Shoda at the Glenroyal Maynooth

YellowLead

Those who have visited - thoughts? I found it very over-priced for what you get, the fact that you can't sit down and order off a menu inconvenient, and the decor underwhelming. It had the ambience of a charmless supermarket cafe such at the one in Tesco. Might be fine for dropping in for a coffee after the gym but I would not make a point to go and eat there again.

Raminahobbin

Their mochas are delicious.

BUT. A Mocha, small cinnamon bun and bowl of soggy fruit cost me a tenner last week.

The place has an awful lot of potential, and I really hope it achieves what it's setting out to, but there's barely any options in there for me at the moment as a vegetarian who leans towards vegan and the aforementioned breakfast was v expensive.

So for now I'll be buying the occasional coffee from there and keeping an eye on what's happening- don't want to write it off yet. I'd say it'll be fab once it gets going and gets over the teething issues.

Also, re decor, I can see what they're going for and i think once it's fleshed it'll look great.

pajo1981

Wouldn't be my cup o tea. Looks a bit pouncy, wha? Tink I'll stick to me cans and me fishin' down the canal.

ixus

Had a quiche and side salad in there. Food was good. That was priced reasonably. However, the sausage roll and sandwich pricing were crazy.

A gourmet sausage roll for 5.95. It was one big roll cut into 3. Looked lovely but you only get a third of the thing for that price. And it looked tiny. Couldn't believe it. You don't get pricing like that in Dublin. I asked staff to pass my dismay to manager... Also, sambo could be 15/20% bigger for its price. Same logic as pricing in Dublin.

Oh, and you pay for the side salad. An extra 3€.

They're going for an upmarket Brambles or something. It has potential but don't take the piss.

YellowLead

Yep, my mini breakfast was 4 items (plus 1 slice of toast) for 7.95 - which would have been fine if that included a hot beverage, but it did not. That took the cost to more than a tenner. Normal breakfast - sure. Mini breakfast, not worth it. I wouldn't mind those prices if the food was extra special, or the decor, or something but it is not so. Decor is trying to be hipster but its too bland to even pull that off. The hotel guests will possibly carry it - but there are too many other fantastic eating out options in the town of Maynooth for this to be viable in its own right.

Orion

YellowLead wrote: »

Yep, my mini breakfast was 4 items (plus 1 slice of toast) for 7.95 - which would have been fine if that included a hot beverage, but it did not. That took the cost to more than a tenner. Normal breakfast - sure. Mini breakfast, not worth it. I wouldn't mind those prices if the food was extra special, or the decor, or something but it is not so. Decor is trying to be hipster but its too bland to even pull that off. The hotel guests will possibly carry it - but there are too many other fantastic eating out options in the town of Maynooth for this to be viable in its own right.

Good luck with that. You can get a full breakfast including tea and two slices of toast for €8 in Twist. Nice brekkie too. The New Yorker breakfast in Chill is €8 too. Same price for a mini not even including tea is stupid money.

mirrorwall14

Jesus that's really expensive. Won't be dropping in anytime soon

Staplor

Had a coffee in it and thought it was nice, haven't eaten in it yet, but if you want a baby friendly cafe it looks pretty good, loads of space and the staff were nice too.

YellowLead

Staplor wrote: »

Had a coffee in it and thought it was nice, haven't eaten in it yet, but if you want a baby friendly cafe it looks pretty good, loads of space and the staff were nice too.

I have to admit space wise it would be very family friendly so they got that right, I would imagine that is their market. Pity about the non family friendly food prices (I didn't see a kids meal option but maybe I just missed it). Also it might be a little awkward for somebody with a buggy/gaggle of kids to pick up their own food and even peruse the menu as there is no sit down menu service. But it does look like the kind of place where kids can make noise/mess/play and nobody will be offended.

Sam Hain

Visited for the first time today just around midday. Had a quiche with 3 side salads and a mocha. Only realised after I had left, when I looked at the receipt that they overcharged me for the quiche and salad, putting it down as a hot meal at 11.95 instead of 9.95 for the quiche and the salads. And it looked like the floor manager was at the till at the time. Quiche was superb as was the mocha. Salads were regular salads. Decor is nice yet understated. Ambience was fine, mostly people having coffee, a few families and 2 ladies knitting at the window seat with one coffee between them. Would hate to be there with large groups of children marauding around the place. That would be a nightmare. Staff seemed attentive.

Staplor

Had breakfast here last weekend. They tried to make the full Irish a bit posh, didn't really work. Coffee Mill for my brekkie in future.

Shoda for coffee with kids.

ixus

Have been in a fair few times now and am pretty happy with it overall.

Kristopherus

ixus wrote: »

Have been in a fair few times now and am pretty happy with it overall.

Have you invested in it ???:D:D:D

ixus

See fourth post.

L1011

sounds like hell on earth for me if its ideal for families with kids! Coffee Mill and its challenging stairs it will continue to be.

YellowLead

I am going to try it for lunch sometime, if they have good wine that would be a plus. But yeah - trying to do kid friendly and upmarket can be quite the challenge. It is a good meeting place for groups, being at the hotel and beside the train station.

2011abc

This place is very nice .Roomy and nice decor .Pricing very reasonable in my opinion .Soup (two choices-with the two thick slices of home made brown bread NOT deleted a la Orchard Garden Centre...!) and thick brown bread sandwich with a big tower of steamed salmon , cream cheese and chive for 8.95 (soup and sambo special rate ) . All coffees (2.95)come with a full sized choc chip cookie .Kids food of equally good quality to adults which cant be expected in perhaps half of venues.

Very much in the mould of Avoca and Orchard Garden Centre .The menu is clearly meant to mirror theirs .They need more food for sale in 'deli' and prices reduced THERE but the actual restaurant is NOT dear , if anything its better value than its direct competitors .

Staff grand and plenty of them .Some places notably Castletown House recently ,seem to be plagued with takeovers by low rent management who hire a handful of kids and downsize menu and reduce quality of ingredients and then wonder what went wrong when they crash and burn .

Despite the keen raving of my Mrs and her friends I was ready to dislike this place (as previous eateries in Glen Royal and the place itself always seemed mediocre) but I was very impressed today .A welcome addition to the Maynooth culinary nirvana that copperfastens its crown as undisputed foodie town for miles around .

On a side note breakfast now seems to cost practically the same as lunch in many places (if not more) .

Their basic pricing seems to be 5.95(or is it 6.95?) for practically everything-whatever you want from chilled display eg baked potato , quiche, sausage roll, sandwiches , baguettes etc and then you can get soup included for 8.95 .Or 1/2/3 salads added for around 1.50/2.50/3.50 extra .The blackboard menu COULD have been misconstrued as being more expensive than it was .It wasnt clear due to the word "EXTRA" (1/2/3 salad price)that it hadnt to be added to the basic price .

Sam Hain

Returned today just before 1pm. Place was busy, ordered some hot food but by the time I got a latte and a seat, the food was cold. The queue bottlenecks at the till when people are waiting on coffee during busy times, as the floor staff aren't able to bring the drinks to you. Loads of people with name stickers in the queue behind me, they took an age to get through thanks to 2 old dears rifling through the change in their purses at the till. Bless. Will never go back during weekday lunchtime.