Restaurant Recommendations (3 Viewers)

[Wobbler]

whats that place like in general? did you have to wait long to be seated?
really wanna go there soon.

I think it's excellent too. Never had too much problem getting seated. There's a few daycent boozers nearby anyway.

 

[jane]

Knobs. A couple of times in the last few years when the service is that catastrophic i've made a point of telling managers that i won't be back and i'm warning others about it. That'll always get through to them more than a refund(which you were of course entitled to.)

Absolutely.

People listen to their mates more than they do reviewers (I think so, anyway). A bad review will turn a few people away, a good review might bring a few people through the door, but the thing that makes or breaks a restaurant is how you treat your customers once they're there, and what they tell their friends and acquaintances about it. They also know they have no legal recourse when it comes to word of mouth.

I kind of only accepted the refund because I wanted to make the point that they did not hold up their part of the agreement of sale -- I was not allowed to finish the meal, and therefore should not be charged for it. Their scheduling stupidity and poor management should not be the customers' problem. It was their choice to double-book the table, and customers shouldn't have to suffer for their greed.

Imagine if you turned up at a restaurant and you saw someone being unwillingly chased from your table so you could sit down. I'd definitely consider telling the management where to shove it and cancelling my booking right there. That kind of behaviour should not be rewarded, and maybe if the problem is 'too many customers', we can take our business elsewhere. And of course, I'm sure the restaurant would penalise me for cancelling the booking, but that wouldn't be very smart.

 

[CitySickness]

If they thought it was OK to treat anyone like that, you can also assume that they heard your accent and thought "tourist". So, hey, we can be as abusive as we like, right? It's not like we're losing a repeat customer, or she has any Irish friends she can warn off the place.

Whoops.

 

[CitySickness]

Oh yeah, I've booked restaurants a hundred times with no requests for a credit card to secure the booking. But if you have a foreign accent, different story.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Oh yeah, I've booked restaurants a hundred times with no requests for a credit card to secure the booking. But if you have a foreign accent, different story.

just tell 'em you don't have one.

hotels try and pull that stunt with me all the time.

I just say I don't have one and ask them what are they going to do about it.

They always back off.

 

[jane]

If they thought it was OK to treat anyone like that, you can also assume that they heard your accent and thought "tourist". So, hey, we can be as abusive as we like, right? It's not like we're losing a repeat customer, or she has any Irish friends she can warn off the place.

Whoops.

It was additionally embarrassing because I was with a friend and her partner, and they *were* tourists, so they were still in that "We're in a foreign country so we don't want to make a fuss" mode, and I'm there getting the hump because I'm local. It was a weird position to be in, but the manager was being such a dick that I stopped caring when he continued pestering even after I pointed out that if he'd just piss off and leave me to eat, I'd finish, but if he preferred to stay and harrass me, it would delay the process. I'm not entirely sure nationality came into it.

When I went up to the till, I made it clear that I have been eating there regularly for years. The guy seemed to change his tone when I reminded him about the power of word of mouth -- whether that provided a general reminder, or if it made him realise I wasn't a tourist, I don't know. It took some extra arguing, but I think they got the message. It sucks that I always have to be very forthright about the fact that I live here in order to get anything fucking done, but I kind of figured that since the Yamamoris have a lot of foreign staff, it wasn't as much of an issue as it might otherwise have been.

Restaurants here can be relatively sure that they can use passive aggression and guilt on even their repeat customers to keep them from complaining because it's considered a method of social negotiation.

It was really when I started laying into him about making me feel like I'd done something wrong so that I'd feel too guilty to stand up for myself that he changed his tone and gave me the refund. I said, "In the time you took to stand over me and accuse me of overstaying some sort of 'welcome', I could have finished my meal and all the trouble could have been saved, but you insisted on making me feel so awful I wouldn't want to stay." He then stopped arguing that he was 'just trying to understand how many minutes' I would need, which he wasn't, because initially he came over raging about how if we didn't leave immediately, he was going to have to leave a party of 12 waiting at the door, and how dare we do that to him and to them. It was fucking guilt, and not him 'just trying to understand'. I just kind of turned the guilt back on him, about making me feel like I wasn't welcome to eat there anymore, and that if I didn't count as a customer, I didn't see the point in coming back.

