The Harbour Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in County Donegal

I booked here a few days in advance for a Saturday night around 6pm. Initially, I tried booking by email but reverted back to the most direct route (phone) when I was awaiting a response to a question I posed when trying to book that was unanswered for days. On a Saturday, there is no early bird menu only an a la carte. Plenty of young friendly staff on duty and it is a relaxed service. Be prepared to wait a while: we didn't feel rushed. Our children (both aged under 5) ordered a marguerita pizza topped with Mozzarella at €8 to share and for afters 2× 2 scoops of icecreams with no chocolate sauce at €3.95 each. The adults shared spicy Prawns at €11.95. Very tasty but could have done with another sliver of bread to mop up the sauce. The non-driver savoured 2 glasses of merlot at €7.50 per glass. For mains, I ordered the seafood tagliatelle at €23.95: rich and full of a variety of fish. Overall very satisfying. My husband opted for the oven baked herb crusted salmon with rich creamy mash and vegetables at €24.95. He initially thought the portion was on the small side but was very contented by the end. We both skipped dessert given our excesses over Christmas and a satisfying meal. This restaurant is tardis-like: we were seated upstairs to the back in what I assumed was the family section (as there were lots of families with children) but there is a significant downstairs section and an upper more cosy atmospheric section overlooking the harbour: probably best enjoyed...

Where to start... Maybe with the starter, I've ordered mussels and they where ok after waiting about half an hour, however they came with under tostead garlic bread, basically still cold inside. BTW garlic bread just like the one you can get in the any shop for 1,5€. The main course it's supposed to be their show-off dish. But it was a one big failures, surf and turf for 29 euros it's a joke. 3 prawns on the top of uneven cooked steak. I've ordered mid rear but it was everything from well done to chewing rear meet. They came with cooked mushrooms taste like yesterday's leftovers from the cheapest breakfast airport buffet. I've also order my second pint of Guinness, the first one was OK the second one I received after 30 seconds... 30 seconds, already flat. It was unsold pint sitting and waiting at least half an hour before I even think about to get one. After giving my feedback to one of the waiters about the meal I've received a complimentary glass of wine... in a warm straight from a dishwasher glass still steamed inside. I like the Donegal town but places likes this "restaurant" shouldn't operate....

We enjoyed our meal overall—the food was overall pretty good and the service was friendly. One small surprise, though: we were charged a split fee because my husband shared his pizza with our 6-year-old rather than ordering a separate meal. My husband was getting a cheese pizza and our 6 year old son wanted a cheese pizza. Rather than my husband ordering the small cheese pizza he got a large to share with our 6 year old. Since they have size ordering between the pizzas that seemed very reasonable. While we understand restaurants have their own policies, it would have been helpful if this had been communicated clearly upfront, especially since we were dining with a young child. A split fee for a child is really rather petty, especially on pizza. I ordered a full entree and two glasses of wine. My husband had a beer. Probably would not go back for...