Bibi's Café Portobello — Restaurant in Dublin

A hen's teeth rare five star gem in the quietly claustrophobic red brick heart of south Dublin suburbia. I booked for about 10 people. It was a lunch as part of a new office launch. My email contact was very communicative and I even received a call nearer the date. When our group arrived outside the cafe, and I was genuinely surprised, amused and delighted with how the cafe looks positively besieged on all sides by vintage homes like an island unto itself. Don't let the hipster beards and tache's fool you lest you be the fool. These people know food, coffee and service. The vast majority of eateries attempting to compete at this level have much to learn from Bibi's. There's only one or two exceptions that come to mind - Tang and Green Bench. That's it. The food was exceptional. I had the French Toast as you can see. It happens less than rarely that I find a cafe can provide coffee to equal the food. More and more it seems they get the food right and not the coffee. It’s a bit like how most desserts in proper restaurants are underwhelming. I liked the decor and delph and these were just the cherry on the cake. Our group was very pleased. It was great to see that each staff member let their own personality shine through. Some were chirpy and enthusiastic while others were more reserved. I can't wait to go back and thanks to the staff for...

Honestly, bizarre and absurd behavior from the staff here. Though the food was good and a super cute place to go to. However, the hostesses behavior was appalling. My party of 3 was a walk-in, which they said was no problem and that they would seat as soon as they could at the bar. We were okay with that! The hostess about 15 minutes later, came out to say “the water is broken, the bathroom isn’t running and we cant serve water so this is a hazard- we can only seat reservations”. We were like okay…. well why can the reservations be seated and not us if it’s a hazard? It was a clear attempt to get the walk-ins to leave. We proceed to stay waiting and we see the waitresses coming out with water pitchers for the other tables, the dishes being washed etc. So she was out right lying to our faces and turning away business for people who had no problems waiting. She comes out later to tell us “the water is slowly turning back on” and that they could seat us again LOL i mean what the hell. Why lie? we were willing to wait, it was just weird. the other people waiting were shocked. Maybe this is a cultural difference between the US and Ireland but I can’t imagine being deceitful like that and willing to turn away business. Just say from the beginning you’re...

Have been going to Bibi’s for weekend brunch for donkeys, but tonight, a Friday, ate here for our first evening sitting and was so utterly blown away I was compelled to leave a review. Serving scrumptious small plates with a short but excellent wine list, this is a revelation. Who knew that the local favourite was perhaps far better suited to an evening ambience, lit by candlelight and with perfect, friendly service… but oh, the small plates. My goodness. We had the chicken skins, exploding with a complimentary dollop of deliciousness, followed by charred sourdough with burrata to elevate the tomatoes beyond your average bruschetta. So impressed were we, we had to order another dish and I’m glad I left the ordering to my friend as I never would have ordered the arancini. Clearly because I’ve never had them like this. Delicate balls of perfectly cooked rice that fall apart under your fork with mouth-watering cheesiness. Mark is clearly cooking with passion to compliment the deft touch. And what passion, to steer the ship through a week of lunches only to surrender his Friday night to entice the Bibi faithful to venture out after dark. Get yourself here before this place is fully booked, which must be any Friday now....