Hickie's Bar in Kilkee

An absolute MUST! The food, the drinks, the service, and the ambiance 👍 the best food in 10 days in Ireland. We felt incredibly comfortable.

The food was delicious and portions were large. The restaurant had a very beautiful setting - authentic decor and a lovely view of the sunset over the beach.

First, the good: breakfast/brunches. We went twice for brunch and the GF breakfast was great. Second, the not so good: four of us went for dinner and there was little to no option for the GF/DF member of our party. A very lacklustre pea fritter thing was served with rice, salad and about a qtr of an avocado (the chips are done in cross-contaminated oil, so they were not an option). We then asked for a jug of tap water during dinner and two large bottles of water were produced. We were told that the tap water wasn’t drinkable. Considering we were staying about 200m away with no such warnings, we thought this was strange. We then asked if the ice in our drinks was therefore safe and were told that it was as it came from a filtered ice making machine. When the bill came, the bottled water was on it so we had to have that removed. When we questioned a different server further about the water, she said that the staff were able to drink it but they didn’t want to risk customers (?!), and that they were waiting for clearance from the water company. Imagine our surprise, then, when we went for brunch the very next day, at seeing staff filling up water bottles for tables from the tap and lots of people with those water bottles on their tables! Gosh, the Irish water company must have worked overnight to test and certify the water!! We politely approached the same manager that had been behind the bar the night before who shrugged his shoulders, said “that’s Irish water for you”, then walked away. This whole situation stinks of deception in that selling bottled water makes more profit. In conclusion, although the brunches are good and the old bar restaurant is nicely decorated with a modern vibe, the service is quite slow and there is little to no choice on the dinner menu for GF & DF allergens together, so this, together with the whiff of deception, is off-putting.

Food was 10/10 service 1/10. diabolical. Waited 35 mins to get served a drink. Asked for water 4 times before we got it. Restaurant wasn’t busy so there was no excuse for poor service. The girls serving were young but got no guidance from manager.

Went just for a quick grab, and it was absolutely lovely. The food was amazing and atmosphere lovely.

Called in for Sunday lunch, the specials included “lamb”. We ordered two plates at €25 each. The sheep meat was older than lamb, stringy and tough. No mint sauce available, the server said they’d go to the shop to get more, it would only take a couple of minutes. We had finished our meal and were just leaving when the server returned. The dish itself was tasty enough but no better than a €15 carvery dish, calling it a special was a bit of a misnomer. Pleasant staff but a restaurant that serves poor quality meat and doesn’t even have the usual accompaniments is a disappointment.

Stopped in this morning for breakfast. Real good quality, and very reasonable. Enjoyed a chat with John. Looking for to coming back in June this time to stay for a few nights.