The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

Markcheese · 26-03-2015 8:14pm

Loire wrote: »

Had lunch in The Workshop in Ballygarvan recently and it's very nice. Proper homemade food at a reasonable price. No rush in there either and the staff are very nice. 10/10 for me.

Assume it's easy to find , Ballygarvan ain't huge -

sporina · 26-03-2015 9:35pm

Loire wrote: »

Had lunch in The Workshop in Ballygarvan recently and it's very nice. Proper homemade food at a reasonable price. No rush in there either and the staff are very nice. 10/10 for me.

yeah i was there too recently - its cool - love the theme - so eclectic - and the food is thee best - local and fresh - good produce,.. and the service is great…

the only quibble i have is that the atmosphere felt a bit stiff? I don't know why - felt more like a restaurant than a cafe - maybe its cos i was expecting something more laid back..
know what i mean?

bee06 · 26-03-2015 11:43pm

Markcheese wrote: »

Assume it's easy to find , Ballygarvan ain't huge -

It's not in the village. It's up the hill from Five mile on the way to lehanaghmore.

D'Agger · 27-03-2015 11:31am

I'm aware this isn't restaurant related but if anybody can tell me the best place to get a breakfast roll or some sort of savoury mid-morning snack in Ballincollig I'd appreciate it

.red. · 27-03-2015 1:03pm

D'Agger wrote: »

I'm aware this isn't restaurant related but if anybody can tell me the best place to get a breakfast roll or some sort of savoury mid-morning snack in Ballincollig I'd appreciate it

I only had a breakfast roll this morning for the first time in a looooong time. It was savage!

The Gala shop up past Applegreen used to do a mighty breakfast roll. Havent been in there for a few years tho but worth a try anyway. I know they still have a decent hot counter.

Theres a shop next to SuperNova that does a very good lunch, im pretty sure they do a hot breakfast too so thats probably worth checking out too. Coming from ballincollig, its just past super nova on the left. Id probably go here before Gala!

barneygumble99 · 27-03-2015 1:19pm

Heading to Cork this weekend, looking for a nice restaurant, been reading this thread and the type of menu I like is something along the lines of 'The Mills', straightforward food.
Cafe Paradiso comes highly recommended on trip advisor but I dont like the menu,or rather, the way it's worded, too fancy.
Staying in Fota so maybe somewhere out of city centre would suit either. Would like to keep bill under €100 including a glass of wine each. Thanks.

rob316 · 27-03-2015 1:26pm

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Heading to Cork this weekend, looking for a nice restaurant, been reading this thread and the type of menu I like is something along the lines of 'The Mills', straightforward food.
Cafe Paradiso comes highly recommended on trip advisor but I dont like the menu,or rather, the way it's worded, too fancy.
Staying in Fota so maybe somewhere out of city centre would suit either. Would like to keep bill under €100 including a glass of wine each. Thanks.

Market Lane would be my recommendation, it would be a little more adventurous than The Mills but have a sort of meat and 2 veg core to it IMO.

-Toppy- · 27-03-2015 1:38pm

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Heading to Cork this weekend, looking for a nice restaurant, been reading this thread and the type of menu I like is something along the lines of 'The Mills', straightforward food.
Cafe Paradiso comes highly recommended on trip advisor but I dont like the menu,or rather, the way it's worded, too fancy.
Staying in Fota so maybe somewhere out of city centre would suit either. Would like to keep bill under €100 including a glass of wine each. Thanks.

What about Sage in Midleton?
http://www.sagerestaurant.ie/

pwurple · 27-03-2015 1:42pm

-Toppy- wrote: »

What about Sage in Midleton?
http://www.sagerestaurant.ie/

Sage might be a bit fancypants as well.

I'd recommend the Elm Tree in Glountaune near Fota for you. http://www.elmtree.ie/

Best carvery in Ireland award.

Market lane group would suit as well I'd say, so Market Lane in the city center, or Blackrock Castle slightly outside the city center if you want someplace you can park.

-Toppy- · 27-03-2015 2:11pm

I had dinner last Christmas at the Bramley Lodge just outside fota

Wasnt bad, definately worth a pop in, I remember the desert was divine (Was some form of chocolate cake thing)

Blackrock Castle gets a thumbs up from me too!

Markcheese · 27-03-2015 8:45pm

-Toppy- wrote: »

I had dinner last Christmas at the Bramley Lodge just outside fota

Wasnt bad, definately worth a pop in, I remember the desert was divine (Was some form of chocolate cake thing)

Blackrock Castle gets a thumbs up from me too!

