The Restaurant Review Thread

[HiCloy]

I really liked Ananda got some fantastic food there, thought Jamies was fine nothing special, in no rush to go back

[newbie2]

Lazare's review of a restaurant in dundrum made me think of a couple of others that need a mention.

Jamies Italian.

Dundrum

Myself and the wife eat here a lot. We love it. It's also very accommodating for children. We've never had a bad meal here (actually one time I was very hungover and had a dish of black angel hair pasta with seafood - there was soooo much of it - I nearly hurled). They really look after the kids too. Lots of really good kids meals that arent the usual fish fingers etc.
The menu is very extensive with really well cooked pasta dishes. Plenty of fresh fish on too.



Ananda
Indian restaurant

Dundrum

Not going to say too much about this except that it is then best indian restaurant Ive ever eaten in. No saucey ass food like you'll get in your local takeaway - just really good food. If you ever get a chance to eat here -do.

[Lazare]

The Porthouse Ibericos, Dundrum.

Not sure if this has been reviewed yet.

Went here yesterday, it's a little tapas place in Dundrum shopping centre, in a lovely little cottage building.

Real nice ambience and atmosphere in the place, we were having a late lunch, about 5pm. Cool Spanish music playing, decent few people in the place, tables close together but not stuffy, cushions under your arse was all that was missing at this point, chairs were a little uncomfortable.

Decent wine list, good selection of by the glass which is a big plus for me, especially for lunch. Smokin hot Spanish waitress takes the order, we ordered seven dishes, deep fried Aubergine with hummus, Calamari, seafood paella, Patatas Bravas, a grilled pork on toasted bread dish, Jamon croquettes and a Manchego burger.

This is where both disappointment and awesomeness merged. The food for the most part was meh, or mediocre, paella was a little better than ok. But, that fucking Manchego burger hombre, that was mind blowing. It's a crispy edged miniature pork burger with Manchego cheese on a bun and I'm salivating still now.

The whole lot cost a little over €40 for the seven dishes and one glass of wine.

My advice, go in, ask for the hot waitress that talks like Gloria out of Modern Family, don't allow them to offer anybody else. Order seven Manchego burgers.

Dinner by Heston confirmed for Jan 24th

€100 Aer Lingus voucher I got is going to end up costing me a fortune!

[eagle eye]

I'm not good at reviews but I went to a nice quaint little place in Athlone called La Cucina Di Angelo's yesterday evening right near the Bridge on the Leinster side of the Shannon.

I went with garlic mushrooms for the starter and they were really nice, my gf had Prawns in a lime and chilli sauce with some type of garlic bread. I had a chicken pasta(choice of Penne or Tagliatelli) for the main course with a delicious light but creamy tomatoe sauce, she had chicken on a skewer with basil, a moroccan spicy dip with a strong cinnamon flavour and white cream sauce with square fritas and salad. For desert I had their special which was Black Forest Gateaux(my favourite desert) and it was awesome, she had a knickerbocker glory and she loved it.

We didn't drink any wine, she had a margarita with a sugar rim which she says was very strong and she loved it, we both had coffee and I had a diet coke.

The bill came to €43.75 making it a bargain evening out. We went there at around 6pm so it was probably an early bird menu.

Staff were delightful, not over to you too often but often enough to make sure you were having a good experience. I'll definitely be back there again quite often, really want to try a lot of the stuff on their menu. They do Italian, Mexican and Irish dishes.

I've also been hearing great things about a Thai restaurant in the same town which I intend to visit in the near future.

[iSnow]

Were you wearing a layer of rubber under that pullover in case he drew the oul knife?. I thought that meet up was a come on, i commend your stupidity bravery.

The way I saw it was as follows:
If he was to be an asshole I'd just update my review to reflect his attitude.
If he wanted to be civil and listen to constructive criticism I was glad to offer it.
In an interesting aside that can't end well, I've invited another IPBer along for balance.

[Raoul Duke III]

rounders, you owe us a review of Chameleon btw

[rounders123]

Met with GM today for coffee and went through my tribulation with his operation. He's offered to comp me dinner for two if I write a mystery guest report for him for his restaurant. Huge kudos to the guy. That's damn fine Management.

Were you wearing a layer of rubber under that pullover in case he drew the oul knife?. I thought that meet up was a come on, i commend your stupidity bravery.

