The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

Colser

Went to Electric last night for the early bird menu and it was excellent.The food was lovely and the staff were great.That's my second time there and enjoyed it immensely.I loved my starter of feta/orange/beetroot salad.Others had chowder or mushrooms on toast.We all had to fish and chips,finished off with rhubarb/strawberry crumble which was really delicious.Clean plates on every course and reasonable for 25e each.

sporina

Colser wrote: »

Went to Electric last night for the early bird menu and it was excellent.The food was lovely and the staff were great.That's my second time there and enjoyed it immensely.I loved my starter of feta/orange/beetroot salad.Others had chowder or mushrooms on toast.We all had to fish and chips,finished off with rhubarb/strawberry crumble which was really delicious.Clean plates on every course and reasonable for 25e each.

sounds good but i had thee worst dining of my life there.. mortified in front of my guests... and esp after attempting to make a booking there on several occasions but was always booked out.. every hair stands on me at the thought of it.. as much as i would like to experinence the good Electric, I could never ever go there again.. shudder..

Malari

sporina wrote: »

sounds good but i had thee worst dining of my life there.. mortified in front of my guests... and esp after attempting to make a booking there on several occasions but was always booked out.. every hair stands on me at the thought of it.. as much as i would like to experinence the good Electric, I could never ever go there again.. shudder..

Last two times I was there it was awful too. Poor enough service and bland food. It's a shame because I used to really enjoy it and I've recommended it to people. I haven't been to the fish bar there in a while so I'm hoping that's still ok. :-/

ncmc

Went to Amicus for lunch on Friday. Really impressed with the food and value on offer. They have a great lunch for €10 that includes either a beer, soft drink or tea/coffee plus a scoop of ice cream. Nice choices on that menu other than the standard lunch fare. My husband and I had the pulled beef enchiladas, absolutely delicious and a really good portion size. We ordered a side of home fries and really didn’t need it. Lunch for 4 people for €42 is unreal value for the quality of the food. My only gripe was that the service was a bit slow, they were busy, but not overly so. We had to ask for the ice cream, bill etc as my husband had to go back to work. They should be a bit more aware of people being on their lunch hour.

I have visitors coming this weekend and was wondering where I should take them for an early dinner on Saturday night? There will be three kids, aged 8,7 and 2 so want somewhere family friendly. I was thinking Scoozi?

rob316

ncmc wrote: »

Went to Amicus for lunch on Friday. Really impressed with the food and value on offer. They have a great lunch for €10 that includes either a beer, soft drink or tea/coffee plus a scoop of ice cream. Nice choices on that menu other than the standard lunch fare. My husband and I had the pulled beef enchiladas, absolutely delicious and a really good portion size. We ordered a side of home fries and really didn’t need it. Lunch for 4 people for €42 is unreal value for the quality of the food. My only gripe was that the service was a bit slow, they were busy, but not overly so. We had to ask for the ice cream, bill etc as my husband had to go back to work. They should be a bit more aware of people being on their lunch hour.

I have visitors coming this weekend and was wondering where I should take them for an early dinner on Saturday night? There will be three kids, aged 8,7 and 2 so want somewhere family friendly. I was thinking Scoozi?

Try the meatball place on Careys Lane, excellent value and very tasty. Kid friendly and better than the usual kids menu fair in other places.

H8GHOTI

Coqbull and Son of a Bun would be family friendly.

ncmc

Thanks for the replies, actually Coqbull was my first thought, but they don't take bookings do they? How busy is it likely to be early on a Saturday (say 7pm) I had ruled out Son of a Bun for the same reason, don't want to be hanging around waiting for a table with hungry kids. I'm not a big fan of meatballs, so don't think I'd go for the meatball place.

pwurple

Market lane and blackrock castle are very child friendly. Colouring pages with pencils and a great childs menu. They take bookings.

http://www.marketlane.ie/food/48-childrens/

Italee too, jot sure if they are still open at 7 though.

H8GHOTI

ncmc wrote: »

...actually Coqbull was my first thought, but they don't take bookings do they? How busy is it likely to be early on a Saturday (say 7pm) I had ruled out Son of a Bun for the same reason...

They do take bookings for groups of 7 or more. Walk in otherwise.

