The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

Bacchus

pwurple wrote: »

Iyers?

I'd eat my own weight in that chilli gobi they do.

+1 to this, particularly if you are looking for a more authentic Indian meal as opposed to a bunch of curries just loaded with spices and a side of greasy naan. There's not much seating space in there though.

nerwen

pwurple wrote: »

Iyers?

I'd eat my own weight in that chilli gobi they do.

This one is on the list to try, but most of my lunch buddies are not fans of the idea of vegetarian so it hasn't made it to the top of the list yet. Some day though!

Léan

Hoping to check out Iyer's this evening. Does it do take away?

gimmick

Was in Iyers last weekend. Horribly over rated place. The food is ok, but given the raving here i expected much much better.

jadie

yeah I agree, gone a bit downhill since it opened. The staff are very off-putting as well, I never feel comfortable eating in there. That said the owner is a nice pleasant man.

Nonoperational

gimmick wrote: »

Was in Iyers last weekend. Horribly over rated place. The food is ok, but given the raving here i expected much much better.

That's the norm for certain people on here. If people take a liking to a place it's hyped to high heavens. If they don't, it's slated to within an inch of it's life. Like most things the balance lies somewhere inbetween.

pwurple

gimmick wrote: »

Was in Iyers last weekend. Horribly over rated place. The food is ok, but given the raving here i expected much much better.

Yup, It is just the food there. The place (location, seating, lack of booze) isn't great at all but I do like the food.

the beer revolu

I think the thing with Iyer's is that it isn't what a lot of people expect from an Indian restaurant.
It's more a café than a restaurant. You won't get a big plate of curry there. It's not somewhere I'd really consider for dinner (apart from by special arrangement when he'll do a multi course menu) but I love it for lunch or a mid afternoon tasty snack. It's small. It's casual. It's friendy l. (I really can't see the issue some people have with the staff).
I just adore the flavours and textures of the food. It seems to not be for everyone but there is nowhere in Cork (or probably Ireland) doing anything remotely like it.
I've just talked myself into going there for lunch!

StonyIron

A business colleague of mine keeps telling me that she can't find a good restaurant anymore for entertaining overseas clients. Everything is too casual and quirky.

Are there any "high end" restaurants left? I think she's harking back to the days of the Arbutus Lodge ...

Milly33

We got take take out from the charcoal grill last night must say it was quite tasty.. Now the sides were cold but not too bothered, himself got ribs and I go the enchilada very nice now I will say

rob316

StonyIron wrote: »

A business colleague of mine keeps telling me that she can't find a good restaurant anymore for entertaining overseas clients. Everything is too casual and quirky.

Are there any "high end" restaurants left? I think she's harking back to the days of the Arbutus Lodge ...

Les Gourmandies? Star Anise? That's what I would consider fine dining anyway

whatever76

Greens, Jacobs, Jacques ?

roundymac

Flemings, I'm going there tonight.
http://www.flemingsrestaurant.ie/

the beer revolu

Hayfield Manor too.

rob316

the beer revolu wrote: »

Hayfield Manor too.

For fine dining I found the food fairly average

etoughguy

Nonoperational wrote: »

Club Brasserie, food ok, service beyond bad. It would be funny if it wasn't an expensive restaurant.

Brick Lane, burger, I'd have a Big Mac over it any day.

Had a somewhat similar experience last night - we booked a table last night for 8pm as there were none available for 7.30. Arrived at 8 and there were 2, yes 2 people in the entire place! Herself had chicken with a mustard sauce which was lovely, I had the blandest most boring chickpea "curry" (more like tomato sauce with possibly a few spices in there). 13 people in there in total when we left at 9pm. Staff were friendly but total amateurs. Don't know what to make of the place to be honest no one in there, wont be rushing back for sure. Beats me how the place is so well regarded (it is nice inside alright)

dudara

StonyIron wrote: »

A business colleague of mine keeps telling me that she can't find a good restaurant anymore for entertaining overseas clients. Everything is too casual and quirky.

Are there any "high end" restaurants left? I think she's harking back to the days of the Arbutus Lodge ...

