Time for another Restaurant thread!

inisboffin

newkie wrote: »

Some lovely maki combos there. Pricey but I'm guessing you'd argue it's worth it. Maybe next time we're in Dublin we'll try them over Yamamori.

We used to order from these guys every friday (on speed dial): http://mobosushirestaurant.com/menu/mobo-maki-maki/

Pretty much the only thing I miss from the states.

They do catering/party plates that you can order to share and they work out really reasonably. I do like Yamamori too (slight preference for the one on the Quays) but yes, the Michie lads are worth it.

swe_fi

Ok so went to Dela over the weekend

The restaurant is pretty nice, nice decor, chilled and good atmosphere.

The menu is a good balance, not too little and not too many options, about right. I think it could be a little more adventurous if I could say anything about it.

Starters
Were nice, we ordered some platters with Cheese alt Seafood in different sizes to share, they were bare in a few mins so that kind of speaks for itself - nicely done and good selection.

Mains
Striploin Steak - Cooked as requested for all, not the best quality meat, bit bland dish overall needs a bit of flair / zest added in my opinion. I would be happy to pay more for better quality. Came with Dauphine potatoes with great firm texture
Pork Belly - pretty good if you like Pork Belly, I don't so cant comment but it was nicely done and presented and as it should be
Sea Bass - Was great apparently, I did not taste
Vegetarian Filo Parcel - Wow...this was excellent, I am not veggo but I would eat this any day. Perfectly cooked Filo with vegetables and Cheese

Dessert
They have special desserts every night i believe and one option was a platter with a selection of Brownie, Ice Cream, Pudding and something else. Was pretty good. The desserts were not the highlight but they were ok

Drinks
Good selection of wine and more importantly, beer! It annoys me when Arty type places have one like 1 or 2 types of ethical / organic beer (i don't care if it is flown in by corn-fed pigeon brewed by monks in zero gravity if it tastes like soaked fizzy ryvita) Beers were like 5/6 euro which is fine by me.

Service
Ok, this was a bit of a let down, a few mistakes were made and i think a bit more enthusiasm, attentiveness (a word?) and attention to detail would have been nice...but I have to say it did not really take a away from the experience, but I do adjust the tip accordingly.

Overall
This was a positive experience. I personally would like a bit more flair / edginess / daring and some improvement in the service but this is a good reasonable option that I think many people will enjoy. It is also a place that is good to bring Customers/Business Visitors as it is not too outlandish (always play it safe with my professional relations)

ben.schlomo

Havent seen The Cottage mentioned so I will, we went lastnight and had the 2 course for €14 option, great value, food was lovely, service was friendly and speedy enough. The lamb shank/neck fillet main was superb and dessert and starters were very good too, definitely heading back soon.

swe_fi

Out again tonight

Went to the "old reliable" Malt House. They do specials during the week, 25 Euro for 2 courses (certain dishes excluded). As a side note, walked by Vina Mara on the way there and they did 10 Euro mains today (Why bother cooking at home when Vina Mara can do it cheaper?)

Anyway, Malt House was as always very inviting, not that busy and still a nice atmosphere. This is no mean feat, as some places when half full feel empty. It feels "right", for want of a better description, like your favorite leather jacket that you paid that bit extra for, 7 years ago, that you still wear, has aged gracefully and still has that leathery smell and timeless style...sort of way. So...the food.

Starters
Had some jumped up salad which was good and fresh. Way to much celery if you ask me, but celery is my vegetable nemesis so I am not the best judge here.
We also had ribs, did not taste them but they went down a treat and looked proper nice.

Mains
Steaks almost all around, cooked as ordered and served on piping plates and smelling of grilled steak. Strip-loin meat of great quality, some might say it is a bit small, but they would be wrong. Came with nice fries and a coriander and something butter type "sauce" I guess. Got some extra pepper sauce as a precaution which we received without quibble.
They had a special on which was Rabbit tasting plate - i had to read that board twice because it sounds funny to me, maybe it is normal but anyway one person in our party ordered this in. It looked pretty funky when it came in and apparently it was delicious. I felt a bit bad for the rabbit for some reason.

