La Caverna Restaurant and Wine Bar — Restaurant in Dublin

Not recommended at all. We had a reservation for a group of 7 on Saturday night at 9pm, a deposit of €10 pp was charged when booking so I guess it wasn’t a surprise we are coming. The reservation was made 10 days in advance. Upon arrival reservation was delayed and we were asked to wait outside in the rain! Finally once we got in, we were given set menu, starter+main+desert for €50 with an explanation that all groups over 6 are getting only this menu. Additional 10% service charge is added to the bill. We looked online at the prices and even selecting most expensive options from a la carte is would not add up to €50! When we ordered a bottle of wine a waitress made a comment “ok the cheapest one” very rude. Then we didn’t get the food for another 50 minutes. A table of 5 that arrived way after us was served the food from a la carte (with much wider variety of choices) before us. None of the staff was checking on us and/or apologise for delay. We didn’t even get any appetisers or bread for the table. The food was average, for starters we got a portion of 4 oven baked chicken wings, some salads and a soup and garlic lemon prawns; all very small portions. We asked to swap one blue cheese sauce for ketchup and this was not done so had to ask again. We had to ask twice for water for the table and ask to change cutlery after starters to which the waitress asked again “are these dirty?” As if she was questioning my ability to remember if I used them or not. The mains were ok, pretty average dishes. We got steaks that comes with chips, tortellini, lamp shank and two vegan options. Chips and tortellini were definitely not home made and looked like from the packet. Vegan schnitzel is same that you can buy in a supermarket for €5. Vegan lasagne and lamb were good. Steak was over cooked so order rare of you want medium rare. Again had to ask for water for the table. Soft drinks come in plastic bottles and not even poured to the glass - self service but remember there was 10% service charge added to the bill. Deserts were good. Sticky toffee pudding and tiramisu quite tasty. But we didn’t get offered teas or coffees or anything else. Overall very bad experience. We could see waiters playing on their phones instead of working. We had to ask for their attention every time. And they were rude. We were put upstairs and at the end of the night all kitchen staff that was leaving was going up and down beside our table creating a lot of traffic. The food average. Not worth €50 per person plus service charge. Not worth...

Dined in La Caverna with a few of my friends and was extremely shocked and disappointed by the experience we had. My friend had called in advance to ensure they had dairy free and vegan options and they informed her that they had an entire vegan menu. When we arrived, the ambiance downstairs was lovely and the staff who greeted us were very friendly. Our waitress on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic. My friend ordered the vegan bruschetta and lasagne from the vegan menu and I ordered extra onions in my pasta. Two of my other friends had to send their pizza back as the base of it was burnt. When the bill came, there was an extra charge of €3.95 for the onions and my friends lasagne was on the bill as Beef Lasagne for €29.95. There was also an added tip of 12.5%. Naturally, she alerted the waitress assuming she had put the wrong meal on the bill. The waitress was extremely rude and bluntly said to my friend that she had the beef lasagne hence it was on the menu. We sat there in utter shock as she continued to say 'how was I meant to know it was vegan I didn't read what you were pointing to and you said lasagne' even though my friend had pointed to the vegan lasagne off the vegan menu. As a result, she was extremely upset as unbeknownst to her she had eaten a meat and dairy meal. The waitress informed us she'd change it on the menu 'even though you actually ate the beef one'. When we went up to the till to pay for the bill, we asked the waitress to speak to her manager. Her manager informed us that her colleague had told her that my friend had not ordered a specific vegan lasagne, however was shocked when we told her the full story that her colleague had clearly not passed on. The waitress continued to stand there in the back and started shouting at us whilst my friend was clearly so upset having eaten a beef lasagne. As a result, she was quite sick afterwards too. The lack of ownership and apology from the waitress was shocking, the manager apologised on her behalf and was really lovely and tried her best to make the situation better. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend La Caverna due to the experience we had, I understand that everyone makes mistakes but the way in which the situation was dealt with was shocking. hope that it won't happen there going forward as I would hate someone to go through what...

EDIT: the owner seems to think I’m ridiculing them out of spite. The “halal” wasn’t accommodating, you stated you do halal chicken. That was it. It’s a service you already provided, doesn’t mean you did us any favours.

We’re not going to throw a “tantrum” in your restaurant. The service was absolutely abysmal, is this something we need to point out to you? No one was particularly present to actually take our dessert orders, nor were they present for us to ask for the bill. It was obvious from the wait staff that they lacked in that totally.

I’ve been to many places and the service you provide is very outdated. We were a big group and you fail at accommodating big groups. Everyone else who has reviewed your place seems to only be 2 or 3 people party who were attended to.

I’ve a right to write my review and the events which happened on the night. I am no way insulting your place nor the people there but rather presenting facts from my point of view.

The people have the right to know the experience we have and they can pass a verdict when they visit your place, if they decide to.

Your response as a whole seems to be rather poor and quite a backwards way of dealing with criticism. If I wanted to tarnish your image I’d have many other ways to do so.

All in all, I wouldn’t be recommending this place from my experience.

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We reserved this place for 7 people. I’ll be honest - the starter was nice. The main was ok. The service was appalling - barely any waiter around to actually ask for the dessert menu or even the bill. The ridiculous deposit which was taken away from the bill was preposterous - we didn’t even spend the full 3 hours at the place as the experience was just absolutely below mediocre.

I’d assume if you’re out of various desserts you’d at least inform us to prevent wasting our time from eyeing the menu and then again waiting for the struggle for the staff to come over.

The front entrance is also tiny - this is where folks pay for the bill. Maybe bring the card machine to the table for quicker service and exit? So much wrong with this place. I’d give 0 stars if I even could....