The Dragonfly
📍 2.8 miles from Rodney Parade
About this Pub
Why it's great for Matchdays
For drivers heading to Newport fixtures, The Dragonfly is an easy pre-/post-match stop: it sits on the A48 next to the Holiday Inn Express and has its own car park. It's a dining-led Vintage Inns pub with an all-day menu, so you can get a meal around kick-off, and the bar includes cask ales (e.g., Brains Rev James with rotating guests like London Pride) alongside mainstream lagers such as Madrí and Pravha.
Recent Fan Reviews
It was our first time trying a vintage inn but we always pass this pub on the way to Newport so we decided to give it a go. Whilst the food prices are on the higher end of Sunday lunches available you are 100% getting the quality of a higher priced meal. The beef was succulent and tender, roasties were fluffy on the inside and crispy on the out, the veg was flavourful and fresh and the gravy was delectable! Our server Maisie was wonderful. She was the perfect mix of attentive but also let us enjoy our meal. Once we finished we weren't rushed to get out, we were left to comfortably finish our drinks and for our food to go down. Overall, we're really impressed with the Dragonfly and can't wait to head back there again to try their other dishes!
Disappointing experience. Staff impolite, food not great and overpriced. Visiting Wales, family table of 7 including 5yr old. Expected A LOT more from their “signature burger” for £19.50. Paper thin patty was overcooked leathery and dry. The fries across the table were terrible - overcooked, dry. Everything else was sort of ok but mediocre. The halloumi skewers had very little halloumi. They offered me another burger, to be fair, but said it would be exactly the same due to “health standards” it needed to be choked that way - so they replaced it with a brisket sandwich which wasn’t bad, tasty, but I wouldn’t rush back to get one. All in all a terribly disappointing experience before leaving wales to catch our flight. Not the warm Welsh hospitality I’d become accustomed to and a sad ending to a great time in Wales. Ps the pub was nice and new with 2 fireplaces and if you’re coming for a pint the experience may be better. Pity the staff and food didn’t stack up.
Fantastic meal. Really, really tasty and fresh. A huge improvement on our previous meal approximately 2 years ago. Barry was very warm and welcoming, not only to us but he was fantastic with the more mature customers that came in after us. Jamie gave us his recommendation on meal choice and he was bang on- the skewers were fantastic. The sticky sharing starter was so tasty!! Kim assisted in between and was lovely and friendly. 10/10. Well done team!
*Best Sunday lunch experience in a long time – top-quality food and great service* It looks like 2026 is a fresh start for this place. After reading some negative reviews from Christmas 2025 and earlier, we saw no signs at all of the issues previously mentioned. Menu: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A very good choice of meats or a vegetarian option for a traditional Sunday roast. Refreshingly, there’s also the option to order from the full menu, which not all places offer on a Sunday. Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The lamb was thick-cut and cooked perfectly. The roasted carrots and parsnips were delicious, and the roast potatoes were crisp on the outside and fluffy inside — spot on. A good Yorkshire pudding to complement everything nicely. Vegetables were served separately and were good, although the beans and cabbage were a little sparse. The gravy was lovely, with no issue ordering extra. Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We were greeted on arrival by front of house (I believe the manager), who was very friendly. Despite not having a booking, we were made very welcome and accommodated quickly. Waiting staff were friendly, efficient, and attentive. All staff seemed well trained, professional, and genuinely keen to do a good job — very rare these days! 🙂 Atmosphere: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Lovely rustic décor. Ideal for a casual drink in the bar, a relaxed gathering, or a romantic meal in the restaurant. A nice, relaxed atmosphere throughout. Overall: Great food — credit to the chefs and kitchen team. Excellent service with everyone on point, and a great atmosphere for any occasion. We’ll definitely return and highly recommend a visit. (Good coffee too.) ☕️
Really disappointing I was eating alone on a Friday night and it was busy when i arrived. However I grabbed a pint and waited patiently for a table to come free and after about 40 minutes I was seated at a table for 4. Oddly, unlike most restaurants, the other place settings weren't cleared away once I was seated. Even though I was on a large table all to myself, it felt very claustrophobic Being a Friday night, I kept it simple and went for their Signature Burger. This was delivered to my table in a sensible time frame and on first glance looked fine although it took me a while to figure out that the thing round crisp on the top was actually what the menu referred to as Some Onion Rings! It was certainly not a £20 burger As the server had simply delivered the food and quickly retreated back to the kitchen, I was left for a few minutes trying to get the attention of my server to ask for some sauces and a drink. With the exception of the crisp that identified as some onion rings, the burger itself was average but OK. Certainly not worth the money About halfway through I could have done with another drink (it is Friday night after all) but I tried and failed to catch my server several times to try and order one. Indeed when I finished my meal, I was sat there with an empty plate and 2 empty drinks glasses for another 40 minutes unable to get anyones attention to perhaps pay and leave. It's not that there was a shortage of staff, simply they were all huddled behind the bar having a laugh and a chat and other customers were getting served. Indeed in the time I was there, a family of 4 had arrived, had 3 courses, several drinks, paid and left. Talk about feeling invisible. It was only upon going to the toilet that I ran into the manager in the corridor and explained to him I was being ignored by his staff and had been waiting so long. He did appear to take my complaint seriously and did comp the meal as an apology So expensive yet average food and really awful service and an experience that will persuade me not to visit any other Vintage Inns on my travels