Greens is probably doing the best "fine dining" food in Cork at the moment. I've heard that money is being invested in the entire place.

the beer revolu

rob316 wrote: »

For fine dining I found the food fairly average

I've never eaten there.

pwurple

StonyIron wrote: »

A business colleague of mine keeps telling me that she can't find a good restaurant anymore for entertaining overseas clients. Everything is too casual and quirky.

Are there any "high end" restaurants left? I think she's harking back to the days of the Arbutus Lodge ...

Yeah, for all the bbq, burrito and popular Asian street food places around, to my mind there is a slight lack of special occasion places in Cork at the moment. Lovetts is gone, arbutus lodge is gone, augustines is gone, oysters is gone.

There's Les Gourmandaise, which is excellent. And greenes, Jacobs on the mall, Jacques, but they are all middle-high if you know what I mean. Hayfield manor gets the service part of it right. There's ballymaloe house, but that's a funny fish for clients with the farmhouse old Irish style, some find the serving style weird, where you get a small portion and then get second servings of it later. Sage in Middleton or heading off to Kinsale is generally what we do with clients or visitors.

Adding Flemings, Flemings is good for that kind of thing too, but again, not city centre, so you can't wander out and go for a drink afterwards.

Nonoperational

etoughguy wrote: »

Had a somewhat similar experience last night - we booked a table last night for 8pm as there were none available for 7.30. Arrived at 8 and there were 2, yes 2 people in the entire place! Herself had chicken with a mustard sauce which was lovely, I had the blandest most boring chickpea "curry" (more like tomato sauce with possibly a few spices in there). 13 people in there in total when we left at 9pm. Staff were friendly but total amateurs. Don't know what to make of the place to be honest no one in there, wont be rushing back for sure. Beats me how the place is so well regarded (it is nice inside alright)

It was bizarre. We had a poor curry too, was the worst dish. Some dishes were good, but my goodness the staff. Couldn't open a bottle of wine then started laughing and left it on the table and went away. We twisted off the screw top ourselves. Couldn't pronounce various types of food, didn't know what came with dishes.... Nice people but it was half way to a faulty towers episode.

Padraig Mor

dudara wrote: »

Greens is probably doing the best "fine dining" food in Cork at the moment. I've heard that money is being invested in the entire place.

Had the 8 course tasting menu there recently. Was far from fine dining TBH.

StonyIron

I'll pass them on. The person in question tends to just write off everything in Ireland as inferior so, it's possibly a bit of a pointless exercise anyway. (They're Irish of course ... I find it an odd affliction that exists here a lot.)

Milly33

Oh no Greens is way over rated so it is..Went there a few times and just did not get it, food is only ok, service is poor and tis too pricey..

I would say Ivory tower to me beats all for different food but I suppose it can be casual enough.... Whats that one on Oliver plunkett street kinda across from the Old oak isn't that suppose to be nice...

Called into Arthur Maynes last night and would go back there now so we would quite tasty and love the atmosphere there..Staff were a little hard to catch but overly when you did get their attention

etoughguy

Nonoperational wrote: »

It was bizarre. We had a poor curry too, was the worst dish. Some dishes were good, but my goodness the staff. Couldn't open a bottle of wine then started laughing and left it on the table and went away. We twisted off the screw top ourselves. Couldn't pronounce various types of food, didn't know what came with dishes.... Nice people but it was half way to a faulty towers episode.

That sums it up perfectly! The barmaid was chatting to punters and ignored our drinks order for ten minutes and as I was about to approach her she finally poured the drinks. If the place was busy I could understand but was empty apart from 2 people

Milly33

where is this place ye speak of

etoughguy

Milly33 wrote: »

where is this place ye speak of

ye who? there are lots of places being mentioned in the thread

Milly33

That would be you the place you mentioned just above my question

H8GHOTI

Bad Boys BBQ
Three of us went yesterday & overall I'd say it was average. I got beef brisket, the others got ribs & a turkey melt ciabatta.
Brisket came with gravy & onions, it was like something you'd get in a pub carvery. I tasted the turkey melt & it was lovely. Ribs I didn't taste but were said to be nice too.
Choice of sides wasn't great & they were plain enough.
Some teething problems too. No menus inside (chalk board on wall outside) & service was fairly poor.
I might try again some time but wouldn't be rushing back.
Comparisons with White Rabbit are natural & no contest for me, pretty much everything about White Rabbit was better.

