely come back. Our server Lousie was lovely. Sophie at the bar was nice

Tonight was the first time I’ve visited the pub and I can honestly highly recommend!! A nice friendly chat with the general manager Gavin he recommended us the mixed grill it was amazing!! Big thank you to Rubell to for helping and being super friendly!! Definitely back on Sunday for a Sunday roast! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lovely meal with prompt service and food. Order was correct and all happy with our meals. Sophie is a credit to the team and was working as hard as I've ever seen someone behind the bar, was delighted to hear she is part of the management team. The gentleman in the green shirt with dark hair should be ashamed of his work ethic as he was avoiding the bar at all costs! Sophie should be running the place!

Beautiful food. Good prices. The curry was stunning. I went lunchtime on a Tuesday with my friend. It wasn't busy, but was very loud (drunk men playing darts).

We waited a long time for service at the bar whilst staff seemed to prioritise cleaning tables. Only one person serving. When we ordered food (on a Sunday) we were told there were no Sunday lunches despite the menu being available. There were unruly children running around the bar/pool table, shouting and swearing. I asked to move my table and this didn’t occur. I also asked the manager to speak with the children/parents. He did not. Not a good experience- poorly managed and administered

Amazing service. Was allowed to bring the dog in and eat. Lovely food, would recommend ☺️

Fantastic service for all the staff. Food is amazing and food value for money. Lovely environment and great ease of access for my dad who is in a wheelchair. Will definitely be returning for more meals

A very nice place.. comfortable.. spacious.. good atmosphere.. good service, good food.. good price.. We will return!!!...

This evening myself and my friends decided to have some food we also had a 30% discount code of all mains. So all 7 of us went to the till to place our order explaining we had a voucher well the older lady with blonde hair was rude and abrupt to us as a group the voucher is up to 8 people and we was 7 she didn't want to give us the discount because we didn't all download the voucher even though the voucher covers 8 people .The manager stood in and said to put the voucher on she told us quite bluntly that if it was up to her she wouldnt of done it rudely. I told her that if it was a problem we could order as a group and sort it between us not a problem but she kept on and on to a point she said I'm not making an issue and I replied you really are. You swear the 30% was being deducted from her pay packet. So this was the first and last time thanks to MISS CHERRY LAUREL YOU WONT BE SEEING US AGAIN YOUR ATTITUDE SKINTS YOU ARE RUDE AND ABRUPT ............. The server did not have a name badge on to name her sorry because she should be held accountable......

Staff are absolutely lush! Food is lovely too , we enjoyed our meals , thanks chef Love that they are dog friendly! It's a big plus for us. We come here regular but don't usually book as we usually get in but we booked this time for mothers day Thank you to all the lovely staff who always give the best of welcome and fuss our dog too ! We love this place ❤️