The best restaurants in Cork

07/12/2025: Food is always delicious and tasty, service is super friendly and efficient, one of my favourite breakfast/Brunch in Cork.

27/11/2025: The food and the service are definitely the winning combo. Excellent selection and combination of ingredients, beautiful presentation and taste absolutely super. Plenty of choices on menu to meet all tastes and needs. Keep up the beautiful job you're doing. Definitely you stand out and it's not luck, it's passion and dedication!

03/01/2026: The food itself is fine, but the behaviour of the owner/boss was extremely unprofessional and uncomfortable. She openly spoke negatively about members of her staff to other employees, criticising them behind their backs. What made this worse was hearing her place blame on staff despite an obvious lack of proper training, which ultimately reflects poor management. This behavior reflects badly on the business as a whole and is very off putting to hear as a customer. Good food doesn’t make up for poor management and disrespectful treatment of staff. I hope the owner reflects on this, as professionalism and basic respect for employees are essential.

16/12/2025: Golden Elephant in Douglas is a fantastic spot for authentic Thai food with a simple, flavourful menu. The Tom Yum soup is outstanding and full of bold taste. The spicy peppercorn wok fry and ginger tofu & veg stir-fry are absolutely delicious. Udon noodles were perfectly cooked and very satisfying. The food is worth every penny.

20/09/2025: Great spot, had a lovely sausage roll and then very nice coffee cake and Chai latte. Only thing is the place is popular so it's often full. I went around 11 on a Monday and by 12 it was full up

15/09/2025: It is my favourite coffee shop (and imo the best one) in Cork. The staff is the best. So lovely! The coffee is amazing. Always on point. They've got some bites if you're hungry (the chef/baker is amazing) and the sweets... 🤤 The sweets!!! That brownie is by far the best I've had around here. Some of the best coffee shop cakes in Cork for sure. Oh and the friendly atmosphere... Highly recommended! ❤️

18/12/2025: Best place for breakfast in cork city

02/12/2025: Great Godfather themed breakfast place. It seems to be quite busy. So prepared to eat for a table if you’re a larger group.

22/12/2025: Absolutely delicious food and variety service was great servers very friendly and helpful atmosphere was happy and very friendly they also do a take away service which is great

22/12/2025: It was a very comfy stay rooms was nice he definitely going back

08/12/2025: Poetry Burgers No. 1 in Ireland

08/12/2025: A very nice place, very beautiful, the food is very good and very well priced. Very friendly and fast waiters.

17/10/2025: I was having breakfast this morning, I order eggs Benedict, and I think the rashers were cooked the last year. Be careful with the ingredients guys.. it's really annoying.

16/10/2025: Lovely atmosphere. Street side seating also.

31/12/2025: Overall good experience, giving 4 stars out of five. Something is still not yet there to be rated at five. Food quality was great. Service well on point. Small place, at full capacity it can be very noisy. Management should consider solutions to absorb sounds waves. Recommend.

31/12/2025: Unbelievable from beginning to end! I had the duck special and my partner had the ragu. Both were so tasty. The service was spot on and the place was packed with a lovely atmosphere. Can't wait to come back again!

04/01/2026: I am not a food critic and very seldom leave a comment but I feel that the experience I had recently at the Elm Tree needs to be shared. Following a recommendation I organised a meal for 9 people for a very special occasion. On arrival we were all very impressed by the festive decor and warmth of the restaurant. However, my good experience ended there. Three of the people ordered starters but only two were served. Apart from that hitch the starters were excellent. When the starters were eaten and the plates were removed, the cutlery was also taken and not replaced. The guests in question had to ask for replacements after their main course had been served. But then came the main course. Three of the guests ordered hake. On arrival this appeared to be a huge portion but turned out to be mainly mashed potatoes. The fish was presented skin side up. This is an entirely acceptable practice when the skin is crisp but not when the skin is soft (as if it had been steamed) and covered in sauce. A great deal of this dish was returned by each of the guests. One guest ordered the house steak. This steak was absolutely tasteless. It beggars belief that anyone could manage to make steak so bland. The remaining guests were content, though not overjoyed, with their main courses (salmon and burgers). Now comes desserts. Only two guests ordered desserts, for which they had again to ask for cutlery. One guest was presented with an incorrect dessert, which was changed, so was satisfied in the end. The other guest ordered a sticky toffee pudding which arrived completely tough and dried out. Having complained about this dessert it was agreed that it was indeed sub standard and it was removed from the menu for the night. The staff member who dealt with the complaint was attentive and professional. His solution to my problem was the removal of the sticky toffee pudding from my bill and not adding the 10% surcharge to my bill. He did inform me that the head chef was working that night. To finish this review off I feel that the Elm Tree is now living on a reputation that may have been deserved in former times but is not currently relevant.

