Most impressive restaurant in Galway city?

Lunaarli

I have to bring my other halfs parents to dinner tomorrow night.

What is the best restaurant in Galway city or surrounds (Will get a taxi!)

Please help

biko

If you want expensive flash places then Kirwans, G hotel, Vina Mara, Malt house are all supposedly best. If you just want good food check out the sticky.

timmy00

hey, white gables in moycullen is good, 7 miles outta town but a very relaxing spot with good duck, steak and seafood, well worth a go, yummy desserts also.

Seaneh

The best Chef in the city is Jessica Murphy, by a country mile, was the reason Eight and Nimos were so good. She just opened a new place.

If you want the best food in Galway, go to her place.

Seaneh

It's called kai and it's on Sea Road, by the way.

mchammer

cava restaurant dominick street is best.. its spanish & tapas stuff

gandroid

mchammer wrote: »

cava restaurant dominick street is best.. its spanish & tapas stuff

Cava is really nice but I would put it under casual dining. I don't think it's consistently impressive but it is very good usually.

I used to love Abalone but it closed recently. Kirwan's Lane is good as mentioned by Biko and West in the Twelve hotel in Barna has a touch of class.

ErnieBert

gandroid wrote: »

Cava is really nice but I would put it under casual dining. I don't think it's consistently impressive but it is very good usually.

I used to love Abalone but it closed recently. Kirwan's Lane is good as mentioned by Biko and West in the Twelve hotel in Barna has a touch of class.

I was agreeing with you all the way until you mentioned West (The Twelve). Service is shocking and staff are indifferent.

happyoutscan

I'd agree that Cava might be a bit too casual if trying to impress the in-laws although I love the place. I really like O'Gradys on the Pier in Barna (make sure they like seafood). Also like the place (can't think of the name) above Neachtains. Looking forward to trying Kai mind you.

pleasant Co.

ErnieBert wrote: »

Service is shocking and staff are indifferent.

That hasn't been my (limited) experience, I was there a month ago and the service was great, same as the few other times I've been there before...one of us was lucky/unlucky

HisHoliness

Seaneh wrote: »

The best Chef in the city is Jessica Murphy, by a country mile, was the reason Eight and Nimos were so good. She just opened a new place.

If you want the best food in Galway, go to her place.

I have to agree...I went there the night after it opened and the food is out of this world. She is a genius. Kai Cafe & Restaurant on Sea Road.

if the strawberry soup and gorseflower icecream is on the dessert menu...try it

shigg

I would defo recommend Gourmet Tart all the way, based in salthill. Food is exceptional and easy on the pocket also. Great staff. Cava also great. Not too fond of Vina Mara at the moment, think their food has gone down hill...

gandroid

ErnieBert wrote: »

I was agreeing with you all the way until you mentioned West (The Twelve). Service is shocking and staff are indifferent.

Really? That's disappointing...I've only been there a couple of times and both times the service stood out and the food was excellent. It has been a while since I was last there. It goes to show how important consistently good service & standards overall are for restaurants but few of them seem to realise this and ingrain it in their staff.

Do_Lers

Cooke's restaurant is lovely, i had a similar kind of night there and it was the perfect place for it, its a pretty standard menu, good selection of wines.
This was a few years ago so I cant really vouch for it of late.

The interior is lovely real 'old timey' lots of oak and stone,and lovely lighting.

ted2767

Do_Lers wrote: »

Cooke's restaurant is lovely, i had a similar kind of night there and it was the perfect place for it, its a pretty standard menu, good selection of wines.
This was a few years ago so I cant really vouch for it of late.

The interior is lovely real 'old timey' lots of oak and stone,and lovely lighting.

Cookes has gone way down hillon my opinion.
To my mind the only places to eat out in Galway are Kai, Bar 8 and Ard Bia at nimmo's.
Most other places for dinner are very average at best and poor in some cases.

Lunaarli

Went to Gourmet tart.

A lot of the other places were booked out!!

Had a gorgeous dinner, great wine and fabulous service.
No complaints

beardybrewer

ErnieBert wrote: »

I was agreeing with you all the way until you mentioned West (The Twelve). Service is shocking and staff are indifferent.

Yeah watch out, my wife got food poisoning there. The manager met with us, a bit skeptical, and offered us a voucher. We were too nervous ever to use it. Shame, food was nice but would never go back.

trio

Cava is really nice but I would put it under casual dining. I don't think it's consistently impressive but it is very good usually.

I'm a regular there, and am very fond of the place. BUT the kitchen has issues on a pretty frequent basis. I've had to send stuff back on more than one occasion because of grit not being washed out etc.

