The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

sporina

they deliver to the cork arms and the shellbourne

Milly33

Fish Wife is nice but only certain things.. Like the Haddock is loverly but the beer batter stuff is fairly tasteless and things like cod... from all we tried the Haddock was the only winner..

Very hard to get good fish n chips

leahyl

Went to James Street 1767 on Friday evening after work for food and "beergaritas" (see their FB page!). It was a mixed experience, in that, the cocktails were fab but the food...not so much - just nothing to write home about. I had a burger with what was supposed to be pepper sauce (which I couldn't taste at all), mushrooms and cheese. It was only ok, quite bland to be honest, and the chips that came with it were not great either - very bitty too and lots of crusty bits of chip rather than proper crispy chips!!!

The service was also not great. The girl that served us was very pleasant but the place was VERY quiet and yet it still took ages for food to arrive and when we ordered drinks after, my friend (he ordered another cocktail after dinner) must have been waiting about a half hour at least. Anyway, he asked the girl eventually (once he got her attention, although it was pretty obv that we were waiting for something) she said to him "oh yeah, I gave that to another customer by accident while ago, it's coming now" - eh what?!

Anyway, in short, I'd go back, but for drinks only, not for food. It almost seemed as if they were just doing food for the sake of it, because everywhere else does it.

rob316

leahyl wrote: »

Went to James Street 1767 on Friday evening after work for food and "beergaritas" (see their FB page!). It was a mixed experience, in that, the cocktails were fab but the food...not so much - just nothing to write home about. I had a burger with what was supposed to be pepper sauce (which I couldn't taste at all), mushrooms and cheese. It was only ok, quite bland to be honest, and the chips that came with it were not great either - very bitty too and lots of crusty bits of chip rather than proper crispy chips!!!

The service was also not great. The girl that served us was very pleasant but the place was VERY quiet and yet it still took ages for food to arrive and when we ordered drinks after, my friend (he ordered another cocktail after dinner) must have been waiting about a half hour at least. Anyway, he asked the girl eventually (once he got her attention, although it was pretty obv that we were waiting for something) she said to him "oh yeah, I gave that to another customer by accident while ago, it's coming now" - eh what?!

Anyway, in short, I'd go back, but for drinks only, not for food. It almost seemed as if they were just doing food for the sake of it, because everywhere else does it.

Ya been there a couple of times for lunch with clients, its only very fair.

TeletextPear

The Fish Wife does one of the best burgers ever, Id actually get that over the fish (and I love the fish too!)

rob316

TeletextPear wrote: »

The Fish Wife does one of the best burgers ever, Id actually get that over the fish (and I love the fish too!)

The Buffalo burgers? Outstanding. I just love the fish though, you wouldn't get the quality in any other restaurant around.

leahyl

I've been to the fish wife before and enjoyed their battered fish, must definitely try that burger!

sporina

leahyl wrote: »

I've been to the fish wife before and enjoyed their battered fish, must definitely try that burger!

fish and beef burgers are worlds apart.. can one really compare?

leahyl

sporina wrote: »

fish and beef burgers are worlds apart.. can one really compare?

I don't understand your point; someone else posted that their burgers are lovely also, so I said I would like to try them. I never said I was comparing them.

sporina

leahyl wrote: »

I don't understand your point; someone else posted that their burgers are lovely also, so I said I would like to try them. I never said I was comparing them.

sorry i didn't mean to quote you - a previous poster was saying that they would get the burgers over the fish..

but to be fair, i don't think one can compare a burger with fish.. they are world's apart - in my book anyway

just my opinion

darkdubh

The first thing that I thought when I read this thread title was all three places have terrible makey up sounding names.Do restaurant owners put any thought into naming their establishments these days.

Malari

darkdubh wrote: »

The first thing that I thought when I read this thread title was all three places have terrible makey up sounding names.Do restaurant owners put any thought into naming their establishments these days.

Which 3 places? The Fish Wife...what else?

No worse than Fishy Fishy I suppose!

Herb Powell

Malari wrote: »

Which 3 places? The Fish Wife...what else?