Dessert
Baileys Cheesecake which was good but it had no base, you get a cake which you are supposed to treat as a base, which i did not figure until I had eaten 75% of it.
Chocolate fondant was also ordered, it looked and tasted very nice.

Service
Service was great, very pleasant and unobtrusive. I'll be honest, I sometimes feel a bit bad when i get too good service (as defined above) as these people are just there silently removing my plate, scribbling down my order...I'm going a bit soft maybe. It is funny, people (as customers) have different preferences in service style. In contrast to this experience what is extremely painful for me is being over-serviced where the waiter is "the star of the show" or cracking jokes all the time. Some people like this, I don't.

Overall
Malt House is as good as always, i'll be back for sure. You have to admire these guys for pulling themselves together on a Monday night with the Kings Head just next door. I don't know if this relevant but i really like their cutlery, just putting it here as I don't know where else to add this.

seosamh1980

Vina Mara often do that €10 mains thing, at least once a week I think. We went there when they just started offering that and four of us ordered steaks (not sure if the steaks are still part of that offer), we got 4 mains for €40 when they should've been €100, legend! Clearly not a money maker for them but it was so awesome.

biko

I'm actually bringing some folks to Vina Mara tonight. Will try to do a short review after.

seosamh1980

Vina Mara's desserts are some of the best in the city IMO, and I don't say things like that lightly! Very interesting combinations and beautifully done.

Ruben Remus

seosamh1980 wrote: »

Vina Mara often do that €10 mains thing, at least once a week I think

I believe it's Monday-Wednesday, inclusive, each week. As you indicated there are no surcharges either, not even on steaks. Great deal.

beardybrewer

That's quite the deal alright. For completeness:

Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday: ALL MAIN MEALS, ALL EVENING €10
Thursday/Friday (All Evening) - Saturday (Until 7pm):
2 Courses - €20
3 Courses - €24
2 x 3 Course Meals and Bottle House Wine - €60
Applies to all dishes on our Menu (supplements apply)

http://www.vinamara.com/menus/dinner-menu

biko

Ok so went to Vina Mara with some peeps over from UK.
We had the salmon and the steak. No desserts as we got full from just the main course.
According to them the salmon was excellent.
I had the steak and it was good, not the best I ever had but on par with Rouge for sure.

Conclusion, for 10 euro it's really really good value. We'll certainly avail of that offer again.
We were five people and had two salmons, two steaks, one chicken, three glasses of wine and two minerals. It all came to about 70 euro.

seosamh1980

biko wrote: »

Ok so went to Vina Mara with some peeps over from UK.
We had the salmon and the steak. No desserts as we got full from just the main course.

That's just bad planning right there! You need to grow a dessert stomach

Seaneh

seosamh1980 wrote: »

That's just bad planning right there! You need to grow a dessert stomach

Or just have ice cream.
Because no matter how full you are, there's always room for ice cream.

dropping_bombs

Haas anyone been to Creole? Could you give a quick review or comment about it?

El_Dangeroso

Some people in another thread said they liked it. I thought it was overpriced stodge personally, and judging from a lot of the empty seats I see in there lately, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

jwalsh1980

Can anyone tell me what Lime is like down the Spanish arch? Really like the look of the menu and fancy a change from Asian Tea House.

jwalsh1980

Had a nice meal in Creole a couple of months back. The only negative was the toilets. Worst ever.

jwalsh1980

Can anyone tell me what Park House is like for lunch these days? It was always considered one of the best places in town for food.

Redhairedguy

jwalsh1980 wrote: »

Had a nice meal in Creole a couple of months back. The only negative was the toilets. Worst ever.

Did you mention this to a member of the staff?

jwalsh1980

I did not mention it. The staff were very friendly and I just decided to keep quiet.

