My new favourite chippy in Cwmbran Shopping Centre!…read more Atmosphere: Slightly better-looking than the average fish & chips takeaway. Normally, they're very grimy but Castaways maintains a clean dining space with a chic looking counter as well. Customer Service: Nothing too exceptionally friendly, but they are efficient. The place was really busy when I came and I noticed the staff did a great job with speeding through orders to make sure a long queue didn't necessarily mean a long wait. Food: I opted for Cod & Chips with gravy as I always do. It came with a small side salad as well. The food was delicious! The chips were cooked beautifully and so was the fish. There wasn't too much batter on the fish (often times at different chippys the batter would completely overwhelm the fish) and it was very light. They even had a sign up on the wall telling you where the fish came from! I really liked their gravy as well. It didn't taste generic - in fact, it had a nice hint of beef flavour in the background. Just under £15 to feed 2 people is a little bit on the high end in terms of fish and chip prices, but with the quality I wouldn't be opposed to coming back. The food was delicious and the service was efficient, worth a go!

I arrived on scene at 1700 hours on a Thursday evening. I was greeted by a lovely young woman no…read moreolder than 18, Clarissa. She gladly seated my party of 25 in a matter of minutes. We had made a reservation which was followed up by her. We retrieved our menus and sat down on a large table. We were asked straight away for our drink orders. Personally, I went for a pint of Stella, can't beat a classic! It came with a lemon slice, ice cold and really refreshing... Pete (my brother who's transexual) ordered a cheeky cocktail, sex on the beach. The rest of the boring bastards went for a soft drink each. This was brought out moments after by our ravishing waitress Clarissa. What a gem! Me and the lads complimented her on her tight, short, fitting skirt. Twit-twoo! After a brief catch up with the alphas, we ordered our mains. Yummy! I went for two considering I had only eaten a McDonalds 30 minutes prior. My tum was rumbling. I ordered the fish and chips with extra chips and a corn on the cob. And for my second main, I went with the whole chicken, onion rings and wedges with a side of gravy. Delish! Clarissa tempted me with a dessert, I couldn't say no. I ordered a chocolate fudge cake with extra chocolate and cream. We then got up and hobbled over to the salad bar. Nothing tickled my fancy so I stuck with the rolls. I took the whole basket and had to ask for a normal tub of Lurpak. Following this, I chowed down on my rolls and butter in no time but within 2 minutes I was hungry again. 5 minutes later, my food made an entrance and I could feel my cockerels warming. I ate my 2 main meals within record time and my dessert filled me up for the evening. Overall, a lush day out all thanks to our Clarissa. Shout out to you girl! Made my night.

To be honest, I was skeptical before coming here. The only other Harvester I had been to previously…read morewas the branch in Pontypool, which I found to be sub-par quality. Thankfully, Cwmbran's Harvester trumps my local branch in every way and my worries were squashed. Atmosphere: I came here on a Sunday, so the place was absolutely packed. They have a bar to use as a waiting area if there are no available tables straight off the bat. However, despite the hectic atmosphere of the place, the staff do a great job of keeping the restaurant clean and still looking classy. Customer Service: The staff were not the most attentive people during our meal, but it is understandable given the amount of people that were there. Just be wary of the fact that you may have to try extra hard to flag down any spare waiters or waitresses for assistance. However, despite the crowdedness the kitchen does a great job of bringing out the food at reasonable times. Food: For the most part, the food was very enjoyable. What we had... --- Unlimited All-You-Can-Eat Salad Bar As per usual, Harvester offers a mini AYCE salad bar with a decent variety of dishes. I would recommend their potato salad, the potatoes cooked perfectly and a lovely buttery flavour. --- Starter: Skins & Wings 4 potato skins with cheese and bacon and 4 chicken wings. The potato skins were a bit of a let down and was probably the worst part of the night out. Even though the menu description said they were loaded... they were pretty much the exact opposite. They were definitely stingy with their toppings and each potato skin was pretty much all potato with a few bits of cheese and 3 pieces of bacon. The chicken wings on the other hand was the saving grace of this starter. The chicken was perfectly cooked and moist and the BBQ sauce was packed full of flavour. ---- Plantation Platter I had the Plantation Platter with mashed potatoes as a side and gravy as my sauce. Very delicious! It came with chicken wings, ribs, roast chicken, crackerjack prawns, corn on the cob, and grilled pineapple rings. The highlight was definitely the roast chicken, which was absolutely perfect. The worst bit of the dish were the ribs. Nice flavour, but was very tough to get off the bone unfortunately. --- For the most part, Harvester doesn't deliver a 5 star out of this world experience, but they do provide tasty filling meals that can't go wrong. Combined with their AYCE salad bar, you definitely won't be leaving hungry.

