The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

ABajaninCork

gimmick wrote: »

Went to The Barn on Friday. Really really nice. Pricey, but very nice.

Only drawback of the place is it is gotten shabby. Its clean and all that, but it really needs a bit of updating.

Is that the place just past Mayfield, on your way to Glanmire?

kingtut

Went to Uncle Petes the other day (last minute decision) and I knew it had a pretty good reputation .... but ...

I have to say, I was not impressed, luke warm food and pizza that I would make better at home, did I just get a bad day ? :eek::eek:

the beer revolu

kingtut wrote: »

Went to Uncle Petes the other day (last minute decision) and I knew it had a pretty good reputation .... but ...

I have to say, I was not impressed, luke warm food and pizza that I would make better at home, did I just get a bad day ? :eek::eek:

I've had U P's pizza in The Bierhalle and found them excellent but I haven't tried the Paul Street one.

leahyl

kingtut wrote: »

Went to Uncle Petes the other day (last minute decision) and I knew it had a pretty good reputation .... but ...

I have to say, I was not impressed, luke warm food and pizza that I would make better at home, did I just get a bad day ? :eek::eek:

You must have had a bad day kingtut - their pizza is usually gorgeous, I was just there myself on Wednesday evening (The Paul Street one) and it was yummy!

Loire

gimmick wrote: »

Went to The Barn on Friday. Really really nice. Pricey, but very nice.

Love The Barn. Do they still wheel the large dessert trolley upto the table? :cool:

Haven't been there in yonks though as they used to have a set menu for 50 euro or something. Not nearing anything either for before/after refreshments. A good place for a formal birthday though, like the oul'd pairs' birthdays.

kingtut

the beer revolu wrote: »

I've had U P's pizza in The Bierhalle and found them excellent but I haven't tried the Paul Street one.

It was the Paul Street one that I went to
I have eaten in the Bierhalle but never ordered from the Uncle Pete's Menu

leahyl wrote: »

You must have had a bad day kingtut - their pizza is usually gorgeous, I was just there myself on Wednesday evening (The Paul Street one) and it was yummy!

The mushrooms on my pizza were half-cooked
Ah sure I give everyone a second chance so I'll return at some point. Place was almost full anyway

Faith

I got chicken wings in the Paul Street Uncle Pete's at Christmas and they were manky. Really really overcooked, and the sauce was unbearably spicy even though I went for the mildest version.

That being said, any time I've had pizza - which I've only had from the North Mall premises - it's been lovely.

corked

Went to Jacques the other night (opposite Crane Lane), had not been in years! Really nice evening - food was very good and service was friendly. Found the service was a bit slow but didn't mind as we were all catching up so allowed for plenty of chats!

Not the cheapest of places but found it to be good value for the quality and atmosphere.

evilivor

evilivor wrote: »

In other city centre food news - the newly opened Jam on Princes Street has closed temporarily for renovations - I expect they are putting in seating, which will be nice as they do really nice food there.

Jam appears to have reopened as Mam's. - still no seating.

nerwen

corked wrote: »

Went to Jacques the other night (opposite Crane Lane), had not been in years! Really nice evening - food was very good and service was friendly. Found the service was a bit slow but didn't mind as we were all catching up so allowed for plenty of chats!

Not the cheapest of places but found it to be good value for the quality and atmosphere.

What did you have/pay, if you don't mind me asking?

Faith

evilivor wrote: »

Jam appears to have reopened as Mam's. - still no seating.

Where on Princes St are they? I haven't been in Cork for a few months, but last time I was, Princes St had Nash 19, O' Conaills and Wildways on it. There's hardly a place for another café.

Malari

Faith wrote: »

Where on Princes St are they? I haven't been in Cork for a few months, but last time I was, Princes St had Nash 19, O' Conaills and Wildways on it. There's hardly a place for another café.

They're on the other side of Prince's St, near the Market. Between Oliver Plunket St and Patrick St.

evilivor

Faith wrote: »

Where on Princes St are they? I haven't been in Cork for a few months, but last time I was, Princes St had Nash 19, O' Conaills and Wildways on it. There's hardly a place for another café.

Upper Princes Street, Market side.

Oleander

Vain wrote: »

Why Scuzzis? Anyone I talk to always has a good word about it. I only been to Scuzzis once but it was nice.

Had a Christmas meal at Scoozi'sand it was lovely, huge portions. very tasty food, very busy so that was a good sign for a start. Have since tried to get a table there on a Sat evening and it was packed. Would def go back to Scoozi's.

Faith

Ah, that makes more sense. I forget there was another half!

Malari

I was in Nosta over the weekend and was impressed! The staff were very nice and friendly and chatty and there was a lovely buzz about the place. It was warm too - I had been worrying about the aforementioned draft.

