Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Pontypridd
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Pontypridd restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 28 restaurants in Pontypridd and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Pontypridd restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Pontypridd Restaurants
1. Home at Penarth
British, Modern restaurant in Penarth
1 Royal Buildings, Stanwell Road - CF64
“An exceptional experience, with excellent food, outstanding wines and professional service, but all done in a friendly way” – James Sommerin and family continue to inspire high praise for this small and highly personal venue (at which he quickly reclaimed his Michelin star after the forced closure of a former starred venue on the Penarth seafront in 2020) and where he cooks with his daughter Georgia in an open kitchen, with wife Louise and daughters Angharad and Cath also working in the business. “James has always produced top-class food and this is certainly true of this latest venture”.
2. Gem 42
Italian restaurant in Newport
42 Bridge Street - NP20
“How this business survives in Newport is unbelievable! It’s far too good!” – twin brothers Sergio and Pasquale Cinotti (the latter the pastry chef) established this brave destination in 2018, and – some would say against all odds – continue to go from strength to strength (in 2022 they were the AA’s Welsh Restaurant of the Year). For the full blow-out, you can opt for a ten-course ‘Essenza’ menu which changes daily at £180 per head; but there are much more affordable ‘entry-level’ options, ranging from £65 per head.
3. Llanerch Vineyard
British, Modern restaurant in Vale of Glamorgan
2023 Review: This “buzzy hotel restaurant” in a “lovely sunny setting overlooking its vineyard” is “great to know about if you’re in the area”. Chef Andy Aston wins good ratings for cooking that is notably “good-value” for its quality.
4. Heathcock
British, Traditional restaurant in Llandaff
58 - 60 Bridge Street - CF5
A sister pub to Aberthin’s Hare & Hounds, this gastropub on the fringes of Cardiff wins praise for its “always cheerful/funny” staff and dependable cooking, not to mention its “sublime” beers. It’s not a twee, traditional place – the aesthetic is stark and modern, with bare wooden floors and tables and white walls.
5. Mint and Mustard
Indian restaurant in Cardiff
134 Whitchurch Road - CF14
2022 Review: Raising the bar for local Indian eateries since it opened in 2007 (there's also a Penarth spinoff), this reliably packed venture – often drawing the local academic set – has a winning menu of thalis and other Keralan fare not always to be found at your average subcontinental.
6. Dusty Knuckle
Pizza restaurant in Cardiff
Papermill Road - CF11
2021 Review: Husband-and-wife team Phil and Deb Lewis run this cool pop-up-gone-permanent pizzeria in Canton – “I felt more on trend just by being there”. A crowdfunded sibling was scheduled to open in the restored Warden’s House on the edge of Bute Park in 2019.
7. Milkwood
British, Modern restaurant in Cardiff
83 Pontcanna Street - CF11
2021 Review: This “friendly and interesting” Pontcanna three-year-old serves up “outstanding” modern Welsh fare. Chef-owners Tom Furlong and Gwyn Myring met while working on the premises 15 years when it was an Italian restaurant, Cibo.
8. Hare and Hounds
British, Traditional restaurant in Cowbridge
Aberthin - CF71
2023 Review: “Always excellent food” has built a strong reputation for local lad Tom Watts-Jones’s well-regarded pub in the Vale of Glamorgan. Chef’s CV includes stints at London’s St John and also The Anchor & Hope. There are numerous menus here, including an à la carte or nine-course tasting option.
9. Thomas by Tom Simmons
British, Modern restaurant in Cardiff
3-5 Pontcanna Street - CF11
“Excellent in all aspects!” – so say fans of Tom Simmons’s ambitious Pontcanna HQ, who moved back from three years running his eponymous restaurant in London to open here in early 2020. In addition to the à la carte selection – he provides a seven-course tasting menu for £75 per person. His cuisine is traditionally grounded (e.g. chicken liver parfait with sourdough, braised pork cheek, turbot with caviar) rather than striving for flash foodie fireworks.
