the rendering was excellent, youll be glad to know.
Good craic but found everything full of salt
i really like my salt, but even i found the beef a bit salty TBF
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Did they come out with the guitars?
they did indeed, my missus bday was last week and she was mortified when they sang her happy birthday
They are great craic. Hard not to be mortified being seranaded by three Chinese chefs in the middle of a restaurant.
They used to do a lovely gyoza. Haven’t been there in a decade I’d say. Some going to stay in bidness this long
theyve added a fat swedish bloke now so even more mortifying
the missus’ friend was very taken with the gyoza. they used to do a roaring lunch trade when i was working on waterloo road.
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Restaurant review: ‘This Dublin institution seems content to rest on its laurels and is stuck in a weird 1990s time warp’
Our critic is disappointed by the lack of flair and ‘sloppy’ service at this popular spot
4
Katy McGuinness
January 16 2025 02:30 AM
Stepping over the threshold of Roly’s Bistro on a bitterly cold January evening, we find ourselves standing awkwardly in the lobby while a member of staff completes whatever task they are occupied with on their computer.
No eye contact, no ‘I’ll be with you in just a minute’, no acknowledgement of our presence at all.
By the time they eventually lift their head to offer a perfunctory welcome and to take our coats, the damage is done. We’re feeling slighted before we even make it up the stairs to our table, and we’ve been on the premises for less than five minutes.
I haven’t eaten in Roly’s for years. We used to come here with my parents-in-law for birthday celebrations; the Dublin institution was one of their favourites. But since they are no longer with us, there has been no impetus to return. Tonight, we book in on a whim.
Ironically, a couple of days after our visit, I read a newspaper article about the glory days of Roly’s when it was popular with celebrities and attracted a glamorous crowd. Things are different these days — the clientele consists of multigenerational family groups making dutiful conversation; two men at the large corner table jump up whenever there is a break between courses to head down the stairs and outside for a smoke.
What of the food? It’s decent if dull. I suspect the menu does not change much from week to week, from season to season, from year to year. Well-done fillet steak seems to be a big seller.
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Roast scallops, warm tartare sauce, samphire
Roast scallops — four of them — served with a warm tartare sauce and samphire are nicely cooked, and the piquancy of the sauce with plenty of capers is a good contrast for the sweet caramelised scallops.
Thai-spiced fish cakes are less successful. I’ve no idea what the fish is, but it doesn’t really matter as the dish would be better described as potato cakes. What flavour there is comes from the sweet and sour chilli dressing, which has a bit of a kick.
Dublin Bay prawns
Roly’s signature dish is fresh Dublin Bay prawns with a garlic, chilli and ginger butter, a generous portion served with rice. It’s easy to see why this is never off the menu — what’s not to like? — and I can’t quibble with the price of €41.95.
Roast loin of wild venison in a blackberry jus served rare is tender, the classic accompaniments of red cabbage, fondant potato and celeriac purée just right. And a shared mincemeat crumble, with custard and ice cream, is a pleasant finish.
Roast loin of wild Irish venison
I don’t mind that the food is unadventurous. In fact, I’d love if Dublin had a restaurant serving classic dishes done really well, but here it feels as if the kitchen is going through the motions, that the flair needed to elevate the food from competent to exciting is lacking.
Roly’s falls short on the service front. Yes, I know it’s hard to get and hang on to good staff these days, but there are restaurants which do, so it’s not impossible.
On the night, it’s a curate’s egg, good in parts. There’s some charm, certainly, but also instances of sloppiness.
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We don’t get the carafe of water that’s delivered to every other table, and the table nearest us remains uncleared long after its occupants have departed.
We order a wine from a particular producer and the waiter produces one from a different winemaker and makes to open it without a word. Does he perhaps think we won’t notice? Granted there is a note on the wine list that substitutions may be made if they run out of a particular wine, but not to mention this to the customer seems worse than remiss.
By the time we are leaving, almost every table in this large room is occupied.
Personally, I’m a bit allergic to celebrity, so the fact that Roly’s may once have attracted well-known people and no longer does is neither here nor there. I do care, however, that a restaurant which once had a clear sense of itself and which should consider itself lucky to have such a loyal customer base seems content to rest on laurels long withered, stuck in a weird 1990s time warp.
Roly’s customers deserve better — and could find better value elsewhere.
The bill for two courses, each with sides, a shared dessert and a bottle of Trimbach Riesling (€52.95) comes to €194.15 before tip.
Budget
A two-course Sunday lunch is priced at €38.50. Blowout
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Dinner for two from the a la carte menu could cost over €160 before drinks or service.
The rating 8/10 food 6/10 ambience 7/10 value 21/30
Roly’s Bistro, 7 Ballsbridge Terrace, Dublin 4, rolysbistro.ie
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Katy must have been in her flowers on the evening in question.
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Both of the indo food critics lower the blade if they’re not treated like the celebrities they think they are. At least Katy devotes a good chunk of her reviews to the food. Lucinda blathers on about how well clued in about where the chef was pupped but knows and says fuck all about the food.
Neither of them come any where near jay Rayner’s reviews
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Nasty.
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Seems like the food was good and she was just being a gowl
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They got off on the wrong foot when greeting staff don’t even greet. Its saucy in there so you’d expect service to match. That shit irks me nevermind a restaurant reviewer so no doubt that coloured the rest of the experience outside the grub
It’s dated looking too.
Another fucking Diva here.
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Way you grumpy old cunt. You’ve better ability to communicate than some schoolyard shit.
Probably have the hump as youre so fond of the overpriced notions of turbot and chablis in there
Are you in your flowers?
Completely agreed on the greeting. Staff can be busy but in any setting a customer acknowledged is half served.
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Yeah I enjoy a filleting of a restaurant by a critic as much as the next man/woman/non binary individual but there must be valid reasons for the skewering imnvho. I was reading along waiting for the insults to be served with panache but it didn’t come (much like the carafe of water). It just read like a bit of a petty whinge based on incidental quibbles.
1970 wants it’s critic back.
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Agree, but actually thought it set the tone pretty well of beige food in a beige restaurant.
Thinking nearly 50 quid is good value for a plate of yellow prawns and a cup of Mr Bens is a canary in the coalmine of the tiger mark 2
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