Your Favourite Restaurant in Sligo

Buford T Justice

irish-stew wrote: »

Have not been there in yonks. Have had the lovely odd meal there. Wonder if they still serve the Ostrich.

Not been on the specials the last few times I've been in there unfortunately. T'was lovely

Lornen

Just back from Conrad's Kitchen.
Too tired to give a proper review but I will give it in bulletin points.


Pre Theatre menu is not the only menu on hand. Menu are very very restricted. Rib eye is the only cut of steak on offer...

Waiters were incredibly amateur and kept spilling wine on the table as well as reaching over the table and nearly knocking everything over. Also, poor English from one of them who nearly spilled a jug of water on a guests lap.

We had a wobbly table. I hate wobbly tables! I was afraid I was going to be wearing my wine by the end of my starter.

The menu was FULL of spelling mistakes! Sounds petty but you really do have to wonder sometimes.. "Chocolate Mouse", "Crab Coctail" and "Butternut Sqush Soup" were some of my favourites.

Soup tasted nothing like a sweet potato or a butternut squash. It was a really mental orange colour and it did taste canned. The saving grace was definitely the black trumpet mushrooms and the parmesan.

Steak was good except I got an exceptionally unattractive steak and it was medium to rare and not blue as I had ordered. I think they were a bit afraid of cooking the meat so little. But another diner who was with me got a steak well done and they cut they got was far better looking than mine. A bit miffed at that one I must admit. Great flavour none the less. Lovely béarnaise and very nice chips.

Lemon tarte and blueberry sorbet to finish was absolutely stunning.
Valrhona cake was lovely, pistachio ice cream very nice.
Chocolate mousse was very good but the passionfruit jelly was like pure venom on a plate. It was unbelievably sour. I am a sour person, I love tart things but I was left wincing after a bite!

They didn't have the cheese boards either when we asked for one..

It was an ok night. The menu on hand is quite affordable but I don't think I'd go again anytime soon. Not even the lemon tarte could coax me back.

Redbrunette

Ate in the Bistro as part of a large group a few weeks ago for the early bird menu, was really unimpressed.

The food wasn't great. Ordered garlic bruschetta and all we got was garlic bread with onions on the side and the pizza was dry and tasteless.

It was 3 courses for 15 euro last course being tea/Coffee n not dessert which was disappointing when we could have got 3 for €15 including dessert in Fiddlers.
Really regretted not heading there n then they charged us a service charge for having more than 6 people!!!
Never told us that when we were booking it. :mad:

I had been really looking forward to it because I had heard rave reviews but to be honest it was a let down robertos would have been better for Italian

UrbanSea

I think it may be written on the menu about the service charge.

Can't say I'd recommend Fiddler's early bird menu. It sounds good,yeah,but Hunter's Style chicken for instance is no main course. It's an average sized starter that they put as a main on the menu.

starbelgrade

I haven't posted here in a while, but here's a review of two places I was at over the weekend.

Cromleach Lodge, Castlebaldwin

Food - 5/10.

The restaurant here aims to be so much more than it is, which is just average. Absolutely nothing to write home about. I've cooked better meals at home.

Price - Expensive. 3 course dinner for 4 including wine, €350

Wine - Excellent. The only saviour of the meal was the fantastic wine selection, with the house wines starting at €22.50

Service - Excellent. The only bit I didn't like was the owner introducing herself before we sat down to eat. I found it a bit akward & quite frankly, weird.

Athmosphere - Good. The restaurant itself doesn't have a great athmosphere, but the setting & location simply cannot be faulted.

I wouldn't eat there again. Vastly overpriced, average food.

Yeats Tavern, Drumcliff

Food - 7.5/10.

Decent, simple food, cooked well.

Price - Reasonable. 3 course dinner for 4, €120.

Wine - We didn't try the wine.

Service - Excellent. We arrived to a full house, but were seated within 5 minutes & the staff there really know how to handle the crowds.