[iSnow]

Bloomfield House Hotel

[RasTa]

Met with GM today for coffee and went through my tribulation with his operation. He's offered to comp me dinner for two if I write a mystery guest report for him for his restaurant. Huge kudos to the guy. That's damn fine Management.

What's the name?

[iSnow]

Wrote a stinker of a review of a local eatery on TA. General Manager was in contact to ask would I meet with him to chat further. Move?

Met with GM today for coffee and went through my tribulation with his operation. He's offered to comp me dinner for two if I write a mystery guest report for him for his restaurant. Huge kudos to the guy. That's damn fine Management.

[6starpool]

So much for cutting corners. Fixed now, thanks John.

[Jibzzzz]

Added about 11 more reviews to the OP.

Not sure if its just me Dom but when I click on the latest reviews it brings me to DP's Bison review.

[6starpool]

Added about 11 more reviews to the OP.

[iSnow]

Wrote a stinker of a review of a local eatery on TA. General Manager was in contact to ask would I meet with him to chat further. Move?

[newbie2]

Restaurant Name: Bo London

Location: 4 Mill Street, London, W1S 2AX

Website: http://bolondonrestaurant.com/

Price Range: €€€€

Review:
Not really great at writing reviews but this place is worth a mention....


Went here with a few friends a couple of weeks ago. We had spent the day boozing, but I thought we had sobered up enough to enjoy ourselves. I have to admit, it was one of the best dining experiences I've had. We went for the 14 course chefs menu. There were a couple of things I wasnt mad about but as a whole - it was deadly.

menu


WHITE GARDEN
Spring onion, avocado and lime mousse, morel mushroom crumbs, dehydrated Enoki, ginger powder - Fucking excellent
BED AND BREAKFAST
Jasmine smoked quail egg, crispy taro crust, Osetra caviar - not mad about egg sop this was so so for me
CLOUD
Cured mackerel, compressed cucumber, black sesame, “Shao Xing” vinegar, mist of rose - deadly, the mist of rose was dry ice wiht rose essence, smelled great
FOIE GRAS
Pan seared foie gras, crispy vermicelli, lettuce wrap with sauce “Abby” - words fail me for this one. Only fantastc
SCALLOP
Sashimi, sugar snap peas, crispy rice, Shanghainese yellow wine - this was a bit mad. the crispy rice was pretty much rice crispies
THREE TOMATOES
Tomato braised in Chinese glutinous rice vinegar, cherry tomato baked in Chinese filo with Chinese olive tapenade, tomato marshmallow with green onion oil - surprisingly simple but very good
DIM SUM
Spicy lamb soup dumpling, chili crab fun gor - this was a bit too hot (temperature wise) to taste, kinda spoiled it as you kinda had to put the whole thing in at once
HAWTHORN
Hawthorn tea with chili, mandarin orange sorbet, lemon grass meringue - really good
COD
Marinated in glutinous rice wine, saffron, miso, samphire, crispy seaweed, dried shrimp and bonito crust - the highlight for me
SWEETBREAD
Veal sweetbread braised in oyster sauce, Sweet & sour pearl onion, oyster, artichoke purée -again very good
ANGUS BEEF
28 days dry aged Angus, 10 aromatic veal bouillon, spicy potato, chive Jiaozi - meh, not great. was a bit flavourless
BAI JIU
Chinese wheat liquor and Fever Tree tonic foam, lime parfait, liquorice caramel - a couple of the lads didn't like this - i thought it was very nice. The wheat liquor is an aquired taste
COCONUT
Palm sugar crème brûlée, sour Morello cherry compote, coconut milk - not enough coconut
PETIT DIM SUM - stuff at this stage but lashed them into us

The whole bill came to £810 (€978) for 4 of us. This included 3 bottles of quite resonably priced white and 4 very expensive cocktails served by a bartender with the personality of a brick. Our waiter, however was very good and really made us feel welcome. I'm not sure the people sitting beside us enjoyed their experience as much as we did, our liberal use of the words 'fucking cunt' probably spoiled their evening somewhat. having said that, I must note that the tables weren't crammed together as you see sometimes see in these types of eatery. It wasn't too formal either. Which was nice.

By the end we were fairly lashed, and slipped off to a resonably priced gentlemens club for the rest of the evening

I'd advise anybody who can, to visit and eat at Bo.

[Teddie]

So was I lol



Thats a lovely wee lass from Finglas, she has fab boobs!

