Eco Restaurant, Douglas

lledar · 21-04-2008 9:31pm #1

Would anyone recommend this restarant? It is quite difficult to get a reservation which suggests it is good.

chuci · 21-04-2008 9:54pm

yup its great think the waiting list is about a month for a big enough party. their stir fry is the business though.

smiler26 · 21-04-2008 10:05pm

Food is great - however, the table arrangements is a bit claustrophobic IMO

chuci · 21-04-2008 10:40pm

smiler26 wrote: »

Food is great - however, the table arrangements is a bit claustrophobic IMO

+1

dahamsta · 21-04-2008 11:19pm

+2. I'd been meaning to go there for years, but I felt left down when I actually got there. East Village has nice munch, is probably cheaper and has a shorter lead time.

DannyBuoy · 22-04-2008 7:47am

+3
Was there a few months ago and will certainly never go there again, food was ok but we felt like sardines in a can. I had to move if anyone around me got up or was being served. The air conditioning was working full time aswell because of the crowd that were jammed into it, to the extent that the candle on the table kept blowing out! My partner had to put back on her jacket. I asked to be moved but there was no other table available.

In short, just not worth the hassle.

run_Forrest_run · 22-04-2008 10:48am

I'll probably get shot for saying this because there seems to be a cult following with Eco but seriously, the place is a dark dingy kip!

The food is OK, not amazing, just OK. I suppose for the price it aint too bad but I just get annoyed when I hear people saying the food is great.

The desserts are pretty good I'll admit that

The place is a victim of it's own success, too cramped, loud, hot etc. Come around to my place and I'll cook you something...not!

Fast_Mover · 22-04-2008 11:01am

I think it's an overrated restaurant.
Food is fine..and as the others said, it's very cramped.

bill_ashmount · 22-04-2008 2:29pm

Was in there recently, not impressed with the food or the layout of the place. The staff were nice though.

Heisenberg. · 22-04-2008 2:47pm

This post has been deleted.

kcb · 23-04-2008 12:10pm

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

I just get annoyed when I hear people saying the food is great.

I think about 75% of people just don't know what good food is and are not fussy about what they eat.

I have been recommended restaurants before and when I eventually eat there it is not even average. The Spice of India in Bishopstown is a recent example.

BeansMeansHynes · 23-04-2008 12:44pm

Food is really nice out of there. Especially the Stir Fry! It is very cramped and claustrophobic. It is reasonably priced for the big portions that you get.

Bully's across the road is nice but they have put their prices up recently and is way overpriced for what you get. Starters at 8.95. No thanks.

Kold · 23-04-2008 1:09pm

Food is OK but overpriced.

Heisenberg. · 23-04-2008 1:43pm

This post has been deleted.

StandnDeliver · 23-04-2008 3:14pm

you want good food,go across to the Indian restaurant its divine,nice service,reasonable prices.

BanzaiBk · 23-04-2008 3:38pm

The seating plan alone stops me from going to Eco. Understandably, they are trying to maximise their numbers but it really takes away from the overall experience. I last went in November with a group of 6, booked 2 months in advance, and spent the night playing Musical Chairs with the people at the table behind us. The food, yeah it's OK. It's not astounding by any means but you'll eat it. In my experiences they are very accommodating RE: serving stuff on the side, excluding certain ingredients, staff knowing what exactly is in a dish, etc etc. The staff are also very obliging, a big change from the usual shower you'd expect in the city.

As per another poster, Bully's across the road is just as good but recently it upped it's prices. East Village is better VFM imo.

le_dazzler · 23-04-2008 4:08pm

The food is grand, but not as good as its reputation imo ... and certainly not the place to bring a biggish (4+) group.

If i was going to eat anywhere in douglas it would be nakon thai

Balmed Out · 23-04-2008 5:55pm

I like to eat and in my experience the best restaurants in cork are augustines (washington st), the ivory tower, greenes & issacs (mccurtain street), jacobs on the mall, jacques, star anise(bridge street), cafe paradiso and ecos.
Ecos is very poky and so not to everyones standards but its also comparitively speaking dirt cheap.
With its size its not suitable for anyone other then couples though. You will normally have to book ahead, i rang last fri night to get a table for 5 pm on a saturday thinking itd be quite then but no they only had one table available and that was at half four.
Someone said the food in the east village was better !!! You kidding. For a pub/restraunt its fairly good but not up to ecos and i reckon its more expensive. I use to work there.
Mmmm the thought of eco's roasted veg is making me hungry, oh and the pork loins mmmmm. For the price its amazing, amicus was nearest to it for low cost good food until it moved. Not as good since though.

dahamsta · 23-04-2008 6:35pm

That was me, and that's not what I said.

2-ShortDa5foot5 · 24-04-2008 11:23am

smiler26 wrote: »

Food is great - however, the table arrangements is a bit claustrophobic IMO

+1

rebs23 · 24-04-2008 12:10pm

The table layout is also the reason I just don't go there. Not that they care, the place is always amazingly packed.