Athmosphere - Good. Busy place, but pleasant & doesn't feel too crowded or noisy.

Would definitely eat there again - it's not fine dining, but it's well priced, nicely cooked food.

Truley

Myself and mother went for lunch in the Venue Strandhill today. We were cheeky and asked if we could have two starters instead of starter and a main which they said was perfectly fine. We both had sea food chowder for starter, Mum had Cesare Salad and I had Buffalo Wings for 'main'. Food was gorgeous, the chowder was the nicest I ever tasted. The buffalo wings are heaven. It was very reasonable too. 26e for the four dishes, the portions were huge. Great friendly and fast service too.

EDIT: I was dreaming about Buffalo Wings last night!

frag420

Best Wings ever!! I have missed them ever since I left Sligo!!

chubnut

I've lived in Sligo for 15 Years and besides the pizza restaurant up the mall years ago, Tra Ban in strandhill is the only place I would consider up to a standard like places in London. All the rest are full of the usual nonsense to pull in the clueless masses with menu's steeped in gibberish and well written guile.
Tra Ban delivers whats expected when one goes out to eat, great food, great service and true to script expectation. Quite frankly, this place and Kings Chinese restaurant are the only true value for money places in Sligo. All others are charletans.

frag420

chubnut wrote: »

I've lived in Sligo for 15 Years and besides the pizza restaurant up the mall years ago, Tra Ban in strandhill is the only place I would consider up to a standard like places in London. All the rest are full of the usual nonsense to pull in the clueless masses with menu's steeped in gibberish and well written guile.
Tra Ban delivers whats expected when one goes out to eat, great food, great service and true to script expectation. Quite frankly, this place and Kings Chinese restaurant are the only true value for money places in Sligo. All others are charletans.

Very suspect post..................and its your first.

I call Shenanigans on this one..............(not the pub)

cloonton

Hi Folks,
Just had to put my oar in a give another shout-out for Limoncello. Was there last Friday evening. Just happened to arrive as the Early Bird (5 to 7 PM) was ending and decided to give it a try (only €14.95 for 3 courses). The early bird wasn't bad, but I definitely think we'll be going for the a la carte again next time. The food is gorgeous, authentic Italian fare at very reasonable prices and the wine list is not to be sneezed at either, imo
Interested to hear that Coach Lane have dropped their prices - anniversary is coming up soon, so might be worth a go.

saywhatyousee

frag420 wrote: »

Very suspect post..................and its your first.

I call Shenanigans on this one..............(not the pub)

I agree anyone who claims king's is the best or second best restaurant in town,has a alternate agenda;)

EverEvolving

saywhatyousee wrote: »

I agree anyone who claims king's is the best or second best restaurant in town,has a alternate agenda;)

Agreed, it's nowhere near the best restaurant but they do some things very well in there, their spring rolls are the best I've tasted in town and I love their chowmein. I really don't like the beef they use though so always get house specials without it. I think they are definitely the best value Chinese at the moment though.

saywhatyousee

EverEvolving wrote: »

Agreed, it's nowhere near the best restaurant but they do some things very well in there, their spring rolls are the best I've tasted in town and I love their chowmein. I really don't like the beef they use though so always get house specials without it. I think they are definitely the best value Chinese at the moment though.

Not a fan of it at all myself.It is cheap though,Mandarin court is the best chinese in town,by a country mile.

Basq

King's was superb until it reopened a year or 2 back.. they must have changed chefs or suppliers as their once fantastic food was bland muck anytime I've been in since (and I've given it plenty of second chances).

Mandarin wins the best Chinese debate hands-down, but Dragon House has been superb since it reopened.

EverEvolving wrote: »

Agreed, it's nowhere near the best restaurant but they do some things very well in there, their spring rolls are the best I've tasted in town and I love their chowmein. I really don't like the beef they use though so always get house specials without it. I think they are definitely the best value Chinese at the moment though.