Good one. Agreed on the tits though.

[SatNav]

was wondering who was going to

So was I lol

Who is your juan beside you?

Thats a lovely wee lass from Finglas, she has fab boobs!

[Theresa]

2,6,4,5,3,1

+1

[Lord Sir Banter]

Who is your juan beside you?

[shrapnel]

2,6,4,5,3,1

was wondering who was going to

[Micknail]

2,6,4,5,3,1

[SatNav]

Restaurant Name: Lawlors Hotel

Location: Poplar Square, Naas, Co. Kildare

Website: http://www.lawlors.ie/

Price Range: €/€€

Review:

One of my friends picked a package deal for 6 of us last night. 75 quid for B&B and a four course dinner.

I thought it was going to be a specific shitty menu for that money, well it wasnt!
Absolutely fab from start to finish. Only thing was it was absolutley jammers in there and the waiting time in between course was very long but we were having the crack and knocking back the vino so it didnt bother us as a group.

The staff there are very very good at their jobs. Really looked after us well. Anyway we discussed the menu with the waiter and asked what we could have. Waiter replied with " anything at all , on either menu" I asked was the steak on a stone available ( €24.99) yes it was, happy days!!!

For starter I had Deep Fried Tiger Prawns in Beer Batter Served with Chilli Garlic Mayo , they were lovely and fresh I would say. Far too many of them though.


For the main I obv had the Steak on a stone served with mushrooms, onions and chips. I was trying to figure out would I have the Garlic butter or pepper sauce but was told it came with three sauces. Garlic butter, pepper sauce and a tomato type sauce. It was absolutely beautiful and a fairly big piece of fillet steak. I love the way you cook it yourself on the stone.



Onto dessert which nobody wanted as everyone was stuffed lol I ordered Baileys cheese cake because I am a greedy fucker! It was grand , typical Baileys cheesecake maybe a bit too much baileys but still nice.



Some of the girls asked could they have a cocktail instead of dessert but the waiter said no he couldnt after asking the manager , however he did ask the girls would they like a cocktail at half price instead which was sound. ( obv the greedy fucker I am, I had a long island iced tea)

Over all it was a fantastic night and I will deffo go back . The hotel is not what I expected at all. Lovely rooms, lovely staff/

SPOILER

[Raoul Duke III]

The new MPW one takes the biscuit imo (only going on reviews). Prices are ridiculous just because you can look at a picture of him on the wall. only one reviewer (Times) called him on it too, others drooled over him. €14.50 for prawn cocktail and €28 for a sirloin, extra for sauce

Shanahans - 20 and 50 quid respectively.

[careca]

That actually reads like a nice menu. There's defintely a bit of a 2005 vibe in the dining scene atm though, lots of overpriced, pretentious shite. Confined to Dublin too.

The new MPW one takes the biscuit imo (only going on reviews). Prices are ridiculous just because you can look at a picture of him on the wall. only one reviewer (Times) called him on it too, others drooled over him. €14.50 for prawn cocktail and €28 for a sirloin, extra for sauce

[Raoul Duke III]

That actually reads like a nice menu. There's defintely a bit of a 2005 vibe in the dining scene atm though, lots of overpriced, pretentious shite. Confined to Dublin too.

I'd be closer to the GAB camp myself. Our service was decent but a little patchy. We had the 5 course surprise menu and only two were worthy of note. The rest were bland and forgettable imo.

It certainly isn't value either.

Interesting to get a range of opinions on a place.

Yeah I suppose it comes down to individual experiences. The only time I really enjoyed Ch1 was the chef's table and on each occasion the sommelier was a complete dick. Not sure how he still has a job as everyone seems to agree on that!

[V for Vendetta]

Really weird. Been there twice and the service was such that they never missed a beat. From all of the reviews I've read / people I've spoken to who've eaten there, you're out on your own with that opinion!

Was there last May and would agree with you. My only surprise was that it didn't get a Michelin star this year. Was top notch.

I'd be closer to the GAB camp myself. Our service was decent but a little patchy. We had the 5 course surprise menu and only two were worthy of note. The rest were bland and forgettable imo.

It certainly isn't value either.

Interesting to get a range of opinions on a place.

[Tar.Aldarion]

I hear terrible and great reviews from both C1 and greenhouse, be raging if I spent 260e and didnt like it.

