Athlone.....what to do

beer enigma

Hi Folks,

Apologies for a second post - my trip to Mullingar has been changed to Athlone, staying in the Hodson Bay & I'm looking for info on good pubs / bars in Athlone within reach of the hotel...

Any ideas gratefully received


Cheers

Andi

muletide

Arrest Osama Bin Laden, he is knocking around there recently

Occidental

First the bad news. The Hodson Bay isn't actually in Athlone, it's about 10 minutes in a taxi, out the Roscommon Road. The hotel is much improved on a few years back and the new Spa is apparently quite the business.

Athlone.

Gertie Brownes pub, beside the town bridge on the Leinster side. The restaurant downstairs(Hatters) is also excellent. Seans Bar beside the castle is also normally good, depending on the crowd. Apart from that, there are plenty of pubs and restaurants on both sides of the bridge and its all reasonably central, so a 15 minute stroll should find something you like. If you're after anything specific, let us know.

lightening

If you have a few bob saved, try and get out to the Wineport lodge in Glasson village, fantastic food. Athlone is a great place to go out in. The amount of really really good looking women amazes me!

triskell

the wineport lodge is not in glasson village it s 2 kilometres from glasson The restaraunt in glasson village is known as the village restaruant,where the food is excellent and reasonably priced. its not a case of saving a few bob for the wineport its bring your morgageand the portions are very small so you can then go to supermacs afterwards which is what i did last feb. This place is over priced and real arty farty but each to his/her own.:D there are far better places in town as mentioned by op, hatters, left bank beside seans, le cheateau near seans
as to the good looking women there all eastern european thank the gods for the eu

lightening

dfaf wrote:

the wineport lodge is not in glasson village it s 2 kilometres from glasson The restaraunt in glasson village is known as the village restaruant,where the food is excellent and reasonably priced. its not a case of saving a few bob for the wineport its bring your morgageand blah blah blah......
as to the good looking women there all eastern european thank the gods for the eu

Ok, sorry, the Wineport is two loooong kilometres outside Glasson.

The other restaurants are great allright, the rest is very inacurate however. The Wineport has won dozens of awards for a reason, its is expensive, but worth it, anyone from Athlone should be proud of it, its very well known worldwide. Its a class place, great rooms, great wines and an innovative menu. I was there in Feb also, came home stuffed, the small portions thing is a local myth.

check out the website or just google "wineport lodge reviews" and see what comes up.


www.wineport.ie

The girls I was talking about were Athlone girls, mind you, they were giving out about the local boys, only interested in boy racer cars and making their bellys bigger with pints and supermacs!!!!!

Occidental

First off, lets keep personal remarks out of the thread.

Personally I'd take the Village Restaurant over Wineport, as I like the athmosphere and the prices are a bit less crippling too. Portions in Wineport were a bit on the small side, but not of the Nouveau Cusine size you get in some places. Le Chateau while good, seems expensive and I get the feeling you're paying for proximity to Seans and the river. Recent visits have found the food in Hatters to be better and cheaper.

Anyone tried the restaurant in the Radisson yet?

lightening

Occidental wrote:

First off, lets keep personal remarks out of the thread.

Personally I'd take the Village Restaurant over Wineport, as I like the athmosphere and the prices are a bit less crippling too. Portions in Wineport were a bit on the small side, but not of the Nouveau Cusine size you get in some places. Le Chateau while good, seems expensive and I get the feeling you're paying for proximity to Seans and the river. Recent visits have found the food in Hatters to be better and cheaper.

Anyone tried the restaurant in the Radisson yet?

(nothing personal meant there)

The Village Restaurant is great allright, the seafood platter is amazing.

Haven't tried the Radisson yet, to be honest I would rather spend my money on local enterprises. I find the Wineport worth it and the portions ample, the decor, lake views, food and ambiance is great. I have yet to try Le Chateau, but I really feel a good establishment can charge more for being near the river, its a massivly underused aminety and stunningly beautiful.

Occidental

I'd agree with a good restaurant being able to charge more, but Hatters is equally close to the river, but on the Leinster side. Seans and Le Chateau seem to have created a mini tourist trap for the Shannon cruisers. It's fine during the summer months when you've got loads of tourists, but they'll need to be careful during the winter, as I've heard an increasing number of moans lately from people who would consider themselves regulars.