Redhairedguy

Your politeness is respectable, but I think it's always worth mentioning, even casually, if something is slightly amiss. Even something as small as no toilet paper in the bathroom. Most often, the staff aren't actually aware.

jwalsh1980

I would agree. On this occasion friends brought me there for a birthday meal. The staff were very nice and gave me a complimentary desert. I'm sure it was an isolated incident with the toilets.

ben.schlomo

jwalsh1980 wrote: »

I would agree. On this occasion friends brought me there for a birthday meal. The staff were very nice and gave me a complimentary desert. I'm sure it was an isolated incident with the toilets.

Why bother mentioning it on a public forum then?

Redhairedguy

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Why bother mentioning it on a public forum then?

So that if someone else noticed the toilets in a bad state, they'd have previous knowledge of this and could mention it to staff, so it wouldn't be jotted down to an isolated incident.

This kind of stuff doesn't bother me at all really; but if the toilets were constantly bad in a place, and no one mentioned it, then it might not ever really get rectified.

ben.schlomo

Redhairedguy wrote: »

So that if someone else noticed the toilets in a bad state, they'd have previous knowledge of this and could mention it to staff, so it wouldn't be jotted down to an isolated incident.

This kind of stuff doesn't bother me at all really; but if the toilets were constantly bad in a place, and no one mentioned it, then it might not ever really get rectified.

My point being there was no need to mention it if he felt it was a 'one off'.

Redhairedguy

ben.schlomo wrote: »

My point being there was no need to mention it if he felt it was a 'one off'.

And my point being that if someone else noticed the toilets in a bad way, and had read this thread, then they would know that it wasn't a 'one off'. Savvy?

witnessrenegade

Booked Kirwans Lane for my graduation at the end of the month, was their about a year ago, hoping that it's as nice as it was the first time I was their!

degzs

witnessrenegade wrote: »

Booked Kirwans Lane for my graduation at the end of the month, was their about a year ago, hoping that it's as nice as it was the first time I was their!

The same as, booked for my graduation. Heard it is well good?

cooperguy

I was in the new Cava a couple of weeks ago. Have to say I really enjoyed it. Between the group of us we had 12 Tapas and every single one of them were extremely tasty. I will be back!

Chewabacca

Last time I went to rouge was one of the worst restaurant experiences I've had. All of us at the table ordered steaks. I ordered mine blue and it came out medium. They very reluctantly got me a new one. It was annoying that they acted like I did something wrong asking for a new one but it wasn't the worst.

My brothers steak, however, was at the very most two thirds the size of all the others. It was the end piece of the joint which usually isn't served. It's was 3 times thicker on one side than the other so it was completely unevenly cooked. It should never have been served. When we asked for another one they said no. Having worked in kitchens for years I told them that it was the end piece and that it shouldn't have been served. The waiter straight out said no. I had to ask for a manager, and they very reluctantly called the floor manager. The floor manager told me that the steak was fine and acted like I was completely out of line asking for different steak. They said they'd tell the chef what I said as if I was supposed to be scared. I told them to show the steak to the chef and say that we wanted a new one. They came back saying that the steaks come in already cut from "an award winning butcher". They said the best they could do was get me the fish special as a replacement.

I reluctantly accepted. They told me it was salmon. It was white fish in a completely bland, under seasoned white sauce.

The annoying thing was it was a special occasion and I didn't want to ruin it by arguing further. If it was me and a few friends I would have picked up the bottles of wine, paid for the drinks only and walked out. I'd never ever go there again, the staff were, unprofessional and beyond rude. It was by far the worst service I've ever experienced.

dinneenp

witnessrenegade wrote: »

Booked Kirwans Lane for my graduation at the end of the month, was their about a year ago, hoping that it's as nice as it was the first time I was their!

Dont know if they still do this but last tune I was there they charged extra for your standard site dishes. Hate places that do that