Get Ho Wong's Spring Rolls if you haven't.. superb - it's a shame the rest of their food isn't!

EverEvolving

Basq wrote: »

Get Ho Wong's Spring Rolls if you haven't.. superb - it's a shame the rest of their food isn't!

I've had them - think my arteries are still recovering! They are laden full of grease, I don't mind a bit of it but whenever I get them there, they are swimming in oil. I've always enjoyed food from there but do find it's quite oily in comparison with the others.

UrbanSea

I don't like their spring rolls...Is it still just one huge one?

Truley

We usually go to Kings for Chinese, mainly because it's cheap and consistent. Chinese can be very hit and miss and I am naturally a bit weary after a satay skewer once left me in hospital puking blood (don't worry I didn't get it in Sligo!) I absolutely love Rose Garden in Rosses Point, would go there more often if it was closer to town.

I know it's not a restaurant per se, but there is a guy who runs a stall in the farmer's market in the IT selling cakes and he does the most delicious lemon cake ever. I get it every Saturday morning when I go there! He does lovely tea too.

magnumlady

Oh no Truely that sounds awful.
The nicest chinese I've ever had is in Coolaney, it's only take away though.

UrbanSea

Hmmm I got the Chinese in the Point before and it was nice.

Truley

We tried out Dragon House during the week, wasn't impressed at all. I hate the way it still feels like a cafeteria even when it's done up for the restaurant at night. The tables are really wide so you can't comfortably sit facing each other, all the couples there were sitting side by side. Not a great atmosphere for a romantic dinner.

The food was the same price as Kings but the portions were about half the size and not nearly as good. My boyfriend ordered Beef Satay but the sauce was definitely not Satay sauce. We will be sticking with King's from now on.

starbelgrade

Went to The Source for tapas over the weekend. I don't think they really understand the whole concept of tapas at all. Tapas are a way of ordering a variety of snacks that can be combined to make a full meal to be shared and are a cheaper way of eating out than going for a full sit down restaurant meal.

In The Source however, their "tapas" are essentially a varied collection of very small starters.. the croquettas consist of two, yes two croquettas & a lot of the dishes like the savoury tarts simply aren't designed for sharing at all. One of teh dishes is Irish stew... but it's unlike any Irish stew I've ever seen, being basically a vegetable broth with a tiny morsel of beef in it.

Overall, I'd have to say it was dissapointing and due to the tiny portions, it works out no cheaper than ordering a main course from the restaurant for the equivalent amount of food.

The service is pretty poor too. The place was full, yet there was only one person taking orders for both wine & food. And God help you if you go to the bar to order a drink. When we got there, it took over 15 minutes to get served as the bar staff were more interested in loading dishwashers than pouring drinks.

The wine however, was excellent and the place itself is really nice. We left thinking that we really should have booked a table at the restaurant.

admiralofthefleet

when i stayed in sligo for a week recently i thought poppadom indian on o connell street was lovely

Slidey

I have to say, going from some recommendations on here I ate in the silver apple.

I thought it was poor. The steak was cooked the way I like it but it was very poor meat.

The waitress was very friendly but never brought out the side of veg I asked for.

I got apple tart and custard for desert and the tart was doughy and the custard very runny and extremely sweet.

Maybe I got there on a bad night but I won't be returning.

I said to the waitress after paying and she was very apologetic.

Cecil Mor

Was in Conrad's last Thursday prior to going to the cinema.
Had heard some good things about the place and had decided to ignore some of the usual negative Sligonian blather I'd gotten from some co-workers etc.

Arrived at 8:30 to find maybe another 4 ~ 5 covers, two of which had arrived 'round about the same time as us. The place was far from busy.

We both ordered the Seared Salmon from what I thought was small menu although this is not a criticism.
I did think that we'd a bit of a wait for the dishes to arrive.
Mine, while not cold had certainly been cooling off for far too long. Did taste nice though but was a little disappointed.

