Marco Pierre White Courtyard Bar & Grill — Local services in Dublin

I had a very disappointing lunch recently in the MPW "courtyard " restaurant Donnybrook Dublin. We arrived excited in anticipation of a good meal and celebratory good will. It was my sisters birthday and we were celebrating our first meal out together in 18 months . Our booking was for 1 pm. We arrived 8 mins early, to be left waiting outside locked gates, STANDING awkwardly on the footpath. I thought perhaps we booked the wrong day. However , as I mentioned we were in bubbly humour. The waiter offered us any table we liked apart from the choicest centre table which he said was reserved. I noted that the whole time we were there that this table was left vacant. We did pick a lovely table under an awning ( just as well as it was not that sunny) . I was surprised that the courtyard appeared not to have had a face lift through out the quiet Covid period months. There were no fresh flowers or electric buzz you get when you re enter back into business after lockdown . Two of the starters were disappointing. I had the crab, with a supplement price. The portion was tiny and tasteless . The crab meat was very cold as if left in the fridge a long time . Yes, it must have been once fresh as I luckily did not damage a tooth on crab shell within the mix. My sisters shrimp cocktail was also sad. Tiny microscopic shrimps drowned in a Marie rose sauce . Our friends chicken pate was good. My pasta main was equally disappointing. It mainy tasted of heated olive oil...I could not taste the garlic or special ingredients. There were 4 tiny skinned tomatoes that were the highlight of the meal. I needed black,pepper , salt and parmesan cheese to add flavour...however unable to get the waiters attention, my sister had to go into the main restaurant foraging for salt. ! My sisters steak was small and flat, medium rare, accompanied by small thin French fries. Nothing unique. However, she thought the Bernaise sauce excellent. Our friend had a very boring goats cheese and beetroot salad, also nothing special. Something we could have made at home in a hurry. We ordered a bottle of champagne , which arrived not chilled. The waiter had to be asked to take away and replace the bottle and the 3 poured glasses. He had offered just to chill the original bottle. My niece had secretly ordered 3 glasses of champagne ,to be given to us as a surprise , on ARRIVAL. This was not done. Management were not apologetic. They decided that as we ordered champagne initially that we could have her "flutes" at dessert. This was not her wish. She was very upset that no "heed "was given to her "surprise".

For dessert, we decided to have a liquor instead of food ( we were not tempted at this stage) ...my sister ordered a Grand Marnier and the waiter brought her a CREME DE MENTH!! We all giggled politely and despite explaining that he brought the wrong drink he replied " Are you sure?" Then he brought a Cointreau....😲 😱. The manager finally sorted out the correct liquor. Overall I found the staff listless, dour and inattentive. The atmosphere labored. Food extremely mediocre and an expensive afternoon. What saved the lunch was that we were so happy to be together and reconnected after 18 months . However, all in all this was a very disappointing ...

Went here recently with my girlfriend. We've been to the Dawson restaurant before and had a great time there so was eager to try the new place

Its not the easiest place to find, its at the bottom of Belmont Avenue, just across road from Tesco in a nice archway.

Very nice as you walk thru the arch, garden and seating/smoking area outside with lots of seats and heaters. Inside is quite big actually, surprisingly so, loads of seats and booths to take your pick from. You can tell the owners put a lot of thought and money into developing the place.

Anyway we were quickly seen to and shown our seats and menus by the friendly staff. Great select of food. Wouldn't be the biggest wine drinker but the wine list is huge. Anyone into wine would have a great time! We picked a bottle of Pinot Grigio and it was delicious.

I ordered a prawn cocktail and Fillet bordelaise, the misses had chicken liver parfait and fillet bearnaise. Prawn Cocktail was gorgeous, if you were going to be picky you could say slightly too much sauce but the quality and sizes of the prawns easily made up for this tinniest of niggles. Tried girlfriends parfait and it was gorgeous, loads of it and delicious. Up there with the best we've ever had

As for the steaks, I'll struggle to find any better. They were both spectacular. We both asked for medium and it was a cooked to a perfect medium. The Bordelaise sauce was gorgeous and is my personal favourite for steak. I don't personally like bearnaise which is what my girlfriend had, but she said it was delicious. Both were devoured!

For dessert we had a sticky toffee pudding, and creme brulee. Sticky Toffee Pudding, best ever. No need for discussion, simply amazing. Creme brulee was excellent as well but I was too busy with the sticky toffee!!

All in all a great night, lovely location with loads of space, great staff and food. Best meal we've had in a long time and probably one...

Seeing as how the Internet has enabled us to all be critics... these are all my own opinions of which I am entitled! The food isn't too exciting and won't set the world on fire by any means but it's well cooked and the ingredients used appeared to be good quality. I had a crab starter which looked pretty but was kinda bland. I had salmon for the main which came with chunky chips. I didn't eat the chips. The salmon was OK. Something I could have made myself and slightly overcooked but edible.There were a lot of fancy words on the menu so expectation was high. Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to it. I didn't have desert so nothing to report on that. They offer the usual, uninteresting Eton mess, chocolate ganache type deserts. I did however have the most amazing coffee though!

Went on a Saturday night after the second lockdown. It was busy. The tables were also pretty close together... it also looks very, very, very dated. Like, it could have been spruced up during lockdown.

I give 5 stars because I'm feeling generous, the sun is shining for once and I also think it is good for what it is. I can appreciate well cooked food with minimal spices. Its French/Irish cuisine (I think!), not Indian or anything like that so the flavours are EXTREMELY mild. Maybe I'm contradicting myself... maybe alcohol would have made my food tastier. I'll never know! For the reputation it seems to have, I expected better. The staff are really nice, the atmosphere is great. It's totally chill despite how it may appear stuffy. I'd go back again for the ambiance/atmosphere. (Speaking of which, there could have been some ambient music or something playing in the background). I had a good couple...