etoughguy

Milly33 wrote: »

That would be you the place you mentioned just above my question

Sure, its Club Brasserie near the Clarion we were talking about

Bacchus

Went to the Fish bar in Electric last night for the first time. Really really enjoyed it. Got seats at the counter looking over the river. Seafood and sides were top notch. I liked the kind of sharing/tapas style to eating too (we got 2 dishes and 2 sides). Desert (apple crumble with Hazelnut ice-cream) was heaven on a plate. Will definitely go back there soon.

The only thing I'll say though (not that it bothered us) was that we didn't leave stuffed or anything. Portion sizes are not big so you'd want to load up on a few sides (or a 3rd dish) maybe to fill up... which IMO would then be making it a bit pricey.

rob316

H8GHOTI wrote: »

Bad Boys BBQ
Three of us went yesterday & overall I'd say it was average. I got beef brisket, the others got ribs & a turkey melt ciabatta.
Brisket came with gravy & onions, it was like something you'd get in a pub carvery. I tasted the turkey melt & it was lovely. Ribs I didn't taste but were said to be nice too.
Choice of sides wasn't great & they were plain enough.
Some teething problems too. No menus inside (chalk board on wall outside) & service was fairly poor.
I might try again some time but wouldn't be rushing back.
Comparisons with White Rabbit are natural & no contest for me, pretty much everything about White Rabbit was better.

Not surprised, I've ate off the stall in the food markets and its very average. White Rabbit probably doesn't have the setup they have and still manage to make a better job of it.

I have a bit of a thing for American style BBQ which done right if your a carnivore is possibly the greatest food ever. I was very close to opening a BBQ place here about 3 years ago, I had a guy coming over from the states to work with us for a few months to make it as authentic as possible and master the rub and smoke. I opted against it in the end to concentrate on other things, huge regret of mine to be honest.

Milly33

etoughguy wrote: »

Sure, its Club Brasserie near the Clarion we were talking about

Oh really no wonder the place is cronic all the places there are actually Kudos is shocking too

onasis

I tried the new Ramen in Douglas yesterday. I had the 6 before 6 deal which was Thai Green Curry (my favourite). It was simply awful - the worst I've eaten to be honest. It was take away so I was home when I opened the carton and saw that it actually looked like soup/stew. I ate some and binned the rest.
I'll give them a wide berth for a few weeks until they have a chance to get up and running properly.

leahyl

I don't get the fuss with Ramen at all - I ate in the one in Dennehys Cross a few months back and it was extremely average.

Son of a Bun opens this week - after the all hype on their facebook page it better live up to expectations

rob316

onasis wrote: »

I tried the new Ramen in Douglas yesterday. I had the 6 before 6 deal which was Thai Green Curry (my favourite). It was simply awful - the worst I've eaten to be honest. It was take away so I was home when I opened the carton and saw that it actually looked like soup/stew. I ate some and binned the rest.
I'll give them a wide berth for a few weeks until they have a chance to get up and running properly.

IT doesn't get any better, when it first opened on Anglesea St, I found it excellent but as the more of them have opened the quality has dropped. There is literally no meat in the dishes, the last straw was for me when my partner got Pad Thai w/prawns, 13.95 for 4 tiny prawns, noddles and pak choi, RIP OFF.

Chilli Padi is on a whole other level, I'd actually say there is even too much meat in the dishes! The only thing I didn't like from there was the spring rolls other than that everything has been excellent.

It's a shame Ramen has all the good locations and good marketing, because its vastly inferior.

sporina

rob316 wrote: »

IT doesn't get any better, when it first opened on Anglesea St, I found it excellent but as the more of them have opened the quality has dropped. There is literally no meat in the dishes, the last straw was for me when my partner got Pad Thai w/prawns, 13.95 for 4 tiny prawns, noddles and pak choi, RIP OFF.