10. Heaney's
British, Modern restaurant in Cardiff
6-10 Romilly Crescent - CF11
“Tommy (Heaney) is a great chef and a great character”, say fans of the chef’s swanky five-year old, in the Cardiff ‘burbs, which he launched after working at Bridgend’s Great House hotel (an appearance on Great British Menu boosting his profile). Sample tasting menus or à la carte, or hit up his next door oyster and wine bar, Uisce (pronounced ‘ish-ka’, meaning ‘water’ in Gaelic).
11. Purple Poppadom
Indian restaurant in Cardiff
185a, Cowbridge Road East - CF11
The “stunning quality of the food” served at Keralan-born chef Anand George’s flagship over the past dozen years has made it one of Wales’s best known Asian restaurants. The subtly spiced cuisine is matched by “very efficient and professional service, so a meal here is like going to the theatre”. Top Menu Tip – “the sea bass in mango (aka ‘Tiffin sea bass’, chef Anand’s signature dish) is delicious”.
12. Bar 44 Cardiff
Spanish restaurant in Cardiff
15-23 Westgate Street - CF10
2023 Review: Hispanophile foodies Tom & Owen Morgan’s city centre tapas bar, in the shadow of the Principality Stadium, serves an “interesting range of wines and sherries” and an “amazing Spanish Sunday lunch” (among other meals). The brothers launched their business two decades ago in Cowbridge, and now have venues in Penarth and Bristol.
13. Casanova
Italian restaurant in Cardiff
13 Quay St - CF10
2023 Review: This “little gem” of an Italian restaurant – “close to the Millennium stadium, so perfect to help you celebrate or forget” – has a “pleasingly old-fashioned and independent atmosphere”, created by the three friends who have run it together for nearly two decades – Antonio, Selim and Luca. The small menu of “superb, authentic dishes” is not reliant on pasta and pizza, which makes a welcome change.
14. Asador 44
Spanish restaurant in Cardiff
14-15 Quay Street - CF10
2023 Review: Whole legs of lamb and great ribs of beef roasted Spanish-style on the parilla are the star turns at this spacious venue from Tom & Owen Morgan – and even the bread arrives charred. With its “great food and service”, the outfit celebrates the Hispanic cuisine the brothers have championed in the 21 years since founding their Bar 44 group.
15. Cafe Citta
Italian restaurant in Cardiff
4 Church St - CF10
2021 Review: “A real gem”, this low-key but popular city centre venue provides “hearty Italian family fare” – mainly pasta and pizza – backed up by “great service”.
16. Five Guys Cardiff
Burgers, etc restaurant in Cardiff
Unit 9a, The Old Brewery Quarter, Saint Mary Street - CF10
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
17. Shake Shack
Burgers, etc restaurant in Cardiff
St David's Shopping Centre - CF10
2021 Review: In less than 20 years, Danny Meyer has transformed his New York City hot-dog cart into a global fast-food brand giant with eight outlets in London – including a Covent Garden flagship that was revamped earlier this year. Ratings remain remarkably solid for “a chain that does what it’s supposed to do”.
18. Vegetarian Food Studio
International restaurant in Cardiff
115-117 Penarth Rd - CF11
2021 Review: “A Cardiff favourite”, this 16-year-old family-run Gujerati BYO is “very much a student hangout – but the vegan/vegetarian food is always excellent”.
19. Five Guys Cardiff Red Dragon
Burgers, etc restaurant in Cardiff
Unit 9b, The Red Dragon Centre, Hemingway Road - CF10
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
20. The Shed by James Sommerin
British, Modern restaurant in Barry
Unit 4 The Sidings, Goodsheds Container Village , Hood Road - CF62
2022 Review: “Worth a detour to the old docks” – a converted red-brick Victorian railway building “down by the Barry Island waterfront” is the new (May 2021) home for one of Wales’s best-known chefs, who closed his former Penarth HQ in July last year. It’s an attractive contemporary setting with 30 covers for a menu that’s not as chefy and expensive as his former Michelin-starred one – more affordable and in a style you might describe as ‘brasserie plus’. A range of steaks is a feature, and early reports speak of “classy cooking by James Sommerin's team from a short, well-realised menu”.
View full listings of 28 Pontypridd Restaurants
Popular Pontypridd Restaurant Searches
Pontypridd Restaurant News