Pubs/Bars, Cardiff

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Lovely period pub and restaurant in the village of St Fagan's, next door to the Welsh National History Museum. The interior is full of character with old beams, lived-in comfortable furniture and plenty of cosy nooks and crannies. There are nice touches, such as the cutlery being kept in old enamelled kitchen jugs. Because the restaurant is part of a pub, there is plenty of beer and wine available too.

The Plymouth Arms has an impressive dinner menu, very big indeed, covering a variety of tastes and nationalities. Main dishes are approx. £8-£12. They also have a Monday to Saturday lunchtime menu, which is very good value at £8 for two courses. When we visited they also had several special vegetarian dishes, ranging from spinach pasta, to aubergine curry, to goat's cheese 'wellington'. I was particularly intrigued because they serve 'gipsy tart', which I used to make as a child (and have never seen in a restaurant). The food was nicely presented, well cooked and tasty.

Just down the road is the main pedestrian entrance to the open-air Welsh National History Museum and St Fagans Castle.

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Wetherspoon is a chain pub but we’ve read some good things about it so we visited it. Although there are many Wetherspoon pubs in Cardiff this one is called The Central Bar because it recalls the Central Congregational Chapel that was built on this site in 1901, turned into synagogue in 1918 and rebuilt in the 50s. It’s a Wetherspoons pub since 2002.

Once inside we noticed how big it is but it was packed with people, we were tired of walking in the city and we didn’t really want to search for another pub but hopefully another couple just left so we grabbed the table! There are extra table upstairs.

We ordered a vegetable burger (£5.10 including a pint of lager beer) which was ok.

The other main was a Chicken thai nuddle (£5.10), a salad and a bowl of chips which was good.
We washed them down with Diet coke (£1.65) and beer.

They also serve gourmet burgers (£6.59 includes 6beer-battered whole onion rings and a drink), many steaks and grills(£6.59-9.40), toasties, wraps and paninis, and several mains(£3.10-7.10), welsh classics, salads and noodles & pastas.

For desserts they have jam roly poly(£2.10), fruit salad & yoghurt(£2.10), Belgian waffle with icecream(£2.30), warm chocolate fudge cake(£3.10), vanilla cheesecake(£3.30)

It’s open daily 8.00-00.00 (fri&sat till 1.00am)

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O’Neill’s pub is one of these big chain pubs that luck of character but usually they have cheap food and drinks.

It is housed on an old building (pic 1) and once inside we were impressed of how big it was but the biggest surprised was that it was crowded, although at the end we found a free table next to the window so we could watch the people passing by (pic 3)

There are some special offers like two meals for £8 but also some dishes during lunch for £3.49 (Shepherd’s Pie, chicken & mushroom crockpot, irish sausages & colcannon, cod & prawn fishcakes, sweet popato, spinach & leek tart, tomato & garlic chicken, simply burger)

We ordered the Simply Burger(80z irish beef burger in a soft sourdough bun with mayo) that came with a tasty potato and the Tomato & Garlic Chicken (a chicken breast topped with tomato & garlic sauce, served with baby potatoes and peas)

The menu has a lot of sandwiches with chips or salad (£3.50-5.50), jackek potatoes with several fillings (£3.80-4), some gourmet burgers (£5-6.50), steaks and grills, fish dishes, side plates (£1-2), small plates and shares (£2-3)

There are also a lot of live sessions every night with cover bands, acoustic duo etc

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Owain Glyndwr is a nice Pub that faces St John church and that was the main reason we decided to get inside here because there was a free table next to the window so we could see the people passing by! Although it seems a traditional bar there is a large dining room and some extra seating upstairs. There were some TV screens playing sports but there is a dj on Friday & Saturday nights. Earlier in the day was more peaceful and we enjoyed it.

It’s one of the oldest pubs in the city as it dates back from 1731! (although it had different names in the past). Owain Glyndwr was a Welsh Independence fighter against English in 15th century.

We took advantage of the offer (2 meals for £8) and ordered a Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne (it was very nice served with a salad garnish and garlic bread) and Thai Green Chicken Curry (chunks of tender chicken with pak choy, green pepper & spinach in a rich sauce, served with rice, naan bread, poppadum and mango chutney). They have a lot of starters, burgers and many other meals.

