Friends Bistro — Restaurant in County Mayo

We saw the nice reviews online and so planned a detour from about 40 minutes on my way back to my holiday apartment. This was fine, because my friend and me wanted to treat ourselves to something nice to eat and we were looking for vegetarian food (which is kind of hard to find in Ireland). The time of our arrival was around 17:00 o’clock and the restaurant should be open, but sadly the door showed a red “closed” sign. Confused about that, I opened the door and asked the few people inside if maybe the sign was hung up by mistake. To cut a long story short, the staff explained us that they are booked completely in the evening and so decided to close because of the small capacity of the kitchen. Disregarding that at this time just no customer was inside the restaurant and only the staff was hanging around at the customer area, it is kind of contradictory to close a restaurant when it is overbooked. So what happened? 100% of all tables has been booked at 18:00 o’clock, so it is better to close completely at 16:00 o’clock? I really don’t know, but definitely it was neither customer-friendly nor really comprehensible! Finally we went to another restaurant later – which also has been full of capacity at the time of our arrival, but there we got the option to wait for some minutes to get the next free seat. In this case the “fully capacity” was also visually visible and therefore completely transparent and understandable.

So what is left to say? At least you tried to explain your situation somehow, even without reasonable arguments. Maybe I give you another chance if at some time our paths should cross again. Until that, my opinion...

We went for brunch and I was highly impressed. Having only heard only good things about this place ... I can only add my recommendation to the huge pile. The front line man, George?, was so pleasant, freindly and extremely personable. He is an interesting character, from the internal decor of the place to the little touches he adds. The internal decor doesn't scream cafe, it feels more upscale, but still offering good soul food. The little touches are what amazed me the most, and now the mile stone that I use to judge all others. The little things ... Such as warming the tea cups as they brought them to the table and polishing the cutlery really show care is put into the food. I really want to go back for an evening meal. And after enquiring learned it best to book. The serving area is small, so my advise is to call a week in advance. Wifey ordered a mini breakfast, which was good with some small faults. Personally ordering the mini breakfast isn't a test of a cafes capabilities, but must admit didn't come out perfect. However I ordered the Friends Roast Beef on Sourdough. The words I would use to describe the tatses in the dish would be almost obscene... Highly recommend this place. Small hiccup but nothing worth noting. But what really set this place on a pedestal is the little touches even before you are...

I just don't quite get it.

Solid, decent comfort food. It's grand. And good value. A good addition to Westport, so the intention is not to leave a negative review.

However, if you're visiting Westport and you're used to dining out in good restaurants ... and you're searching Google for the best quality dining experience ... you'd be forgiven for seeing these reviews and thinking this must be that place.

I feel it's important to point out that this is not that place imho. For me, it's not in the Top 3 (or maybe even 5?) in Westport from a quality point of view.

Everyone is different, so I guess my best guidance is this - if you like big portions of decent comfort food, and the food pics in the reviews are right up your alley, then 100% go for it.

If you're visiting and looking for a special dining experience, maybe just check out a few other places for comparison. If your tastes are more like mine, I think you might find something...