No worse than Fishy Fishy I suppose!

Fishy Fishy is great!

sporina

darkdubh wrote: »

The first thing that I thought when I read this thread title was all three places have terrible makey up sounding names.Do restaurant owners put any thought into naming their establishments these days.

what three places?

here... fishy fishy... i think it works.. there is only one, and it sticks in your mind...

i did have THEE best chowder ever there.. it was tomato based.. there was such good flavour.. man it was divine..

I would love to go for dinner but we need a DD..

leahyl

Sorry guys I stupidly merged another thread to this, so some of the posts got jumbled up - darkdubh was referring to son of a bun, coqbull and another place which someone had asked about in another thread. If you look back a few pages you'll see it. Apologies for the confusion!

The Hill Billy

I was in James Street 1767 with Mrs Billy when we were down for the weekend. Her cocktail was grand but I had difficulty getting a drink...
Me: A pint of Hophouse 13 please.
Barman: Er... We don't have any at the moment.
Me: No worries, I'll have a pint of Bulmers.
Barman: Er... That's off too.
Me: Hmmm. Sure I'll go mad & have a Mojito!
Barman: Er... We have no mint for Mojitos.
Me: What about a gin & tonic?
Barman: No problem.
Me (silently): Thank **** for that!

28srf0c

the beer revolu wrote: »

Just had the lunch deal in Tandoori Nights on McCurtain Street.
Really tasty and ridiculously good value.
€5 for a Thaali - four small dishes served with pilau rice and naan.
Not sure how they're making money on it, though.

What time is the lunch deal on? Is there anything other than Thaali? I just checked their menu on Marvin. Outrageous prices, most expensive on Marvin.

the beer revolu

28srf0c wrote: »

What time is the lunch deal on? Is there anything other than Thaali? I just checked their menu on Marvin. Outrageous prices, most expensive on Marvin.

Not sure exactly but certainly lunch time midweek.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Box Noodle have a pretty good €7 lunch deal advertised. Anyone been there?

the beer revolu

Techmaster wrote: »

Box Noodle have a pretty good €7 lunch deal advertised. Anyone been there?

Yup. It's not bad but the deal always seems to be chicken, chicken or chicken.

nerwen

Went to the Charcoal grill last night to try out the Indian someone reported was there and it is indeed the Lal Quila guys that are there now. Place still looks the same and seems to run the two menus at the same time, not sure what that's about. We were asked if we were there for the Indian menu when we arrived, confirmed and got only that.

The good: the food. I had a chicken tikka masala, garlic bread (can't remember the name of it, it was like a denser naan) and pilau, my friend had a mutton curry of some sort, a roti and pilau. All the food was really excellent, the mutton probably being the stand out dish, but everything was really tasty and the portions were large.

So, the bad. It took almost an hour from ordering to getting the food. The one single guy that was serving the whole room was very nice and all, but he clearly had no idea what he was doing. We never got any poppadoms, while others clearly did. We were half way through our food before my friend's roti arrived and any attention we got was very sporadic.

Even so, I'd recommend it for the food. Just make sure you're not in a hurry, you'll have a good meal.

Oh and they don't have a working card machine atm, which they told us up front.

rob316

nerwen wrote: »

Went to the Charcoal grill last night to try out the Indian someone reported was there and it is indeed the Lal Quila guys that are there now. Place still looks the same and seems to run the two menus at the same time, not sure what that's about. We were asked if we were there for the Indian menu when we arrived, confirmed and got only that.

The good: the food. I had a chicken tikka masala, garlic bread (can't remember the name of it, it was like a denser naan) and pilau, my friend had a mutton curry of some sort, a roti and pilau. All the food was really excellent, the mutton probably being the stand out dish, but everything was really tasty and the portions were large.

So, the bad. It took almost an hour from ordering to getting the food. The one single guy that was serving the whole room was very nice and all, but he clearly had no idea what he was doing. We never got any poppadoms, while others clearly did. We were half way through our food before my friend's roti arrived and any attention we got was very sporadic.

Even so, I'd recommend it for the food. Just make sure you're not in a hurry, you'll have a good meal.