Pages Cwmbran taking a ridiculous decision to not allow 50p child portion dips. They do kids meals…read morebut only now with an adult size dip. Not sure the rationale on this but the front of shop asked the management who confirmed only an adult size portion is applicable with a kids meal. Ridiculous. We have eaten two meals in the restaurant in the last week alone. This decision doesn't make sense as the girl on front of shop showed me they have the smaller dips size it's just management we're having a tough line on something so small. Guarantee won't be coming back as went around the corner and explained Pages position and obliged a small container of curry at a reduced price. Seems like other management are keen on nearly a thousand pounds of business from this family every year.

The irony of this review is that Page's Fish & Chips is supposedly award winning. To be fair, the…read moreestablishment that received all these commendations was the Pontypool branch - this Cwmbran restaurant is an expansion from the success of shop number 1. I haven't personally been to the Pontypool shop, but I can't say that I'm too impressed with Page's. Atmosphere: There's 2 entrances: 1 to the restaurant itself and another entrance for purely the takeaway service. Slightly confusing when I've never been here before because the takeaway entrance is the first thing you see and the restaurant entrance is around the corner, but I eventually made it to the right place. The decor of Page's is simple, but very lovely and clean. A huge step up from the typical grimy chippy. Customer Service: Pretty decent. We were immediately greeted and shown to our table. The food took a bit longer than I thought it would for a chippy, but I assume it's just because everything is cooked fresh to order, so that isn't too big of a deal. Food: --- What we ordered: ~ Seafood Platter for Two (£7.95) Calamari rings, king prawns, cod croquettes, and fried battered whitebait. Came with sweet chili and tartar sauces. Really delicious. The calamari rings, king prawns, and croquettes were all cooked perfectly. The whitebait was alright, but too fishy for my taste. Cooked well I think I just didn't like it personally. The starter was really delicious, but I do think that it was really expensive for what it was worth. ~ Cod & Chips w/ Garden Peas (£7.25) ~ Gravy on the side (£1.50) Nice, but overpriced. The worst part of the meal was the gravy. Was really bland and absolutely tasted, and was a tiny portion for how much I paid as well. To get any flavour into the gravy, I just ended up splashing in some vinegar and lemon juice. The cod was very lovely and cooked well. Succulent and juicy, with thin and crispy batter that complemented the fish rather than overwhelming it. I'll never understand why some restaurants leave on the skin though! Unfortunately I wasn't too fond of the chips. They were slightly too hard for me. The garden peas were... well they were peas. --- Overall, Page's Fish & Chips really know their way around cooking seafood. The seafood platter starter and also the cod were cooked immaculately. However, everything else fell a bit flat on its face - especially the gravy! Judging from the food alone, I wouldn't mind returning. However, with the hefty pricetag along with it, it might be a while until my next visit.

This is a very friendly,charming and lovely countryside pub…read more Known for its reasonably priced quality food and fortunately that is what we were here for. Enjoyed some delicious and extremely filling faggots for just 5.50. Couple of interesting beers - There was one called Sundown from Untapped, which was delicious and also Golden from the Celt brewery. A couple who had clearly missed the point (or maybe even several points) were muttering under their breath 'what kind of pub doesn't do chips?'

Lovely welsh pub with traditional layout. A must visit if you're in the area for it's frozen in…read moretime charms. Always has two guest ales and London Pride on permanently.

Celtic Manor had folks like Obama and Cameron over for tea this summer so it's well posh. It has…read moremajor games like the Rider cup so you can talk your golf sweetie into going. But that ain't why you'll be going. You'll be going for the spa! OMG, what a freaking awesome foo foo shi shi la te da good time. The pool is to die for. A lovely 31C the day I go. Swim all day. Wear your thick terry cloth bathrobe to lunch. Go for a lovely posh spa treatment. The Herbal Steam Bath is almost as good as getting it on with the pool boy. The lunch included on the spa day is a delightful selection of salads and the day I go, it also has cold steamed salmon and cold steamed chicken. Another spa treatment is a great pedicure. If you go for the pedicure or the nails, be aware that there's an hour drying time on the polish so be sure to book plenty of rest time after the spa treatment.

