La Brasseria - Swansea

Visited here 29th December 2023 with two work colleagues for lunch. I ordered avocado and prawns for starters but ended up with just a prawn cocktail but still charged for the avocado, For lunch I ordered sea bass and jacket potato, Sea bass arrived and full of bones poor filleting difficult to see in a dimly lit restaurant, jacket potato forgotten and had to remind them. Wine was nice and pleasant. It’s a real shame as this restaurant used to be amazing back in the day. My two colleagues both had the steak and chips, steaks were of poor quality chips were great. They had requested medium cooked steaks but by the time they came on a skillet they were to say the least well done and dried out. The restaurant and decorative state in which it is set is very nice with the open kitchen. Overall poor value for money .

My friends and I visited on a Saturday night in November and were so disappointed unfortunately. We arrived ten mins before our table was booked, and were told we’d have to wait as it wasn’t quite ready (which we were very happy to do . After another 25 minutes our table still wasn’t ready and we asked when it would be and were told by a member of staff that he was doing a drinks order and once finished he’d take us through to the table. We’d waited so long that we knew what we wanted to order so as we were seated we asked to order straight away and were told we had to go and join a fairly large queue at the counter to order the food. I asked for the beef medallions au poivre and was told they had run out earlier in the day (why weren’t we communicated this when seated at our table? . I ordered fillet steak and my friends ordered duck. We noticed they came with chips or jacket but we couldn’t see any vegetable/salad sides on the menu so presumed that some greens (in some form came with the mains. Our starters arrived, mine came out about 5 mins after my friends. The garlic bread side was awful (apologies for the bluntness, but it really was terrible . The food came and we were surprised to see that it really was just steak and a jacket potato. For £33.50. I thought the steak was lovely, but I was very surprised at what the dish looked like for that price. Are there not vegetable side dishes? It looked like a medieval meal (see attached pic . My friends had literally half a duck and chips, with no sauce or veggies or salad. And they did say that it wasn’t crispy as described on the menu. Overall it was a weird visit, I remember it being very different the last time I ate here which was a couple of years ago. We also were waiting for so long that I had to extend my parking. I emailed this feedback to the restaurant but never got a response.

Been coming here for 20+ years. Especially on Xmas eve. Absolutely horrendous today. The service was appalling, staff were rude, inexperienced and didn 't care. Starters didn 't arrive, garlic bread wasn 't ordered. Staff had an aggressive attitude towards us accusing us of not ordering stuff and huffing and arguing with us. Every table around us complained about how bad the service was. There was 1 chef and 2 staff serving, I actually felt for the staff who were taking all of the complaints whilst the manager stood back and hid and didn 't even apologise to every customer who was complaining. Thank god the food tasted decent or I actually think not one person would have paid today. My dad actually had to serve us all black pepper and sauces because there was no staff to get us anything. Was told we couldn 't have water as they had no jugs. Manuel would be disgusted at how his restaurant was being run. Ruined Xmas eve for us as we were all angry and annoyed the whole time. Will not be rushing back in the slightest after today. I 've been recently and served by Preti who is an absolute diamond. gutted she wasn 't serving downstairs today as you should be ashamed of what was going on today!

Worst service I’ve seen in a long time! Well, I say service … What should have been a lovely relaxing celebratory family meal was a complete shambles, all due to a couldn’t-care-less attitude by staff. No welcome, no information about how to order (how were we to know we should read it off the wall? , nobody taking drinks orders till we asked, staff taking food orders who didn’t have a clue about menu choices, food coming out in fits and starts, wrong orders, some orders not arriving at all … I could go on. A birthday meal ruined. Don’t be tempted to go there!

I have visited La Braseria many times over the years and it has never disappointed. However, during my recent visit post-pandemic, I found that the restaurant was still vibrant in atmosphere and popularity, but lacking in service and food refinement. There seemed to be a lack of engagement between the staff and guests. Upon being seated, we were simply told to refer to the board for food and drink options, with no further recommendations or interactions with the staff. The food quality was mediocre and it felt more like dining in a cafe rather than a restaurant. While it's good that some of the menu items from 10 years ago are still available, it also felt like there were no new additions or innovations. In a competitive food and beverage market like Swansea, it's important to focus on innovation and good service to stand out. Reputation alone is not enough to attract customers and positive reviews. I probably won't be returning to La Braseria as there are many other better dining options in Swansea that are more focused on attracting food enthusiasts.