Dublin in the early 80's

Ded_Zebra

My mother is for ever telling me that in Dublin in the 80's there was no such thing as a restaurant. Specifically we were talking about her graduation, she is saying that it was't major celebration back then to graduate. No one in her class made a big deal of it, apparently. I find this hard to believe. She attributes this in part to the fact that there was no such thing as a restaurant in Dublin at the time that you could have gone to with your family etc. and had a meal out and a couple of drinks.

This isn't the only time she has argued that there was nowhere to eat out in Ireland in the 80's. I really really find this very hard to believe. I think it is a case of she never ate out back then and therefore assumed that no one did. This was, in her mind, because there was nowhere to do it.

I also believe that graduating would have been a big deal for a lot of people, just as it is now, and they would have celebrated it. Even if they had to have a home cooked meal. This is an aside point however.

So AH, is there any knowledgeable people here old enough to remember the 80's to confirm this one way or the other?

Grayson

I was a kid back then but my only memories of ever eating out was in hotels. I do remember seeing restaurants (for some reasons chinese restaurants stick in my head) but there certainly weren't anywhere near as many as today.

The flying mouse

Dublin in the Dublin thread :-)

Roadtoad

Your mammy is right. The first restaurant opened in Dublin in Jan 1990, catering for the Arnotts sales set. Oh except for Nicos in College Green, but that was Italian and pretended it was in Rome.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Swiss Chalet across the road from the Stillorgan bowl. Spent three birthdays there (only one of then mine) - your mother is wrong.

Outlaw Pete

Load of shnollox.

I was brought to see E.T. as a kid and we eat in Flanagan's before the film.

The Trocadero is going since the 50's too.

vicwatson

King burger in ilac centre and burgerland o'connell st (went on fire), ah when burgers were beef

Ted111

You could have spinned down to the Meeting of the Waters and got a basket of sausage and chips and a pot of tea. No more than five pints if you were driving home though.

Mongfinder General

The country was on its knees in the early 80's. Going out for a meal was a big hit to the Phoca. Some people just couldn't afford it

Ded_Zebra

She has said before that you could eat in Hotels alright... But nowhere that was just a restaurant.

I can't imagine that you wouldn't eat in a hotel though... You still would these days if they did good food.

GreenFolder2

I'm pretty sure there was Captain America's and Blake's.
I remember in Cork there was definitely Bully's.

Now this could have been the early 90s. But, it was around that era anyway.

The flying mouse

I was 21 in 1983, There was massive unemployment,The north was a war zone and there was a huge dark cloud hanging over the country.

There certainly wasent as many restaurants around and I don't remember any graduation dances or debs, weren't to many hotels either, emergration was rife, there were countless elections.

Bit of a depressing country really or so it seemed to me, but I was only in my twentys so maybe someone older can give a better review.

Red Kev

There were very few mid priced restaurants as we know them. A few posh ones like Shanahans on the Green, some fast food, or diners like Cafolas. If you went out for a family meal it was to a hotel.

Cheap family dining in restaurants only became big in the 90s. Grads were rare, started in the posher schools, gradually worked it's way down. Usually you went on the beer with your gang or clique after the Leaving, maybe headed to Lisdoonvarna if the funds were there.

Simpler times really, not as complicated as today and not always a bad thing either.

Big Nasty

Of course there were restaurants, many of them. Was no shortage of fast food joints either. That said, there wasn't a restraunt / cafe / take-away every second door like today. I do remember when most pubs would offer not much more than a toasted ham & cheese and only an exceptional few would stretch a greasy burger and chips or roast chicken.

The Backwards Man

Fat Pat's in the Ward is the only restaurant I remember from that time, anyone remember it?

Dubl07

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Swiss Chalet across the road from the Stillorgan bowl. Spent three birthdays there (only one of then mine) - your mother is wrong.

We loved the Swiss Chalet. BBQ chicken and coleslaw were so exotic for us as children. :eek: The Library Bar in the Killiney Court was a family favourite but as part of a hotel, perhaps that doesn't count.