When we left, I ran into some people I know outside the Stag's Head, and one guy was like, "Oh, that happened to me a few months ago. It was....all very awkward." And I'm thinking, "This has been going on for MONTHS? And the place is still open?"

In fairness, I hadn't want to get into it because my friends were getting embarrassed, but once he started in on me, he actually wouldn't lay off. It wasn't even a matter of being able to walk away -- he kind of went off on one, but in this passive-aggressive way, where he ended up crouching down and talking to me like a naughty child about the importance of fucking off.

The prick should go work for Aer Lingus, where that sort of behaviour seems to be de rigeur.

 

[the strange guy]

Yamamori can go and sniff my soiled underpants for all I care, especially after I was served their special seafood tempura* and sickly sweet Udon noodles cooked by Polish lads. Still though, you can't argue with a sub €10 lunch. And they were great back in the Jazz FM days 10 years ago.
(*90% Red Peppers, 9% Frozen Prawn, 1% Mystery White Fish)

In fairness whenever I've been to a restaurant and told I've got only a bit over an hour to be done I've never stayed long enough to find out what would happen if I didn't leave. Working in a restaurant is hectic and if you don't run a tight ship the whole thing sinks.

EAT IT UP! CHOP CHOP!

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

Went to Alexis in Dun Laoghaire last night. Really good spot - definitely going back. Had another ribeye steak. I can feel a bout of gout coming on.

 

[MDR]

I've found Yamamouri flawless for lunch - quick, cheap and yum - but so-so* in the evenings: slow and a bit more expensive.

*feel free to say this in a japanese accent.

 

[CitySickness]

Went to Alexis in Dun Laoghaire last night. Really good spot - definitely going back. Had another ribeye steak. I can feel a bout of gout coming on.

Yeah, Alexis is great. Pretty reasonable too, for what you're getting.

 

[murphyk2]

try the oarhouse on the fishing pier in howth for great seafood...

 

[Lili Marlene]

I recommend shebeen chic

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

There is no point in going to Yamamori anymore now we have our own Chinatown on Parnell St

Get the braised beef noodle soup in Charming Noodles and you'll forget that kip on George's St existed.

 

[Bladez]

I hear you. Charming Noodles is great. 7.99 big delicious two course lunch. No better value in town.

 

[the strange guy]

Dumpling House on Parnell Street is great.
The food is incredibly cheap (around what you'd pay for a take away), authentic and really, really good.
The stir fried garlic vegetables and prawn with chives dumplings are my favourite.
PLUS they serve beer!
You can spot it by the logo on the stairs which face the street.

 

[MDR]

I went to Yo Thai for REDTAPEMENACE's birthday the other night. Great night. Chefs come out and juggle cleavers, eggs and condiments; cook the food in front of you; everything done in a sort of crouching tiger, hidden soy sauce. Unbelieveable.

Then they came out and sang for us all at the end.

Amazing.

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

Wheres Yo Thai?

 

[Bladez]

Its above Kiely's in Donnybrook. Its a bit on the expensive side for what it is - no? I was there last week and I just got a green chicken curry, didn't have anything to drink and it came to 22 euro.

I like the Sweet Basil Thai in Rathmines. 12 euro for a two course meal. And it tastes every bit as good as Yo Thai.

I know, I know....I'm a cheap bastard.

 

[MDR]

Our thing cost about €30 per head before drinks and tip etc., so it's pricey enough, but worth it for a big group.

 

[reelspin]

Dumpling House on Parnell Street is great.
The food is incredibly cheap (around what you'd pay for a take away), authentic and really, really good.
The stir fried garlic vegetables and prawn with chives dumplings are my favourite.
PLUS they serve beer!
You can spot it by the logo on the stairs which face the street.

whey hey,,,asked a question bout dim sum recently and this ties in great. Parnell st sounds like the place to go for quality asian at the moment? went for a chinese couple yrs ago in out of the way upstairs place, all the 'underground rage' then but not been back since....sounds like all tastes catered for now! bout bloody time>>>>>here here please