The glass of wine I had was really nice and they did have an expansive wine menu but I didn't see many bottles at hand so I wonder.

I ordered the Chillie ice-cream which had been highly recommended to me. This, I was informed, was not available as they had none left.
This at just after 9pm with a near empty restaurant, I somehow doubt they didn't have any left just didn't have any prepared.
The alternative brownie with peanut butter ice-cream was very nice though.

When I went to pay I was informed that they did'nt have a lazer/C'Card machine. So without the full price in my wallet I'd to cross the bridge to Stephen St & visit an atm. If they don't want/can't have such a machine in the restuarant then they should point this out to customers when taking the booking.
It was a nice sunny evening but if it'd been any other day I'd have been soaked.

The service was fine, friendly enough African guy who was telling us he'd just moved down from Dublin. Nothing to be critical about however the Maitre d' was not the most impressive I've ever encountered.

Wither I'd go back or not I'd be in two minds, probably if I was been brought along but I wouldn't choose the place if I was organizing a get together myself.

Was also late for the cinema and missed the start of the movie as a result of messing around with the atm.
Left somewhat cold from the experience unfortunately.

starbelgrade

Cecil Mor wrote: »

Wither I'd go back or not I'd be in two minds,

No need to worry about that.. the place is now shut down, leaving an unpaid tax bill of €50,000.

I wonder if the "cash only" policy had anything to do with this?

UrbanSea

Hmmm could be belgrade.

Sakura closed the other day,said that they're relocating. I hear the bank owns the building now,hope they'll be back soon.

proon4

Went to The yeats Tavern (davis's) Drumcliffe last evening. My wife and son and his girl friend. We booked for 7;30 and when we arrived we were seated immeditatly. It was well crowded as usual. Service was fast and friendly. I had The Italian Mozzerla Italian salad for starters , lovely lots of mozzerla cheese and a great dressing. My son had soup and bread. He said it was just right. The ladies didnt have starters. I had the cod in a beautiful batter my wife had a perfectly cooked steak as had my son.. His girlfriend had the salmon. My wife is a coeliac and she was well catered for with a gluten free sauce and garlic potatoes. We finisshed off with deserts. A really great meal. I can understand why every time you pass by the resturant the car park is always full. Great food Good prices and really friendly staff. Id recomend Davis's to anyone. It has to be one of the best resturants in Ireland

UrbanSea

It's nice but not one of the best in Ireland,not even one of the best in Sligo.
You get what you pay for,a good meal.
It's hardly the pinacle of fine dining though.

BronsonTB

Are people going to the same resturant a few times before posting here or just judging on one visit???

At least that way you'd get a better average of how good it is. Impossible to get a fair view on just one visit. Every place can have a good or bad night but over a few visits you'd get a better picture of the type of place it is...

Kings takeaway have always given the best tasting & value for Chinese over the last 3 years for me..:D

Indian in Tubbercurry is great for a sit down meal but very poor portions on the takeaway (After trying 3 times, I'll not be getting take out again )

Manderine(!) Court on wine street...best sit down Chinnese in town.

proon4

UrbanSea wrote: »

It's nice but not one of the best in Ireland,not even one of the best in Sligo.
You get what you pay for,a good meal.
It's hardly the pinacle of fine dining though.

Fine dining or whatever you want to call it. People vote with their money. There is not a resturant in Sligo or maybe Ireland that even in these hard times is as busy. Its all right having a michelin star resturant or chef but if people arent using it, that tells me its just food snobbery. This week has proved that again when "celebrity" chef Conrad Gallaghers resturants have closed down yet again , as all his previous ones have too. Davis's have been in businness giving great food and value for nearly 40 years through all kinds of reccessions and boomtimes. That to me tells me they are doing it right. look over the last few years the dozens of restaurants that have come and gone...