Academy, Port Talbot

i was in the bar and found a used needle in the toilets i told them to remove it and it was still there 3 weeks later. disgusting health and safety. and the beer is horrible

Excellent!!! The Academy, Port Talbot is cheap for drinks, the food is lovely and everyone I know goes there, it's a real laugh, music is awsome as well.

Awasome pub, good music, relatively cheap, great fun, 7 best of all nice toilets. Shuts too early but awesome.

I don't recommend this place to anybody, the staff seem to work in slow motion and have a very bad attitude and come across as rather immature and have a lack of social skills, after you order your food they can usually be seen walking around the premises with meals in their hands and asking each table if they ordered it. If you do still decide to go there DO NOT have sunday Lunch unless you want uncooked veg, overcooked meat and yorkshire puddings made of stone or so it seems.

I thought I'd been a bit critical of the Academy in Port Talbot in my last review so thought I should give them another chance. I figure any place can have a bad day so I should try and be fair.

When I arrived, the 50 foot long wooden bar was devoid of one key item - staff. Eventually, once around 10 of us congregated, two people appeared in "Mr Ben" fashion to serve us. I had a suspicion that the reason that there were no staff at hand was because they "cook" the food too. I started to wish I hadn't been so fair minded in giving them a second chance.

I ordered, eventually, a glass of wine and a burger with chips. I thought this would test them as it involved two different styles of cooking - deep frying AND grilling. Wow - how would they cope I wondered.

What I got was a dreadful bread-type roll with burnt beef-type substance and some chips which were ok. Condiments on each table included Heinz tomato sauce, brown sauce, salt, vinegar and pepper which is a good point, I suppose. Yes I have found a good point. The fact that I'm complementing them on their condiments says it all!

Having felt guilty about my previous review I thought I should at least try and give the place another chance but I'm afraid the experience was again awful.

I watched more than 20 people leave the establishment having given up all hope of being served and one mother and child were told not to bother even trying when they walked in - and walked straight back out again to the Weatherspoons opposite.

This place has such enormous capacity for improvement and could easily compete locally as the only other eatery in the town is the Weatherspoons opposite to them. I think that they need a good manager, a chef and some decent training.

As I left I put an envelope on the bar addressed to the "Manager" (needless to say there were no staff available to hand it to) which contained my previous review, hoping that they will take their role seriously.

As it is - in my opinion, this is a place to be avoided at all costs. Shambolic!

I called there for lunch yesterday - the Weatherspoons opposite was full and I didn't have much time - so I tried the Academy in Port Talbot instead.

I figured I'd go for the tortilla chips with cheese, guacamole, sour cream and salsa - quick, and hey you can't go wrong. Can you?

Trust me you can. After 20 minutes - 20 minutes! - a plate of nachos with guacamole and salsa arrived. I pointed this out to the manageress (suddenly the only member of staff on front of house - all 3 other staff had disappeared!) who returned in a few minutes with exactly the same plate, but this time covered in plastic "twirly" cheese, clearly from a packet, and it hadn't even melted!

Anyway, annoyed but in a rush, I decided to carry on. For £4 this was worse than lousy.

I then went to the bar to order a glass of wine. Considering the fact that the bar is around 40 metres in length, there was no-one serving. My cold food was remaining cold so I didn't mind. I thought a glass of wine might make up for my wasted journey.

Around 12 of us eventually were standing at this huge bar, but still no-one came.

Eventually the manageress appeared with two plates of burgers. She visited every table in the place and offered them... but NO-ONE had ordered them. She then went back to the "kitchen" and reappeared with one of the same plates (I assume now cold) and a chicken burger concoction, which again no-one wanted.

OK, so the place is having a bad day, I assume the "chef" has either walked out or not turned up, but they're still taking food orders - I also assume it's the untrained bar staff who were there when I arrived but had since disappeared - who were "cooking".

Eventually the manageress appeared without plated food (cold or otherwise) and walked towards the now gathering throng of would be customers (I'd given up on my plate of crisps - I just wanted a glass of wine!). I expected a "what can I get you?" but instead she shouted, yes SHOUTED "I'll be with you in a minute". Sadly I'd already handed over my money and couldn't see any point in staying longer. Refund? Service would have been fine.

The place needs a chef (hey it's only microwave / deep fry stuff anyway) and a manager.

I've never experienced anything like it.

It's called "Academy" - it has a lot to learn. Find a table at Weatherspoons instead.