Dublin restaurant recommendations

Mom and her husband are heading there for a vacation and asked if I could come up with some recommendations. Figured WB would be the spot to ask!

Everything from high end, must try places, to down home, humble but delicious and everything in between. What are your favorites?

Also any tourist trap places that should be avoided?

Thanks in advance!

The Winding Stair. My wife and I loved it. Casual, not fancy, but hip, very good food, good well thought out wine list and friendly service. Central location near Half Penny Bridge. Check web. We walked in on a Monday night and were able to get a table. Reservations suggested.

Thanks Robert!

A client of mine sent me some options, here is his list for those who in the future may find themselves in Dublin.

"My two favourites are Chapter One and L’Ecrivan. I think both have 1* from Michelin if that’s relevant, but they are both extremely comfortable restaurants with high standards of cooking and good lists.

Dublin’s “grandest” restaurant is the 2* Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in the Merrion Hotel. . While the food is undeniably good, it is savagely expensive and not, in my view, good value compared to the two above. YMMV.

Others

Dax, on Pembroke Street. Southwestern French (the owners are from the town of the same name), good food, decent list.

Roly’s in Ballsbridge on the south side of town. Been around for 20 years, solid. Great seafood bisque.

The Chophouse is a relatively new Gastropub-style joint on Shelbourne Road on the southside. I like it a lot, had a fantastic dinner there at Christmas and a good one just 10 days ago. I had the best oysters I’ve had in years there at Christmas and they do a terrific rib-eye steak. Its a restaurant fit for these straightened times that Dubliners find themselves in at the moment. Nothing fancy, or complicated, just great ingredients really well cooked.

Ely Wine Bar - has two locations, one near St Stephens Green, the other in the Docklands area on the north bank of the Liffey."

Thank you, Chris & Robert, for the information you shared in this thread.

Bumping - any recent updates? Many thanks!

Had a pretty good dinner at Winding Stair, don’t think I’d go out of my way to eat there.

Hands down, Fade St. Social. Duck liver, layered with a rich gravy and stacked like a trifle was amazingly rich.

Potato-based sides were a little strange, with mashed potatoes in a bowl, topped by sauces/goop. Not as exciting as the apps/mains.

I’m headed over in October and will report back with any new finds. Thanks for the Fade St. recommendation Andrew!

Been a while (2011) but had an excellent dinner at Hugo’s - 6 Merrion Row near St. Stephen’s Green.

I’ll be in Dublin in April. Any current recommendations?

I missed this thread before.
A great Italian place ‘Il Primo’ has shut, which is a big shame

The places I’m recommending are a 20 min walk from the centre, but were handy for hotel/work when I was there. None are ultra fancy/expensive but each helped convince me there was good food to be had for fair money in Dublin:

• Seagrass (Richmond St). Not an extensive menu, but always easy to find something I wanted and always really good. Price is very good, but in addition they used to do free corkage most nights.
• Camden Kitchen (Grantham St). Cosy place, very friendly with a style that seemed between France and Spain.
• Green19 (Camden St). Irish bistro, a little tightly packed in, but good interesting food and a lively vibe
• Neon (Camden St). Thai ‘street food’ style, dominated by a huge communal table. Grab a seat, go up to the counter to order & they’ll bring it out. DIY Mr Whippy ice-cream included in the cheap price. A cheap and reasonably lively night out
• Against the Grain (corner of Wexford St / Protestant St) is a real ale pub with a big international range, a real beer temple. They serve pub grub food, but on our most recent visit it was very tasty and because we ate early, it was a stupidly cheap price.

Now these are even further out, in a suburb called Ranelagh.
Punjabi by Nature (Main St) - Good indian restaurant, I used to have fish there, but the biryiani is very good as well.
Butcher’s block (now called the butchers grill) 92 Ranelagh Village. Is a meat eaters place, but the setting is good as well.

One final place, undoubtedly more useful for it’s centrality, Fallon and Byrne on Exchequer St. There is a restaurant upstairs I never went to, but I enjoyed the downstairs wine cellar for a glass or two of wine, browsing the shelves or having lighter food. A wonderful choice to take a break from the hustle and bustle of wandering around the centre. In addition though, do have a stroll around the ground floor food hall, which is the Dublin equivalent of the swanky famous food halls of London. When working over there, I used to make a point of calling in for some food shopping on the way to the airport, and there is some fine food there.

Oops, actually one more, a bit of an institution in an area that is pretty rubbish due to the weight of tourists: Elephant and Castle (corner of Temple bar, Asdill’s row and Fleet St) which sound like a pub, but is more a café. It’s always popular so expect to have to disappear for a quick pint before they can fit you in. The chicken wings in vinegar is the house dish and what most people go for. Not at all as weird as it sounds. In general though, I’d steer you away from the Temple Bar area, because what you get is about as authentic as Rudy K’s wines. There is real Irish music with real Irish musicians in many other places (there’s a couple of places on Camden St, but plenty of others, but sunday afternoons seems especially good and it leads to a nicely chilled vibe).

Had dinner with a friend last night at Forest and Marcy.

Great wine bar vibe, solid food. Fixed price menu at 45 Euros with three options for each course, but several small “bites” brought out to complement the meal. Overall, very nice and we enjoyed eating at the bar. Heavy Austrian influence on the wine list.

Hi All,

Wondering if there are any updates in the last 6 years in Dublin. Any restaurants with good wine lists?