Oh and they don't have a working card machine atm, which they told us up front.

You basically have the same review as me.

Lovely friendly waitress, but she was serving the entire room, all tables were full at one stage. Food was excellent as it always has been but the wait was scandalous. It was a short notice dinner for 10 of us around Christmas but from sitting down to finishing our 2nd course we were there 2.5 hours!
It wasn't too bad though the company was good, the beer was good and it was flowing, any other time I would have lost my patience though.

Server was so nice, even with all the waiting couldn't get pissed with her, she is clearly under ridiculous pressure.

leahyl

Was only in the Charcoal Grill myself on Monday night and noticed that Lal Quila were there - which is a great option to have. We didn't go with the indian menu but there are still some curry's on the other menu anyway. We all got the same thing in the end, the Italian job burger and it was very tasty, with a lovely side of chips and a bit of coleslaw - all for 9.50 - ridiculously good value because the burgers were huge!

It was very quiet when were in there, being a Monday night. The waitress was very friendly but she almost made a big error with the bill - my friend was paying for 2 of us so the bill came to 19e and she says "that's 11.50 so" - :eek: We said it to her and she was like "yeah, 2 Italian job burgers, they are 9.50 each" and we were like "eh, that's 19e". Good job we were honest! :eek:

sporina

with regards the Charcoal grill, why do you think ye waited so long? did they go for it else where? :P

Ate in Zamora during the week.. OMG it was divine - cannot wait to go back.. my +1 got a cod dish which was sooo good (and massive)... for €18.50 = the same dish (less food) would have been way more in other restaurants in town.. I will be back v v soon..

the wine, staff, ambiance was fab.. and the place was full - and that was mid week 8pm

Lia_lia

Tried The Meatball Place for the first time tonight. Was lovely! Very nice. I only had a cheeseboard as that's what I fancied, but it was a fantastic cheeseboard! Very tasty. My friend had some chicken ball thing and she also loved it. We shared the cheesecake which was very tasty. Wine was cheaper than most places. Actually everything was very good value. Would go back alright! Staff were also on the ball (sorry).

the beer revolu

the beer revolu wrote: »

Not sure exactly but certainly lunch time midweek.

Tandoori Nights run the €4.99 deal on Saturdays too.

nerwen

sporina wrote: »

with regards the Charcoal grill, why do you think ye waited so long? did they go for it else where? :P

All the food came from the place next door, Golden Chilli I want to say? The kitchen in the back of the Charcoal Grill seems to be used only for dishes.

As for why it took so long... The server not being very experienced would be my first guess. The food itself being slow I can totally forgive when it's that good though!

TrustedApple

Got a take away from Tandoori Nights there at the weekend.

Prob the best indain I have had in Cork the food all tasted so nice only problem.is it's very costly for a take away. Nearly 14 euros for curry rice and nam and that's with a 25% discount code.

But there chicken madras was a chicken madras so tasty and to nearly lick the carton it was in ha ha. There rice was really nice as well. There nam was the only.down fall it was very meh and very small.

Other then that the fish wife is my new fave take away for chipper food. There curry chips and batter sussages are maybe the best I have had.

Had son of a bun as well. Also very Good and a very tasty burger and chesse chips. There chrios I got to taste them very fantasic and not hard as there made fresh.

So many places to try for food since I moved to Cork now after months I am finding good places ha ha.

sporina

nerwen wrote: »

All the food came from the place next door, Golden Chilli I want to say? The kitchen in the back of the Charcoal Grill seems to be used only for dishes.

As for why it took so long... The server not being very experienced would be my first guess. The food itself being slow I can totally forgive when it's that good though!

in am dubious about anywhere that does too many dishes - and especially when they have a variety of cuisines - like, how can they have all of those ingredients - and skill.. ?

on another note though - i passed Burrito and Blues the other day and the queue was well out the door - popular spot obviously?

