The Ernest Willows in Cardiff

delicious food and cheap prices

Ordered a breakfast was didn't have to wait long which was good but Food was only warm and toast was cold

Nice food and always a good pint 😋

Very quick food Nice but not very hot

This is Still a very grim Wetterpants. I've been to many Spoons pubs in the last 20 years and I've had hundreds of breakfasts but this was by far the worst experience I've ever had in the world of J.D. Wetterpants. It's a dump on a really horrible road in Cardiff that makes Cricklewood Broadway seem like Knightsbridge. I have only myself to blame. It's the worst Spoons I've ever been to. Obviously no one gives a stuff what is said about this pitiful place as my review has only been viewed a dozen times in two years such is the disinterest. As for an update, I ate here in late December with my parents, and the chill wind coming in from the non-stop opening and closing front doors made the experience even more miserable.

Can't complain it's a good spoons

Fantastic “pub pub” spoons - it is one of the few remaining in the centre and just does what a pub should do very well especially for a spoons. Friendly staff, serviceable spoons grub and a great atmosphere from open to close.

The atmosphere is great, the staff is welcoming, there is a large selection

My local spoons. Staff treat everyone as their friends all really personable.

Nice breakfast. Good value for money.

I will start on a good note and say that the food is always consistently nice in this pub. This is my local pub near my place of work and I very often spent my lunchtimes here with my colleagues until an incident in the pub last month. We went for our Christmas lunch and we received horrific service from 1 lady in particular. She was so rude and vile to us for absolutely no reason. I ordered a drink on the app and selected for it to come with a straw, she brought my drink over and I kindly asked for a straw as I struggle to drink without one. She told me to “get it myself”. I was shocked by this but I let it go maybe she was having a bad day? She was huffing and puffing around us with an aggressive attitude throughout our meal. When clearing the plates and glasses she snatched my glass out of my hand that was still half full and spilled my drink all over me. I told her I wasn’t finished and she asked “why I was giving her a look” I said because you just spilled my drink all over me?? It was clearly dripping all over my hand and arm. At this point I honestly thought she was going to ask to fight me outside she was so aggressive. She then ran over to her manager out of fear I would complain I guess? Anyway I was totally embarrassed by the whole thing in front of my work colleagues so I left the pub without speaking to the manager. After I left I made a complaint via Wetherspoons website. The manager of the pub emailed me and offered me a voucher as compensation. I accepted this offer and provided my address to receive the voucher, 1 month later I still haven’t received it. Myself and my colleagues haven’t been back to the pub since this incident, it’s totally put us off. I don’t expect a 5* service from Wetherspoons but I do expect to be treated with respect.

Just a great place to eat and drink and very friendly people.

Another good spoons in Cardiff.

Genuinely the best chicken wings I've had since moving to the UK. Chicken wings are best enjoyed surrounded by your treasured friends. My mouth is burned but my soul is free. The toilets are beautiful, the prices are cheap, and the vibes are just right. Long live The Ernest Willows.

Nice food, Friendly bar staff, Nice clean tables when people get up to leave. Well done spoons .

SKY IS AMAZING GIVE HER A RAISE

Friendly service and meal arrived quickly.

Really good value but very noisy when busy

Great Red Wine away from the busy city pubs

Very friendly customer service, a warm environment and good food!!

Great pup and great value for money. .didn't have food but have eaten there before and food great and priced very reasonable.

Staff are friendly. Good atmosphere. Beer Garden well maintained. Meals are good value. Recommend Steak kidney pie and chips.

Sky Luke & Lydia very nice well organised excellent customer service good with individual customers requirements will do well keep up great work thank you

Very convenient gof a catchup with other half's bruv.

Great selection of beer and lagers, place was a bit quiet but it was early afternoon

Lovely food and service, it's fast than we think. Very clean place, toilet absolutely fantastic. Highly recommended to everyone.

Heather& Nicola very nice with excellent customer service very well organised good pub to frequent never a problem keep up the good work

Great place, friendly staff giving quick service. Always a pleasure visiting here. Highly recommend.

Only been here when it's been quiet but it's always been good, toilets are very fancy and the seating area is nice and big

I love this place! Super cosy, great food for a small price and a lovely local atmosphere ❤️ AND the women's toilets are the prettiest i've ever seen 😍 Very clean as well!

I won't go there again because it is in a rough area in city road

First visit here, easily served as it wasn't too busy, excellent toilet facilities and on ground floor lol

Their were alot of people smoking 🚬 and vaping 😬 would still come again 💗

A very atmospheric pub, everything is really top notch. The only thing I can complain about is that the food portions are small :)

A great place to spend time in smaller or larger groups. You can play something, you can talk calmly without shouting over the loud music. A huge selection of beers, cocktails and quite a lot of different dishes. Very nice staff and an impressively sized women's toilet

A nice well priced selection of ciders. Outside patio area was a nice sun trap. Polite staff worth the walk.