We got a starter plate to share, which was really good and then lamb skewers and koftas. The lamb skewers were amazing! :eek:

Oleander

We tried Orso (Lebanese/Moroccan) at the weekend, it's located on Pembroke Street, Cork City. It got a lot of great reviews on Trip Advisor and the whole Moroccan/Lebanese food is in at the moment what with Ottolenghi on the telly. I had slow cooked lamb and spiced potato pie but it was more of a pasty, good size though so not complaining, lot of pastry as well. And partner had goats cheese tart but his tart was quite small and they were both the same price.

Positives; nice menu, good healthy and tasty food, reaonable value, you get a taste of all their salads so don't have to just choose one, very friendly and good attentive service, they do takeaway.

Negative; it's a very small place, so when it's full, you're on top of the next table and for veggies there isn't a great choice as there is either bacon or chorizo in the salads.

I recommend this place and would go back for lunch, maybe not dinner because it is very popular and very busy. Nice for breakfast, lunch or a coffee.

the beer revolu

Oleander wrote: »

We tried Orso (Lebanese/Moroccan) at the weekend, it's located on Pembroke Street, Cork City. It got a lot of great reviews on Trip Advisor and the whole Moroccan/Lebanese food is in at the moment what with Ottolenghi on the telly. I had slow cooked lamb and spiced potato pie but it was more of a pasty, good size though so not complaining, lot of pastry as well. And partner had goats cheese tart but his tart was quite small and they were both the same price.

Positives; nice menu, good healthy and tasty food, reaonable value, you get a taste of all their salads so don't have to just choose one, very friendly and good attentive service, they do takeaway.

Negative; it's a very small place, so when it's full, you're on top of the next table and for veggies there isn't a great choice as there is either bacon or chorizo in the salads.

I recommend this place and would go back for lunch, maybe not dinner because it is very popular and very busy. Nice for breakfast, lunch or a coffee.

I had some of the same observations:

They do need to sort out their portioning/pricing - my wife had terrible food envy when she compared hers to mine:D

I don't understand why most of their salads have meat in them - I eat meat but it doesn't add anything to the salads.

I found the service particularly, inattentive - even though it wasn't very busy at the time.

Food is pretty tasty and not badly priced, all the same.

Oleander

It was too late as we only noticed when our food arrived that there was meat in the salads, so the bacon and chorizo was shoved on to my plate (they really should specify which dishes are vegetarian etc). I suppose it was our fault, we assumed there would be no meat in the salads, I agree with you 'the beer revolu', the meat didn't add anything exciting.

We had a young girl who was very friendly, but then I'd talk to anyonel! She told us to come back on a Wednesday evening, they open late, it's not so busy for dinner then. They're closed on Sundays.

We went in on Sat morning at about 11.45 and they had ran out of the crispy bacon & cream cheese bap and the Breakfast Manoushi which I was going to get. I am dying to try their Manoushi's.

nerwen

Oh that manoushi... I've had the breakfast one as well as a dinner style one and the dinner one had minced lamb and some other stuff on it, absolutely amazing.

If you do go back and have a sweet tooth, try the chocolate popcorn cakeslice. Seriously.

But yeah, it's very tiny in there, definitely not the place to go if you're uncomfortable close to others. They do take away for lunch though!

Oleander

nerwen wrote: »

Oh that manoushi... I've had the breakfast one as well as a dinner style one and the dinner one had minced lamb and some other stuff on it, absolutely amazing.

If you do go back and have a sweet tooth, try the chocolate popcorn cakeslice. Seriously.

But yeah, it's very tiny in there, definitely not the place to go if you're uncomfortable close to others. They do take away for lunch though!

Thanks for those recommendations, love to get a recommendation. I will try both Manoushi's soon, really looking forward to that. And the Chocolate Popcorn Cakeslice - mmm!

rosie16

Went to 14a last night Got the value menu, 3 courses 20 quid Had the bruschetta for starters It was amazing, the cheese :O The bread was awesome, homemade Had the burger for mains, was nice enough, good thick burger Had the chocolate cake for desert- Also amazing Gigantic slice nice and warm and plenty of cream Service was very good Only thing i'd say it was a bit dark in there I'd recommend booking beforehand it's very small in there- not many tables

While i'm recommending restaurants: Eden Thai on patrick street is amazing Best green curry ive ever had Lunch menu is cheapest for 8 or 9 e Early bird is 12 or 13 e About the same amount of sauce and meat but twice the amount of rice It's very nice in there quiet too for lunch and early bird There's a carrot in the shape of a flower served with the food Pretty cool

nerwen

Went back to Nosta this week, figured I'd give the 10€ lunch deal a whirl. Had a nosta pizza with Turkish pepperoni, sausage and salami and sadly wasn't very impressed. The meats were tasty, but the base was thicker than I expected and under-cooked in my opinion. There was also a LOT of cheese on the pizza, making it kinda... gloopy.

