Rustic Roots Restaurant — Restaurant in County Westmeath

We visited the restaurant as a group of six and were seated on the second floor. After we sat down, we noticed that the chowder had become much more expensive compared to last year—it had doubled in price. I ordered a sandwich with chowder, but there was an issue. The waiter couldn’t list all the filling options for the sandwich, and some of the options weren’t even available. We didn’t receive the bar menu right away—it came only after we ordered the main courses. We also didn’t get the burger menu at all. The waiter didn’t know what the daily specials were. He had to ask other staff members to find out. After we placed our order and waited for answers to some questions about the menu, another waitress came to ask what we wanted to order. We told her that another waiter had already taken our order. Then she started taking our menus without asking if we still needed them. It felt like she was in a hurry to collect them. The food took a long time to arrive. After we finished the main course, the table wasn’t cleared for a while. It seemed like the staff didn’t want to come up to the second floor. When we ordered dessert, it also took a long time to arrive, and unfortunately, no one wiped the table after the main course. I ordered the "Euphoria" dessert. It looked very beautiful and tasted great. It was made of a glass with ice cream and fruit, along with a shot of prosecco. I asked how I was supposed to eat it—whether to pour the shot into the glass or drink it separately. The waiter seemed unsure and didn’t try to check with the kitchen. He might be new to the restaurant. This isn’t really the waiters’ fault but more an issue of management not training their staff well enough. My friend let me try his "Black Forest" dessert, and I was surprised that the cherry layer tasted fermented, as if it had gone bad. This is a classic recipe, and it definitely didn’t taste right. Five of us tried it, and we all agreed it was spoiled. We called the waiter and told him it was bad, but he assured us it was fresh and made right in front of him. They took the dessert to the kitchen to try it, and then told us it was fine. They said it had been made two days ago, even though they first said it was made today. They didn’t offer to make a new one, give us a discount, or provide any alternative. The dessert never came back from the kitchen. As we were leaving, we realized we hadn’t been given the burger menu at all. We didn’t even know we could order burgers. When we pointed this out, they claimed it was there, hidden in a corner, and that we just didn’t find it. And to top it off, when my friend left an honest review, the restaurant accused our group of insulting the waitress, who had only approached us once to take the menus. Having four different waiters serve us throughout the evening wasn’t convenient either, as we had to keep repeating what we had told the previous waiter.

To summarize: The sandwich with chowder was tasty, but choosing the filling was difficult. An extra card with filling options would make it easier. The "Euphoria" dessert was delicious, but it’s unfortunate that the waiter couldn’t explain how to eat it. The service was very slow. The food took a long time to arrive, and the staff forgot to bring things we asked for, so we had to remind them. The "Black Forest" dessert was terrible. I believe it was spoiled, but even if it wasn’t, it tasted awful. I don’t recommend ordering it. The restaurant doesn’t handle mistakes well. Instead of fixing the problem, they try to blame the customer. They didn’t bring part of the menu and blamed us for not finding it. They served a bad or spoiled dessert and acted like we didn’t know how it should taste. The service was slow, and they didn’t know the details of the menu. Then, they accused us of insulting someone. I hope no one else has to deal with such poor service. This restaurant left a very bad impression, especially after accusing us of something we didn’t do. I hope the management pays attention to these issues and improves the...

Hi, I’m sorry to give this review but we went for dinner last night in Athlone and Rustic Roots was a recommendation from a friend. We were so excited to go there. The atmosphere and the staff were very friendly. We ordered a burger in the main menu DUNING’S PRIME BEEF BURGER Dubliner Cheese, Mozzarella, Streaky Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickled Cucumber & House Burger Sauce. Served with Homemade Cut Chips. It was served in a beautiful set. But there was something wrong with the beef. It was tasteless, extremely dried and I think it was old meat or very low quality meat. It didn’t look right to me either, it was a very crumbled fine mince meat. The presentation didn’t match at all with the low quality of the beef. We paid 46 euro and I just felt so frustrated I could not finish my burger at all. I felt weird after eating like stuffed, had to go home and have a herbal tea. I thought to ask for another dish but because the place is small and there was a happy atmosphere of birthdays I felt disheartened to say it in front of people. The potatoes were great but I don’t think we will be back again. Maybe was a different chef last night. Hopefully this won’t...

Let's start with the positive, if you get a table in the shade on a nice summers day it's really nice to sit outside at Rustic Roots. However there were lots of negative things when we stopped there for lunch. Took a while until we could order and the food also took its time even tho it wasn't anywhere near full. The food itself was subpar at best and the steak on the ciabatta was cold. No one from the staff asked if we were happy with our food and once we told them upon paying they did not really seem to care. In addition I wanted to wash my hands before eating however it turned out there was no running water in any of the washrooms as they were changing some filters which makes the hole place a bit sketchy. What really upset me tho was the drinks they are offering. I did order a ginger ale and to be honest was told from the staff that it was small and if I really wanted it. As I felt like it and wasn't expecting any harm I still went for it and then got just a tiny 125 ml bottle (did not even know they made those) for 3,50 EUR. That's 28 EUR per Liter!!! Really had...