H8GHOTI

Was in Son of a Bun tonight. Second time in there. Really like it. Five of us went, all happy.
Can't get over how busy it was for a Wednesday night. We were there about half 6 and it was pretty much full. By half 7, there was a queue at the door and about five groups waiting at the bar.
Great atmosphere and had a really friendly waiter as well.

nerwen

sporina wrote: »

in am dubious about anywhere that does too many dishes - and especially when they have a variety of cuisines - like, how can they have all of those ingredients - and skill.. ?

Absolutely agree. For this one I'd guess the answer is that I didn't see a single person ordering off the "normal" menu while I was there, but if they do I'd assume that'd come out of the charcoal grill kitchen while everything Indian came from the chilli place next door?

But that is a huge pet peeve of mine as well and the reason I instantly dislike places like Tedo. Many people like it, which is good for the people running it of course, but there is no way I am going to a "tapas" place that serves a Moroccan curry and sweet chili prawns. Foodsnobbery perhaps, but I don't generally drag others into it!

whatever76

Munster Resturant awards announced last night - congrats to Sage !!!

http://www.irishrestaurantawards.com/munster-regional-winners-announced-2/

Malari

I ate in Zamora recently and very much enjoyed it. The service was great, food excellent and good value. I'd only had lunch there before, so the dinner menu was entirely different, with plenty of choice of mains and also a set menu for about €25 for 3 courses.

sporina

whatever76 wrote: »

Munster Resturant awards announced last night - congrats to Sage !!!

http://www.irishrestaurantawards.com/munster-regional-winners-announced-2/

quelle suprise on Sage... its in a league of its own..

Malari wrote: »

I ate in Zamora recently and very much enjoyed it. The service was great, food excellent and good value. I'd only had lunch there before, so the dinner menu was entirely different, with plenty of choice of mains and also a set menu for about €25 for 3 courses.

yeah i ate there recently too and it was divine - the portions were so generous.. puts other restaurants to shame.. 50% + on price for the same dish and half the size (quality as good if not better - in some cases)..

leahyl

Had lunch in Zamora recently too and it was delicious - had the grilled chicken salad with butternut squash, feta, quinoa, pomegranate seeds, cashews and mixed leaves and a lovely dressing - a fine big portion too. I had dinner there before that too, about a year ago and it was really nice. Lovely atmosphere in there, can't wait to go back.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Lal Quila in Douglas, opinions? Groupon voucher deal at the moment so thinking of trying it out.

pwurple

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

Lal Quila in Douglas, opinions? Groupon voucher deal at the moment so thinking of trying it out.

Maybe give it a go and see for yourself. The food is... Ok.

I am beyond suspicius of that place these days, which would be my main reason for avoiding. They have constant groupons, the staff seem to actually live on the premises. The food menu is ginormous. I have no idea how they stock a kitchen to do it with fresh food. I cannot see how they are making money legitimately.

what the hell!

Another positive review here for Meatball Place. Went yesterday and was happy out with it. Just had the traditional beef meatballs with tomato sauce and spaghetti. Really nice, freshly cooked spaghetti and nice size balls. Really good value for €10. My friend had the meatball sub which came with parmesan chips. Really good again. Staff were lovely too which is nearly as important for me!

.red.

Outside the city again but we ate in the lee valley golf club again last night. They had a 2 for 1 deal on main courses and some desserts.
I got a 3 way burger. Oh my god, what a feed. It was a nice crusty bap with 3 meats and a small bit of salad. It had a chicken breast and chorizo patty on top. It was nice but could have done with a little more chorizo, then a 6oz beef patty and on the bottom was a big "dollop" of pulled pork. It was also meant to have cheddar and blue cheese but im not a fan of cheese so i asked for none. It came with a pot of coleslaw and fries. It was €16.95 but considering it was 2/1 youd have had 2 for that price. My wife got a curry which wasn't great tbh. Thatvsurprised us as we've both had curries here a few times and they were always really good, it might just have been an off night for the curry.

They have the 2 for 1 again for a couple of nights next week if anyone is interested. They also had 4/5 desserts at 2 for 1 so you could have mains and dessert for 2 people for less than €20 depending on what you ordered. Its eating in the bar but the food is lovely and very good value. Its 10 mins from ballincollig and well worth the spin out for a feed.

