Drogheda Restaurant Reviews

Carra23

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Is Chans good yeah? I've never tried it and was reluctant to. I don't like Wok's Cooking.

Woks cooking is rubbish, anytime I tried it the sauce was drowning in garlic. Only tried Chans once and as per previous post, found Fate to be far superior but in saying that, havin tried Chans in 3 years !

frogstar

I think fate changed hands a couple of years ago but kept name.

I like chans to eat in the restaurant but don't really order take away from it

Lantus

m.j.w wrote: »

Would suggest the Tikka Masala out of Adjanta!! It is lovely. Got an adjanta on Friday night and as nice as the food is the wait times are a disgrace. I phoned ahead and was told they were busy so would be 40 mins. Went down 40 mins later and had to wait a further half an hour to get food and there were other people waiting over an hour as well. Obviously cooking everything fresh is great for the taste but they would want to get the balance right because people will be put off waiting that long.

Same here, I raved about Ajanta previsouly. Mrs Lantus and I decided to order from them a little while ago. We were told 40 minute delivery time and I ordered from them on this basis (we were really hungry) The final delivery time after numerous phone calls was 1hour and 47 minutes. It was very late at night. We got some cock and bull story about a broken down car. Meal was mediocre.

A good product without the service is pointless. I wont be hurrying back for months which is a shame. Its a problem they need to resolve ASAP. Just be honest if its going to take an hour or an hour 30. People can plan accordingley. When you lie it angers customers.

We had another menu in our hands and were seconds from ordering something else when the driver eventually arrived.

Domino's by contrast often quote 30 to 40 mins delivery but often arrive within 20 to 25 mins. Once they even arrived quicker!

dixiefly

Shoe Lover wrote: »

Tried Aisha's Bistro and Café on Wellington Quay last night! Holy moley, it's divine!
We went for the Mezza option off the Lebanese specials because we could not decide to have. The amount of food was unreal and all of it was lovely! The mezza options gives you a sampling of nearly all of the Lebanese starters - hummus, falalfel, kittbeh, chicken wings, tabbouleh. And it came with lovely Lebanese bread for dipping! Then we had Shish Taouk and Kafta Shish which was lovely. The presentation was fabulous and the food was so tasty.
I wasn't sure himself was going to like it but he loved it. The staff were very nice and the chef came out to make sure we were enjoying it. Will defo be back. Quite a possibility that it could become a firm favourite!

I second this, our family had a very enjoyable meal there on the monday of Paddy's weekend. The restaurant was v quiet but food very nice.

Vego

Jeez better not mention to ye that fate was closed down by the environmental health officer

Darksaga87

positron wrote: »

Woks Cooking gave us a couple of bad take aways (too much salt)

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I don't like Wok's Cooking.

Carra23 wrote: »

Woks cooking is rubbish

I agree 100%. This is the most overpriced chinese in town and the food is dirt. I got the duck a few times and its basically fried duck fat.
The curry is also horrible. I think its that powder crap that you add water to.

borderlinemeath

Darksaga87 wrote: »

I agree 100%. This is the most overpriced chinese in town and the food is dirt. I got the duck a few times and its basically fried duck fat.
The curry is also horrible. I think its that powder crap that you add water to.

I think the standard has definitely slipped in the past year or so. I used to like a few dishes from there, now I find it hard to pick one if himself is insisting on not going any further into town. My preference is Noodle Box on West St or Ming Garden for some dishes.

Lantus

positron wrote: »

Since Woks Cooking gave us a couple of bad take aways (too much salt), we tried Tango. Well, should have tried them earlier. Both dishes we bought were delicious, and one of them was tofu - which is a plus in itself, as I can't find many places that offer tofu in their menu - and Tango's "Tofu in Tango sauce" was delicious (Tango sauce tastes like a spicy, curry version of sweet and sour sauce or something like that. Not to mention the generous portion sizes. We will definitely order again.

Tried Tango's on the basis of this review. Found them to be quick and good. Rice was moist and fluffy. Duck was packed with massive slabs of meat. its on the wrong side of town but I will go back to collect!

Darksaga87

"Asian cook in" up there behind the cinema is decent. Nothing special but it's good prices and the owners are lovely!

gipi

I decided to get a takeaway from Tango tonight, based on the reports from Positron and Lantus. I had beef in kung po sauce and it was delicious!

It's been a while since I had food from there, and I was pleasantly surprised by the price - I seem to remember when Tango opened, the mains started at 10 euro (when they were 7-8 euro elsewhere). The menu I had here at home listed the mains from 9 euro, but it was out of date - the prices have dropped again (mains are now from 8 euro). Very good to see that they've reduced the prices without appearing to compromise the quality of the food.

