The Dining Room , City Centre South

Went on a fairly expensive voucher (compared to usual discount voucher prices - €69) from Rewarding Times. What wasn't mentioned at the time of the offer was that it would be an abridged version of the PreTheatre menu with the cheapest bottle of plonk they could get there hands on. They couldn't even rise to serving you their cheapest bottle of house wine. As the restaurant manager took pleasure in telling me, while they didn't say in the offer you would be given a poorhouse selection, they also didn't say they wouldn't do it. As an "Afternoon Show" topic on how to produce a 3 course meal for 2 with wine for around a tenner (probably an exaggeration, but not by much) it was a work of art. Starters were ok, verging on elegant. Mains were less so. Daube of beef was just a piece of soft beef cheek with a spoonful of turnip and about a quarter of a creamy potato. No rich red-winey sauce just a hint of moisture. Chicken looked like it was half a dish, just the chicken and a few smears of veg (asparagus mentioned in the menu was one tip). Desserts were ok, but no better then you'd get in a decent cafe for 3.50. Overall decent enough pub standard food but not what I'd choose to eat in a "proper" restaurant. Magnificent room and excellent waiters deserve better than a management team who feel the best long term strategy to run a restaurant is to deceive 500 Irish Times coupon holders and their companions. I marked the service low because of the manager's attitude of "we are legally entitled to do this and Rewarding Times agree we can, so tough", it sort of killed the atmosphere on the evening for us too. Never again. Edit: The issue was very satisfactorily resolved with "Rewarding Times".

Went here last night with the girls and we were very disappointed - beautiful surroundings but there were only three tables filled and we had to ask for the fan to be turned off as the room was so cold. The food was just ok - nothing exciting and very poor value for price. I had to ask on five separate occasions for my water glass to be refilled and given that there were only 4 other customers I felt this was poor. To put the nail in the coffin when we got the bill service was already included - we will not be returning here.

Myself, my wife and another couple went for dinner here last night. I've never been to this location before i any previous incarnation and was looking forward to experiencing what looked like a lovely setting in the pictures. And there's no doubt, it is an impressive place. I love the decore, the classic European feel to the place, the atmosphere etc. But there's definitely an issue with service. It's not that people are unfreindly but there a lack of cohesion and professionalism. It starts when you walk in the door. two different people approached us from two different angles causing a little bit of confusion for a second or two. It just wasn't polished. Then a third person took us to our table after pre dinner drinks. I'm not sure who really runnin gfront of house. I ordered a well done steak. My wofe ordered a medium one. I often get 'well done' steaks quite pink which I dont mind, so when mine was a little less doen than I would have liked I didn't pay much attention to it. It was about half way through the meal however when the penny dropped and my wife and I realised we had been given each others steaks. When this was pointed out there was no apology or anything, just a sort of blank shrug. And the sauces came out cold. I still enjoyed my steak though although my wife had to leave half of hers behind. There were little things as well like asking one guy for extra wine glasses that didn't arrive and then having to ask someone else. There was an announcement of the special (Venison) buit then two minutes later the waiter had to run back to tell us the special was gone (this is before 8.00pm), The bill came to circa €380 which included a €60 bottle of wine and some spirits so not too bad. Overall, I really like the venue and will go back but if they don't get the service up to scratch (and it probably just needs a bit of tweaking) it could get irritating and sooner or later you'll throw in the towel. I hope they sort it. The setting deserves better.