Crystal Boat Restaurant, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin
Overall Rating:
Price Range:
The Crystal Boat is a Chinese restaurant specialising in Chinese seafood cuisine, the restaurant is open daily for both lunch and dinner. This delightful restaurant serves a wide range of modern and classic Chinese dishes. We recommend you sample the delicious 'Chinese Style Filet Beef' which comes with fruity mandarin sauce.
Address is Unit 2+3 Gallery Quay , Grand Canal Dock , Dublin 2 ( beside Bord Gais Energy Theatre )
Address is Unit 2+3 Gallery Quay , Grand Canal Dock , Dublin 2 ( beside Bord Gais Energy Theatre )
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Facilities
Address:
Crystal Boat Restaurant
Gallery Quay
Grand Canal Dock
Dublin
Area Code : Dublin 2
Gallery Quay
Grand Canal Dock
Dublin
Area Code : Dublin 2
Opening hours:
Mon 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Tue 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Wed 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Thu 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Fri 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Sat 2:00pm - 11:00pm
Sun 2:00pm - 11:00pm
Tue 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Wed 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Thu 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Fri 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Sat 2:00pm - 11:00pm
Sun 2:00pm - 11:00pm
Capacity:
90
Website:
Cuisines:
Asian, Asian, BBQ, BYOB, Carvery, Cheap Eats, Chinese, Fast Food, Fine Dining, Girls Night Out, Japanese, Seafood, Steak, Sunday Lunch, Sushi
Crystal Boat Restaurant, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin Reviews
4.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 4.0 star review:
I have been here twice now and what strikes me most is that it is a restaurant straight from Asia. Having spent almost two years in Malaysia, China and other parts of South East Asia, I've realised that the culture, including the dining culture, there is utterly different from what we expect as Europeans.
Crystal Boat is an Asian restaurant, run by Asians in the heart of Europe and does not pretend to be anything else. It has no aspirations to be the next spot for Parisien, 'haute cuisine', Chinese. It is just Chinese, plain and simple.
The waitresses are straight-forward and efficient. They leave you your personal space and give you what you ask for when you call to ask for it. Your food is delivered with no pomp or ceremony - a dish is made and a dish is placed on your table. If you go out of your way to smile at the staff, you are treated with the same smile of respect back. If not, you are treated with the same dismissal back.
On both occasions I have been there I have asked for pork fried rice. This is not on the menu but they have made no comment on the change and simply provided it as if it were on the menu. The price is more than reasonable and one of the least expensive places I can think of in Dublin to have a decent meal. The food is unpretentious. It 'does what it says on the tin' in other words. Just as I have many times experienced in Asia. It is - and I repeat again - not 'haute cuisine' nor anything like it but it is a consistently tasty dish. Last visit I also had the vegetable spring rolls which were as expected - Chinese style. Chinese culture favours the family gathering, conversation, the sense of community. Food is simply a practical necessity around which family and culture gathers and this is what Crystal Boat caters for. Bring your wife/husband/partner, your ascendants and descendants, your friends and acquaintances. Talk, share, gossip, politicise, philosophise and use food as the excuse to do so.
Crystal Boat is an Asian restaurant, run by Asians in the heart of Europe and does not pretend to be anything else. It has no aspirations to be the next spot for Parisien, 'haute cuisine', Chinese. It is just Chinese, plain and simple.
The waitresses are straight-forward and efficient. They leave you your personal space and give you what you ask for when you call to ask for it. Your food is delivered with no pomp or ceremony - a dish is made and a dish is placed on your table. If you go out of your way to smile at the staff, you are treated with the same smile of respect back. If not, you are treated with the same dismissal back.