[careca]

Really weird. Been there twice and the service was such that they never missed a beat. From all of the reviews I've read / people I've spoken to who've eaten there, you're out on your own with that opinion!

Was there last May and would agree with you. My only surprise was that it didn't get a Michelin star this year. Was top notch.

Really weird. Been there twice and the service was such that they never missed a beat. From all of the reviews I've read / people I've spoken to who've eaten there, you're out on your own with that opinion!

[HiCloy]

Ross Lewis would be justified in suing anybody that compares The Greenhouse to Chapter One. It would be akin to comparing me to George Clooney.

Go on....

Ross Lewis would be justified in suing anybody that compares The Greenhouse to Chapter One. It would be akin to comparing me to George Clooney.

Hey, handsome!

[iSnow]

So, what's the plan for the 30th? Think Olly said it needs at between 14-18 for dinner

V4V +1?
Iago +1
RDIII + 1?
IonaPaul + 1

anyone else?

iSnow +1 are 70% ATM

[Jibzzzz]

Restaurant Name: Pitt Bros BBQ Project.

Location: George Street

Website: http://www.pittbrosbbq.com/

Price Range: €/€€

Review:

Last night I made the eagerly anticipated trip to Pitt Bros. I had tried to eat here before but the queue was out the door. With an estimated 45 mins wait time, like DP, we too made our way to Bison.

Inside is quiet small, which is a pity for a place with such a high demand. Cool little set up with a kinda hipster feel to it. Staff were friendly and quick to clear us a table, sit us down and bring the menus.

I opted for the Brisket which comes with two sides, onion rings and burnt end beans were my choice. Herself opted for the Masters combo bun meal which is served with one side. This is brisket and pulled pork in a bun and she opted for the fries.
The brisket wasn't as nice as I would have liked it to be. To be fair bisons brisket smashed it. Not only did Bison serve 4 slices to pitt bros 2 it seemed like a much higher quality cut. It just seemed overcooked in comparison to bisons, however I still enjoyed it. Onions rings were some of the best I have tried and the beans were fine but I wouldn't go for them again. Her burger and fries were great, no complaints there.

To accompany my meal I had a Brooklyn Larger and we had a homemade lemonade each. This lemonade was amazing, it had me instantly googling recipes for fresh lemonade. Booze selection is quite small but they nailed it IMO. Noteworthy drinks being the Sierra Nevada and punk IPA.

The pull your own Ice cream cone included in every meal, really brings out the inner child and was as exciting as it was tasty. This was a nice touch.

Bill came to a generous €38.

I do plan to return here again however if its brisket you seek go to Bison.

[Loopz]

Restaurant Name: Bison
Location: 11 Wellington Quay
Website: http://www.bisonbar.ie/
Price: €€
We found ourselves at Bison at about twenty to 9 and were pretty sure we;d missed the bus. The place was wedged and I could see no restaurant 'area' not to fear, we were moved to the tiniest table in the world and ordered our grub. Fair play to the overworked waitress on delivering our food, apologised, laughed and moved us to a much more manageable table.
I got the brisket and herself the pulled pork
each came with 2 sides, I the onion rings and coleslaw, her the chips and I think burnt beans.
The damage of this came to €25 for the two of us and no word of a lie was probably some of the finest BBQ I've had in many a year. The brisket was pink with a perfect black crust that tasted of heaven, her pulled pork melt in the mouth.
Each came with accompanying sauces, hers a tangy BBQ and mine a mystery orange mustardy type sauce. Neither of us could finish the vast dishes in front of us and we both agreed to return at a later date. For value for money, this place will be tough to beat. Pitt bros will also get a look in by the lack of prep has sent alarm bells in our heads

Myself and the wife hit here last Saturday and you would find it hard to match this place for quality , quantity and value for money. I ordered the exact same as dp and the wife ordered the ribs with burnt end beans and coleslaw. My brisket came with 4 generous slices of beef each pulled apart with my hands and shoved down the gob, the onion rings were the best I've had in along time.the wife's portion of ribs was huge 6/7 long ribs of tasty goodness of which I was eyeing some of them for my desert but fair play to her she finished them off at the expense of most of the beans which she said were good but she was too stuffed to finish.
The only negative from me was a poor selection of beers but that hasn't stopped me from arranging to meet two groups of people there before Christmas.

