Stoked — Restaurant in County Sligo

Visit stoked today with my partner and my parents for there wedding anniversary, had a table booked for 8pm and arrive about 5 minutes early which was no problem and we were kindly shown to our seats. We then ordered 2 dishes each and, drinks arrived about 15 after we ordered them no problem. 40 minutes sitting down waiting my pork bao bun arrived and my partners gnocchi arrived, my mothers food didn’t arrive for another 15 minutes so at this point we have had 3 small dishes arrive in 60 minutes and my fathers food still hasn’t arrived, I went up and just said we were waiting on most of the food as we had order these individually, the girl at the counter was shocked that we still hadn’t got any more of the food so I thought she would go and sort it out but no nothing was said, she brought another drink down to the table and I said it again and she said that tapas works like this, tapas or not it’s not acceptable to wait 1 hour and 15 minutes for 3 small dishes, bearing in mind there was a large table in the next room and all the food was flowing constantly to it which was also frustrating, my partners second dish arrived then and still no sign of my fathers food, she bit into her fish bao bun and it was full of bones, I called the waitress over and she took it back, at the point we are sitting down for an hour and 20 minutes receiving 1 pork bao bun, 1 prawns 1 gnocchi and 1 fish bao that was completely full of bones, we were fed up having ordered 8 dishes in total and having been waiting 1 hour and 20 minutes for 4 dishes and 1 of those full of bones which is extremely dangerous as it’s a choking hazard… the staff said again this is how tapas works which is ridiculous because if that’s the case we would be sitting down for another 1 hour and 20 minutes to get the rest of our order let alone if we wanted to get desert, overall extremely dissatisfied and frustrating, would not recommend to anyone. I ended up paying for what food we received and the 4 drinks which came to 80€.. a rip off. Stay well away from this place. If you see the other reviews customers give that weren’t happy the owner responds in a very aggressive disrespectful manor, if he genuinely cared about his customers he would take on board what a lot of people are saying instead of telling the customer they are wrong. Very disappointing as we are locals...

We arrived at Stoked, confused on how to get in. It is on the 1st floor of the strand, so you enter through the bar and head upstairs.

Sadly, outdoor seating was very uncomfortable, we were sat at a bench on the perimeter of the outdoor seating area, my legs barely fit below it and the seat was not very comfortable, the view was quite nice though. We also had to wait for almost 30mins for our order to be taken, after asking for just a few more minutes, the uncomfortable seating made this feel like an eternity.

We asked the server for a jug of orange or juice for the table, we were told they only had their own special hibiscus syrup juice, so we ordered that. It had no flavour. It was just red water.

For food, we ordered the Prawn Bao, which was really good. The bao texture was great, and the prawns were perfectly crisp. Next, we had the chicken wings, which I would definitely recommend, just the right amount of spice for me and a good portion size, again perfectly crispy. We also got the Pastas Bravas, I would also recommend it. Potatoes were great, especially dipped into the remaining sauce from the chicken wings. Stoked does (crispy) to perfection.

The biggest let down was the baked Feta. The moment it came out I was worried. The presentation was terrible, it comes with only 2 smallish crackers for a whole dish of cheese, and it was incredibly sickening, even when shared by two cheese lovers. This should come with a few pieces of bread or more crackers to avoid having to eat 80% of it with a fork with nothing to dip or accompany it.

Overall the visit was fine, I don't think I'll be rushing back or telling everyone I know that they need to try it. The discomfort of the seating, slow service, red water and baked Feta all flattened the experience. Although the rest of our dishes were great and I'll definitely crave the crispness of those wings for months. Not enough to bring me...

Here is the response to the shop owner comments:

I'm truly ashamed for you. And yet you still have the nerve to claim your prawn dish is the best-seller? Just look at the photo I took on site — that iron pan holding the so-called prawns is barely bigger than the spoon next to it. You dare to call that "prawn"? At best, it’s shrimp. Also, you had more than a dozen chances to talk to me. I saw you chatting at length with every other table, yet when passing by mine, you deliberately avoided it. Was that discrimination? Or just arrogance? Frankly, I think all those positive reviews are fake. That’s why I feel it’s necessary to warn future customers — don’t fall for it.

A restaurant that doesn’t live up to its reputation. We found this place on Google, but had second thoughts the moment we stepped in. During dinner time, the restaurant was nearly empty, while another one downstairs was packed with people. Could this place really deserve such a high rating on Google? Still, we decided to give it a try and sat down.

We ordered the so-called prawn dish, and when it arrived, we were shocked — the prawn was tiny, with just a few pieces served on a ridiculously small iron plate. The following dishes were equally disappointing, with portions so small they looked more like samples than actual meals. Their recommended special of the day came with such few pieces of octopus that they barely filled a tooth gap. We had no choice but to order more food, or we wouldn’t have been remotely full.

To make things worse, the serving speed was painfully slow — we had to repeatedly ask when our food would be ready. Overall, this restaurant doesn’t live up to its ratings. The service was mediocre at best. We won’t be...