Don't think I've ever been there at that time but usually find that they seat people fast enough.

Not sure what Son of a Buns policy is on large groups but in my experience the wait has been longer than Coqbull.

pwurple

Ps check if the two year old will still be up and about for dinner at 7pm at night. Mine would be a bag of cats if I kept them waiting that long to eat.

sporina

ncmc wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, actually Coqbull was my first thought, but they don't take bookings do they? How busy is it likely to be early on a Saturday (say 7pm) I had ruled out Son of a Bun for the same reason, don't want to be hanging around waiting for a table with hungry kids. I'm not a big fan of meatballs, so don't think I'd go for the meatball place.

oh do yourself a favour and don't go to coqbull.. its horrific..

i think scoozie's would be nice with the kids..

Colser

I find Dolce Vita very child friendly.

Can anyone one recommend somewhere (bar) that does some kind of food platters..looking for somewhere suitable for about 10 people..don't really want full meals just some food along with full bar?tia

whatever76

Goldbergs ...

sporina

whatever76 wrote: »

Sold - thanks for recommendations !

did you go to Star Anise? If so how was it?

whatever76

sporina wrote: »

did you go to Star Anise? If so how was it?

oh sorry for not updating - I did indeed and it was very nice I must say ; great service and overall lovely atmosphere in the place and great value as well I thought.
Special shout out for the dessert - Got the sharing platter and all 4 were top notch !! Highly recommend going there ... thanks for recommendation !

H8GHOTI

Colser wrote: »

I find Dolce Vita very child friendly.

Can anyone one recommend somewhere (bar) that does some kind of food platters..looking for somewhere suitable for about 10 people..don't really want full meals just some food along with full bar?tia

Sober Lane would be my choice

BullBlackNova

https://www.fsai.ie/uploadedFiles/Monitoring_and_Enforcement/Enforcement/Enforcement-Orders-Closure.pdf

Food Safety Authority closure order for Son of a Bun.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/son-bun-restaurant-served-closure-order/2462012/

sporina

BullBlackNova wrote: »

https://www.fsai.ie/uploadedFiles/Monitoring_and_Enforcement/Enforcement/Enforcement-Orders-Closure.pdf

Food Safety Authority closure order for Son of a Bun.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/son-bun-restaurant-served-closure-order/2462012/

Era they will be fine - these are just technicalities.. and the way that they have dealt with it from a publicity POV will increase their business IMO.

But I wonder how they were not made aware of the requirements stipulated by the FSAI and other health and safety authorities?
You would assume that who ever they got to do the structural work would have had knowledge of the legal stipulations?
Did they use some cowboys to do the work or did they just not conform? I am surprised given the fact that they seem like quite a professional outfit..

flangemeistro

Colser wrote: »

I find Dolce Vita very child friendly.

Can anyone one recommend somewhere (bar) that does some kind of food platters..looking for somewhere suitable for about 10 people..don't really want full meals just some food along with full bar?tia

You can't go wrong with Silly Goose, ten of us were there for the last Ireland v South Africa test and at half time two massive platters came out with Chicken Wings, homemade pizza, chicken Quesadillas and seasoned chips.
It was all unreal and the food that was coming out to the other tables while we were there looked mouth watering.

Nonoperational

sporina wrote: »

Era they will be fine - these are just technicalities.. and the way that they have dealt with it from a publicity POV will increase their business IMO.

But I wonder how they were not made aware of the requirements stipulated by the FSAI and other health and safety authorities?
You would assume that who ever they got to do the structural work would have had knowledge of the legal stipulations?
Did they use some cowboys to do the work or did they just not conform? I am surprised given the fact that they seem like quite a professional outfit..

They were complained because someone who ate there got food poisoning with E.Coli 0157. Despite the fact that is wasn't found in the food there, it was being carried by staff members, and the premises was deemed so unsafe for food preparation and production that it was closed down. Staff are gone away on food safety training while it is closed. It wouldn't have me rushing in there to be honest.

