Damascus Gate Restaurant — Restaurant in Dublin

غالي وسيئ جداً As an arab myself I find the food not authentic at all and below average. Ambiance & Service is excellent , the waiters were very attentive and nice! Thats all. Food is horrible. In terms of value for money.. over priced sometimes you feel its a rip off specially for some items on the menu. Almost like a scam.

Not going there again and here is why

I was with my Polish husband yesterday at 3:30 pm wanted him to have an authentic syrian food I ordered 1 mezza for two, 1 quail , 1 mix grill 1 arays 1 cheese kunfa

The mezza comes with tabbole spinach pie and kebbe baba ganouj and hummus the tabbole was meh flavour less no olive oil or lemon served with it which is a must in Arabian Kitchen.

The spinach pie was not authentic at all. Horrible.Instead of making the real dough the spinach pie aka فطاير they used a a ready made thin dough. There was no onions or sumac which are essential ingredients in spinach pie... ! فطايرالسبانخ يسوها بعجينه جاهزه و مافيها طعم غالبا مجمده مادري شي خربوطي مش اكل محترم.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse الكبه ماكان فيها صنوبر the kebbe didn’t have any pine in it..!!! Now if you are an arab and they serve you kebeh Proper kebbe without pine , you will feel ofended! Coz again this is a must have!! The whole experience is just shocking

My aryas arrived ( bread and topped it with mince meat .. 16 euro .. thats not only over priced.. its scam item/ ripoff )

The mix grill, in middle east we grill tomatos and onions with our mix grill.. there was no tomatos or onions No veggies and on top of that we actually had to order the pita bread separately and it comes at an extra charge. In middle east pita bread is our utensil to eat its like knife and fork in European restaurant. اذا طلبت صحن مشوي و صحن مقبلات مايجي معاه خبز لازم تدفع للخبز لحاله ك طلب جانبي!

If I need to pay extra for a knife and fork european restaurant I will call it a scam! Same if I have to pay for pita bread with mix grill/mezza plates thats scam.

The chicken and lamb were nice but the kebab was dry .. normally it should be mixed with about - 20% of fat to make it tender and juicy.. this mince meat surely didn’t have the right meat : fat ratio. شيش طاووق كان ممتاز بس الكباب ناشف جدا مافيه طعم

The Kunafe before I ordered, I asked is it cheese or cream and the lady said it was cheese but when she served it it actually wasn’t cheese. It was cream and again not good! Normally in middle east we have our kunafa with special aromatic syrup .. they just put a powdered sugar instead of the syrup. So not Arabian.

Quail was well marinated but unfortunately chewy & under cooked. الكنافه سألت بشو؟ قالت بالجبن بس لما جابوها كانت بالقشطه ما اتوقع القشطه طازجه لانها كانت ناشفه او شي فيه نشاء مش بالجبن! و ما معها قطر بدل القطر كان مرشوشه...

As a Lebanese, I'm very disappointed with the food offered in this restaurant.

1- The bread is not provided with your mezza (hummus, etc) and has to be ordered separately. For 2.5 euros, you get a stale half a pita, cut into triangles and heated up in the microwave. Extremely disappointing.

2- The lamb mansaf is not really the traditional mansaf. It was lamb chunks in yoghurt sauce and rice on the side. It was tasty but that's not mansaf.

3- the grill food portion is small for 23€, and doesn't include any grilled vegs as the traditions required. Very overpriced for the tiny pieces of meat.

4- The kunafah is horrible. They said it is made of cheese, but it definitely didn't taste like it. It tastes like some weird stall hardened solidified corn meal, with a layer of lasagna sheet on top. Also is served without syrup or pistachios. And it was also microwaved. For 6.5€, you'd expect much better.

5- watery humus. Like soup.

Overall, overpriced and...

We got to Damascus Gate quite late, we knew they would be closing soon but we were hoping we would be able to order something quick…but unfortunately when we arrived the kitchen was already closed and it was clear that we were too late to order. We were quite disappointed because we were quite hungry, and seeing this, the owner welcomed us to stay for a moment, and since we were unlikely to find anything else open at that hour, he graciously provided us with the best hummus and baba ghanouj and pita that I have had in a long time. My friend traveling with me has been to Lebanon several times and she agreed that the quality and authenticity of the food was perfection. The owner let us sit and rest and try the dips, offered us plenty of water, and then surprised us by insisting it was all on the house. It was our very first evening in Dublin and we were incredibly touched by such hospitality. Definitely coming back next...