Chilli Padi is on a whole other level, I'd actually say there is even too much meat in the dishes! The only thing I didn't like from there was the spring rolls other than that everything has been excellent.

It's a shame Ramen has all the good locations and good marketing, because its vastly inferior.

had ramen twice - its ok - not great on flavour and i would question the quality of the meat but it must be doing something right - they have a roaring trade..

i got chilli padi once and i am not pushed to get it again..

aer bring back Banna thai

leahyl

sporina wrote: »

had ramen twice - its ok - not great on flavour and i would question the quality of the meat but it must be doing something right - they have a roaring trade..

i got chilli padi once and i am not pushed to get it again..

aer bring back Banna thai

It's one of those places that is popular with students so the good name has a lot to do with that I reckon. I don't think it's particularly cheap either. Very meh! Must try this chilli padi place - is it only in Ballincollig?

onasis

rob316 wrote: »

IT doesn't get any better, when it first opened on Anglesea St, I found it excellent but as the more of them have opened the quality has dropped. There is literally no meat in the dishes, the last straw was for me when my partner got Pad Thai w/prawns, 13.95 for 4 tiny prawns, noddles and pak choi, RIP OFF.

Chilli Padi is on a whole other level, I'd actually say there is even too much meat in the dishes! The only thing I didn't like from there was the spring rolls other than that everything has been excellent.

It's a shame Ramen has all the good locations and good marketing, because its vastly inferior.

I agree about Chilli Padi. I have eaten there several times and have always enjoyed it. Ramen seems to have more street cred amongst the youngsters but the food there is not great.

rob316

leahyl wrote: »

It's one of those places that is popular with students so the good name has a lot to do with that I reckon. I don't think it's particularly cheap either. Very meh! Must try this chilli padi place - is it only in Ballincollig?

Father Matthew St aswell.

pwurple

rob316 wrote: »

IT doesn't get any better, when it first opened on Anglesea St, I found it excellent but as the more of them have opened the quality has dropped. There is literally no meat in the dishes, the last straw was for me when my partner got Pad Thai w/prawns, 13.95 for 4 tiny prawns, noddles and pak choi, RIP OFF.

Hmm. How is the veg quality in Ramen these days? I think I eat way too much meat as it is, the thing I liked most about ramen was that they had plenty of veg, with small bits of meat.... but I stopped going because the veg quality dropped off. Is the veg back?

Footoo

Aroi currently on fire

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/fire-fighters-tackle-blaze-in-cork-city-centre-restaurant-698085.html

Milly33

Don't get Ramen at all, the stuff is mank... Very fake tasty. On your note about the veg himself has got the veg a few times and brought some back home for me to taste and I cant say I remember much veg in it..

bee06

Footoo wrote: »

Aroi currently on fire

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/fire-fighters-tackle-blaze-in-cork-city-centre-restaurant-698085.html

Pretty significant damage apparently

Bacchus

+1 to the comments about Ramen. Loved it when it first opened but gradually it's been tasting more and more processed and less fresh. Don't know how else to put it. I'd only go there now if I was really stuck/lazy some Friday evening.

sporina

i just heard that Eden on Patrick street is now gone too..

J Mysterio

sporina wrote: »

i just heard that Eden on Patrick street is now gone too..

Interesting. Was pretty average though to be fair.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Guys, what's Wetherspoon's like for lunch? Thinking of heading in tomorrow afternoon. The €6 wrap and drink deal sounds great.

J Mysterio

I wouldnt have gone in only kinda had to with work. I didnt like it before I went and I still dont like it. The atmosphere in there is weird, its like an airport bar or something. The decor is kinda ****ty too. Obviously i'm not a fan.

In terms of the food, I had a Philly Cheesesteak, which was all wrong. rather than plenty of shaved steak, with cheese on, there was a few strip pieces with fried onion and a little bowl of cheese on the side.

sporina

J Mysterio wrote: »

Interesting. Was pretty average though to be fair.

yes but it was the only actual Thai takeaway in the city... there are none now.. and ramen or chili padi don't make the cut for me..

J Mysterio

Ive only had Chili Padi delivered, but it was far superior to Eden for me.

Agree RE: Ramen, its now like the McD's of Asian food.