Bresson - Fine Dining Restaurant — Restaurant in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

With memories of a great meal there after Le Bresson first opened, we ordered takeaway dinners to celebrate my husband's 72nd birthday tonight. Both of us were disappointed with the food. His crevette starter was heavy on quantity but the prawns lacked any taste and the tempura batter was far too soft. The best part of my vol-au-vent was the side of soft boiled egg inside breadcrumbs. This dish arrived home cold while the other starter and main courses were hot enough. The pastry was good enough as I didn't reheat it for fear of toughening it, and the filling was ok but not the melt in the mouth taste I was anticipating. For main courses my husband had the boeuf bourguignon. He said the veg were good but the beef seemed to be in a cake like shape and tasted somewhat bitter. He left two thirds of it - unheard of for him! My chicken was just alright in texture but lacked taste. The 'ratte' potatoes were totally tasteless unfortunately. Having just googled what 'ratte' potatoes are, and yes I should have done that first, I now know never to order them again. I was expecting something with much more flavour. My husband found his mash was good though. The cabbage with my chicken was alright tastewise but a strange choice of vegetable to pair with chicken I thought as cabbage tends towards bitterness. In fairness I have to admit I didn't eat the Toulouse sausage (my husband did as a sausage lover and still hungry, but declared it as being only o did I have too many mushrooms having already had them in the vol au vent. Perhaps I could have chosen a better combination of courses for me but I found the takeout menu very limited. My recollection of our memorable night in the restaurant was that my husband had bouillabaisse and we both had fish. I just didn't fancy a mix of hake and halibut for my main course tonight, but maybe I would have liked the meal more if that had been my choice. So a disappointing meal all round. We were given a voucher at our request for Le Bresson at Christmas which we opted not to use tonight as we wanted to enjoy the dining experience when the restaurants open up again. Hopefully you will be back on your top game again whenever we can use it, or hopefully we will make better choice on the night. Sorry to be negative but I've tried to be fair, although...

very disappointed experience. I booked a table for my birthday and expected a fine dining service. Service: no one took the chair for me (lady) and no napkin opened , no one around when I asked for more water, no one serve water at the table and of course no happy birthday message. They had 3 waiters and only 6 tables...but couldn't treat guest special. Food: I have no idea how they managed to be in the Michelin list: it is not French food...and waiter has no idea of the name of the dishes in the menu which they tried to make them sound French. Food is very average and I even had very weird starter (raw mushroom with Japanese style sauce, then brioche with foie gras foam...I had to say it was weirdest combination I have ever eaten...I said it to the waiter at the end and his only reply was "really?" , main was normal with a lot of stuff potato, I did hope dessert would be better....but it was not. Dessert was not as good as my friend's homed dessert at home. Dont know if I am too hard on them, but If I paid that much for my fine dinning....I wanted a stunning food, not average pub food with low...

My wife and I were delighted with the night. It's rare to get out - managing babysitters and such - so it's great to find somewhere worth the effort and time.

From the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left, we felt genuinely welcome. Bresson has hit that perfect balance of attentiveness without intrusion and a high-class service without ostentation.

The food was excellent - indulgent (go with an empty stomach!) and satisfying.

Surprisingly, as I often enjoy the mains more especially so with French cuisine, the starter and dessert were the stars of the show. The starter, a pungent heady crab brûlée, was moreish with a strong gruyere. The dessert, a tarte tartin, was delicious. I normally find tarte tartin to be a little disappointing - the apple a little dull and the pastry 'bready'. This was great - a generous sweet apple which, I think may have been poached and a thin pasty - served with a Prune & Armagnac ice-cream.

We'll definitely be back. It's an easy cab ride from Stillorgan or, if we have visitors over in Dublin, an easy ride on the Dart from the city centre.

Bresson is...