Persol · 25-04-2008 4:25pm

lledar wrote: »

Would anyone recommend this restarant? It is quite difficult to get a reservation which suggests it is good.

For the standard of restaurants in Ireland as a whole, definitely eco is one of the best restaurants of Cork!!!!
Enjoy the eco experience! Great food, decent prices and cool staff!

If you are too cheeky, you will definitely need to fly out of Ireland to find the perfect restaurant for you!

If you are hungry, go to eco's! if you are are cheeky, like some here, fly to NewYork! :-)

Kold · 25-04-2008 11:38pm

Persol wrote: »

For the standard of restaurants in Ireland as a whole, definitely eco is one of the best restaurants of Cork!!!!
Enjoy the eco experience! Great food, decent prices and cool staff!

If you are too cheeky, you will definitely need to fly out of Ireland to find the perfect restaurant for you!

If you are hungry, go to eco's! if you are are cheeky, like some here, fly to NewYork! :-)

.......................................................

...........What?

dahamsta · 26-04-2008 12:30am

I didn't like to say...

DannyBuoy · 26-04-2008 9:22am

Persol wrote: »

For the standard of restaurants in Ireland as a whole, definitely eco is one of the best restaurants of Cork!!!!

Eh...

no.

parsi · 26-04-2008 11:05am

Persol wrote: »

For the standard of restaurants in Ireland as a whole, definitely eco is one of the best restaurants of Cork

Years ago it was one of the best because there wasn't a whole lot around. Now it's lagging behind...

BanzaiBk · 26-04-2008 11:14am

parsi wrote: »

Years ago it was one of the best because there wasn't a whole lot around. Now it's lagging behind...

+1

Balmed Out · 26-04-2008 2:45pm

For those who dont rate the food in eco's, why and where do you reckon is better especially when the price is taken into account.

rebs23 · 29-04-2008 12:11pm

Balmed Out wrote: »

For those who dont rate the food in eco's, why and where do you reckon is better especially when the price is taken into account.

Is that a serious question? Most restaurants in the city centre are far superior to ecos in terms of food, even if you have to pay a bit more.

Balmed Out · 29-04-2008 12:16pm

As i said earlier augustines, the ivory tower, greenes, issacs, jacobs on the mall, jacques, star anise, cafe paradiso fair enough but you have to pay a LOT more then you do in eco's and in my opinion the food isnt that much of a difference. Most of the city centre restraunts outside of that list that ive tried are way inferior. Where would you think is better especially at that price level.

cjmcork · 29-04-2008 12:24pm

I love eating in Eco but the layout is a real turn-off, this is what I do to get a booth - book for 4 and tell them you want a booth cos of someone's bad back - take the booth and then they'll come for the order and tell them the rest of the party is going to be late, when you've gotten your first course, tell them the rest of the party can't come - then you have a spacious booth!!! It's evil, but if you want to eat there, it's the only way!

cjmcork · 29-04-2008 12:26pm

I would also recommend Scoozi (Up until a few months ago, I'd have said Currans aswell, but the last time I was there, the boss bawled a staff member out of it in front of the customers, so I won't be lining his pocket for him ever again)

Andystoran · 29-04-2008 12:28pm

Good reasonable food, nothing fancy good service, a little cramped depending on where ur seated. Better than a lot of corks highly priced restaurants.

run_Forrest_run · 29-04-2008 4:08pm

cjmcork wrote: »

I would also recommend Scoozi (Up until a few months ago, I'd have said Currans aswell, but the last time I was there, the boss bawled a staff member out of it in front of the customers, so I won't be lining his pocket for him ever again)

that's a pity about Curran's because I like that place. Anytime I've been there I had a nice meal at a good price.

lostinsuperfunk · 29-04-2008 5:10pm

I'm not such a big fan of Eco's any more, but I agree that it is hard to find a good, reasonably priced restaurant in Cork. I think some of the best value places in the city centre are Wagamama, Casanova, Star Vast and Banna Thai. Strasbourg Goose isn't bad for the price and the food is similar in style to Eco. Curran's is a really nice-looking place but I've had some bad meals there.

Most of the other mid-price places are so uninspiring these days that I prefer to eat at home more often and save up for a blow-out somewhere really good.

Froot · 04-05-2008 12:10pm

cjmcork wrote: »

I would also recommend Scoozi (Up until a few months ago, I'd have said Currans aswell, but the last time I was there, the boss bawled a staff member out of it in front of the customers, so I won't be lining his pocket for him ever again)

Oh man! Curran's has, for the last 6 years, consistently had the worst staff of any establishment in Cork city. Their service is so f*cking bad! Their food is ok but I just have to say how bad their service is. That's not to say its the waiting staff that are to blame, more than ever I think that their level of service is an indication of how **** their management is. So, effectively, if anyone from Curran's is reading this: Your restaurant is sh!t.