On both occasions I have been there I have asked for pork fried rice. This is not on the menu but they have made no comment on the change and simply provided it as if it were on the menu. The price is more than reasonable and one of the least expensive places I can think of in Dublin to have a decent meal. The food is unpretentious. It 'does what it says on the tin' in other words. Just as I have many times experienced in Asia. It is - and I repeat again - not 'haute cuisine' nor anything like it but it is a consistently tasty dish. Last visit I also had the vegetable spring rolls which were as expected - Chinese style. Chinese culture favours the family gathering, conversation, the sense of community. Food is simply a practical necessity around which family and culture gathers and this is what Crystal Boat caters for. Bring your wife/husband/partner, your ascendants and descendants, your friends and acquaintances. Talk, share, gossip, politicise, philosophise and use food as the excuse to do so.
Visited: 16/02/2013
Posted: 02/03/2013
2.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 2.0 star review:
I went here with my OH after purchasing a deal for 3 courses each for 29.99. They don't have a desert menu so the desert is tea or coffee. We had a hard time finding the place but called and the delivery driver directed us. We both had the chicken wings for starters which were really tasty. The main course my husband asked for seabass and was advised they only had cod so he got this in chef's special spicy sauce with rice. I got the special fried rice and it was very bland. My OH paid 3.95 seafood supplement and we also brought our own wine and paid 3 or 4 euro extra. The food wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. The waitress was nice and friendly but she did take about 15 mins to come back with our wine bottle and glasses at the start of the meal and when she got back on of the glasses was dirty. We didn't have the 3rd course as we wanted to get out pretty quickly as the atmosphere wasn't great (we were the only people eating). It wasn't really great value as i'm sure without the voucher it would have cost around the same due to the supplements on top.
Visited: 17/10/2012
Posted: 13/11/2012
0.0.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 0.0.0 star review:
This Restaurant had a sign out that day on a blackboard with a lunchtime offer of 2 courses for 10 euro. So my work collegue and I decided to go have lunch there and to avail of the offer. So we sat down and then noticed that the menu did not have any reference to the lunchtime deal, so we asked the Waitress there about this, to which she replied the offer is not today and walked away. We then pointed out to her that there is a sign outside the Restaurant stating the lunchtime deal again the Waitress dismissed us and again said the deal is not on today, so my work collegue and I just got up and walked out of the establishment.
The next day we went in again at lunchtime and told the Manager in the Restaurant about the service we had been given by the waitress the day before, and also about the lunchtime special sign being outside the Restaurant that day and us not getting the deal. To our amazement and horror the Manager treated us the exact same as the waitress did and dismissed our complaint out of hand.
DONT EVER GO INTO THIS RESTAURANT FOR FOOD - END OF STORY!!
The next day we went in again at lunchtime and told the Manager in the Restaurant about the service we had been given by the waitress the day before, and also about the lunchtime special sign being outside the Restaurant that day and us not getting the deal. To our amazement and horror the Manager treated us the exact same as the waitress did and dismissed our complaint out of hand.
DONT EVER GO INTO THIS RESTAURANT FOR FOOD - END OF STORY!!
Visited: 31/10/2012
Posted: 01/11/2012
2.5 Crystal Boat Restaurant 2.5 star review:
I love the food. My usual is the spare ribs following by chilli beef. They are quite sparing with the sauces though. The staff are not great. When I go in I feel like im interupting them.There is very little atmosphere I do enjoy the food but I tend to get the takeaway option.
Visited: 13/10/2012
Posted: 27/10/2012
2.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 2.0 star review:
I was really looking forward to trying this place and had high hopes. The setting is lovely (Grand Canal) and I had visions of a lovely relaxed atmosphere, dimmed lighting, soft music.... the usual things you associate with a Chinese restaurant. This was not what I got I'm afraid.
I think this restaurant caters more for its take-away trade then it does for its in-house diners. We were left a long time waiting to order and then for our food. The tables aren't set and you are just handed cutlery when the waitress can make it down to your table. No option of chopsticks and no condiments on the table.
The starters were nice. The mains were ok, but not the classic cooking of the dish I ordered . I'm sorry to say that wouldn't recommend this place and I won't be revisiting, however, I wouldn't be adverse to ordering a take away from them if I happened to be in the area.
