The Dubliner Restaurant Guide

The Dubliner Restaurant Reviews

Welcome to Dublin's best restaurant guide.

This is the online archive for The Dubliner restaurant reviews.

Here you'll find short, candid reviews of the very best places to eat, by the city's leading restaurant critics. Among the contributors are Helen Lucy Burke, Eoin Higgins, Emily Hourican and Trevor White. 

To use the guide, just browse through the alphabetical list below or search by category in the sidebar on the left.

Finally, if you'd like to have your say, go right ahead. We welcome comments by readers, and each month the best reader's review wins a subscription to The Dubliner.

101 Talbot
Alexis
Amnesty Freedom Café
Andersons Creperie
Aqua
Avoca
Aya
Bang
Bar Italia
Beaufield Mews
Bentleys Oyster Bar and Grill
Bijou
Blarney Inn

Bobo's
Bon Appetit
Brasserie Sixty 6
Brasserie de Verres En Vers
Brownes Brasserie
Bu-Ali
Byblos
Cafe Fresh
CaféBarDeli
Cake Cafe
Canal Bank Cafe
Cavistons
Chatham Brasserie
Chapter One
China Sichuan
Cilantro
Chez Max
Chili Club, The
Coachman's Inn
Coffee Cuisine
Coopers
Cornucopia
Cornerhouse Grill
Dali's
Darwins
Dax
Deep Restaurant
Diep Noodle
Dobbins
Don Giovannis
Douglas & Kaldi
Dunne and Crescenzi
Dylan Hotel
Eatery 120
Ecrivain, L'
Eden
Elephant and Castle
Ely HQ
Enricos
Er Buchetto
Fallon & Byrne
Fresh Café
Four Seasons
French Paradox
Georges Wine Bar
Good World
Gotham Café
Gruel
Halo
Han Yang
Hanley at the Bar
Harvey Nichols
Honest to Goodness
The House
Il Valentino
Indie Spice
Indian Summer
itsa 4
Ivans Oyster Bar and Grill
Jade Palace
Jaipur
JoBurger
Johnnie Fox's
KC Peaches
Kingfisher
Koh
Koshi
La Mere Zou
L'Gueuleton
La Mere Zou
La Peniche
Langkawi
Leon
Les Amis
Lobster Pot, The
Locks
Lord Edward, The
Mao
Mermaid Café, The
Merrion Hotel
Mint
Michael's Food and Wine
Michie Sushi
Montys of Kathmandu
Nonna Valentina
Nosh
Nude
The Oar House
O'Connells
Odessa
Patrick Guilbaud
Pearl
Peploe's
Pig's Ear
Pizza Stop
Port House
Posto, Il
Poulot's
Primo, Il
Purty Kitchen, The
Quay 16 on the MV Cill Airne
Queens, The
Queen of Tarts
Radha Govinda's
Rasam
Readers Cafe
Reflection
Riva
Rhodes D7
Ristorante Romano
Roly's Bistro
Saba
Saba to go
Seagrass
Shanahan's on the Green
Shebeen Chic
Sheries
Siam Thai
Silk Road Café
Simon's Place
South
South William Bar
Soup Dragon
Stoop Your Head
Tante Zoe's
Tea Room, The
The Baggot Inn
The Chapterhouse Café
The Cheese Pantry
The Exchange The Westin
The Saddle Room
Thornton's
Tonic
Town Bar & Grill
Trocadero Restaurant, The
Ukiyo Bar
Unicorn Restaurant, The
Venu
Vermilion
Wagamama
Wild Goose Grill
Winding Stair
Wilde
Wong's
Yamamori

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Residence

Right At Home
Helen Lucy Burke dines at Residence, Dublin’s newest private members club, where the food is superb, the wine is expensive, and half-dressed women keep falling out of closets...

Triumphant star of the evening was a red-legged partridge (€32). SJM had dashingly ordered it as a second ‘first course’; tiny moans burst from her when she tasted it, and very sportingly she allotted a sliver apiece for TW and me to taste. The partridge spoke for itself; it was of elegant simplicity, its accompaniment being merely a chastely austere pear and foie gras emmulsion.
Then ugly scenes broke out as our forks attempted lightning raids, and were beaten back by her rival weapon.

I had never tasted a red-legged partridge before. No, nor even heard of one. Celestial bird! Probably kin to the phoenix – but how to describe its taste stumps me. The tenderness, nuttiness, subtle gaminess, defeat my pen. Had the bird been alive to hear our rhapsodies, its legs would have blushed an even deeper red in modest confusion.

We were eating for Ireland in Dublin’s latest club on Stephen’s Green, Residence, and a very good and enjoyable evening it was. But as I have mentioned a High Spot, I acknowledge Low Spots also. Let’s get some of them out of the way. A solitary pink rose was wilting and perfume-less; it could have done table service on previous nights. The firm of Saxa seemed the origin of the salt in a sprinkler, complete with anti-caking agents. (We lamented the absent Maldon.)