E.coli 0157 is a serious business, and pink burgers are high risk. Looks like it'll be the end of rare burgers there all the same.

bridgettedon

Nonoperational wrote: »

They were complained because someone who ate there got food poisoning with E.Coli 0157. Despite the fact that is wasn't found in the food there, it was being carried by staff members, and the premises was deemed so unsafe for food preparation and production that it was closed down. Staff are gone away on food safety training while it is closed. It wouldn't have me rushing in there to be honest.

E.coli 0157 is a serious business, and pink burgers are high risk. Looks like it'll be the end of rare burgers there all the same.

I was going to go there in the very near future but this has put me off ever going there. I feel sorry for the couple who own it as I'm sure they are very upset about this. I'm not sure if they will recover.

Nonoperational

Ironically they will probably have impeccable food safety now.

Irish_rat

TrustedApple wrote: »

Yap there was the gen manager of the place had to come down to get them to cool down as there was loads of figating between the staff last night not a good sign.

If this carry on keeps on happening the place won't last much longer

I'm very surprised by this, my mate is a chef in there. It seems the food is very good though. I might give a call in during the week to give my own opinion of the place

sporina

Nonoperational wrote: »

They were complained because someone who ate there got food poisoning with E.Coli 0157. Despite the fact that is wasn't found in the food there, it was being carried by staff members, and the premises was deemed so unsafe for food preparation and production that it was closed down. Staff are gone away on food safety training while it is closed. It wouldn't have me rushing in there to be honest.

E.coli 0157 is a serious business, and pink burgers are high risk. Looks like it'll be the end of rare burgers there all the same.

where did you get that story? its on the FSAI post that it was due to restructuring of kitchen/food prep area and storage.. and i actually tweeted them and they said that they have passed all audits but now with larger volumes of orders they need to rescale to accommodate..

Nonoperational

It's on the statement on their website. http://sonofabun.ie/statement.html, and here http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/son-bun-restaurant-served-closure-order/2462012/

May not have come from there at all of course, but it is concerning that they were closed immediately by the FSAI, although it appears to be due to the risk of something happening as opposed to them finding any contamination in the food.

the beer revolu

Nonoperational wrote: »

Ironically they will probably have impeccable food safety now.

This.
Probably the safest kitchen in the country after this!

Markcheese

Nonoperational wrote:

They were complained because someone who ate there got food poisoning with E.Coli 0157. Despite the fact that is wasn't found in the food there, it was being carried by staff members, and the premises was deemed so unsafe for food preparation and production that it was closed down. Staff are gone away on food safety training while it is closed. It wouldn't have me rushing in there to be honest.

They found some of the staff were e-coli carriers, I don't think they found 0157 ( yet ? ) , there was a complaint from the public... but I dont think the restaurant has been linked to it.. (they can do it with dna tests.which is how they test for 0157 but its expensive..
Most 0157 is contracted from sources other than food... not in restaurants...

wheresmybeaver

Eaten in son of a Bun a few times, really enjoyed it, not least because of the option of a pinker burger. My understanding was that as long as the source meat was prepared and minced on the spot then contamination is not an issue. Like how nobody is getting the squirts from eating rare steak. It won't be bothering me in future and I'll be back. After this kind of exposure you can be assured that they'll be watching their filthy diseased staff like hawks ;-) The burger of the month in June was great.

BurnsCarpenter

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

Eaten in son of a Bun a few times, really enjoyed it, not least because of the option of a pinker burger. My understanding was that as long as the source meat was prepared and minced on the spot then contamination is not an issue. Like how nobody is getting the squirts from eating rare steak. It won't be bothering me in future and I'll be back. After this kind of exposure you can be assured that they'll be watching their filthy diseased staff like hawks ;-) The burger of the month in June was great.

Depends on what you mean by prepared I think. There may be bacteria on the surface of meat. Doesn't matter if the interior of steak is raw because the surface is cooked. Mince is a different matter.

sporina

Its all a bit mysterious.. like ok - someone got till with ecoli - staff were found to be carriers of same yet none was found in food..
But as a result, the pink burgers are removed from the menu; did the customer who was ill have a pink burger?
And structural changes are being made - whats the link with this and ecoli? i can imagine how it could be but this is not explained in the article..
They say that the structural changes are due to higher volumes..

In any event, I feel sorry for the owners.. but like I said, I think they will be bigger and better after this..

Is there much of a demand for pink burgers anyway?