Stayed in one of the Hunters Lodges. Pricey but a great place to throw a party with sauna and hot…read moretub and open plan layout. Friendly drivers take you between lodges and main resort. Our family made good use of the pool, gym, golf and children's activities. Dined at Olive Tree restaurant but Deliveroo will deliver takeaway to the lodges as an alternative.

We visited this Harvester Borderer location after a beautiful day of sight seeing. There is a large…read moreparking area our front. We booked a table while we were en route and were greeted by a welcoming host. Our table for four was quite spacious. The restaurant and salad bar were very clean. The staff is very attentive and helpful. We enjoyed: - CHEESE & TOMATO PIZZA with buttered corn and chips - COD & CHIPS with no tartar sauce or mushy peas - HALF ROTISSERIE CHICKEN with buttered corn and sweet potato fries; sauce on the side - HALF ROTISSERIE CHICKEN basted with peri peri sauce, buttered corn and chips The food was absolutely delicious. We added this as one of the place we will dine at during a future visit to the local area. I hope you give them a try.

The burger was a bit pink and my Mayo tasted like cum but it was still yummy but.... Chips. Were…read more Cold. There was a worker screaming in the bathroom as a prank and baby cried whole time. Our tables was covered in white sticky stuff like we had in the burger.

Fantastic night out in breeze with a group of friends. £3.99 for 2 cocktails all night friendly…read morestaff and great music.

The gate used to be the perfect place to eat a great meal, date nights were always successful…read more Unfortunately the only great part was the food. The staff were always rude and would snigger with each other about customers. My honest opinion is that the Gate has run downhill since COVID-19 - beginning with the removal of most tables replaced with the deli service, now the deli service has been removed, they have also removed even more tables and do not answer their phone during service due to lack of staff. The best thing for this restaurant is closing, not even Gordon Ramsay could help this one unfortunately.

I really enjoyed my experience at The Gate - I would say it's about 3.5 stars but leaning more…read moretowards 3 than 4. This establishment is both a pub and restaurant divided into 2 different sections with 2 completely different atmospheres. As a result, I feel as though The Gate is just a tad bit confused with its identity. The restaurant was very brightly lit with posh furnishings whereas you step back into the pub area and it looks like another "old man's local pub" so to speak. This is not necessarily a negative thing, but I feel like The Gate should pick an identity and stick with it. Customer Service: Probably the reason why I feel The Gate is more 3 stars than 4. Some of the longest waits I've endured at a restaurant yet. Don't come hungry, or by the time your food arrives you'll be on the ground starving. We first sat down at the pub and we were told that someone would escort us to the restaurant. 10 minutes later, someone shows up. When we were ready to order, we had to flag someone down. It was about another hour before our food arrived. I don't know how their kitchen runs or how many staff they have available, but I feel like the wait times is a little bit too much and they could work on developing a more efficient system. Food: The only thing that saves this place from disaster. The food was absolutely DELICIOUS and I was honestly surprised it came out of a strange pub/restaurant combination. For a starter, I ordered Smoked Haddock & Spring Onion Risotto with poached Hen's Egg and Mustard Cress and it was absolutely lovely. I love fish, and there was a perfect amount of fishy flavour to the risotto. The hen's egg on top was a fantastic touch as well. For my main, I had the Honey Glazed Belly Pork and Mustard Mash topped with black pudding & caramelized apple served with a cider & pancetta Jus. The only downside to this dish is that I just wish there was more pork! Very tender and the fat was rendered perfectly! --- The food at The Gate is 5 stars in itself and it is almost worth the wait. But with the slow service, the overall experience has to go down to 3 stars. However, I would definitely come here again. Best meal I've had in Wales so far!

A proper pub with a fantastic atmosphere. Historic building with loads of character. Good range at…read morethe bar, friendly staff and excellent food.

This is a top notch little boozer! I say little but with the restaurant and in the summer, the…read morebeer garden, this 14th century welsh long house is surprisingly big. The lounge has a lovely calm feel about it and the bar is proper cozy. Winter is the best time to visit when the log fires are burning. A good range of beer, wines and spirit and bar snacks. The food is really good. The menu and daily specials board has a good choice and at the time of writing, the current chef puts a lot of effort into turning out quality food with a touch of flair. The staff are all very friendly and professional. All in, this is a good place.