There were other places too, but I was too young to go to many of them at that stage: Shannon's/Pings, Beaufield Mews, Guilbaud's, The Guinea Pig in Dalkey. Paulo Tullio's brilliant place Armstrong's Barn out in the countryside needed a designated driver even back then.

vicwatson

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Fat Pat's in the Ward is the only restaurant I remember from that time, anyone remember it?

That near slim jim's?

Holograph

Even in the early 90s it was a huge deal to go for a meal in a restaurant - not even a fancy one, but there were restaurants in the city centre long before then!

The Backwards Man

vicwatson wrote: »

That near slim jim's?

Near the Brock if I remember right, not many places served Donegal youngfellas fresh from a night clattered in whelks in those days.

Stoogie

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there was Captain America's and Blake's.
I remember in Cork there was definitely Bully's.

Now this could have been the early 90s. But, it was around that era anyway.

Blakes is what the aforementioned Swiss chalet became. I remember when the first mc Donald's opened.

RayM

Ted111 wrote: »

No more than five pints if you were driving home though.

Or eight pints if you were driving home on the back roads.

the evasion_kid

Dublin in the 80s always reminds me of Jimmy rabbites estate in the commitments..

silverharp

your mother is exaggerating , there were always a selection around town, Southside yep Blakes was popular, the Courtyard in Donnybrook, going to hotels was more common, Jurys grill. if I remember the first McD's was around 1981 give or take a year.

Zaph

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there was Captain America's and Blake's.

There was also a place in Grafton Street similar to Captain A's called Thunderbird. And at the other end of the scale you had The Mirabeau in Sandycove, the Patrick Guilbaud's of its day.

Cortina_MK_IV

I was working in the 80's and as mentioned earlier I'd take a girl to Flanagan's to show I had a few bob. Wasn't there a Berni Inn somewhere up around Grafton St? I'm sure my sister and her then fella (he's a woman now) used to go there.

Zaph

Cortina_MK_IV wrote: »

I was working in the 80's and as mentioned earlier I'd take a girl to Flanagan's to show I had a few bob. Wasn't there a Berni Inn somewhere up around Grafton St? I'm sure my sister and her then fella (he's a woman now) used to go there.

I think the Berni Inn was where the Porterhouse is on Nassau Street now.

Dyr

silverharp wrote: »

your mother is exaggerating , there were always a selection around town, Southside yep Blakes was popular, the Courtyard in Donnybrook, going to hotels was more common, Jurys grill. if I remember the first McD's was around 1981 give or take a year.

Not really, proper restaurants were not on the agenda for most dubs in the 80s and there was not a whole lot of them around. We didn't have a culture of dining out like other european countries did.

It was very much an aspirational thing for people who saw themselves as being on the up.

Stoogie

silverharp wrote: »

your mother is exaggerating , there were always a selection around town, Southside yep Blakes was popular, the Courtyard in Donnybrook, going to hotels was more common, Jurys grill. if I remember the first McD's was around 1981 give or take a year.

Grafron street was 77

Annasopra

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Swiss Chalet across the road from the Stillorgan bowl. Spent three birthdays there (only one of then mine) - your mother is wrong.

Blakes?

Zaph

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Blakes?

Opened as Swiss Chalet and later became Blake's

Pretzill

Yes there were restaurants - but from what I remember having a meal out was a rare treat - and some of the highly priced eateries were out of reach for most. Deb's was a thing too - My sister had her Deb's in '75 - (it wasn't just for posh schools)

The restaurants I remember where Chinese restaurants( when spring rolls were called egg rolls) - Chinese restaurants felt very sophisticated then - Pizzaland (where you paid for pizza by the slice 18p from what I recall, delicious too), Blake's (a family affair), a couple of pricey ones in Dun Laoghaire (which I never got to eat in) - pubs only really served toasties - nite clubs served chips at the end of the disco - and then the likes of the Lido or McDonald's when it opened first in the early 80's - or a hotel for a carvery (yack)


But in the main you weren't tripping over an eatery on every corner nor did you have a choice of a varied cusine.

And my first curry was a Vesta curry -