We washed them down with a pint of lager beer and later we ordered 2 desserts (for £3.95 both) an apple tarte and a chocolate cake with ice cream (pic 5)

On Wednesday they have Grill Night! For £14.95 you can order 2 grills (each one costs £8-10 anyway) and a bottle of wine!

They have hot drinks at £1.50 all day and the breakfast (including a drink) costs £6

It’s open daily 11-23.30 (Thursday till 00.00, fri-sat till 02.00)

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The selection of food at this pub was wonderful. I took ages looking over the menu and considering what the many options were that I could easily chosen to eat - in fact, I could have chosen to eat about half the menu!!

We ate here during the evening. A group of 6 of use having spent a lovely day wandering the streets of Cardiff and visiting the Bay before taking a gentle stroll alongside the River Taff.

Favorite Dish: I had the Chicken Windsor (we ate here during the lead-up to the Royal Wedding) which was served with a lemon and tarragon sauce, crushed potatoes and a salad. I really enjoyed it, but would have liked a little more sauce.

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Surrounded by the offerings of Cardiff Bay, Terranova is one of a number of restaurants that are located here.

This bar/restaurant has a great menu which offers a wide selection of dishes to suit all palates.

Favorite Dish: Vicki had the pie platter - which looked very nice, whilst I enjoyed the pork and sage burger which was served with a pleasant coleslaw.

The JD Wetherspoon's Chain of pubs have taken the UK by storm in the last five years or so by offering cut price drinks and food in a noise free environment (apart from the surprisingly loud sound of the susurration of hundreds of voices in animated conversation!) - a truly winning combination!

This particular pub is the flagship of the seven Wetherspoons pubs in Cardiff and its conversion from an old theatre won a design award.

It has a huge capacity with a number of different seating areas on a number of different levels including a balcony area, and two seperate bars.

It is a great place to meet people and have an inexpensive night, before heading somewhere more expensive...

Check out the website, they are justifiably proud of their loos - and you can even view a flash animation of some of their best... ;-)

Favorite Dish: These pubs do an excellent range of two meals for the price of one (about £6!), which are sizeable and filling and normally good quality - though sometimes this fluctuates a bit but still always been worth the price! Meals in this deal include: Minted Lamb Burger, Traditional Fish and Chips, Chilli Con Carne, Cottage Pie etc...

The price of drinks is truly amazing and it is not unknown for pubs in this chain to offer bottles of Becks, Holsten Pils etc at £1.09 each!

They also have a good range of beers on tap, including ales such as Abbot, Spitfire and Directors Bitter to name a few...

Another place that's changed recently - 33 Windsor Place has had a smart face lift and a name change as well as banishing those cigarette fumes - though without them, it'll be a while before the new paint smell will die away...;-)

I think most other info is pretty much the same - oh, they have a proper coffee machine now!

Situated in the middle of Cardiff's legal belt, looking very sophisticated from the outside and rumoured to be expensive, I had always steered clear of this pub despite it being on my route home from town.

One day after finding out that it was a Brain's pub, curiosity got the better of me and one day we checked it out...

Imagine our delight when we found a pleasantly quiet pub complete with ample seating in three styles. The first, by the entrance, is like a stylish pub lounge with a fire. The middle area has alcove seating and the back area is in a bright conservatory.

During the day, this pub is a quiet and relaxing place to chill out reading their papers and magazines and to enjoy a good selection of traditional ales including Brain's own dark Reverend James and something from an extensive contemporary menu of tempting dishes at a great price.

During the evenings, the place is abuzz with the 'suits' from the surrounding offices and the place takes on a completely different atmosphere, especially during the weekend when DJs turn the place into a pre-club bar.

There is parking outside, however vouchers must be used during office hours.

Since that first visit, I probably visit Bar Essential at least a couple of times a week as it is well placed on my walk home from the centre of town!

Favorite Dish: The 8oz steak here is awesome value for money, perfectly cooked and succulent! I had it with steak cut chips, onion rings and a salad - all completely covering a huge plate!