Think I just found my new favourite take-away - thanks folks!!

markc1184

Got some food from Noodlebox last night. Ordered, cooked and at my door in 14 minutes after being told 30-40mins. Don't think I've ever had a delivery as quick as that before. Food as nice as ever.

washiskin

Noodle Box is still open then?????? :eek: FFS, I read a blog post about the decline of Drogheda and there was a picture of it all shut up :mad: The amount of times I had a grá for a nosebag out of there and didn't go over :mad:

Has the menu changed?

positron

gipi wrote: »

Think I just found my new favourite take-away - thanks folks!!

Same here - tasty, massive portions and the only place that does decent tofu! Long it may last! I really wanted Woks Cooking to be the best, our local and all. Hopefully they will step up to the challenge soon.

washiskin wrote: »

..a grá for a nosebag ..

I had to look that up, but lol, 'grá' is such a great word! Learned something new today.

borderlinemeath

washiskin wrote: »

Noodle Box is still open then?????? :eek: FFS, I read a blog post about the decline of Drogheda and there was a picture of it all shut up :mad: The amount of times I had a grá for a nosebag out of there and didn't go over :mad:

Has the menu changed?

I think that was when it was a sit in cafe as well? The sit in option seems to be gone but the take away is as busy as ever. Or the photo could just have been taken early in the day and included for dramatic effect.

A few new additions to the menu, I love the black pepper noodle box, with the soy sauce, not the creamy pepper version, really tasty.

I've ate out in Drogheda a few times in my life (not an awful lot, and usually stick to the same places). Will be in the Eastern HealthSeaboard for the first time next weekend (all going well).

Anytime I've ever gone out has been within a group of 6-10 people, always organised by someone else. This time I'm in charge and it's just two of us. Would I be right in assuming that it's common sense/decency to ring in advance and book a table? Or was that celtic tiger stuff and nowadays you can just wander in off the street? Or should I ring in advance anyway, to be on the safe side?


... It's the little things in life that confuse me.

borderlinemeath

Deleted User wrote: »

I've ate out in Drogheda a few times in my life (not an awful lot, and usually stick to the same places). Will be in the Eastern HealthSeaboard for the first time next weekend (all going well).

Anytime I've ever gone out has been within a group of 6-10 people, always organised by someone else. This time I'm in charge and it's just two of us. Would I be right in assuming that it's common sense/decency to ring in advance and book a table? Or was that celtic tiger stuff and nowadays you can just wander in off the street? Or should I ring in advance anyway, to be on the safe side?


... It's the little things in life that confuse me.

For ESB, I would ring and book in advance. I find they can be a bit snooty if you haven't booked, even if half the tables aren't taken!

SuperCSize

Right guys, have been in Drogheda for 4 months now and I'm really struggling to find good take away. I'm from the UK and the level of take away food on offer over here is extremely surplus.

Ajanta Indian seems to be the only good one I have found thus far. They are slow but very nice food, but there is only so much indian food I can eat.

I tried Ming garden the other day, gave my food to the dog, honestly!! Tried bengal spice, would not even give this to my dog!! Kitchen legend, you have got to be frickin kidding me!! Kebab palace should come with a health warning, my kebab meat had texture like it had been sitting in a soup pot for 48 hrs! Brunos just round the corner from me, great deals, you think, then you taste the muck they at serving, it's not worth the oil it's cooked in!

Honestly people, please help! I am very busy guy and useless cook so I am not ashamed to admit I rely heavily on take away food.

Am I being to harsh when I read through previous posts and get that people in Drogheda prefer quantity and speed over quality? Or, is this just the quality of food I can expect here?

Mylow

SuperCSize wrote: »

Honestly people, please help! I am very busy guy and useless cook so I am not ashamed to admit I rely heavily on take away food.
(

That might explain the username :-)

I lived in UK for 20 years and can say the Doner Kebabs were the same muck as here. Ajanta is good, but seem to have high turnover of chefs going on number of ads I have seen looking to fill the role.

Trying to compare take aways in UK with what is a small provincial town in relation to town city sizes in UK wont work. You have a huge immigrant population in UK who will expect good food from their own countries. About 6 years ago we had a really good kebab shop here, there downfall, served rice with the kebabs, most people here expect chips with the kebab. The kebabs were as good as you would get in any North London Kebab shop (In around the Turkish Cypriot area's).

The Kitchen (on northside of the river by Scotch Hall) is great for lunch and very reasonable, on a par with meal deals in the fast food joints.

You need to learn to cook :-)

SuperCSize

Mylow wrote: »

That might explain the username :-)

I lived in UK for 20 years and can say the Doner Kebabs were the same muck as here. Ajanta is good, but seem to have high turnover of chefs going on number of ads I have seen looking to fill the role.

