The best restaurants

11/03/2025: Ordered through Uber Eats at 6:30, waited for up to an hour and a half for delivery but nobody showed up. Tried contacting the restaurant, immediately put to voicemail, phone number didn’t even go to The Curry Leaf it went to restaurant the Smokin Goat. Talked to their staff who said they’d tell them to contact me but didn’t. Horrible service, had to get through to Uber to get my refund. Update: Food ended up being delivered after 3 hours and when refund had been received, we gave the food back to the rude driver who was clearly not understanding that nobody would wait 3 hours for a takeaway dinner

03/03/2025: Behind a pub, below a hotel, by the looks of it, you’d be skeptical to try, but do!! Their Raj Kachori and Sev Puri were on point. Just like home, and as an Indian, I won’t say that easily. I was surprised by the taste and presentation. Their Bhindi masala was delish too! Would love to try more dishes there.

16/02/2025: Food was lovely but service was a shambles. Went in for breakfast and got tea and toast fairly quickly but had to wait 25 to 30 minutes for breakfast. At this stage the tea and toast was cold and we asked for fresh tea and toast. The tea never arrived and the toast arrived as we were leaving.

05/02/2025: I've been here twice. Dreadful, I'll not return. First occasion - Eagerly await Eggs Benedict : What arrived was NOT Eggs Benedict but rather a poached egg with an over grilled semi-hard rasher on top in a bun, no sign of the Ham however I assume the Rasher was supposed to be a substitute for it. Second visit was for Coffee and Scones. The Coffee was Lukewarm (a big no-no) and the Scones appeared to be either stale or very badly made. Either way they were terrible and were promptly returned. Having made literally hundreds of Scones myself it's a simple enough job and the right ingredients gives you wonderful scones in around 10 minutes. Considering how easy and inexpensive it is to make Scones there is NO EXCUSE whatsoever for putting out stale Scones. Portlaoise and its surrounding eateries are forever heating up Scones for us without asking - the reason is that warmed Scones or Pie disguise that it's not fresh. The Scones here thankfully were served Cold but unfortunately were extremely unpalatable and quite disgusting. I have no idea why this place scores well with reviews however Portlaoise is well known for dreadful food and terrible cafes. It's a gastronomical horror show in Laois with the County constantly astounding me with the level of "tripe" served up as food. I travel extensively throughout Ireland and without a doubt Laois has the least appealing eateries in the entire Country. Shame really.

22/02/2025: Great all round shop, meats and bread our favourite

11/02/2025: Only got a cheese and onion sandwich with a bit of lettuce but paid over 5 euro , a bit expensive .

17/09/2024: Staff is very nice, food is good, atmosphere is very appealing.

11/09/2024: **addendum** Like the owner says (and must have complained to remove my legitimate review, which was admittedly some time ago, so perhaps they've changed), the type of reimagined Mexican food you get in the states isn't authentic, nor does it claim to be, but when you're getting massive portions at a truck stop a couple hundred miles from Mexico, cooked by 3 generations of Mexican women, and eaten by Mexican truckers, you can be pretty sure the stuff is decent. Plus, you're 99% of the time going to get even more flavorful dishes in the origin country, and good US-Mex is already incredibly tasty, while I just couldn't say the same for what we had here. So while the owner may well be serving authentic Mexican dishes with pomegranate bits, it's just not something I'd go back for, and again, certainly not at this price and more so keeping in mind that Mexico is far from a rich nation with expensive dishes with a pretentious flair. All the same, I wish them the best and hope other patrons do enjoy their food. **/addendum** It was okay. Not 'authentic', based on my growing up in the US (Tex-Mex, Cali-Mex), so perhaps there are parts of Mexico that have food like this, but I kinda doubt it. It's more Mexican reimagined. Even considering tax and tip, I can get much better fare in the States pretty much anywhere. Service is fine, ambience is good, food presentation is good, and it's the first place I've ever been where there's more guacamole than chips, which is odd, though not 6 Euro odd. While the freshly deep-fried chips are better than out-of-the-bag ones you'd get in most places, I'd rather they be made of corn tortillas instead of flour. Crispy beef tacos look nice, however, they lack punch or depth of flavor, almost as if it had no seasoning, not even salt. This is surprising, given the amount of queso that should be in there. The side of sauce tastes basically like beef drippings and doesn't really add much, either. The fried chicken is vastly different. Again, not a Mex dish I'm familiar with, but it was tasty, with cumin (?) and chilli peppers in the batter. Cheesecake looked better than it tasted. Neither creamy nor dense, it was more like dehydrated curds or something. Passion fruit sauce was nice, but like most everything else, the bulk of the item just wasn't rich. As for the Moonlight Margarita, the big cube of ice is a fancy touch, but it's the first margarita I've ever had that's served with no salt on the rim and a dried lime slice instead of fresh. 3 stars if the price was better.

