We’ve gathered some of our favourite places to eat in Bridgend, so whenever you get peckish, take your pick from some truly excellent eateries. Two of your top options are some seriously tasty tapas bars. There are also gorgeous gastropubs, an authentic Italian trattoria, a curry house we crave on the regular and a slew of sublime cafes for daytime eats as well.
Places to eat in Bridgend
Restaurants
Take your taste buds on a trip to the Mediterranean with a visit to La Cocina. It’s an excellent tapas and cocktail bar on Derwen Road. Great value and variety can be found in the set menus. Or pick and choose your personal favourites knowing they’ll be cooked to perfection. The restaurant is simple but stylish, and the service is always very good. The location is convenient too, just down the road from Bridgend Station.
Going head to head with La Cocina is your other excellent tapas option in Bridgend: Poco Poco. The restaurant has a lovely ambiance and is perfect for a romantic evening’s meal, which will only be helped by the tapas bar’s brilliant wine list. The service is top class, and the prices are more than reasonable considering the exceptional eating on offer. There’s a good reason so many people rate it as the best restaurant in Bridgend.
Stepping away from tapas, The Star Inn tops the list of your gastropub options in Bridgend. If you’re staying with us at our Bridgend (M4, J35) hotel, The Star Inn is barely more than a five-minute drive away in the pretty village of Treos. It’s the perfect countryside setting and boasts a modern menu of classic dishes that place it among the top 10 pubs in Wales. The cow pie is a proper crowd pleaser, but we prefer the beef Wellington; it’s freakishly good.
If you’re a pasta-and-pizza kind of person, you won’t find anything better than Zia Nina. It’s an authentic Italian restaurant right at the heart of Bridgend, just a few doors down from The Old Bridge. The rustic restaurant and heartwarming staff combine to give you one of the friendliest places to enjoy a casual evening’s meal in Bridgend. If you want a recommendation, the saltimbocca is towards the pricier side of the menu, but it’s absolutely sublime.
Craving curry? Ashoka tops the limited list of Indian restaurants in town. As is the case with the most popular curry houses, the portions are big, the staff is full of big characters and the curries are authentic and freshly made, plus there’s plenty for spice enthusiasts to get sweaty about.
Places to eat in Bridgend
Bridgend cafés
Cafés
If you’re looking for somewhere to satiate your sweet tooth, Kaspa’s Desserts in the Brackla Street Centre has endless options when it comes to waffles, crepes, cakes, puddings, milkshakes, smoothies and the like.
The Dragon Cafe on Nolton Street offers some of the best value eating in Bridgend. Portions are monstrous, prices are cheap and the cafe is nice and clean. On Sunday, you can get roast lunch with a pudding for just a few quid, or visit earlier in the day for their beast of a full English breakfast.
The best cafe in Bridgend is Pimento. It’s a hidden gem away from the town centre. Everything is freshly made, and the ingredients are top drawer. It’s our favourite place to grab breakfast and well worth making the 15-minute pilgrimage from our Bridgend Central hotel. The cafe’s large and airy, and the staff are lovely and friendly.