O Briens Sandwich bars in examinership

Oh crap

Now where am I going to buy my lunch everyday???

Anyone have any idea??

/still lives in Celtic Tiger era

Paparazzo

A ham and cheese sandwich toasted was something like €6.50 in the one I went to a few weeks ago:eek:.

I never understood how O'Briens was so successful, complete rip off merchants

Biggins

What happened? Did they run out of dough?

Papad

My name is URL wrote: »

Not surprised. They overcharge for stale bread

And their coffee sucked.
And they would look at you as if they were doing you a great service by 'serving' you.

Snowie

bad for people in jobs but to be honest i never ate there There tomatoes always looked about a day old, after being sliced...

coffee was pretty Sh!t to

super_furry

Any meat with two fillings for €6.

"Fine can I get ham cheese and coleslaw please.

"That'll be €7, cheese is a meat."

I'm sorry people lost their jobs but really, who didn't see this coming? Awful places charging stupid money with rude, unhelpful staff.

barakus

the scatterings of the bottom of a bag of crisps they used to toss next to the sandwich used to really pi*s me off as well... talk about scabby for the price of the feckin thing!

super_furry

Biggins wrote: »

What happened? Did they run out of dough?

Weren't making enough bread at the tills.

Run_to_da_hills

Did anyone ever leave a tip in the saucer at that place?

It seemed to be always empty

herya

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Did anyone ever leave a tip in the saucer at that place?

It seemed to be always empty

Maybe people were taking €1 from there each time when asked to pay extra for toasting?

eirebhoy

Absolute rip off.

Is that small deli off South Anne St (the back of Davy Stockbrokers) still going? That place was a bargain for a proper sambo.

Paparazzo

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Did anyone ever leave a tip in the saucer at that place?

It seemed to be always empty

They had a tip jar!! You stand in a queue waiting for your sandwich and they expect more money!
I'm actually glad they're going under!

Sizzler

Their triple decker was probably the most reasonably priced and tastiest sandwich they had to be fair (€4.80 in the shop I used but I had seen the exact same sambo priced at €5.80 in the Ballsbridge shop :eek:) but they majorly took the piss on their daily "specials" which always seemed scabby in comparison.

Their "shambo" was probably the most aptly named, it was a sham they looked for €5.50 odd for one of these, you'd be left wondering if you had actually eaten after one :eek:

My name is URL

benj wrote: »

aaah my first coffee with my now wife....

Starring Hugh Grant

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

GLaDOS

I have literally never eaten there, always looked overpriced. Not nice to see an irish company go down though.

useful_contacts

im not surprised- went in there with my partner and his parents last year for a bite- we all had a sandwich and a drink and they charged us 31 euro. Like your having a laugh right!!!

No wonder they are going down overcharging pricks

i get a turkey salad roll(large btw) and a bottle of coke for 4.60 in my local texaco. Now thats value

Carlow52

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

They never had the decency to have promos like Insomnia.

Correct: a source of many sleepless nights

Rebel021

where will all the asian staff go

Hanley

eirebhoy wrote: »

Absolute rip off.

Is that small deli off South Anne St (the back of Davy Stockbrokers) still going? That place was a bargain for a proper sambo.

Bolands??

Yeah it is. Place is fcuking amazing.

Munchies > O'Briens and every other sandwich bar tbh

Gummy Panda

Degsy wrote: »

People who would rather eat sandwiches than botherto feed themselves properly desreve to be overcharged.
Places that overcharge deserve to go down the tubes.
I hope this starts happening with the various rip-off pubs around the place although its a pity that the ordianary joe soaps have to lose thier jobs because of the greed of the owners.

What do you usually have for lunch, Degsy?

I've always seen your posts about hatred for sandwiches and rolls.

Tbh, I won't miss them. Everytime i ever had a sandwich there (which was rare) it was full of filler. If the sandwich had colesaw or onion, it would be packed with that and barely any meat. The hot meat was terrible. I always felt bloated after their sandwiches.

Sephiroth_dude

there a rip off anyway,good riddance to them.

Heroditas

I used to sometimes get the toasted sausage sandwich there in the mornings on my way to Cork in the branch in Midway outside Portlaoise. They were quite nice. Coffee was a tad sub-standard though.
The only reason I got stuff from there was because Subway wasn't open at that hour.

jumpguy

They're a complete rip-off anyway. Subway is miles better imo.

Ostrom

O' Briens coleslaw gives me the s**ts every time

thomond2006

I'm just sick of going to cafes where the person who serves you cannot understand you tbh.

That's one less anyway.

Ardent

Can't believe I will never eat another chicken and bacon triple decker. I'm kind of gutted to be honest.

stovelid

No more smug fanfares on Irish business programmes/articles about The Irish Success Story.

Pity about the jobs though.

Rebel021 wrote: »

where will all the asian staff go

Any other sector you can pack sausage, I guess.

Euro_Kraut

Their CEO ran for Fine Gael in the last election didn't he?

Quint

Losing O'Briens is losing one of the symbols of rip-off ireland. Good riddance!
Funny comparing the reactions here compared to the spice burger thread!

nlgbbbblth

O'Briens?

f*ck those guys.

GLaDOS

Ardent wrote: »

Can't believe I will never eat another chicken and bacon triple decker. I'm kind of gutted to be honest.

It's not exactly a secret recipe

Ardent

ScienceNerd wrote: »

It's not exactly a secret recipe

No it's not but I'll never be arsed to make one myself.

stovelid

Ardent wrote: »

Can't believe I will never eat another chicken and bacon triple decker. I'm kind of gutted to be honest.