19/01/2025: Great food in a lovely spot. Staff were excellent too.

02/01/2025: Service was polite and efficient however the 'classic' calzone pizza was a nothing more than a stodgy parcel mess of doner kebab with a few bits of chicken tikka Hardly classic. Our fault for not reading the menu more closely.

17/09/2024: Enjoy the food, enjoy the chat with the staff/owner Always friendly, good food, good prices, would definitely recommend

19/07/2024: Friendly staff and up for the craic

24/02/2025: The food is really fresh here and great quality. I highly recommend the chicken shish. The beef was slightly dry.

21/02/2025: Sons a member of the Zaytoon family. . This is a great place top class for food and service. Check it out. You will not be disappointed

31/01/2025: Best bar in the world! Best pint of Guinness I’ve ever had anywhere too. As authentic and wonderful as it gets. Don’t tell anyone…

02/01/2025: Had high hopes for this place but was sadly let down by the service. The lady who took out order was absolutely lovely but two members of staff seemed very unhappy to be there, and made us feel very uncomfortable. Twice they asked a little boy to stop "banging" the chair despite the fact that he clearly wasn't annoying anyone but them. When a party came in late asking to be seated for lunch they very rude to them saying " lunch is over but I suppose this once we can serve you" Never been made to feel so uncomfortable in an establishment in my life. Couldn't wait to get out of there to be honest. Such a pity. Must do better, Nook

08/03/2025: Went here on a very quiet, rainy Saturday lunchtime. Seated very quickly and order taken but food took nearly an hour to come out and was quite bland, nothing to write home about. Manager brushed off the complaint and offered no compensation , tried to cower behind young waitress (who seemed to have actual social skills and was very friendly.). Wouldn’t recommend!

24/02/2025: Had a meal here with my partner over the weekend, I ordered the red prawn curry and he got the burger, both were very happy with our meals, I work in a restaurant and the service was so great also, was served by a very friendly man, didn’t have a booking and it was a Saturday but didn’t wait long and he had a table cleaned and ready for us, staff were also very friendly and checked up on us. Highly recommend if you are around the Cobh area

18/12/2024: Always a great place. Friendly staff.

21/11/2024: Awesome people, awesome coffee, awesome tea.

13/02/2025: I called to get some small cakes for a girls night....... absolutely beautiful

02/01/2025: The best almond croissant ever.

07/03/2025: Sensationally good blue cheese burger. I was hesitant about the pineapple but the extremely polite and helpful guy working there gently persuaded me to try it and it was a gamechanger, I’ll 100% be back.

07/02/2025: Both chicken and bull bear burgers were amazing. Strongly recommended.

23/02/2025: Nice and cosy small cafe. We stopped for quick breakfast. Coffee was lovely and french toast was good too except the onions taste in the strawberries maybe the same knife was used to cut them.

01/02/2025: Excellent little cafe, staff so friendly, great value fro money 10/10 👍

31/12/2024: Went to see the lee side sessions here a few times great pub to spend an evening

24/10/2024: Great venue for traditional Irish music on a Thursday evening, great pint too, with friendly efficient staff👌🍻

14/02/2025: The store looks like the Monoprix back home. Lots of choice. And the cashier we passed by was very nice.

14/02/2025: Great quality in good and veg, always really fresh. I love their soup mix and always add it to my cuisine creations yielding the best results. Their chickens are very good and well priced. Dunnes is a great place to shop.