I'll still go back for those tasty lamb skewers, but I'll skip the pizzas in the future. Sad, with that great wood fired oven.

Faith

I met my mum for lunch in La Lavanda a couple of weeks ago. It's in Douglas, where Amicus was. As soon as we sat down, it became obvious it was just Amicus with a reordered menu translated in Italian and prices put up. When ordering, I asked for the dish as it was on the menu, but the waiter quite rudely said "Do you mean the chicken panini?". Why put it in Italian in the first place?!

My panini was actually really delicious. My mum got a BLT which was an open sandwich, unbeknownst to her. It was completely unwieldy in that form, with really thick bread and loads of lettuce. We ordered coffees afterwards which took about 15 minutes to come, and when they did arrive, it seemed like they're forgotten to put the coffee into my mum's latté because it was so weak. The server apologised and eventually, as far as we can tell, went next door to the East Village to get the latté from there. Fair enough, there was probably a fault with the machine.

To sum up, the food was nice, service was really lacking, prices were all noticeably higher than Amicus in Paul Street and it was obviously trying to find its feet. Overall, I wouldn't go back there in a rush.

evilivor

Faith wrote: »

I met my mum for lunch in La Lavanda a couple of weeks ago. It's in Douglas, where Amicus was. As soon as we sat down, it became obvious it was just Amicus with a reordered menu translated in Italian and prices put up. When ordering, I asked for the dish as it was on the menu, but the waiter quite rudely said "Do you mean the chicken panini?". Why put it in Italian in the first place?!

My panini was actually really delicious. My mum got a BLT which was an open sandwich, unbeknownst to her. It was completely unwieldy in that form, with really thick bread and loads of lettuce. We ordered coffees afterwards which took about 15 minutes to come, and when they did arrive, it seemed like they're forgotten to put the coffee into my mum's latté because it was so weak. The server apologised and eventually, as far as we can tell, went next door to the East Village to get the latté from there. Fair enough, there was probably a fault with the machine.

To sum up, the food was nice, service was really lacking, prices were all noticeably higher than Amicus in Paul Street and it was obviously trying to find its feet. Overall, I wouldn't go back there in a rush.

Friend was telling me about it last week - she was stunned with how incredibly expensive it was.

Faith

evilivor wrote: »

Friend was telling me about it last week - she was stunned with how incredibly expensive it was.

I was doing a comparison between Amicus Paul Street and La Lavanda while I was writing my post. A dish that costs €9.95 in a prime city centre location costs about €11.50 in a suburban restaurant. For the same thing.

It wouldn't break the bank or anything, but I always have an issue with sister restaurants charging different prices, unless you're talking Dublin city vs Waterford or something.

evilivor

Had lunch in the Club Brasserie in the past week - hadn't been for ages and it seems to have gone very downmarket, plastic menus, wonky tables etc.

Service was friendly and attentive but it was oh so, very, very, slow. Wine list was of date: bottle ordered was substituted and the food, when it finally arrived, was average at very best. It was eaten without comment as we were both so hungry. Wouldn't be in a rush back.

pwurple

evilivor wrote: »

Had lunch in the Club Brasserie in the past week - hadn't been for ages and it seems to have gone very downmarket, plastic menus, wonky tables etc.

Service was friendly and attentive but it was oh so, very, very, slow. Wine list was of date: bottle ordered was substituted and the food, when it finally arrived, was average at very best. It was eaten without comment as we were both so hungry. Wouldn't be in a rush back.

Slow service I don't mind in the evenings, as long as there is something like a drink or a bit of bread at least.. But at lunchtime, grr. Limited time for lunch peeps, speed it up.

I was in la lavanda last week too and found it pricey alright. Had the kid with me though and they had colouring pencils, which was nice.

JohnK

Faith wrote: »

I was doing a comparison between Amicus Paul Street and La Lavanda while I was writing my post. A dish that costs €9.95 in a prime city centre location costs about €11.50 in a suburban restaurant. For the same thing.

It wouldn't break the bank or anything, but I always have an issue with sister restaurants charging different prices, unless you're talking Dublin city vs Waterford or something.

You should try the Tea Rooms next to La Lavanda, its owned by the same people but seems to be much more reasonable. Pretty much everyone I've heard of whos been to La Lavanda has been unhappy with the place but I dont think I've heard a single bad thing about the Tea Rooms so far.

kraggy

Hey folks,

Heading to Cork City for the weekend. Looking for a cheap Indian place. Afternoon/early evening.

Any such thing as a buffet going on in any of the Indian restaurants that time on Saturday?

If not, what cheap(ish) place could you recommend. Not looking for the whole sit-down for serious meal type thing. More about good food and relaxed surroundings.

Thanks a million.