Scoozi's is tasty but being honest everything they have is just a remix of the other stuff on the menu and its quite expensive for something as congenial as a chicken burger with chips on the side.

scaryfairy · 05-05-2008 5:30pm

yeah, last time I been to Currans, got quite p*ssed off with the mgr... the waiters were very nice though & food too (cannot say much about my dessert as it never arrived

BanzaiBk · 05-05-2008 6:43pm

Agreed, the situation at Currans has become silly. I went last week for the first time since December and whoever was in charge yelled at a male server for incorrectly placing the meals on our table. We were absolutely mortified. After that experience I doubt I'll ever consider the place again.

bill_ashmount · 06-05-2008 7:55am

BanzaiBk wrote: »

Agreed, the situation at Currans has become silly. I went last week for the first time since December and whoever was in charge yelled at a male server for incorrectly placing the meals on our table. We were absolutely mortified. After that experience I doubt I'll ever consider the place again.

I'd of started screaming at the person in charge then, see how they like it.....

Dudess · 09-05-2008 8:36pm

Re Eco: Another "layout is poor" comment. Actually it's not poor, it's dreadful. I remember being squashed when a party sat at the table next to us. They had to have another table added on and we were crushed against the wall. Surely it's in serious breach of fire safety standards? Had there been a fire, we would have been screwed. And yeah, it's so dingy in there. People rant about the "cosy, relaxed atmosphere" etc - it's just dark and shabby!
But I do think the food is more than "ok" - I think it's generally very good. They have some excellent dishes.

ac1977 · 09-05-2008 8:57pm

never ate there, but my bro was a busboy there years ago and said rats in the kitchen were pretty common. But in fairness to Ecos, that was about 4 years ago, might have changed since.
People do look like they're sitting on each other's laps tho'.

Persol · 09-05-2008 11:31pm

Dudess wrote: »

Re Eco: Another "layout is poor" comment. Actually it's not poor, it's dreadful. I remember being squashed when a party sat at the table next to us. They had to have another table added on and we were crushed against the wall. Surely it's in serious breach of fire safety standards? Had there been a fire, we would have been screwed. And yeah, it's so dingy in there. People rant about the "cosy, relaxed atmosphere" etc - it's just dark and shabby!
But I do think the food is more than "ok" - I think it's generally very good. They have some excellent dishes.

I don't mind being squashed as long as I am served decent food with decent prices and decent service ;-)
After all, that only proves it is a great place to eat in!

rymus · 10-05-2008 12:03am

StandnDeliver wrote: »

you want good food,go across to the Indian restaurant its divine,nice service,reasonable prices.

+1,000,000

In fact, I think I'll make reservations there for next weekend.

Dudess · 10-05-2008 9:51am

Persol wrote: »

I don't mind being squashed as long as I am served decent food with decent prices and decent service ;-)
After all, that only proves it is a great place to eat in!

Nonsense. Of course you'd mind being squashed. The situation we were in that evening was an utter disgrace but somehow it's acceptable just because this is Eco. The owners should look into extending or relocating to a larger premises in the area.

BanzaiBk · 10-05-2008 10:29am

Persol wrote: »

I don't mind being squashed as long as I am served decent food with decent prices and decent service ;-)
After all, that only proves it is a great place to eat in!

You must own Eco if that's your idea of a good time.

I agree, Dudess. My friend maintains that they keep it dimly lit so people won't notice how shabby it is.

DannyBuoy · 10-05-2008 3:18pm

Persol wrote: »

I don't mind being squashed...

Eco's sounds like your kinda place so

MJOR · 08-06-2008 8:43pm

BanzaiBk wrote: »

+1

+2 only average........ food ok but nothing really you couldn't make at home:o

DJ Hafez · 09-06-2008 10:31pm

Got a 12oz steak there last week and was absolutely disgusted. Firstly, it was abou 9 or 10oz max, the guy next to me got the same and his was much bigger. Taste was terrible compared to the likes of Mrs Dee's in Mount Oval which does a great steak.

Got chips with the steak which were cold and like mcdonalds chips, would have actually rathered mcdonalds! And had lemon sole for starters too which was nice but got 3 small pieces and way too much salad with a horrible salad dressing over it.

62 euro for people altogether and I left feeling both hungry and was not satisfied in any way shape or form. Now I know other things are nice in there but being honest, being trapped in an enclosed space that isn't properly air conditioned with average food isn't my idea of a good night. The indian around the corner would give me a better feed for less and it's a much better environment!

quietsailor · 26-06-2008 2:01am

Between ECO's and the East Village is a restaurant called Citrus, its pricey - 26 Euro main course so its somewhere you go for a long slow relaxed meal (yes I know that sounds like a certain drink) of two hours, not like Currans where it feels like somewhere you go to eat quickly and get out.

The Finders Inn in Nohoval is incredible, its an old style pub with a restaurant seating area attached, again somewhere you go to relax and enjoy your food.

I live very close to ECO's, about 6 doors away and its always packed, I've managed to get a seat occasionally midweek by calling in when its quiet, even then it would have to be early evening, its just too popular which tends to ruin the meal when the elbow of the person sitting at the next table is in your soup

Eco Restaurant, Douglas

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