The Olde Glen Bar, Restaurant & Bia Box — Restaurant in County Donegal

Overall poor service, ok food for myself and terrible for my partner.

When we arrived we were greeted by the bar staff. We said we had a reservation and he went through and told the restaurant and informed us they were “running behind” and there would be a short wait. This wait turned out to be 55 mins and we were seated 50 mins late for our reservation after arriving early. Whilst waiting in the bar eventually menus were brought to us and our order was taken as we were brought to our seat, this did not mean the waiting was over, our main courses were not served until 9.55 on a 8.15 reservation, we got dessert at 10.40. When we were having our order taken I asked if things were vegetarian as my partner is such and I had stated this on the reservation. We were told the gnocchi and beetroot tartlet were although we had reservations as the gnocchi contains Parmesan (which contains rennet and is not vegetarian).

For food I had scallops to start which were cooked well but for a restaurant so close to the sea they did not blow me away as being particularly fresh or standout in anyway, the celeriac that accompanied it was fairly bland. My partner had the beetroot tart, which at this point we find to be uninspired as a vegetarian starter, it is over done, the “twist” was being served with feta as opposed to the standard goats cheese, the feta was heavily flavoured with lemon and was overpowering in the dish which was over wise quite bland.

My main was baked cod with a measly slice of pressed potato. This was essentially their take on fish and chips coming with pea purée and tartar sauce which is combined with a crab meat salad. The main was tasty but not worth the price tag and the portion was minuscule. My partner ordered the gnocchi but did not eat it in the end as she was not confident it was vegetarian due to the amount of Parmesan on it. I tried it and the gnocchi was stodgy and not a pleasant eating experience with no texture. The pesto sauce was nice however due to the burnt broccoli and stodgy gnocchi the dish was inedible. The mains came with “seasonal veg” which was boiled potatoes with butter and carrots which were not explained to us what they were but they seemed to be cooked with star anise or five spice. I would not describe either as seasonal in June (maybe potatoes but these were incredibly boring for a Michelin starred restaurant). It was noted that my partner did not eat her main and when asked about it she did not want to make a fuss and said it was fine but she was pushed and asked what was wrong with it and again at this time she said it was fine (this pushing and more later has led to this review being made ultimately).

For dessert we both had the sticky toffee pudding. The cake was nice however, it came with a tuile that was very salty and incredibly hard. The sauce was a caramel and brandy sauce but it was not advertised as having alcohol and personally I think you could only eat this sauce if you were a frequent brandy drinker as it was very overpowering, the saving grace that meant the cake could be finished whilst carefully avoiding the sauce was the stem ginger ice cream.

The atmosphere was loud and busy, if you like this then you may enjoy it but this is normally something I just put up with in a restaurant not enjoy. This time though, perhaps because they were “running behind” (which we were never given an explanation for) the atmosphere felt more tense but the staff did not seem to be prioritising things properly for example as we were sitting waiting for our dessert order to be taken for 10 minutes they were setting up tables presumably for tomorrow as there was no more service that night.

When we came to pay they had kindly removed some of the cost as my partner had not eaten her main however because of this we were pushed again for feedback. When we said about not being sure it was vegetarian they seemed to not know Parmesan was not vegetarian (the wait staff, we did not talk to...

Incredible place! Donegal is not traditionally a foodie place, but that is changing. This is some of the best food in Ireland. I'll review the bar and restaurant separately! In short though you, have wasted driving this far up the country if you don't do the tasting menu in the restaurant while you're up here.

Bar on a Saturday afternoon: Old Irishy/Old man pub vibes. Local crowd, lovely staff, decent drinks menu including a 1% local beer which was great. Only downside was small tvs with not great reception showing the six nations on ITV instead of RTE, and just ok signal reception. Now, in saying that it's not a sports bar, and it was a perfectly enjoyable place to watch the match. Not too crowded, but certainly a nice number of locals in for it. I definitely would watch a match there again.

Restaurant on a Saturday evening: 5 star dining. We ordered vegetarian or fish everything, it was exceptional. I knew going in that the restaurant has a mention in the Michelin guide, and that the head chef had a bib gourmand in a previous restaurant, but even still, it was far better than I expected. The decor is charming, friendly, and unpretentious, as are the staff. There is an open kitchen creating a sort of chilled, happy vibe. Still, it was all about the food. I'm a vegetarian with no great love of brassicas, so to make dishes with broccoli and cauliflower that were some of the nicest dishes I have had in my life was no mean feat. To benchmark, the food was better than even Chapter One or Guilbauds, which are both beautiful places. To compare to local places like Harveys Point, Lough Eske, or The Lemon Tree, although both hotels are both very nice places, the food and even the casual dining experience in The Olde Glen was a different league. For me, it also had an edge on The Lemon Tree, which is also a gorgeous place to eat. On a personal preference note, I also enjoyed the casual atmosphere. It is very Donegal to be so understated. It is also extremely affordable versus comparable food anywhere else in Ireland. Thanks to the chef/owners for bringing such a delight to Donegal.

Why would I go online and encourage people to book at a place that's already hard to book for? Well, maybe they'll open another place in Donegal town or Ballybofey!...

I went here tonight for a meal with my mother. We both agree it was the best dining experience we've ever had. Upon initially entering what appears to be a small and quiet bar, we were directed through to a busy restaurant, and were warmly greeted and promptly shown to our table. The decor was warm and homely, yet stylish and very tasteful. The service was excellent- warm, friendly, polite, and attentive. The waiters and waitresses were alert and made sure to clear the table well before the next course. The food was delicious and cooked to perfection, a blend of modern, and traditional Irish cuisine. The many and varied flavours didn't overwhelm each other and could be appreciated individually, and we particularly enjoyed the almost turf smoke flavour to some of the meat and vegetables. We weren't expecting the bread (you could pick one of two different kinds), the three delightful amuse-bouches, or the selection of mignardises after our dessert, of which you could choose any one you liked, and so it's safe to say that although it was a fine dining experience, we left the restaurant full and satisfied. It was also a treat to watch the chefs at work. It's clearly a tightly run ship, but with a great atmosphere in the kitchen also. I don't write reviews often, but the Old Glen Bar definitely deserves 5 stars. It has everything that so many restaurants now unfortunately lack, which is an excellent standard of cooking with consistent quality throughout the meal, and properly trained staff to boot. My only two very minor gripes would be the use of "guys" a few times by the staff (we just find it brings the tone down a bit. Folks is fine, ladies would be great, but it definitely wasn't used to the extent it's used in other restaurants I've been to), and perhaps the music could use some nice traditional songs mixed in to suit the atmosphere. But then again, it was so low and very much in the background (which is a huge plus), that we didn't mind at all. These by no means detracted from the excellent experience we had, and we will absolutely be recommending this restaurant to out friend and...