I have never experienced such a disturbing meal as the one I ALMOST had at The Puzzle Tree in Brecon. I ordered leek and potatoe soup and was looking forward to a lovely crusty roll and some good ole fashion warming Welsh food - the soup came cold and with a scary pale brown/green hue, ignoring this I bit into my bread to find it was stale around the crust (Rock hard in fact) and chewy on the inside - as though it'd been cooked hours earlier and then heated in the microwave!!! I mentioned this to the waitress who then got the manager involved (instead of offering fresh bread). I was told by him to: Stop being silly. I was speachless!! I demostrated the hardness of the bread by trying to squeeze it - they were'nt having any of it and we were told to leave - before my partner's meal had even arrived!! We had been polite all the way through and were amazed that we were being ejected for complaining. As we were collecting our refund and telling the manager that we had never experienced such rudeness before, one of the customers chipped in with Just leave will you - we like it here On later reflection I realised it was probaly a good thing that we did'nt eat there because when I went to the ladies, I was met with two toilets pebble dashed with pooh. A result of actually eating the food maybe? They say a lot can be said about an eatery by how clean the bathrooms are kept, I think we got off lightly!!! We ended up at the George Hotel just down the road and the food, staff, atmosphere and prices were excellent!! Would steer clear of the Puzzle Tree at all costs!!!! read more

Overpriced for poor service and food. On a first visit to Brecon yesterday a friend and I chose to eat in the Puzzle Tree as the restaurant looked nicely decorated and the menu boards offered a good selection of specials - promising good home-cooked food. That's definitely not what we got! Despite the fact that the restaurant was half empty we had to wait over 40 minutes for 2 meals that were lukewarm and barely edible when they arrived. The 'home-made' burger evidently wasn't - it looked more like the kind of frozen ones you get at the supermarket. It was encased in a cheap bun and topped with a flabby piece of undercooked bacon. The second meal of thai fishcakes wasn't much better - the fishcakes didn't really taste of anything and were served swimming in a pool of bottled sweet chilli sauce. They also got the order wrong and served chips instead of the new potatoes requested. Since neither of us had eaten our meals we refused to pay the £25 bill and after some discussion eventually got it knocked down. As to the 'specials' - listening to other diners placing orders it was evident that they didn't even have half the food that was on the boards - we over heard one person asking for 3 different options only to be told each time that they'd run out! read more

when we first entered the Puzzle tree it seemed ok but there was no atmosphere, the service wasn't very good, the food was worse, the garlic mushrooms were deep fried in a deep fat frier and warm garlic mayonaise thrown over the top, ok we thought but then my Fillet steak which was £17.95 instead of being medium came back pretty much Bleu, it was returned and it must have been just tossed back into the pan for 30 seconds and returned to me pretty much the same way as it had previously been, my partners T bone didn't taste fresh it had a strange tang to it and the food in general just seemed to be thrown onto the plate in any manner, considering 2 main courses on a lunch time was costing nearly £40 more than in some top class restaurants, this was very much a waste of money, this is an establishment that will not be recommended by myself or my partner and will steer well clear of this over priced, sub-standard eaterie, only visit the Puzzle tree if you need to spend a penny, I've only given this a 1 star rating as this site would not leave me post without rating personally it gets ZERO stars read more

Do not eat here!!!! We were out for our Wedding Anniversary in Brecon and decided to have lunch in the Puzzle Tree. It started well with friendly staff and a nice atmosphere. The service started well and the food arrived and was very good with good sized portions. Then it went wrong, we were the first in the restaurant and the first to be served. Several others arrived after us and were served after us however once we had our food we were then ignored, we waited half and hour for the dirty plates to be cleared and despite us wanting to order a desert we were not asked if we wanted desert nor did anyone come to see if we wanted more drinks. My coffee was sent back as it tasted like it had been re-heated. The other tables around us were all served and cleared long before ours. I had several attempts to get the attention of the staff then gave up and went to the bar to ask for service. I then spent most of the next day on the loo with diarrhea and whilst I can not prove that it was the food here it was the only thing different to normal that I had that day. Please avoid this place. read more

Despite all these terrible reviews, My experience of the Puzzle Tree was nothing but splendid.After a couple of days walking in the area, friends and I initially popped into the puzzle tree for an early evening drink before finding a meal in Brecon. We all felt very comfortable in the old bank and so decided to eat there. The service was as expected with no negative aspects to comment upon and the food was most decent and served timely and with a smile. I had intended to order a dessert but was stuffed after a fabulously tender and tasty lamb steak with all the expected trimmings. The interior was clean and tidy and decorated in a relaxed and tasteful manner, and as already mentioned, we all felt very comfortable there. I will be eating in the Puzzle Tree again when we next take a hike there and I I have advised others to do the same read more

Well i dont understand these bad reviews, personally i have always enjoyed my trip to the Puzzle Tree. We visit Brecon a couple of times a year, it is a beutiful town with lovely walks and very friendly people, we like to eat and drink at the Puzzle Tree while its not the cheapest of places, i feel you have to appreciate your surroundings, it is more upmarket than most of the pubs / restaurants in Brecon by quite a distance. The food has always been find and they have lovely beer so i would recommend you pop in and see for yourself read more

5 of us visited this old bank on Sunday 11/03/2012 more like faulty towers than you would believe we ordered 5 meals waited an hour and 4 turned up 2 were not what was ordered my wife ordered cream cheese pasta bake she got a very sloppy broccoli bake that tasted like soap we sent it back only for the cook to say there was nothing wrong with it eventually the fifth meal turned up another load of sloop on a plate overall a high priced low quality experience seems that even now this old bank is still ripping people off !! Do not eat here read more