Depends a bit on how far you want to drive , Sage in Midleton is great (and reasonable ) food is fancy - service relaxed (in a good way)
Rosie's in Aghada is good - as is the elm tree .
Dunno how easy it is to get the train from the hotel ( fota station) but Cobh is one end and Cork city the other - ( anywhere decent in Cobh ? )
Don't knock paradiso - it's veggy but great - market lane - star anise - Greenes- the list is massive -

barneygumble99 · 30-03-2015 6:17pm

pwurple wrote: »

Sage might be a bit fancypants as well.

I'd recommend the Elm Tree in Glountaune near Fota for you. http://www.elmtree.ie/

Best carvery in Ireland award.

Market lane group would suit as well I'd say, so Market Lane in the city center, or Blackrock Castle slightly outside the city center if you want someplace you can park.

Ended up going to the Elm Tree, food was excellent, there was live music also, no singing, just keyboard and guitar, they were very good and really added to the night. Will definitky be back. That's to all for the recommendation.

greenfrogs · 30-03-2015 11:41pm

I have been to the Elm Tree once and really enjoyed it. The food was lovely and it is a gorgeous venue. The staff were also very accommodating. They gave us our own little section so we had plenty of space which was handy as there was six of us including a baby. Everyone enjoyed it.

.red. · 31-03-2015 8:33am

I ate in the east village the other night. Expectations were low as ive eaten there once before and wasnt too impressed. I won a voucher so gave it another go.

We got seated right under the big screen with a rugby match on. I wasnt watching it but the changing colours above us was a little annoying at first but after a while we didnt notice it.
Starters were gougons and garlic bread between us. Very nice.
For mains my wife got a red curry and it was delicious. I got the large wings and a portion of chips. I went for the hottest option and the waitress warned me they were extremely hot but i chanced them anyway. They were nice, fine big portion but they just werent hot. Most of the sauce was at the botton of the bowl and if i dipped them there was a bit of heat but not much, certainly not "insane" hot like advertised.
We got one dessert between us as we were pretty full. A lemon tart. It was nice and bitter but it was very cold, it would have been nicer if it had been served at room temp.
we had 2 cokes and a pint and it came to €59 which i thought was decent enough value. Portions were big and we liked everything we got, but if their warning people about how hot the wings were, they should be pretty hot.

Ludo · 04-04-2015 8:20pm

Just been to Barrys in Douglas. Steak was excellent and cooked to perfection. A lovely medium rare. Wife had the cod and loved it also. Was very impressed with everything. I was surprised as I was never that big a fan of the place although I havent been in a few years. Will definitely go back.
Only minor issue was that five of us went and they put us at a table for four in a mostly empty restaurant even though we had made a booking just to be sure we got a table. But as soon as I mentioned it they moved us straight away so all well.

JohnK · 05-04-2015 9:40pm

Anyone know if you'd have to book for Palmentos in Douglas or would you be safe enough just walking up mid-week?

TeletextPear · 06-04-2015 8:46am

JohnK wrote: »

Anyone know if you'd have to book for Palmentos in Douglas or would you be safe enough just walking up mid-week?

They don't take bookings. Walk up, even if they're full the turnover is quite fast so you'll never be waiting more than 10 minutes

Roesy · 06-04-2015 10:06am

Went to Siesta on Princes Street on Saturday night. Inside could do with a fresher paint job and service was a little slow but overall a nice meal. It's only small inside and there was only one person front of house so he was run fairly ragged between taking orders, getting drinks, seating people, bringing food, doing bills etc. Wouldn't have surprised me if there was only a very small crew in the kitchen too.

We got stuffed jalapeños and mozzarella sticks as starters. The jalapeños had all the seeds left in which made them a little too hot and I like heat. They were good once you scraped some of the seeds out. The mozzarella sticks and salsa were tasty too. For mains we got taquitos with spicy chicken and gorditas with spicy beef, both of which were very nice if not quite spicy enough. They were both served with a lovely rice and some salad. We pigged out and got a portion of sweet potato fries too. They were gorgeous. We got a portion of churros to share, very enjoyable. I thought the melted chocolate they were served with was slightly bitter but my husband didn't think so. We had three soft drinks and a bottle of beer with this and the meal came to €65. I'd definitely try it again.

bleach94 · 06-04-2015 12:09pm

TeletextPear wrote: »

They don't take bookings. Walk up, even if they're full the turnover is quite fast so you'll never be waiting more than 10 minutes

Lads, where is Palmentos in Douglas? I live nearby and can never find it.. Wandered around the East Village and the main street the other day and couldn't spot it for the life of me.. I'm baffled at this stage!!

