Is Galway worst place too eat in Ireland?(or recommend good value restaurant)

alexiadexia

Best Pizza - Pizza Napoli.. Beside Neachtains.. Yummy!! Real Italian Pizza & lovely staff & very reasonable!

Pub grub - Morgans are quite good & not too pricey. Also The Townhouse have great burgers mmm and they're cheap too.. Love that pub!!

Chinese - Ming Garden rocks!! Bit pricey compared to other ones but it's not as greasy & it's nice tasty food.

Eating on a very small budget - Lynches Cafe have a lovely open brown bread sambo for €3.80 approx & you can get as much salad as you like on it. Yummy!!

dafunk

Edgedinblue wrote: »

technically you just complained.. a little!

but in all fairness, youre talking about dublin alot, even italy and greece came into your rant. ive done the whole comparison thingy, moved here three years ago and compared everything to dublin but not to that extent.

you said you wanted cheap wine, hit up tesco like the rest of us! you want fine dinning, cook it yourself.

deal with galway for what it is or GTFO

I can understand his frustration. I know Galway is a very small city but there is no shorage of restaurants. There's tons of them but very few of them serve decent food at a reasonable price.

If restaurants in other cities can do it why can't restaurants here? Especially considering their renta are a mere fraction of rents in larger cities.

I'd love a chip buttie.

mrsdewinter

Why are people giving OP a hard time? He has a point: a lot of the food you get is passable at best. A friend of mine moved back to Galway from Dublin recently and her chief complaint was there was no 'Early Bird' culture, so if you fancied meeting a friend after work and catching up, you had to either pony up for a full-price 3-course meal at 8pm in Vina Mara or nurse a mineral water for two hours in the King's Head. Has that changed at all?

Spirit of time

Super macs.....

More and more super macs!!!

Pk10

RDM_83 again wrote: »

"I understand that Galway is smaller than Dublin and won't match its range, that why I'm not complaining about the fact that if for some reason I wanted to eat Frogs legs Congee for breakfast I couldn't"


Frogs legs on the menu at BK's last Sat night, not sure about the Congee or whether you can have them for breakfast .

Seriously Galway has a way to go in the food "steaks"! I have been doing some research! The results are below for your info.

I've not been in Galway long but I have found Providence Cafe, the Potting Shed Cafe and Antons good for lunch. Wish they would open in the evening.

Just tried Kashmir on Friday and it was good Indian, not brilliant but good.

Ok are Asian Tea House, Martines Wine Bar, Da Tang, Milanos and BK's but reserving my opinion on the wine in the latter, they are on their last chance under the 3 strikes rule.

For me Tamarind adds to much sweetness to all its dishes (why??).

Like the Irish stew in Buskers on a damp day but you may need to add salt.

Best Chinese takeaway I've found is Emperor City in Upper Dominic Street.

Artisian good but very rich and that is from someone who loves rich food.

Have always liked what I have eaten in Ard Bia but it can take ages to arrive.

Working my way through the rest but based on this list Oscars and Cava are high priority targets .

biko

I find that the food options are much better in New York and London than anywhere in Ireland. Why can't Dublin food be better/more like NYC/London?
It's more expensive too in Dublin when it shouldn't be considering rent in London/NYC.

When a Dub says: Is Galway worst place to eat in Ireland? it pi$$es everyone off.
If you don't like it here there's a train in the morning.

Every week there are threads about where to eat so just by lurking the forum a bit you'll find plenty gems to choose from.
Remember that taste is individual, one person's favourite food is someone else's mank.

Pk10

Thinking about this a bit more, I remember some other stuff that might be of interest. Can you tell that food is one of my favourite subjects .

Mc Donaghs have great chips but not so keen on the fish there. Kettle of Fish have better fish but not fab, better to cook your own. Enjoyed my Bugoloo (sp?) burger. Food in Mustards was awful when I was there, on a sunny Sat afternoon, but sitting outside was lovely. Pizza in Munroes is ok. Fried breakfast at the House Hotel was poor, but they have other interesting things on the breakfast menu which I will try over time, great spot though and good fruit cocktails.