I think this restaurant caters more for its take-away trade then it does for its in-house diners. We were left a long time waiting to order and then for our food. The tables aren't set and you are just handed cutlery when the waitress can make it down to your table. No option of chopsticks and no condiments on the table.
The starters were nice. The mains were ok, but not the classic cooking of the dish I ordered . I'm sorry to say that wouldn't recommend this place and I won't be revisiting, however, I wouldn't be adverse to ordering a take away from them if I happened to be in the area.
Visited: 20/10/2012
Posted: 21/10/2012
1.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 1.0 star review:
was there last night with a voucher. it suppose to be 3 course meal according to the voucher. but we were told that the third meal is tea or coffee.. hmmm nice. have to say food was ok but service was BRUTAL!!!!!!! at some point we were looking for hiding camera it was so unreal.our table was dirty, drinks didn't arrived at the same time. the same story with starters. and then we were waiting for 30min (not joking!!) in front of dirty plates. finally waitress took them away but never ask if we wanted dessert menu.. needless to say we wont be back..
Visited: 14/10/2012
Posted: 14/10/2012
1.5 Crystal Boat Restaurant 1.5 star review:
We ate at Crystal Boat about 6:30pm on a Friday, we were the only ones in the restaurant. Service was really slow, it took around 30 minutes for our starters to arrive. The starters of Crispy Duck and Yuk Sung were decent if nothing special. We both opted for a fillet beef main courses, they were both truly awful. There is no way in the world the beef was fillet, we got about 3 lumps of fatty, tough and utterly tasteless beef. My wife's cantonese sauce looked and tasted like Bisto Gravy. Overall a very unpleasent experience. We used a voucher from Menu Pages, I tried to order Steak on the Stone for a main and was told I could not, even though the voucher never stated this.
Visited: 05/10/2012
Posted: 08/10/2012
2.5 Crystal Boat Restaurant 2.5 star review:
Food here's pretty good, not quite the ordinary Chinese but they've got some different dishes here. We waited for our food for a pretty long time as they were really busy with especially takeaway orders, but when the food did arrive we were definitely satisfied. All in all, not the best Chinese place I've tried in Dublin, but better than average.
Visited: 11/08/2012
Posted: 19/08/2012
5.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 5.0 star review:
Could not fault this restaurant! A group of us were heading to the Grand Canal Theatre and were looking for somewhere close to enjoy a long over due catchup prior to the show. One of the party was coeliac and I was assured over the phone that they could cater for this. Initially I booked for 4 but on the day 7 of us wanted to eat, as I neared the restaurant I could see it was very packed - there seemed to be a large wedding party - I was worried we would not get a table for our now larger party.....no problem said the very efficient manager as she pushed tables together and made a large table appear like magic! The food was just fabulous and every one of us ate from the very impressive early bird and the coeliac lady was told the choices she could have...a lot! We cleaned our plates! Lots of choice, good wine list and lovely attentive staff and the bill at the end a very reasonable sum....I would return no problem and would have no hesitation recommending. It is extremely handy for the theatre too!
Visited: 02/03/2012
Posted: 03/03/2012
1.0 Crystal Boat Restaurant 1.0 star review:
Pieces of torn up paper in our Food - Bad Customer Service, no atmosphere, cold, cluttered with furniture scattered across the restuarant. Myself and my fiance dropped in for an early bird dinner on the spur of the moment but we will not be making this mistake again, we were sat in a dull corner of this very cold restaturant, our starters were actually very tasty and we were looking forward to our main however half way through we noticed that there were pieces of ripped paper in the food! When we asked the waitress to come over she looked at us suspiciously and said "Thats strange because we dont have paper like that here" as if to say we had put it there ourselves, no apology, no money off the meal - terrible service, will not be going back, there are plently of other chinese options out there so please dont waste your money on bad service.
Visited: 31/01/2012
Posted: 01/02/2012