Trying to compare take aways in UK with what is a small provincial town in relation to town city sizes in UK wont work. You have a huge immigrant population in UK who will expect good food from their own countries. About 6 years ago we had a really good kebab shop here, there downfall, served rice with the kebabs, most people here expect chips with the kebab. The kebabs were as good as you would get in any North London Kebab shop (In around the Turkish Cypriot area's).

The Kitchen (on northside of the river by Scotch Hall) is great for lunch and very reasonable, on a par with meal deals in the fast food joints.

You need to learn to cook :-)

Haha, but I assure there is no connection with my username to my size, I assume you meant I am large? Quite the contrary, surprisingly.

Have to disagree with you on Ajanta, been in there around 8 to 10 times since it opened a few months ago, same chefs always in the kitchen as you can see right in there- one reason I like the place actually. Have had a few chats with the little guy that runs the kitchen, always same guy.

I actually come from a small town in the UK, similar in size to Drogheda but if some of these places were open there, they wouldn't last more than a couple of months. Having spoken to some of the locals re good places to eat, I understand some of the places I mentioned have been open for years which is unbelievable to me.

It's a shame the place you mentioned is gone, i'm quite fond of some rice with my kebab.

Would love to learn to cook, but I literally work over 60hrs each week and have done as far back as I can remember- finding time is a huge issue for me- sadly I do rely heavily on food providers.

Mylow

There is loads you can cook in a short time. I try to eat a lot of fish, its very quick to cook. have it with steamed vegetables or couscous and roast vegetables. I used to make batches and freeze them in the old take away containers. With my commute I would work similar hours.

I miss good curry houses and turkish food that I used to get in UK. The best kebab place in Dublin is probably Zaytoon.

washiskin

Mylow wrote: »

I miss good curry houses and turkish food that I used to get in UK. The best kebab place in Dublin is probably Zaytoon.

Not a patch on Kebabish on Clanbrassil St, tbh.

I agree about the lack of Turkish, however, since Akif sold Istanbull in Abbey St the genuine cuisine is gone. New owner served feckin' chips with everything. :mad:

Possible opening there since there's a gap in the Drogheda market...

Mylow

washiskin wrote: »

Not a patch on Kebabish on Clanbrassil St, tbh.

I agree about the lack of Turkish, however, since Akif sold Istanbull in Abbey St the genuine cuisine is gone. New owner served feckin' chips with everything. :mad:

Possible opening there since there's a gap in the Drogheda market...

Kebabish is great, though not as handy from city centre at Zaytoon

Lantus

Deleted User wrote: »

I've ate out in Drogheda a few times in my life (not an awful lot, and usually stick to the same places). Will be in the Eastern HealthSeaboard for the first time next weekend (all going well).

Anytime I've ever gone out has been within a group of 6-10 people, always organised by someone else. This time I'm in charge and it's just two of us. Would I be right in assuming that it's common sense/decency to ring in advance and book a table? Or was that celtic tiger stuff and nowadays you can just wander in off the street? Or should I ring in advance anyway, to be on the safe side?


... It's the little things in life that confuse me.

For a weekend (fri/sat) I would book one week in advance for ESB at least. They can be full even during the week and I struggled to get a table booking the day before for a wednesday recently. Two is always easier to sit though but dont leave it till the last minute. Larger groups book 2+ weeks in advance for ESB. Its a very popular place.

CMpunked

I see the asian cook-in's chef has won a big chinese tv competition in america?
Gonna have to try that place out again soon, its been way too long.
Tee and Lily are also the best double act going next to ant and dec.

Not a review as such, but I had a Punjabi House last night. Their Chicken Pakora is feckin' lovely!

Does anyone know is there a retail version of Chicken Pakora that can be bought locally and thrown in the oven for a half an hour or something like that? Checked Tesco.ie (searched for 'pakora') but no results. God it's delicious! I'd just eat it all day.

Lantus

SuperCSize wrote: »

Right guys, have been in Drogheda for 4 months now and I'm really struggling to find good take away. I'm from the UK and the level of take away food on offer over here is extremely surplus.

Ajanta Indian seems to be the only good one I have found thus far. They are slow but very nice food, but there is only so much indian food I can eat.

I tried Ming garden the other day, gave my food to the dog, honestly!! Tried bengal spice, would not even give this to my dog!! Kitchen legend, you have got to be frickin kidding me!! Kebab palace should come with a health warning, my kebab meat had texture like it had been sitting in a soup pot for 48 hrs! Brunos just round the corner from me, great deals, you think, then you taste the muck they at serving, it's not worth the oil it's cooked in!

