Fidelity Bar & Studio — Restaurant in Dublin

TLDR; poor service, loud music, unhygeinic staff, not neurodivergent friendly

Where to start with this evening? When we got in we were welcomed by one of the waitstaff and pointed in the general direction of where our table was, which was past the kitchen and service area, which made it feel as if we were walking into somewhere we shouldnt have been. The lack of direction towards the table felt a bit like the staff didn't care this was a booking, we were not just a walk in.

Once we sat down at our table we were met with a deafening volume of music for what we assumed to be a resturaunt. So loud that we were struggling to hear eachother talk right beside one another, even having to go outside for multiple breaks throughout the night as our ears were ringing. Then we were given the menu for drinks and food, nothing explained to us, but that was fine as the rest of the group had not arrived yet. When taking a look at the drinks menu I saw that there was no allergens list/explanation of the allergen markers, maybe I just happened to pick up a bad menu. This is poor form, as someone in our group had some allergies. Luckily I'm a bartender myself, so I knew what the allergens of what was used in the cocktails were. Some being as severe as a nut allergy.

Once the drinks were ordered they were dropped to our tiny table, I'd say no longer than 2 hand towels laid side by side, that was up to our ankles and was set to sit 8 people, we finally got a taste of the drinks that sounded really nice. However, and I don't say this lightly as I understand how annoying it is to hear from the other side of the bar, it genuinely tasted like there was no alcohol in my drink, just seltzer. With that said, I wasn't aware that they were doing cocktails on tap, as it appeared a few were on tap but some were hand made?

During the night, before the food arrived, myself and a few others went to use the bathroom and to my horror I witnessed a bar tender go into a cubicle and leave without washing their hands...

The worst part of the night had to be the table service. The food was coming out whenever the chefs found it convinient, if we were lucky 2 people would get their food at the same time, never more than that, which was baffling. When they were dropped off, the dishes were often called completely different names to the names listed on the menu, and the plates just fired down on the table with no effort to determine who had ordered what, which was left for us to do. Very risky, given that members of our party had allergies.

Overall, terrible service and the atmosphere wasn't great. Once they dimmed the lights and it was a club atmosphere it was okay, but during food and service hours I think it's ridiculous to have music as loud as they did.

Would not reccomend...

I came with a group to Fidelity for dinner the other night, and I would honestly never come back. We were in a large group, which I recognise can be stressful, so we all did what we could to make sure we were being as clear, respectful, and helpful as possible. I'm pro worker, and I don't want any server or employee to be stressed out during their shift. However, I was quite shocked by how rude some of the staff were.

It took quite some time to get our drink orders, which is fine, I don't care about things like that, but when we went up to the bar in hopes of ordering, the bartenders ignored us and gave us dirty looks. A simple "listen, it's preferable to order drinks from your table" would have been so helpful since I've never been to the restaurant before. Some staff were lovely and helpful, but others were so rude it was almost comical. It's also clear there is a very specific look employees must have to work here, which for me is a huge red flag about management and ownership.

Drinks aside, we opted to get the tasting menu. I asked our server if there would be enough options on the tasting menu for vegetarians, and she told me verbatim absolutely, there'd be plenty. Our first several courses were all meat dishes. After the 4th or 5th dish, I went to go chat to a member of staff to ask if it might be possible to have a few more vegetarian things. The manager told me we should not have ordered from the tasting menu for vegetarians and instead from the a la carte menu. The manager said she'd strike one of the tasting menu charges from the bill, and if we felt like it wasn't enough, we could come back and ask for the second to be struck off. I thought this was kind enough, and the vegetarians opted to split the charge of the single tasting menu charge despite the fact there were only two vegetarian options out of maybe 8 courses.

However, when it came to paying, our original server became incredibly rude when I'd asked about the charge being struck off. She was clearly about to get off her shift and shoved the card machine in my face and told me if I had a problem to go chat to the manager. I felt so rushed to tap my card for the 221 euro bill and was extremely uncomfortable with how the server spoke to me. And then that was that. My friends and I sorted it amongst ourselves afterwards, but I left this place feeling so uncomfortable and like I won't...

Very disappointing experience at Fidelity yesterday night. I live very close and have been to Fidelity many times, so I was really excited to bring my friends (visiting DJs who were invited to come from Madeira Island to play in Dublin next week), to one of my favourite bars in Dublin for what was promising to be a great time. Instead, we were treated with disrespect by the bouncer. This man was extremely rude to my friends, refusing their entry because of what he claimed was a “clothes policy and management rules.” My friend was wearing handmade silk shorts and a linen shirt, her partner was in black trousers and a vintage sports jacket, and I was simply in jeans and a t-shirt. He said I was the only one allowed in and that I could go buy drinks for them while they waited outside, which made no sense since they would be paying for drinks and couldn’t even use the toilets. I reminded him that the same thing had happened before to another friend of mine a few weeks ago (while I was allowed in wearing yoga pants and a tracksuit jacket), he denied it, saying that this was his first day working there, and when I said “I’m pretty sure I remember your face”, he called me a LIAR, and then told me I wasn’t allowed in either. The whole interaction was so disrespectful and discriminatory. This kind of treatment is unacceptable in such a beautiful and free city like Dublin, where people are free to wear what they want and not be judge. Honestly, from the bottom of my heart I feel sad, and I ask the management to seriously look at who they are putting on the door, because this is not how you treat people who come in good faith to enjoy a bar and some nice music. I need to add we are 32 year old people, working people, we were not under the influence of any alcohol or drugs, we were genuinely relaxed and happily enjoying the city night at 10pm...