Very clean and spacious seating area and very quiet and well decorated backyard and very friendly and warm service at the bar, one of the best WSs I have ever been 👏🏻

It's wetherspoons, where the tables are sticky and the food is sickk

Decent food at a fair price. Excellent beer

Wic very nice friendly & acomadating with good customer service well done will tell my friends family and colleagues how welcoming the experience was

The breakfast was cold, cheap beans, hard egg not runny as requested. When asked for a new egg I was declined. Very disappointing visit.

Not a good experience here at all.

Amelia very nice friendly attentive with specific requests will do well good customer service and organisation great atmosphere

Great food and drink and very reasonable prices.

Good cheap food, good cheap beer, good prices all round. Suits my budget as not a millionaire.

Great place to grab a drink or snack, or a meal... Could get a little too crowded at times... Nice ambience and good service...

When I visited the pub I was asking about the vegan options, a young man called Lewis O'Reilly ( I know this as I asked him, to make sure he received the recognition) was so helpful. He said to have a seat and he'd fetch over the menu, he then proceeded to explain the vegan menu in detail. I felt confident in his product knowledge and his helpfulness and politeness was a real credit to your establishment. I really would like this young man to receive some credit for his excellent customer service skills. He is a real credit to your establishment. Thank you

Lucas very nice friendly very clever with good attention for requirements of customers particular orders good organising skills & customer service Thank you

A great spoons on the outskirts of Cardiff. A wonderful view of the road outside of the large windows. Very impressive toilets compared to other spoons, only one step and you are there. Good food and quick service on a Tuesday lunch. Snug full of locals and a guy from Ireland who's voice filled the pub. Wouldn't hesitate to take a longer walk out of the main town to enjoy this pub 👍

Lovely staff. Breakfast filled a needed space. Toilets very clean

Stag get together went great thanks

Very nice spoons, the bathroom here is like the chamber of secrets. Staff are great always good service. Come here every week

Nice hot scrambled eggs for brekkie..toast is as every spoons....pale and soggy.. The " hot " drinks were tepid. And I couldn't use the ladies because some drug addicts that wandered in off the street were being " dodgy" in there. I guess staff are not in a position to challenge some unwanted behaviour from some individuals as could be dangerous.

never had a bad experience here ever and it's the cheapest weatherspoons around

Large and spacious Wetherspoons pub, just outside the city centre. It's worth going to because it's busy and vibrant, with cheaper prices than the pubs in the centre. Food was good, and the staff are lovely and friendly. Great place, enjoyed our visit.

Good food, excellent service, but I can cook better steaks

lovely atmosphere. Great locals.

Spacious Wetherspoons pub near the end of City Road. More of a local than most. Friendly staff.

Excellent meal and it was served hot which is a bonus other than other venues. Well done

The staff are incredible!!! Give 'em all a raise!!!

As usual a beautiful Steak peppercorn sauce,(the posh one) washed down with a pint of Stella

Nicola very nice & friendly very well organised with excellent customer care services good atmosphere

Friendly staff, good food, great atmosphere, fantastic bathroom

Lovely beer garden. Toilets were nice and clean. Good atmosphere and very fast service, especially for a Saturday

Propably the worst cheeseburger with bacon ever, even by Wetherspoon standards.

Was an average spoons, had a nice burger

I didn't realise but this weatherspoons used to be a car dealership and the toilets are absolutely huge and not to far to get too. We came for breakfast and it was very nice and good value. Like any spoons, resident alcoholics frequent this place.

Enjoyed it here. Nice & busy. Food was good 👍

This delightful Pub only 2 blocks from our hotel was perfect. Part of a coach tour in Wales brought us into Cardiff for the evening. It was dark by the time 2 of us wanted to go to supper. We only walked 2 blocks, made a left and "there it was", this lovely pub. Nothing fancy; but, substantial for our supper. The nicest server approached our table with a smile. Tyler E was very helpful. I ordered the Tuesday special steak with jacket potato. The potato was hot and delicious. Unfortunately, the steak was a little tough. When Tyler E. checked on us, he noticed I was having difficulty cutting it. He then replaced it with another which was much better. Such a pleasure having a server who is friendly AND competent at their job who cares about quality making the customer happy. Surely would return if in Cardiff again.