If nothing else The Radisson should be thanked for giving the local hotel trade a much needed kick up the arse. As I said, I haven't been near the restaurant, but would be interested to know what they do and how they do it.

Pat

Saint_Mel

If you like Italian food, Di Bella (near the Castle and Seans Bar)
is really nice and very reasonably priced.

Heading to LeChateux tonight myself, havent been there in years.

Food in Hatters is nice but I find the place too small and you can
be nearly in on top of other tables.

Pubs: depends on what your looking for.
Sport, to watch the match on Saturday - Durty Harrys
Live music : Biddy Mulligans or Ricks usually have bands.
Late disco/bar : The Palace , RiverS

Gertie's is a really nice pub but gets wedged very quickly as with Seans.

lightening

Yeah, good point, the locals will drop them if they are not careful... Its a nice little area around the castle and Seans. I'm a Dub, but visit from time to time. I use the river a good bit, canoeing and the like. I Don't meet many Athlone people on the river though, its such a treat to have something like that at your doorstep. I mainly meet irate German anglers!

Occidental

Saint_Mel wrote:

If you like Italian food, Di Bella (near the Castle and Seans Bar)
is really nice and very reasonably priced.

Heading to LeChateux tonight myself, havent been there in years.

Let us know how you get on.

Haven't tried Di Bella, but I've had a few looks in the window and it looks the part. Is it Italian run?

elexes

how did you get on in LeChateux ?

triskell

Di bella is italian ran, nearly all the staff are italian,I ve been in there a few times for lunch and at night, the food has real Italian leanings it has a real continental feel about the place, pricewise on par with hatters you should try it even for only a coffee

lightening

Good review, sounds great, will try it next time I am in Athlone.

Saint_Mel

Occidental wrote:

Let us know how you get on.

Wasn't overly impressed this time round with Le Chateux.

Waiting staff kept forgetting orders and came back about
4 times to reclarify (There was about 10 of us but still ...)

BBQ chicken wings for starters were nice.
Steak for mains was average.

Wont be going back in hurry.

Occidental

Cheers for that.

Might give di Bella a go at the weekend.

BTW has anyone tried the Indian on the west side of town. Food as good or better than the Sagar(obviously the decor is better)?

Black NG-60-90

Get stoned in burgess park and then buy ice-cream

Gone West

Occidental wrote:

Cheers for that.

Might give di Bella a go at the weekend.

BTW has anyone tried the Indian on the west side of town. Food as good or better than the Sagar(obviously the decor is better)?

I thought the opposite!

Saint_Mel

Booked a table in Pizza Mama (Pearse St) at the weekend
(Had only eat there during the early evening before)

Food was excellent, staff were very friendly and the price
was very reasonable. Its b.o.y.b. with a €2 corkage fee.


On the negative though ... the place is tiny and they cram
as many people in as possible. Almost clashing elbows with
the people at the table beside me while eating.

Also, 1 thing I really didn't like was that it has large windows
in the front and frequently people were walking past, look in
the window, recognise someone and then stroll in for a chat.
Twice it involved people almost leaning in on top of me to chat
to people at a table the other side.

I'd definately go there again but probably just for early evening
eats, I wouldn't go to the bother of booking it for an evening meal.

beer enigma

Thanks for all the advice - Hodson Bay was a bit out of town alright :rolleyes:

Heading back tomorrow for another night, so I'll try some of the other places...

Appreciate the help

Gone West

Andip wrote:

Thanks for all the advice - Hodson Bay was a bit out of town alright :rolleyes:

Heading back tomorrow for another night, so I'll try some of the other places...

Appreciate the help

The prince is nice for lunch or afternoon foodage

Occidental

FuzzyLogic wrote:

I thought the opposite!

Surely the decor in the new Indian, can't be any worse than the Sagar(which looks like a caf)??

lightening

I have good news kids, dined in the Wineport over the last couple of weeks and the helpings are fine, we left very full. There was two of us, we had two bottles of wine (one white sitting in the sun before we dined) we both had a starter and it cost 124 euro. The food was amazing, cutting edge contemporary Irish cuisine, well worth it.... you are lucky to live near it.:)

Donie75

Check out the Top Deck Bistro near the bridge on the east side, just opposite Gerties. It's a new restaurant run by the guy who was head chef in Hatters for the last few years. Great big restaurant, nice staff and great food.
Also try the Kin Khao Thai Restaurant. Tom Doorley had it in his top 50 restaurants. Real authentic Thai food.