I can make you one (with a watery coffee) daily for an inflated price. Just PM.

I can even pretend to misunderstand your order and then slam it down with a air of utter disinterest for added authenticity.

admiralofthefleet

couldnt give a fiddlers fart really, ive never once 'eaten' in one of their outlets and the only thing i feel bad about is that people are losing their jobs

anniehoo

I do actually like OBriens coffee but agree that it is over priced massively they have done very little to compete with other chains.I was recently (very rudely told) a customer stamp card that i had for less than 6 mths was out date and id have to start again on a new one. Cue me going "you either stamp the card or you can take the coffee back"..they took the coffee back.

Their customer service is awful...every business should take note.

In All Fairness

With any luck this will have a Domino's effect

Run_to_da_hills

In All Fairness wrote: »

With any luck this will have a Domino's effect

Domino's aren't that bad.

vixenbees

i havent gone back to o briens since they put ham and cheese in a plastic container like something you'd get a chinese in, and microwaved it, while the 2 slices of toast were toasted one 1 of those rotating grill yokes...

thats ****in rotten. why dont they have a sandwich/panini maker thing?

honru

Used to be a regular customer, another fan of the chicken and bacon triple decker which was the only sandwich there worth the price tbh.

Haven't been there in a while though. On my last visit, I thought I'd get a late evening sandwich at the Westmoreland St. outlet. Man, the thing was rank. I was disappointed that the business would compromise the quality of their ingredients (not that they were astounding to begin with, but this sandwich was especially bad) to extend their opening hours. That one experience honestly put me off so much and I've never been back since.

anonymous_joe

Their problem is that as franchises they're not all centralised. Thus some are lovely, others are horrendous.

I know that they sued one of their franchisees a while ago for bringing their reputation down.

Spastafarian

Interesting factoid:
There's an O'Briens sandwich bar in the shopping center underneath the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Interesting, hmm? There's also a clothes shop called Wanko.

bringitdown

Spastafarian wrote: »

Interesting factoid:
There's an O'Briens sandwich bar in the shopping center underneath the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Interesting, hmm? There's also a clothes shop called Wanko.

There are quite a few O'Briens here, I know 6 or so outlets in the KL area.

Popular enough at lunch time but a factor of 2 to 3 costlier than hawker food. Streets ahead of the competition in sandwiches here (IMHO). Obviously not the case back home.

Interesting factoid ... the crispy 'bacon' in outlets here is not pork ... :-(

Enii

f®eak s©enery wrote: »

Haven't been there in a while though. On my last visit, I thought I'd get a late evening sandwich at the Westmoreland St. outlet. Man, the thing was rank. I was disappointed that the business would compromise the quality of their ingredients (not that they were astounding to begin with, but this sandwich was especially bad) to extend their opening hours. That one experience honestly put me off so much and I've never been back since.

I think this is where they went wrong.


They started with good quality ingredients an charged a premioum price.

However, they then got greedy. They decreased the quality of ingredients and service but still charged the same premium price and in some cases mae price increases.

People then voted with their feet.......and look where they are now.......

Chumpski

I go in there once a week at lunch time. It is expensive to be fair. Between 9 and 10 euro for a coffee, sandwich and a packet of crisps. By right that should be closer to 7 euro. It was nice to sit down and have a read of the paper by myself though which was the only reason i would go in there.

I feel sorry for the staff in the one near work (Ballincollig). Some very lovely people working there. Hopefully they won't lose their jobs.

Heres also hoping the big wigs in the company who charged these ridiculous prices across the country suffer for it or at least wake the f^ck up!

Red Alert

The one in UCD is a rip-off shop and quality's gone awful ... in the health sciences building of all places.

anonymous_joe

Red Alert wrote: »

The one in UCD is a rip-off shop and quality's gone awful ... in the health sciences building of all places.

It's subsidised and costs less than a normal one.

Quality's ok rather than awful.

Fratton Fred

WeeBushy wrote: »

Looks like I'm on my own in mourning here...

Chicken and bacon triple decker, the reason I exist. Expensive, maybe, but if I eat nothing else for the rest of my life I would die a happy happy man. They're just unbelievably good.

I've had many of them in Stillorgan whilst waiting for my daughter to finish a Birthday party in the leisureplex. Feckin lovely.

the thing is, they are a glorified greasy spoon, charging Starbucks type prices, it was never going to last.

plus you can get a decent bagette in spar for half the price.

stovelid wrote: »

I can make you one (with a watery coffee) daily for an inflated price. Just PM.

I can even pretend to misunderstand your order and then slam it down with a air of utter disinterest for added authenticity.

PM sent :P

Don't forget the rocket :pac:

Red Alert

anonymous_joe wrote: »

It's subsidised and costs less than a normal one.

Quality's ok rather than awful.

I beg to differ based on how sick I got last weekend. Also no outlets in UCD are subsidized by the college. That has been the policy of the commercial office for many years by now. Not even the main restaurant in the college is subsidized.

sunnyside

super_furry wrote: »

Weren't making enough bread at the tills.

Clearly not.

Ardent wrote: »

Can't believe I will never eat another chicken and bacon triple decker. I'm kind of gutted to be honest.

On the news that Broody Sweeney guy said that the examinership applies only to head office for now, that some stores will be closing but not all.

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Their problem is that as franchises they're not all centralised. Thus some are lovely, others are horrendous.

There's a big O'Brien's near me and it's always busy, mainly because they have loads of comfy chairs and sofas and newspapers and customers are welcome to sit and read papers for as long as they want. It's not the sort of place where they are clearing your table as soon as you've finished eating to encourage you to leave. They deserve to stay open.