By Nathan Lloyd and Heather Wood
The adventurous bar group, Loungers, has opened another venue in Swansea. Located in the centre of town overlooking the gorgeous bay, Croeso is sure to appeal to the trickiest of visitor.
Myself and my Co-Editor along with our other halves visited the venue on the two-week anniversary of its opening, and to our delight they were packed full of customers from all over Swansea. Filled with low lighting, colourful tables, and wall to wall paintings, it kept the personality that ‘Loungers’ brings to all their venues. Croeso benefitted from a diverse serving system, they offer you have the freedom to order from the bar for food and drinks, but you are never neglected from the staff who are always on hand to help or take your order if you wish to stay in your seat. Croeso is a unique type of restaurant, serving food (including their divine breakfast) and drinks all day. Something that may appeal to many of you readers is that Croeso offers an entire gluten and vegan free menu! Croeso is also a multi-use venue – they offer a heated outside balcony, overlooking the bay to the book swap area (kept well stocked) and a board games station.
Whist the all-day brunch did almost tempt us, we stayed traditional and moved straight into the main meals section of the menu. I ended up with a Chicken, Bacon & Avocado Burger for £9.95 which came with house slaw and fries. The plate was extremely filling and worth the entire £10. The chicken and bacon was chargrilled to leave a light smokey taste in your mouth which was complimented by the garlic mayo in the burger. Whist the experience was a little messy, it was divine. My partner ordered the Hero Burger. For just 9.95, it was a succulent 6oz beef patty, chorizo, dripping with mature cheddar, fried red onion, chimichurri, chipotle mayo and marinated chilli.
Nathan had the Superhero Burger, which he was delighted to find could be ordered medium, not to mention delivered medium as well! At £12.95 the 6oz beef patty, combined with delicious buttermilk fried chicken, smoked streaky bacon and 8hr slow-cooked pulled pork was generously filled and mouth-wateringly tasty. His partner, Tom, had the Tin Pan Louie Beef Chilli which was super filling, with lovely tender pieces of beef and a delicious guacamole. At £8.95 it was great value for money. They washed these down with their homemade, in-house, Watermelon Iced Tea and Sherbert Lemonade. The drinks take a little longer to make so your wait at the bar while ordering food isn’t exactly ideal (especially at peak times, like the time we visited) but the wait is worth it for how delicious and unique they are. The food, despite how busy it was, came out very quickly in and was all delivered to a high standard of presentation – standard pub grub this is not.
All of us finished the meal with a sticky toffee pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The sponge was light which complimented the thick toffee sauce and unlike many sticky toffees, it wasn’t too rich. The portion size was generous but not insanely large. We washed it all down with a cup of Clifton Coffee, a local-ish company from Bristol.
The only downside to the evening was the number of customers visiting the venue; a packed venue can sometimes be overwhelming, however Croeso overcame this problem easily. Reserved tables meant that we were seated quickly in an upstairs area away from the bar. And with spread out tables, it meant we weren’t jostling elbows with others and it wasn’t cramped. Despite the popularity of their venue, the hosts and the kitchen held it wonderfully and our food arrived delicious and quickly. The fluidity of the service meant we were able to order from the bar quickly and towards the end of the night when the volume decreased the hosts were able to assist us more. Croeso offer a diverse and welcoming environment that is sure to appeal to a wide range of customers. I highly recommend the Croeso venue for all types of meals and drinks, and I think from the popularity, most of Mumbles do too!
Excellent service well defo recommend
Very busy aswell
After a walk from sketty to the croeso lounge because I had heard that they were dog friendly. The four of us with dog in tow, a dog who by the way is the one of the friendliest on the plant walked in and before we have time to settle was told that we would have to leave because Millie had barked probably no more that 5 times and yes I know nobody wants to hear a dog barking but honestly you hadn’t give us time to settle her or put her under the table. I’m sorry but we will not be visiting you again because we didn’t get the welcome we were expecting. I can’t comment on the food as I didn’t get a chance to order thank goodness otherwise I would have wasted £40+ . I have taken my dog to numerous establishments in Padstow and always had a very warm welcome. She has always been well behaved. I wonder if a child had been crying would you have asked them to leave….just a thought.