Lemag

Best place for a quickish lunch before flying out of Cork Airport? Within short walking distance, like. Thanks.

nerwen

Just came back from lunch which was a big margherita pizza at Ristorante Rossini for €10. Bargain for really good, simple, Italian style pizza.

Malari

nerwen wrote: »

Just came back from lunch which was a big margherita pizza at Ristorante Rossini for €10. Bargain for really good, simple, Italian style pizza.

Oh I was in Rossini's for the first time in years recently and I thought it was awful. Now I didn't have the pizza, so I'm not doubting you :P My pasta was so hot that I was nearly finished it before I could eat a mouthful without blowing on it first, and I am not a fast eater! Also the sauce was kind of hardened around the edges of the dish, as if it had been microwaved. Just terrible.

.red.

Lemag wrote: »

Best place for a quickish lunch before flying out of Cork Airport? Within short walking distance, like. Thanks.

Inside the airport there isnt much and whats there isnt great. The last call bar after security is the best of a bad bunch.
Both hotels are worth checking out tho. The International Hotel is really nice but a tad exensive. The other one, cant remember the name since they changed it but its to the right if your looking up from the terminal. This is also nice and probably a little cheaper. Both are only 2/3 min walk from the terminal door.
Another nice option is the clay pot cafe in the business park. When you come out the door of the terminal youll see a set of steps going up the grassy hill. Go up and cross at the lights and follow the path towards the business park and its the first unit you come to. Its nice but very busy between about 1230-2pm. Its literaly a 90 second walk from the terminal.

flangemeistro

Lemag wrote: »

Best place for a quickish lunch before flying out of Cork Airport? Within short walking distance, like. Thanks.

Get the fish and chips in the New Yorker Bar and Bistro in the Cork international hotel.
Just had it this last Sunday and it's delicious, the fish cakes are also nice and theres nice chill out areas dotted all around.
It's a beautiful hotel.

leahyl

Went to serendipity for lunch today with work colleagues - absolutely beautiful. Had the vegetarian quiche (Mediterranean veg, spinach and cheddar) and side salad, then had mixed berry crumble for dessert - all for 11.50 - thought it was great value

Must try it for dinner some night.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Turns out I had €6 groupon referral credit on my account, so got a €40 Lal Quila voucher for €14 how bad!

Will try it out tonight and let ye guys know.

sporina

Malari wrote: »

Oh I was in Rossini's for the first time in years recently and I thought it was awful. Now I didn't have the pizza, so I'm not doubting you :P My pasta was so hot that I was nearly finished it before I could eat a mouthful without blowing on it first, and I am not a fast eater! Also the sauce was kind of hardened around the edges of the dish, as if it had been microwaved. Just terrible.

ekk I have only been to Rossini's twice and twice too often at that... i have nothing good to say about the place.. and on the contrary for the staff, food and general atm of the place...

I don't understand how its popular and existing so long..

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Well, Lal Quila was pretty good.

Service was only okay but food was delicious. I had a Chicken Korma with a peshwari naan, and my father had the Tikka Masala. Would return with vouchers only, as the food is quite dear on its own

28srf0c

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

Lal Quila in Douglas, opinions? Groupon voucher deal at the moment so thinking of trying it out.

Their menu is about an inch thick. They do every Indian, Chinese, Italian, Thai, European dish you can imagine. All pizzas are €4.99 no matter the topping. Very odd. Anyway I ate there before and I'm still alive. That's my review.

J Mysterio

pwurple wrote: »

Maybe give it a go and see for yourself. The food is... Ok.

I am beyond suspicius of that place these days, which would be my main reason for avoiding. They have constant groupons, the staff seem to actually live on the premises. The food menu is ginormous. I have no idea how they stock a kitchen to do it with fresh food. I cannot see how they are making money legitimately.

They have a lot of bad reviews on Justeat and have a 20% discount there too. They seem to be struggling.

Any place that sells pizza and Indian together is immediately eyed with suspicion in my book.

I did get a Vindaloo from there once which almost killed me.