[rounders123]

Name:Les Comediens

Location: Place De Clichy

http://www.lescomediensparis.fr/

Went to Longchamp for the Prix de L arc de triomphe with the brov which didnt disappoint. Shouting home Moonlight Could from the rails area was really something. Comes a point where the serious business of eating needs to be done. Like true amatuers in the glow of moonlight cloud we decide to get a pint to savour our shrewdness and watch the last before getting bottle necked exit wise and queuing to get a taxi. When one came it was bumper to bumper out of dodge. We had done our wandering the day before so bee-lined for our place of residence in Place De Clichy from taxi to metro.

The night before we were befriended by some English guys and girls and the Spanish barman. In Ireland one would be weary of a couple of bastards like us but not here. We were ravenous from the earlier city travails and tried to make our excuses and go seeing they didnt have food but the barman wasnt having that. He brought me outside and directed us to a couple of choice eateries and let us know it was cool to bring our food back and eat it at the bar. It was hard to argue with that. We chose to hit a Lebanese place we had passed on the way down to the pub. When we came back the English lads had a game where you have to blend an alcoholic beverage with a world head of state in a sentence. This type of game would be right up your street id say but i hate games and puzzles that tax my brain. Got stuck in and held our own but didnt shine like Moonlight Cloud earlier. The English love their mind challenging games dont they.

Place De Clichy hub is a big roundabout with several spurs and this night we took a different spur. By the way the Lebanese food was great, fcuked if your getting a description though as its as challenging as the alcohol/heads of state game.

At the end of our tether walking for ages down this road we werent hitting anything and i was being put under pressure to rethink this path we had chosen but i held firm even though i was wavering from my staunch line on walking on. Eventually past an eternity of tobacco and low brow shops we hit an oasis and acted accordingly with some conservatory fist pumping without wanting to look out of place too much.

Like this oasis of eateries wasnt good enough for us we fell into the typical bastard thing of getting all choosy confronted with the choices in front of us. One thing that gets me is people dithering on the street when they are looking for a place to eat. Looking at the menu at the door like its going to be a huge life choice whether they choose this place or not. Its usually the girl whos wearing the balls in these situations as far as i can see, i assume its kind of a means to an end for the chap but the girl takes it awful serious.
Passed place after place like the people im usually mocking and it seemed if we didnt get a great first impression we moved on. That is until we copped ourselves on and said enough of this messing anc committed to Les Comediens. It was like all of a sudden we turned into the least fussy most frivolous patrons there was and took our seats with the PSG v Toulouse game taking the attention of the regs and by the looks of them this was their locale so to speak.

Dont know if we got lucky but for the whole weekend we had waiters who spoke good english and was eager to please and this place was no exception. This was a place that what you see is what you get and it got top marks. One thing that would im sure ruffle the feathers of the steak elite was not being asked how you like your stake done. We remarked on this when the waiter went away but put i down to the chef being self righteous which surely could only be a good thing we told ourselves as we hoped. We werent let down, the steaks came back as tender as could be so this could be a catching trend in the future to stop fools ruining their steaks with their unqualified cooking instructions, yeah the very ones making life choices whether to eat here or not!.

SPOILER

[ionapaul]

Chapter One Chef's Table in T-minus 2 1/2 hours...

Our menu last night:



Another awesome night in Chapter One. The food was divine, but the Chefs Table experience enhances the occasion so much more. We had a great time chatting to, questioning and having the laugh with our waiter Patrick, with head chef Andy and sommelier Ed (when we could get hold of him same problem as the last time I was there with IPBers).

I enjoyed every dish, though my enjoyment of the game terrine was really tempered by the slightly queasy feeling I got looking at it; it tasted great but looked a bit dodgy to me (I sometimes feel the same way with sausages, I prefer meat when it is one solid portion rather than a mixture of different bits!).

Our first dish, the soup, was much nicer than I expected it would be (don't really enjoy mushrooms), and was paired with a sherry - not sure if I had every drank sherry before, it tasted so much smoother than it smelled!

The service was great as usual, everyone made us feel so welcome - I've a €150 voucher given to us as a wedding present, so can't wait to go back again sometime in the New Year. Oh, and it was jammed last night, they are really doing great business.

[shrapnel]

Chapter One Chef's Table in T-minus 2 1/2 hours...

off to FXB with work in a couple of hours also. looking forward to a massive steak

[ionapaul]

Chapter One Chef's Table in T-minus 2 1/2 hours...