Ernest Thompson Willows (1886–1926) was a pioneer Welsh aviator and airship builder. He became the first person in the United Kingdom to hold a pilot's certificate for an airship when the Royal Aero Club awarded him Airship Pilots Certificate No. 1. Willows was born in Cardiff, Wales on 11 July 1886. His parents were Joseph Thompson Willows (1859-1931) and Evelina "Eva" Louisa Willows, née Garrett (1858-1953). Both English-born, Willows' father was a dental surgeon born in Hull, and his mother was born in Bath. Eva previously worked as a music teacher before marrying in 1885 and starting a family. Willows had two sisters: Doris May (1895-1961) and Daisy, the latter of whom was born in 1888 and died at 2 months of age. Willows was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, entering the school in 1896 and leaving in 1901, aged 15, to train as a dentist like his father. Willows, however, had different plans for his career. He built his first airship, the Willows No. 1, in 1905 when he was 19. It was first flown from East Moors, Cardiff on 5 August 1905, the flight lasting 85 minutes. This was soon followed by an improved Willows No. 2, in which he landed outside Cardiff City Hall on 4 June 1910. No. 2 was re-built as No. 3 which he named the City of Cardiff before he flew it from London to Paris in 1910. This was the first airship crossing of the English Channel at night and the first from England to France. The journey was not without incident, including dropping the maps over the side during the night, and problems with the envelope caused the airship to land at Corbehem near Douai at two o'clock in the morning. With the help of the local French aviator Louis Breguet the airship was repaired and arrived at Paris on 28 December 1910. He celebrated New Year's Eve with a flight around the Eiffel Tower. Willows moved to Birmingham to build his next airship, the Willows No. 4. First flown in 1912, it was sold to the Admiralty for £1,050 and it became His Majesty's Naval Airship No. 2. With the money from the Navy, Willows established a spherical gas balloon school at Welsh Harp, Hendon near London. Although, this did not stop him building Willows No. 5 in 1913. This airship was a four-seater designed to give joy rides over London. During the first World War, Willows built kite or barrage balloons in Cardiff. After the war, he continued with ballooning. On 3 August 1926, he died in a balloon accident at Hoo Park, Kempston, Bedford. Willows was killed instantly, along with a passenger. Three other passengers died later that day either in hospital or on their way, making five deaths in all. There is a school named Willows High School built on his old airfield to remember him. The pub called The Ernest Willows is situated not far from the school.

I went to the Ernest Willows for lunch and coffee, the coffee was refillable and was lovely, it's Lavatta l had sausage, mash, peas and gravy it was ok, well cooked. The atmosphere was great, staff were great. Great place to visit. Wheelchair friendly.

Good rating due to the expansive toilets. This is due to the fact that the venue used to be a car showroom. Nice breakfast and service.

Myself & my hubby visit ere often, we enjoy it here, friendy & relaxing

Great pub, great staff, child friendly

Long standing local pub of Roath. Many of the local drinking establishment along City Road i.e. Poets Corner (Tut and Chive), The Roath, Milgi's, have gone! This and Bar 147 (which isn't always open) are the only remaining along this stretch. Good post-work drinks meeting point for Roath-ians that worked in surrounding businesses!

Good spoons pub. The food is always great and the staff are really attentive. It's an older pub in the chain so the decor is looking worn but it doesn't put us off visiting. With a refurb, this would be a fantastic pub.

Nicola very nice friendly & helpful very good with customer service & skills a credit to the organization well done Nicola

Disgusting pub. Really gone downhill. Really smelled in there and looked run down. Food was terrible. Will not return and don't recommend.

Great night out cheap and cheerful

I had a ham egg and mash potato it came ham was warmer than the mash and the eggs were solid I could have used them as a frisbee lol

It's a standard Wetherspoon's. You get what you pay for.

Bought a Xmas dinner not very nice at all. I've got to say it was awful. On the upside the toilets were clean and tidy.

Ordered 2 rump steaks as it was steak night asked for them to be well done well when it comes out I stuck my knife in and I swear it moood it was that rare it was blue so I asked for them to cook it to order and 40 minutes later I told the manager I was still waiting for my order and wasn't quite chuffed about it. So we had a refund. Not up to it's usual standards this time

We had breakfast here and people were so kind and friendly, we like Wetherspoons but Ernest Willows is a favourite in Cardiff now.

Great service from Connor and Luke as always - nothing but great customer service and assisting with an unpleasant customer. Would definitely recommend.

Was cosy inside and everyone was polite. We ordered main meals. Thought a bit skimpy on the chips. And not all sauces available,usually a better selection. Our visit was only spoilt by a man constantly being horrible to his little boy,who was a lovely little soul, He was aggressive to him when he could pull himself away from his mobile. It really upset me. We would come again (Two oap's) but please let's have a few more chips please.x

It's westherspoons so noisy needs to redecorate the toilets be great to have toilet seat

Gorgeous chicken jalfrezi, gorgeous fish and chips, cheap and cheerful, would go again

Didn't order any food but had a couple of the phrizers they were amazing I recommend the Blue Lagoon and Tropical Balst.

Kind of a sad spoons, not awful but not great either, and compared to some local student bars the value isn't even that good.

The food and drinks are very delicious 😋

Standard spoons.. cheap n cheerful.

Very clicky place with regulars that go there think they own the place will not be going there again.

Very nice for 7 people and very lovely staff with big toilet

It's a wetherspoon, same as every other one in the country! Cheap and cheerful, buildings always have some history with them!

If you are coeliac please be aware they are no longer doing gluten free options as listed on the breakfast menu photo above. It’s hard to get allergen info and it’s high risk of cross contamination.

Good old spoons service and value.

A clean and comfortable spoons with great staff.

Nice friendly staff and good value for money, my favourite wetherspoons in Cardiff!

As you expect from a weatherspoons pub, great beer,good service at good prices