Umi Falafel on Dame St?

Weyhey

Only just noticed this while passing on the bus. Website isn't up and running yet.
Seems like a vegetarian falafel and salad place - any been yet?

Can't wait to try it out.

strandroad

Just opened, it seems. Will definitely give it a go.

BMJD

they just posted this on the facebuke

Tar.Aldarion

looks damn good

roweeeeena

I went last week, delicious and everything was so fresh, they make up the salads twice a day. And the staff are really friendly. Give them some support
Rowena

Zombienosh

I'll check this out this week.

Mooby

Looks great! Can't wait to try it!

quaalude

Looks good.
Is it a proper restaurant to sit down and spend some time eating a meal in, or a place to grab some quick food?

roweeeeena

Well both, it's very quick and casual, but there is table service and you could linger as long as you like. I stayed nearly two hours over falafel, a salad, bread, juice, baklava and tea!

perfectisthe

Ate here last night. It was nice enough. I had a build your own falafel and wedges, and my OH had the Quinoa salad.

The falafel and bread was fine, but it was certainly nothing to write home about. There wasn't enough hummus and chili sauce on it. The wedges were fairly nice, again, nothing special though. The Quinoa salad was probably the best thing we had, it was really fresh and full of flavour.

Wouldn't be rushing back, but it's early days for them, so maybe in a couple of months they'll have improved a bit.

quaalude

I went on Saturday - I had the 4 pieces of stuffed falafel (stuffed with cheese, maybe mozzarella?), the Moroccan Quinoa salad and a juice drink - I think it was OJ, grapefruit and lime.

The falafel was delicious, it may be the best I ever tasted (and I've eaten a lot of falafel). I was so light and unctuous, with a crisp shell, moist middle, and melty centre. It was served in a miniature deep fat fryer basket, which I thought was very cute. It came with little bowls of hummus, tahini sauce, a smooth, lightly spiced tomato sauce and a pile of pickled vegetables. Some bread was brought for the table, I wasn't charged for it so I'm not sure if they just dropped it down to be nice or what. It was a pitta-ish bread, quite nice.

The Moroccan Quinoa salad was unbelievably delicious, my dining partner and I fought over it. And the juice was super-tart and zingy (how I like it).

The food was great, but the place is really just a casual fast food joint with little atmosphere, albeit a nice one, so I'm not sure how often I'll go. We just ate and left - is wasn't really nice enough inside to warrant sticking around for a big chat or coffee. But I'd deffo go there for a quick lunch. The food was top-notch and very reasonably priced.

Zombienosh

I went last week too and loved it. It's nice to have an option of places to grab something that doesn't take too much time. I'll definitely be a regular when I need to grab something, Lebanese Falafel wrap for the win!

sweet-rasmus

I went last week and really enjoyed it. The lentil soup was delicious! It was served with fresh pita and lime wedges. I had the spinach rolls, potato wedges and katayef (pancake with walnuts - vegan!) too and they were yummy also. It was quite the feast

Another poster was saying they weren't too impressed, but I loved it! Great atmosphere. And the best thing is that there is no meat on the premises! I got a falafel wrap in another city centre place last month and the smell of those rotating meat things was disgusting :P

quaalude

quaalude wrote: »

The food was great, but the place is really just a casual fast food joint with little atmosphere, albeit a nice one, so I'm not sure how often I'll go. We just ate and left - is wasn't really nice enough inside to warrant sticking around for a big chat or coffee. But I'd deffo go there for a quick lunch. The food was top-notch and very reasonably priced.

I'm quoting myself here because I feel I was a little harsh.
I found myself in town yesterday with my brother at lunchtime, and we didn't have a plan of anywhere to go, so I found myself very excitedly suggesting Umi Falafel (even though I was only there a few days ago).
My brother loved the place, and, of course, the food was amazing - fresh and delicious. I think I'm just not that familiar with that sort of casual dining - I always bring my lunch to work and I don't particularly like to go out for breakfast or brunch, so when I go to a restaurant it's always at night (usually with booze).
So I take back what I said! Umi Falafel has a fine atmosphere, for a daytime place!

perfectisthe

Right, seeing as everyone else is enjoying it so much, it appears that I'm going to have to go back to Umi and give it another go!

strandroad

Tried it recently - very impressed with fresh and flavoursome food (and no meat around... yay).