JohnK · 06-04-2015 12:19pm

TeletextPear wrote: »

They don't take bookings. Walk up, even if they're full the turnover is quite fast so you'll never be waiting more than 10 minutes

thanks

bleach94 wrote: »

Lads, where is Palmentos in Douglas? I live nearby and can never find it.. Wandered around the East Village and the main street the other day and couldn't spot it for the life of me.. I'm baffled at this stage!!

Its where Cashmans bookmakers used to be down on Church St. between Barrys and O'Driscoll's - pretty much opposite the side door into Barrys but because its set back a good bit from the road it can be hard to spot if you're not standing in front of it.

JohnK · 09-04-2015 12:26pm

Made it into Palmento last night - very tasty and I'll certainly be going back.

bee06 · 11-04-2015 3:39pm

Went to Coqbull last night. It was packed! Had the combo platter with the ribs and two types of wings which was lovely. Had the half roast chicken for mains and that was grand, nothing special though and I'd say I only ate 1/3 of it because there was so much there. OH had the bacon burger which was huge and a bit pink for his liking but he thought it was nice overall. The cocktails were the stand out of the meal though ... Raspberry mojiti was delicious!

dudara · 11-04-2015 5:57pm

Recently had dinner in Huguenot, just before Easter. Really enjoyed it overall, despite a few small things. Moules marinere to start followed by ribeye steak (with fries, salad and garlic butter) and an apple tarte tatin to share. Total food bill (without wine) for four people was €145.

pwurple · 11-04-2015 10:34pm

dudara wrote: »

Recently had dinner in Huguenot, just before Easter. Really enjoyed it overall, despite a few small things. Moules marinere to start followed by ribeye steak (with fries, salad and garlic butter) and an apple tarte tatin to share. Total food bill (without wine) for four people was €145.

Noms! Love that style food... steak and chips and an apple tart, i mean why are people scared of french food?

leahyl · 11-04-2015 11:05pm

bee06 wrote: »

Went to Coqbull last night. It was packed! Had the combo platter with the ribs and two types of wings which was lovely. Had the half roast chicken for mains and that was grand, nothing special though and I'd say I only ate 1/3 of it because there was so much there. OH had the bacon burger which was huge and a bit pink for his liking but he thought it was nice overall. The cocktails were the stand out of the meal though ... Raspberry mojiti was delicious!

Was in Coqbull as well last night! OMG had the nicest burger I have ever had in Ireland anyway, was absolutely gorgeous (I have the smokin bull). The chips were lovely too, and the cocktails....omg, had the mango and vanilla daiquiri and it was so, so good! I don't know how I did it but managed to fit in dessert and had the lemon alaska tart which was sublime also - REALLY impressed with this place! Can't wait to go back!

Bacchus · 12-04-2015 3:27pm

Anyone else think Market Lane's standards are slipping? We went in on Friday night. Usually I'd have a big struggle to decide what to choose (for good reasons) but I thought the choice was only so-so on Friday. My starter (calamari) was very average and so was the main (cod). My wife wasn't overly impressed either. The service and atmosphere was still great in there but, while still nice, was probably the worst meal I've had there. Mind you, if could have been a one off.

Markcheese · 12-04-2015 4:58pm

Bacchus wrote: »

Anyone else think Market Lane's standards are slipping? We went in on Friday night. Usually I'd have a big struggle to decide what to choose (for good reasons) but I thought the choice was only so-so on Friday. My starter (calamari) was very average and so was the main (cod). My wife wasn't overly impressed either. The service and atmosphere was still great in there but, while still nice, was probably the worst meal I've had there. Mind you, if could have been a one off.

Went about 2 months ago for the first time in a long time - and thought it was better than ever- (about 6.00 on a Thursday evening ) Food was great - and I'm a critical gitt- and service excellent -
Hopefully yours was just a blip -

HH Barbara Allen · 12-04-2015 5:11pm

Haven't had any trouble there myself, not food-wise, at least. If you get a chance, I'd recommend trying their sister Elbow Lane, which is right next door and aaaaamazing.

Brandon F · 12-04-2015 8:21pm

Went to Coqbull earlier. Knew beforehand it was a burger joint but was suprised by the lack of options. This kind of food is usually right up my street but was left very disappointed. The starter of ribs and two different kind of wings were bland, but were eaten quickly enough after the wait. The burger I ordered was one of the worst I've had, would have prefered a burger king one. It was dripping in grease and just meh. I shared a dessert of the cookies and ice cream, again very average. Would not recommend!

rob316 · 12-04-2015 9:13pm

Coqbull seems to be very hit and miss. Decent mix of good and bad reviews.

The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

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