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| - I've been to Dublin O'Neill's three times now - should have written a review the first two times but did not. Our friends wanted to go Tuesday night - husband and I weren't too keen on it given that we didn't just love DO the first two times but they really like it so we went along. Like others, like the setting of the place, nice ambiance. However, it is so dim that we had trouble seeing the menu - had to hold my cell phone over it so that I could read. It would be nice to have a sconce or down-light of some type on the tables for reading the menu and eating.
On our first visit to DO, I had the mac and cheese. I'm a huge mac and cheese lover and maker. Sometimes the cheeses used in various recipes are good for some people but not for others. The taste just hit me wrong so I must not have liked the flavor of one of the cheeses, not DO's fault. Hubby had a burger that time and it just had a strong flavor that he did not like. We also had trouble getting drink refills that day. Second time we went, sat outside on a lovely summer day. This time hubby and friend ordered the fish and chips which they thought was really good. I on the other hand ordered the beef short ribs and was sorely, sorely disappointed. When the plate was put in front of me, I thought - this is the most unappetizing looking mess I've seen lately on a plate. It looked like something that you'd had for dinner the previous night and reheated the next day for lunch. It was not heated properly, the gravy was congealed like it had not been heated properly, and the meat was tough. I barely ate any of it - when the waitress picked our dishes up, she paused when she saw my plate but then did nothing. I read another person's review below that her ribs were also not hot enough. I probably should have complained but did not........... thankfully we were going to Jarling's afterwards!
So this time, we went on a Tuesday night -- DO was probably only about a third full. One lady was waitressing the restaurant. My meal was pretty good on this third try but it was the service that struggled this time. (I ordered the salmon with red wine reduction sauce, mac and cheese (which was more tolerable, for me, as a side serving than as an entrée), and grilled asparagus. All was good and the salmon had a nice crispy grilled exterior that I love.) The three other people in our group all had fish and chips. Compared to last time, the serving size of the fish and chips seemed different / smaller to them. One is a big eater so may be last time he'll want to go here.
The two things that were really off service-wise - a gentleman came to our table, said he was the owner, and could he get any condiments for our meals? The three fish-and-chippers asked for ketchup. He comes back with a bottle that is barely a quarter full......... really?! You have no other ketchup bottles in the restaurant that are fuller than that? And he was the owner. Afterwards when we talked about it, we thought - what kind of red flag is that for running a restaurant if the owner can't even get you a full bottle of ketchup? Then, no salt/pepper shakers on the table, one fish-and-chipper asked for a salt shaker. He had received his entrée so needed the salt shaker now - waited, waited. He was halfway through his meal before a salt shaker showed up. We were joking that maybe they only had one for the whole restaurant so we had to wait our turn?!
What's interesting is that it was announced in the paper that DO is expanding into the space next door. They can't seem to handle the service on their current space? I suppose DO is successful for the beer side of the restaurant but for the food side - to us, the menu seems small, and what they do have on the menu is sometimes not done well (i.e. the ribs).
(P.S. We also ordered some of the Irish soda bread for an appetizer the first or second time - IMHO it was like buttering up flavorless pieces of cardboard.......... Would never order it again.)
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