Thinking about all I have eaten it's best if I stop there and head off to walk the prom now to undo some of the damage. .

biko

Pk10 wrote: »

Food in Mustards was awful when I was there, on a sunny Sat afternoon

Can you elaborate on this? What exactly was wrong? What dish? Did you tell them? What did they say?
Mustard is one of my favourite spots so when you slag them offhand it looks bad in my eyes.

Pk10

biko wrote: »

Can you elaborate on this? What exactly was wrong? What dish? Did you tell them? What did they say?
Mustard is one of my favourite spots so when you slag them offhand it looks bad in my eyes.

I'm not slagging them off offhand, I am speaking from experience and happy to elaborate.

We all speak only as we find and I am pleased if you like it as it might encourage me to give it another chance. It is probably the closest restaurant to where I live and I would be delighted to have a better experience there and the location is great. Before your post I would not even have considered going back there to eat, one of the great things about boards!

We had one burger and one chicken wrap, food was tasteless, chicken was really cold and therefore tasteless. The burger was barely lukewarm and not properly cooked. I eat rare meat so rare throughout would not be a problem for me but it was at different stages of being cooked throughout, and burnt on the outside. To this day I have no idea how they achieved that. Finally, from a food point of view, it was all thrown together on the plates and thrown down in front of us. On the service front, the tables outside were left uncleared and uncleaned and there were birds nibbling on the leftovers, I eventually moved the stuff myself and would have left then if we hadn't already ordered.

We didn't tell them as the service was so poor I thought it would fall on deaf ears. It was early days for me in Galway so I didn't know they had a good reputation and I would complain if it happened now.

dr.bollocko

WiseMona wrote: »

Are you a SlowFood member? You may want to join. Galway has a great active membership and you will meet all kinds of foodies who will be more than willing to help you find what you are looking for!

How do I join this slowfood thing?

John_Rambo

Edgedinblue wrote: »

you said you wanted cheap wine, hit up tesco like the rest of us! you want fine dinning, cook it yourself.

deal with galway for what it is or GTFO

Tescos? I wouldn't set foot in the place. Is there any Irish owned wine shop in Galway, an O'Briens maybe? I was in Galway a few weeks ago and was pretty surprised at how expensive it is. Athlone has better offers for good early bird food. What about Nemos? I heard that does great seafood.

Fuinseog wrote: »

if you want 'good' food you will pay for it

Maybe you will, I don't. Good food can be got at good prices.

Johnny Zimbabwe

John_Rambo wrote: »

Tescos? I wouldn't set foot in the place. Is there any Irish owned wine shop in Galway, an O'Briens maybe? I was in Galway a few weeks ago and was pretty surprised at how expensive it is. Athlone has better offers for good early bird food. What about Nemos? I heard that does great seafood.



Maybe you will, I don't. Good food can be got at good prices.

What's wrong with tesco?

Theres an o' briens in the galway shopping centre on the headford road, though there's a Tesco there

oneofakind32

WiseMona wrote: »

Bar No. 8 on the Docks. New menu, well priced. Lots and lots and lots of local fesh stuff and if you sign up to them on FB you can be alerted to the 'Prawns just of the boat' blurbs! (Oh - and best beer selection in town).

A bit of topic but I'll have to stop you there. The Salthouse on Raven Terrace, has the best beer selection in galway hands down. Bar no. 8 has a decent selection buts its nothing on the Salthouse. I think Id put the Oslo and the Cottage in Salthill in there just ahead of no.8 as well.

John_Rambo

Johnny Zimbabwe wrote: »

What's wrong with tesco?

They undercut everyone, and when the locals are out of business they slowly ramp up the prices. They are getting in to petrol and insurance now. They won't even release the massive profits they make in Ireland and they charge much less in England for the same products.

Buy local please.

oneofakind32 wrote: »

A bit of topic

But great info, thanks! I will be checking out the Salthouse.

Edit.. Oh... thanks to all the people posting about good food in the city.

Edgedinblue

John_Rambo wrote: »

Buy local please.