Palestinian sandwich (falafel in a pita with salad, pickled cucumber, fried aubergine and hummus) is a real flavour bomb. Grilled haloumi sandwich was super tasty too, might be too small for a standalone meal, though great for starters. Falafel salad - a decent sized bowl of fresh red/white cabbage salad in yogurt sauce and four fresh falafels - don't forget to save the last falafel to mop up the sauce! You can build your own sandwiches and salad bowls too. With drinks and side wedges we had a humungous meal for two for just under €20.

Will definitely be back - there are other nice falafel places in town, but I would always support a purely vegetarian business over falafel slash kebab type of place.

sweet-rasmus

There's a great deal for Umi Falafel up on Menu Pages at the moment: you can get a €20 voucher for Umi Falafel for €10! See here. NB reservation essential, max booking 2 vouchers per table per booking & other fine print.

650Ginge

We went to umi tonight.

Really nice food, fresh healthy. I would recommend it.

Weyhey

sweet-rasmus wrote: »

There's a great deal for Umi Falafel up on Menu Pages at the moment: you can get a €20 voucher for Umi Falafel for €10! See here. NB reservation essential, max booking 2 vouchers per table per booking & other fine print.

Anyone know if you really have to book a table with Menupages before using the voucher? From the outside it doesn't seem like that kind of place?

Papillon!

Ooooh this sounds so good. I'm getting so sick of the same places and I'm crazy for falafel so I'll definitely give it a go soon.:)

sweet-rasmus

Weyhey wrote: »

Anyone know if you really have to book a table with Menupages before using the voucher? From the outside it doesn't seem like that kind of place?

It seems you really do. A friend of mine couldn't use his when we went with a group for dinner there tonight. He had his voucher printed, but he hadn't received a confirmation email after he booked it. They need to send you that confirmation email (and it might take them a couple of hours to get back to you about it!). I would guess that they only accept a certain number of vouchers each day.

Weyhey

sweet-rasmus wrote: »

It seems you really do. A friend of mine couldn't use his when we went with a group for dinner there tonight. He had his voucher printed, but he hadn't received a confirmation email after he booked it. They need to send you that confirmation email (and it might take them a couple of hours to get back to you about it!). I would guess that they only accept a certain number of vouchers each day.

Seems a bit crazy as I didn't think they were very busy. Wonder is it just Umi policy or a Menu Pages policy....

Tar.Aldarion

i made a booking but they didn't even check, just said to them that i had a voucher and they said that's fine, great food, 4 of us had to pay very little for 4 great meal deals on one voucher

Weyhey

If anyone (like me) hasn't used their menupages voucher it expires on Jan 15th.

Also now you don't need to book to use it.

Looking forward to finally trying them out....

sweet-rasmus

Thanks, that's good to know. I just can't decide when to use my last voucher! Nyom nyom nyom

FollatonWood

I like this place, I moved here from my usual falafel hunt as I'd found a piece of meat in my salad there.

I usually get take out as I'm not a fan of their seating in there, but the guy always remembers me now and my order - which is a nice touch. Just there last week, they forgot to put my hoummous in the bag and he ran down the street after me with it, of course I didn't hear him calling me and he didn't catch me but the next time I came in I got a free order.

Only thing that bugs me is they don't offer a portion of hoummous with the falafel pieces anymore - you have to get a large portion separately which is like 4quid. That said, it lasts a few days then.

fillefatale

Ate here for the first time this week. Was really impressed. The restaurant is casual but the interior is lovely - i love the wall mural, the tables, the benches! The two waitresses were very friendly and attentive. I got the Palestinian Falafel sandwich and the lentil soup. The 'sandwich' was delicious! I've had disappointing falafel in Dublin before but I'd have no hesitation in recommending this to a friend. Great value too, perfect at lunch, if you want a quick one, or before going to the cinema or something. I wasn't so keen on the lentil soup, but I prefer chunky soups so thats a matter of preference, the lime you added to it did add a nice flavour! The manager or owner was really attentive too, asking us did we enjoy our food, and he seemed really genuine.

Definitely would make no hesitation in going back! Great addition to the cafés and restaurants around Dame St, and affordable!

juicydublin

Ohh sounds delicious! Will have to try this out too!

Slaphead07

a good reason to revive this thread? Yes!!!
Umi Falafel is opening in Rathmines.... just a few doors from the old fire station, near the town hall.

http://umifalafel.ie/menu/

Level 5 Vegan

I just moved from living across from Umi on Dame street to near Rathmines myself, I can only assume they got word that I'd moved on and not wanting to miss out on business opened a new branch within close proximity to me.