Butler & Barry — Local services in The Municipal District of Bray

Very disappointing. Couldn’t find our booking to start. The staff member dealing with this short and snappy with us. Found booking and apologized. I ordered a sparkling water. When I opened the bottle it sprayed everywhere. How does that happen? A small thing I know but it added to this unpleasant experience. Seated in an area with other diners directly behind us but at a height. I was aware of their feet directly behind my shoulder and head. My partner experienced this too. We felt uncomfortable because of this. When the diners behind us spoke it was as if they were at our table. We had come to enjoy our own company not to have to listen to the conversations of strangers. We asked to be moved. The staff member we asked was abrupt, appeared to say that we could move but darted off without facilitating a move in any way. As this staff member had already said we could not have a main course from the Valentines menu and a dessert from the a la carte menu we couldn’t be sure if they had said yes or no this time - as they did not stick around to see how we were fixed. We were left to find another table ourselves. We were uneasy as we felt this staff member could pop back any time and tell us we were sitting in someone else’s seat. We were served by five different members of staff. One was helpful and friendly. Another had an attitude and was unfriendly, unhelpful and dismissive. This person seemed to be on autopilot. We ordered a main course and dessert. We were asked did we want a starter. We said no. This person was short and impatient with us and asked us what starter we wanted. The other staff members could be summed up as follows: After our main course this person removed our glasses at speed and left us. We had to call them back to order coffee. As others have said the surroundings are pleasant. The food was grand. I did however find being charged five euro for three scoops of vanilla ice cream in a white bowl with no effort made to make it look appetizing summed up the ‘take it or leave it’ attitude of most of the staff. Once we ordered our meal no one came over to ask us how it was or if we wanted anything else. We will not be returning to Butlers and Barry and we would not recommend it - on account of the poor service and lack of hospitality. There are many other options in the local area where service is excellent and one is made to feel welcome instead...

Just to start, I would say this is one of my 3-5 reviews ever but this felt warranted to make the list.

From the get go, we were left feeling unwelcome from start to finish it was an unpleasant experience to say the least. We arrived for our booking on time and were escorted to a table overlooking the sea, a lovely start to the dinner. The manager 10 minutes later came to our table with an aggressive approach asking if we sat in our seats ourselves, no welcome or pleasantries, after explaining the host had sat us here and having to confirm our name once again, the tone for the evening had been set.

We ordered 10 minutes after being seated, the appetiser, drinks and mains. Another 20 minutes later we got our starters.

40 minutes from ordering we finally received our drinks, which were cocktails that were far from drinkable, syrup is the only explanation to fit, a margarita and a strawberry daiquiri (advise never ordering).

In addition to this, we had to call 3 separate waiters to get water for the table which took about 35 minutes in total, would not want to be dying of thirst.

50 minutes after ordering I received my main (beef rib) with no sign of my partners. 15 minutes later I asked a waiter to please take my meal back to reheat and please bring out with my partners pizza.

At this point I went up to the manager and explained my experience (and his part in welcoming) this fell on deaf ears, no acknowledgement nor accountability, a simple “I’m not superman” was the response he felt necessary. I cannot reiterate this enough, this has been the worst service I’ve ever experienced. Would...

My friend and I stopped in for lunch she lives locally and said food great . We were met by smiling staff always a plus the manager Sebastian welcomed us warmly and paid a table visit to say hi and if we had any questions about the menu . We felt very welcomed unlike other establishments I’ve been to with no customer service having been in the business myself for many years I saw his attention to detail and his training a new member of staff on how to thoroughly clean a table I also saw him run food great to see a hands on manager making sure food is efficiently served and hot . We ordered the vedg. curry and chicken curry dishes it was Faboulas !!!!!! We shared a lemon dessert also so good . The quality of the food and the beautiful view and service was worth it . I would highly recommend this restaurant decor was beautiful inside eclectic with antiques displayed old radios , typewriters etc bathrooms were spotless . The bar was lovely area to pop into and very friendly bartender big smiles as we left . On the way out we thanked Sebastian and mentioned a customer on his cell phone w speaker on and roaring down the phone and while it did not make us leave early as we were on dessert it was annoying he did apologise and would address it . They have an elevator which is great so u sit on the upper floor and take in the beautiful view . the Luas stops one street over so very accessible . Great date place . I will...