When I can go into a local shop with 30yoyos and get a weeks worth of shopping then i'll shop local! until then tesco wins!

John_Rambo

Edgedinblue wrote: »

When I can go into a local shop with 30yoyos and get a weeks worth of shopping then i'll shop local! until then tesco wins!

Your butchers, your fish mongers, your veg man... etc... They are actually cheaper and the food is better.

And people wonder why Galway is so expensive...

(taken from another thread in the Galway forum)

grainnereills wrote: »

they're blowins from Dublin...but have been around for a good few years.

AH.. The blowins from Dublin... good girl, get tight and keep the tribalism up, keep going to Tescos. Grind your own out of business's out and then wonder why Galway is so expensive!

fifib

OpenBake wrote: »

I'm amazed that no-one has mentioned jalapenos! Its beside fat freddies, and they do gorgeous Mex and burgers at really good prices. Was there on a date lastnight with the oh and the portions were massive, and that was the early bird special. I love the place. Fajitas to die for.

4 of us went for dinner here on Saturday night...we all thought it was very poor. the 2 that had prawns in their main dishes were sick after. I had chicken wings - they were very nice and spicy! Nachos werent great. Chilli beef tacos - blandest beef Ive ever tasted, and the Spicy Chorizo Burrito wasnt a bit spicy but drowned in oil.
Was told the fajitas were nice, medium hotness was ordered though they were very mild..they would have order the very hot if they had know how mild they were!
was funny- the waitress clearing away our starters asked us if we wanted to see the dessert menu, another waiter had to but in and tell her we just had starters. after the meal..we wish we had just skipped to dessert!!

Eviledna

Oh that's a pity, I've been there mostly for lunch and never after 8pm for dinner, maybe they can't handle the larger groups of a Sat night, they have always seemed a bit understaffed.

Not good about the prawns though, did they ring the restaurant to complain?:eek:

Beetlebum

As a huge foodie I agree with the OP that Galway is very poor for eating out in.
I love cooking at home but when friends visit and want to go out we are often disappointed.

There are a few absolute gems though. I love teh following places -

Nimmos - Nothing cures a hangover quite like Sunday breakfast in Nimmos. The quality of the food is top notch and I love their red onion marmalde and relishes. The service is very slow though.

McSwiggans - They do a lovely cajun steak but it's pricey at 25 euro and doesn't include potatoe! You have to get that extra so it's expensive but the steak is huge and very tasty. The lunch tends to be poor though. They must have different chiefs then in the evening time. The wedges are always hard and the sandiches are plain.

The Cottage - I love this place. The beer list is extensive and teh staff are lovely. I love the decor and the food is saavge. The butter chicken and chilli chips are lovely. The meatballs are great too.

Providence Cafe - I love their soup and they have a great range of sandwiches. they also do lovely hot chocloate and coffee. Staff are lovely are service is good.

Eastern Tandoori - This is great Indian food. When you ask for extra spicey they actually give you etxra spicey. I think it's fab if a bit expensive.

One place I'd warn against is Mustard. It's a gorgeous building but the food is a disgrace. The service is a joke too, they are so slow and there are always dirty tables,

I got the chicken tenders a while ago and had to send them back. They were cold and chewy. The presentation was a disgrace too. The food was just slopped onto the plates.

I complained and got little reaction from the waitress. I left there feeling stressed and p*ssed off instead of nice and relaxed.

Vile. Just vile.

ScumLord

Edgedinblue wrote: »

When I can go into a local shop with 30yoyos and get a weeks worth of shopping then i'll shop local! until then tesco wins!

Johns right, you should have a look at some butchers, they're surprisingly cheap and the quality jump is huge. Personally I think Tescoes is a terrible company, they're destroying good food.

ciotog

ScumLord wrote: »

Johns right, you should have a look at some butchers, they're surprisingly cheap and the quality jump is huge. Personally I think Tescoes is a terrible company, they're destroying good food.

A lot of butchers are also quite passionate about their food and good for tips & suggestions. You don't often get that from the supermarkets. That aside, there are definitely some great deals to be had from butchers.