04/01/2026: Went to The Elm Tree last night and overall had a really great experience. The place itself was amazing. The vibes, seating, atmosphere and service were all excellent. Staff were friendly and attentive and the restaurant has a really lovely feel to it. I ordered the featherblade and it was honestly 10 out of 10. Absolutely incredible. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be back because the food was genuinely outstanding. The only issue I want to mention is about menu transparency. When we arrived we made sure to ask if certain dishes contained alcohol as my boyfriend is Muslim and does not consume alcohol. We were told that the featherblade is cooked with alcohol but this is not stated anywhere on the physical menu or the online menu. While I personally do consume alcohol and still chose the dish I think this is something that should be clearly mentioned as many people may not think to ask and could unknowingly eat something that goes against their religious or personal beliefs. Aside from that everything else was excellent. Amazing food, great service and a brilliant atmosphere. Clearer menu information would make an already fantastic place even

01/01/2026: Friendly local pub, Great pint of Beamish, a good age mix here, well worth a visit.

29/11/2025: Lovely bar...calm, quiet relaxing.

06/12/2025: Had a lovely dinner and the food was outstanding. We had a seafood pasta and a truffle linguine plus starters (salad and bruschetta) and desserts (brownie and a crepe). Will definitely come back!

01/12/2025: Lovely place,delicious food great atmosphere.I would highly recommend this restaurant.The best food ever 🥰

09/11/2025: Nice restaurant, steak bavette was delicious and chocolate tart very tasty. Lovely service.

27/10/2025: We stumbled on this restaurant after not being able to get into a different one. It was a great find! The food was incredible, the staff was amazing, and they were extremely kid-friendly! They provided us with a great experience on a busy evening, getting us in quickly even though we did not have a reservation.

09/12/2025: Nice and pleasant place, the waitress was very friendly and the chai latte was very good 🤗

20/11/2025: Cool café right on the River Lee with some outdoor tables. Delicious, handmade pastries and excellent coffee. Friendly service behind the counter. It was very noisy during our visit because a large group of young tourists was also in the very small space... but that shouldn't be the norm!

14/10/2025: Old Rustic bar in South Main Street, the City Center of Cork. Across from the old Beamish and Crawford Brewary, there's a lot of history in the area. There's a younger crowd frequenting it now, and they have some seating outside. The staff are nice as is the atmosphere.

07/10/2025: Nice pub. Good music. Not the best beer selection. Used to have real candles on each table with wax spilling over the bottle they were in, now changed for fake candles. It's a pity, it was part of what made it a cosy pub.

29/11/2025: The food was great, i just wish there were more places to sit. Their partnership with the pub next door is great though.

28/11/2025: The restaurant looks clean and small, with an open-kitchen concept that gives a cozy atmosphere. They offer drinks like tea, kombucha, and similar beverages. I ordered kombucha, but I was expecting it to be organic unfortunately, it came in a can, which was disappointing. One of the biggest issues is that there is no toilet available, which is a major inconvenience. The woman taking orders at the counter entered the kitchen area, leaned over a table not meant for customers, and started chatting loudly with the kitchen staff. One of the employees even stopped working to join the conversation. This felt unprofessional — someone not working in the kitchen should not be inside talking like that, and it negatively affects the restaurant’s image. Free tap water is provided, which was a nice touch. The food itself was good, but it took a very long time to arrive. We ordered three dishes, and after finishing two, the third one still had not been served even though we had already waited a long time. Meanwhile, the receptionist’s friend arrived and had a 5 minute loud conversation in the small dining area, which made the environment uncomfortable. Overall, it was a disappointment. If you plan to visit Miyazaki Japanese Restaurant, keep these points in mind and adjust your expectations.