There are certain dishes now I won't order there, just in case I get a mouthful of sand or grit.

And whilst we've personally never had an order forgotten about, we've seen it on a couple of occasions. On our last visit, it was the main of one guy who was in a birthday party. He must've asked for his food three times, getting increasingly irritated. He finally got it long after the rest of the table had finished.

But we keep going back cos they're so nice and cheery, and the atmosphere is nice. When the food is good, it's gorgeous; and you can stay there all night long, grazing away.

You just have to not have perfect expectations of the place, I guess.

Das Kitty

Another recommendation for Kai here, went there a week ago. Best meal I've had in a good while and at least as good as meals I have paid a lot more for.

Brilliant atmosphere too.

sarahfancy

Gourmet Tart is my fave. Excellent food and good value.

You wont go too far wrong with Park House. Expensive but good.

kraggy

Ard Bia and Gourment Tart are both seriously overated.

Ard Bia's breakfast wouldn't fill a mouse. Gourmet Tart's 4 course for 25 euro is decent value, but just don't expect an extremely delicious meal.

Webbs

I'd also put in a mention for Artisan above Neachtains

fend

Impress them with the train restaurant in Glenlo Abbey.... The Pullman Restaurant....

Absolute cracker of a spot if you want to impress them.... In fact it'l floor them!!

ted2767

kraggy wrote: »

Ard Bia and Gourment Tart are both seriously overated.

Ard Bia's breakfast wouldn't fill a mouse. Gourmet Tart's 4 course for 25 euro is decent value, but just don't expect an extremely delicious meal.

I seriously disagree about Ard Bia along with Kai and Bar 8 it is by far the best place to eat in Town. As regards the size of its breakfast if you want hash browns, baked beans and a load of toast to just fill up a plate go to loads of other places in town that'll happily meet your requirments but, if you want a good breakfast with quality ingredients Ard Bia is your best bet. It has by far and away the best breakfast in Galway. The only place that I've found to come anyway near it is the Glenlo Abbey but it was a couple of years since I've been there so it might not be as good any more.

raye

I can definately recommend Kai, went there on Thursday night, food & service fantastic, quirky, simple decor, food simple, fresh & extremely tasty. A must visit for any foodie. I would recommend booking, they turned away some customers - great to say for a restaurant which has just opened. It is a small dining area. A great restaurant for vegetarians to visit, not a lot of meat on the menu & some amazing vegetables you don't hear of on Irish menus - lovage & romanesco, yum! You can tell the owners, chef & staff actually like what they do, they should be proud.

We went to the pullman restaurant in the Glenlo Abbey a few weeks ago & yes the setting is v picturesque. The menu is just ok, soggy, tasteless cheesecake did not tickle my taste buds. Duck for main course - over cooked. These 2 restaurants are in the same price range, I know which one I will be visiting again.
Thank you to those you recommended Kai to me on here, a real find in Galway.

gaeilgegrinds1

In Galway next week visiting the parents, want to go to Kai and Aniar, one a girlie lunch, the other a romantic meal, which would ye suggest for each? Neither on tripadvisor so can't decide, love Gourmet Tart but have done it to death!

JJpedro

Hi,

I went to Ard Bia , I was going to have breakfast ( €8 ) but when I asked about coffee , I would have to pay another €2.50 , this would be a total of

€10.50 which is too expensive , also sometimes people assume that will include tea or coffee and only find out afterwards. Aside from that, its vey good quality .

You could get it cheaper elsewhere but it would not be the same .

Acoshla

After everything I've heard about Kai I went, have to say I was a little disappointed, it's definitely no Cava anyway (I mean in terms of general comparison, not style of food etc). Starters were lovely, staff were a bit meh, my main course was SO disappointing, €17.50 for 5 little chunks of butternut squash, a bit of roast pepper and some salad, flavourless, was very disappointed. Dessert was lovely, even if it wasn't exactly what it said on the menu really.

At the table beside us a girl b*tched for about 10 straight minutes about how much she hated her dessert, she had the sorbet, and in fairness it was served in a really deep wine glass, they were laughing struggling to scoop some up, gave up after a few mouthfuls.

We paid about €15 less for a luxurious 3 course slap up meal in Cava a few weeks ago (had same thing in both places, 3 courses, 2 glasses of wine), still the best restaurant I've been in in years.

zweton

Sorry for bringing up an old thread but can anyone recommend a good spot for food in salthill?

Faith

zweton, please start a new thread in the relevant regional forum, rather than bumping 3 year old threads.