Harry’s Café Bar — Restaurant in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

I booked a table in Hardys for myself and my boyfriend as we were staying in the marine hotel. This was our last meal together before he moves away so I wanted it to be special. When we arrived 5mins before our booking, we were greeted with confusion as nobody seemed to be aware of our booking. I showed the confirmation on my phone and thankfully we were shown to a table. After about 20mins, our order of a chicken burger and wings was taken. We waited for over 45mins for our food, and there was still no sign. A waitress asked if we were ok, when we said we were still waiting on our food she appeared to be shocked. It was 10pm at this point. She apologised and went to see where our meals were. She returned twice to tell us our order was on the way. Over an hour after we arrived, we were brought down a fish dish and another dish, which we never ordered. I explained that wasn’t our food and I honestly feel bad for the waitress having to deal with this. I said it’s best off at this stage if we leave it, as we would rather get McDonald’s instead. As this was a special occasion for me and my bf, I am very upset that not only did they not get our booking or order right, but we wasted our evening in an establishment that couldn’t even bring us the correct meals....

I love the food at Harry's and their coffee is excellent, too - this accounts for the four stars. I've met friends for brunch here on several occasions recently, and everything we've ordered has been delicious! The scrambled eggs I had most recently were perfectly cooked, buttery and gentle in taste, but not at all runny - a tricky line to walk, but exceedingly well managed.

If I could make one slight criticism of the food it would only be to say that it's hard to eat there if you eat gluten-free, although if you ask, they will sometimes be able to give you GF toast.

The staff are a mixed bag, if I'm honest, and it's not a place to go if you want to eat quickly. You will invariably wait a while to be served, and if you ask for things like salt and pepper, you will be handed paper sachets. While the latter is possibly a result of COVID and understandable, I do feel it detracts somewhat. I've never seen less than three members of staff in the café, and it's not a large space, but invariably there are people waiting to have their orders taken or to pay after eating.

My advice would be to visit for the food, but only if you're not in a rush and don't mind a somewhat erratic...

We have been here few times before. Delicious food but… today we came in for breakfast, sat down at dirty table, cleaned after 5 min, no one asked if or what we want to order. After 15 min I eventually got attention of one of the staff I asked if we can order, she nodded the head and walked off. At this stage I was getting frustrated, sitting with child and being ignored. After next few min another person came up with water and started walking away but I said we would like to order, he said oh it will be around 15/20 min I thought that’s fine. But then he said before we take an order! But he said we can have a tea or coffee. He said it will take around 20/25 min from order to take breakfast so all together 50 min! No one looked after us when we came in, no one informed we have to wait so long, the worst customer service. Gorgeous food but you need to think carefully who you put as front staff! Girl at the counter ignored me 3 times when I was asking if we can order breakfast, when I got her attention ( had to get up and stand at front of her) she walked off without saying anything....