The Restaurant Recommendation Thread

No I haven't been to either, but if you are looking for reviews by the everyday person they are quite good. If you break down what kind of food you are looking for then tis quite good. Whatever floats your boat

pwurple wrote: »

Trip advisor? Serious?

So your top two restaurants in cork would be the South County, followed by Uncle Pete's.

Is Lennoxes still in the Top Ten?

kcb wrote: »

Speaking of Uncle Pete's .... not in the same league as your Novecento etc.

I keep hearing about Novecento and was even recommended it by an Italian friend that's a massive foodie, but when I went there I got a pizza that was undercooked, dough was bland, tomatosauce again was bland and I was just generally not impressed.

I quite like the pizza from uncle pete's, but it's as a take out thing for me. It's definitely more expensive than Mizzonis (urgh) or Dominoes (not a big fan of the American style pizza), but I always feel it's worth the money.

I starting to think that maybe I'm just wrong, not liking these things that others are so big on like novecento, luigi malones and capt americas.

nerwen wrote: »

I keep hearing about Novecento and was even recommended it by an Italian friend that's a massive foodie, but when I went there I got a pizza that was undercooked, dough was bland, tomatosauce again was bland and I was just generally not impressed.

I quite like the pizza from uncle pete's, but it's as a take out thing for me. It's definitely more expensive than Mizzonis (urgh) or Dominoes (not a big fan of the American style pizza), but I always feel it's worth the money.

I starting to think that maybe I'm just wrong, not liking these things that others are so big on like novecento, luigi malones and capt americas.

Haven't tried Novacento, but the other two are more night-out venues, where the atmosphere and drinks are more important than the food. Haven't had a bad meal in either, but nothing special either.

For me, the best restaurants in Cork would be Market Lane, the Cornstore Rossinis and Jacobs on the Mall (never tried Jacques nor the Ivory Tower). I don't eat pizzas, but I'd guess Milanos would be a better bet if that's what you're ordering?

The Ivory Tower deal is on groupon again http://www.groupon.ie/deals/cork/the-ivory-tower

€70 for 2 people, 8 course tasting menu. Maybe not as fancy as Oysters or Les Gourmandaise etc. but somee of the most interesting food in Cork. Great value imo.

sporina wrote: »

i heard once that one should never eat fish out on a sunday as its never fresh - thoughts?

The old adage is that you should never eat it on a Monday, as it's likely that the kitchen hasn't received fish supplies since Friday/Saturday.

sporina wrote: »

i heard once that one should never eat fish out on a sunday as its never fresh - thoughts?

It's going to depend a lot on what kind of fish you're ordering and where. Twenty years ago you could buy fresh fish from a trawler in Kinsale that had been out for 3 days, nowadays the same trawler has to go out for 10 days to reach the fish and it's all sold to a distributor/processor so you won't see it for another 5 days at least. Most of it is then frozen so it doesn't matter what day of the week you eat it, the rest is iced and then refrigerated, so it will matter a bit more when you get to it, but not as much as it did in the old days.

Chain restaurants will most likely follow the frozen model, top end places will probably follow the chilled route but may have local suppliers specially for the line caught stuff (eg Wild Salmon, Sea Bass).

pwurple wrote: »

Novecento, luigi malones and capt americas are all servers of revolting food. You're just showing discerning taste.

I disagree. If you order well some of the dishes are very nice comfort food and the atmosphere is good if your looking for something lively.

The fillet steak is certainly not revolting.

.red. wrote: »

Irish sea bass is illegal to land in ireland as its a protected species. French/uk boats etc can catch it but cant land it here. If a restaurant is advertising wild sea bass its either an ilegally caught fish or its imported so not exactly "fresh".
Many restaurants have deals with netters who are catching inshore bass all year round and landing them under the radar.
Ive questioned the origin of wild bass a few times and was told its irish and locally caught. When i mentioned it was ilegal the waiter/waitress would then double check and apologise saying its wild french bass or farmed.
If its a whole small fish or a small fillet its usually a farmed fish from greece.

Apologies, I was actually thinking about UK Restaurants when I wrote that.

However is it not just the netting and the sale of sea bass that is illegal in Ireland, It is legal to line catch sea bass and I thought you could keep a tiny quota (something like two per season) for yourself.

Went to 14A with two friends recently, was absolutely awful, will not be returning.

We skipped starters, and ordered two ceasar salads and a burger for the mains. When 45 minutes passed and we still hadn't gotten our food, we asked the waiter who assured us our food was on its way. Asked again when we reached the 1 hour mark, was told we'd be waiting 5 more minutes, and after waiting another 15minutes, the manager came over and apologised saying our order never actually went to the kitchen and it was only being processed then.

Finally, after 1hr and 35minutes, we received our food. It was okay, nothing to write home about. We were so annoyed at this stage we decided to skip dessert and go to SoHo for pancakes instead.

Was stunned to see we were charged full price when we got the bill. I wouldn't have expected it to be on the house but a 20% discount would have been nice or something to apologise for the long wait and the fact we were repeatedly told our food was on its way.

I'd say something if the restaurant was extremely busy but it was only 5pm and there weren't many other diners, the staff certainly weren't run off their feet so I can't understand how our order got lost.

The food was okay but the service was appalling so for that reason alone I wouldn't go back.

Cedrus wrote: »

It's going to depend a lot on what kind of fish you're ordering and where. Twenty years ago you could buy fresh fish from a trawler in Kinsale that had been out for 3 days, nowadays the same trawler has to go out for 10 days to reach the fish and it's all sold to a distributor/processor so you won't see it for another 5 days at least. Most of it is then frozen so it doesn't matter what day of the week you eat it, the rest is iced and then refrigerated, so it will matter a bit more when you get to it, but not as much as it did in the old days.

Chain restaurants will most likely follow the frozen model, top end places will probably follow the chilled route but may have local suppliers specially for the line caught stuff (eg Wild Salmon, Sea Bass).

so are you saying that the fish from a chain restaurant on a sunday would be safer than that from an upmarket restaurant?

Hi
Hubbie and I will be attending a mid week course (2 day) near UCC next week- Mon and Tues and staying out near Blarney... any ideas where we could get a nice early bird please?
we have not tasted the Gourmet of Cork City before... also not interested in Indian/Chinese..... any advice please?