Honestly people, please help! I am very busy guy and useless cook so I am not ashamed to admit I rely heavily on take away food.

Am I being to harsh when I read through previous posts and get that people in Drogheda prefer quantity and speed over quality? Or, is this just the quality of food I can expect here?

Its not reasonable that you enjoy one type of take away food exclusively and dislike the others so intently. Its odd that you feel the need to mention them specifically and so many. Some of the awful places you have mentioned are in fact excellant. Bruno's is one of the best chippers in Drogheda and the other week had a queue of 30+ people out the door.

Ajanta is nice but its not blow away amazing (not since the last I waited 2 days to get the thing delivered.)

You state you rely heavily on take away food so your not exactly a fussy eater then as take away food occupies the bottom of the nutritional barrel in terms of health and overall quality. Why noy try a few restaurants instead?

positron

SuperCSize wrote: »

Tried bengal spice, would not even give this to my dog!!

I am not judging SuperCSize in anyway, but I noticed this comment alright. A few months ago, I hosted my daughters second birthday party there and everyone thought everything was delicious. I am Indian myself, and half the guests were Indians and some of the other half are self-proclaimed Indian food lovers (except a 12 year old and a 10 year old brother and sister, they can't stand Indian food, and I am fairly certain they called into KFC or McD drive thru before hitting the M1 )

CMpunked

Lantus wrote: »

Ajanta is nice but its not blow away amazing (not since the last I waited 2 days to get the thing delivered.)

Wait. What?

Hope it was free!

washiskin

Shoe Lover wrote: »

Tried Aisha's Bistro and Café on Wellington Quay last night! Holy moley, it's divine!
We went for the Mezza option off the Lebanese specials because we could not decide to have. The amount of food was unreal and all of it was lovely! The mezza options gives you a sampling of nearly all of the Lebanese starters - hummus, falalfel, kittbeh, chicken wings, tabbouleh. And it came with lovely Lebanese bread for dipping! Then we had Shish Taouk and Kafta Shish which was lovely. The presentation was fabulous and the food was so tasty.
I wasn't sure himself was going to like it but he loved it. The staff were very nice and the chef came out to make sure we were enjoying it. Will defo be back. Quite a possibility that it could become a firm favourite!

Second this big time! Just back from there - went in on your recommendation and have to agree with everything you said. We had the Wings, Stuffed Bread, Shish Taouk and the Mixed Shish (:o can't remember the proper name, sorry).
Food was amazing, portions good and we were sent a couple of sides to try by the Chef who, like your visit, came out to the diners to welcome us & get feedback. I honestly would have been happy to eat nothing but the rice for the rest of my life! Never had anything like it. The wings just fell off the bone and the Chicken in the Shish Taouk was so well seasoned , off set by a lovely sauce dotted on the plate. Would love to describe what O/H had but he snaffled it!
Service was friendly & efficient and time between courses was brief. Loads of non-Lebanese options but it would be a shame to miss out on trying one of the best cuisines so well cooked by a very generous & talented Chef.

dubdee

I went into Wm Cairns & Sons at lunchtime a couple of weeks ago. It was quarter full and I took a seat with my baby in buggy. After about 10 mins I saw no staff around so I asked the guy behind the bar for a menu and he said he'd be down in a few minutes so I sat down and chose, and waited..... and waited ..... and waited. Baby got hungry then so I prepared and fed him a bottle (which took about 20 minutes) and still nobody came over to take a drink order. There was a guy standing for 10 minutes waiting to pay his bill during this time. Finally the baby went to sleep so I put him down and waited ..... and waited for another bit. The bar guy/waiter flew by me and said he'd be with me in a few minutes (again) as he was the only one on duty (at lunchtime!!). I couldn't wait any longer so I left hungry and frustrated and had a perfectly reasonable sandwich in the Kylemore across the way.

What the hell is going on here? Where are the staff?

My recent restaurant experience is limited to lunchtime outings with baby as there are very few places who'll tolerate a busy toddler (with the exception of Asian Cook-In and Borzalinos who are both great. The nicest ones I've been in recently are Lemonade Cafe at Tescos for brunch (they do a most perfect French Toast with Crispy Bacon and Maple syrup). Everything looks lovely and fresh and the service is very efficient and friendly. I've also liked the new Salthouse - very different to the old Salthouse and it reminds me very much of a real parisian brasserie with great salads & omelettes. It was very very busy for a Tuesday at lunchtime, I'll definitely go back.

For take-aways, I have to agree with the praise for Ajanta (whether or not it was biased). Everything I've had so far has been delicious and portions are just enough for me. I hate waste but always end up throwing away a lot of take-away food because the portions are so big.

I think the best kebabs are from Grill Kebab on Peter Street, hands down!