La Dolce Vita — Restaurant in Dublin

Avoid this place. Made a reservation and was told to sit in front of the service area with my wife. Plates being handed out over our heads! We're seated and ordered drinks before, they didn't come for a whole as the manager had to ask why we were sitting without drinks, the starters were not well explained at all and were definitely not as described. Mine had walnuts all over it and nowhere did it explain that on the menu. My wife's had pomegranates and other random bits thrown onto the plate, the plate was warm and dressed with a salad. Not a great serving dish. Onto dinner.... We got carbonara, I asked for tagliatelle and my wife for penne pasta, we both got penne, the orders were not written down, I asked for garlic bread with cheese and no dressing whatsoever on my plate as I don't like it my wife asked for the dressing in hers. 20 minutes later the food comes out, mine steaming hot, too hot to eat and plate was too hot to touch. The dish was greasy, couldn't finish it. Then the drinks came and at this point we'd already asked twice for some water, still drinkless!! My wife's plate was freezing and the food was too hot so as she had eaten more and more the pasta got cold. The garlic bread came both dressed, they obviously couldn't read the order because it wasn't taken properly as it should of been.... There was remains of food from previous customers on the floor the whole time we ate and a fork on the floor beside the service area. We got up to pay and were asked how it was. After explaining the lady kindly deducted the cocktail from the bill we never got to even drink. Absolute disgrace. Will never ever...

We wanted to support a local family business, the reviews seemed good, so we chose to eat here instead of at the Hilton. But from the moment you hear from the kitchen your frozen meat clanking into a frying pan, you just know this isn't going to be good. The caprese salad, though pretty in presentation, was served with an unripe, hard tomato. The hostess tried to make it right by bringing another one with cherry tomatoes, but come on. What self respecting chef serves a practically green tomato with a salad? For the main course, the sole was so tiny I thought it was a joke. It was two slivers of fish with the skin still on it. The preparation was good, as were the accompanying veggies and mashed potatoes, but the tiny amount left me completely unsatisfied and disappointed. The Chicken La Dolce Vita was ok, but the potatoes were just nasty, cold and hard. We were laughing that earlier in the day we had been to the oldest pub in Ireland, and later for dinner we were served the oldest potatoes in Ireland. The best thing about this place is the charming and nice hostess who seemed embarrassed by the situation. The house wine was good too. Sadly, thats not enough. If you dine here, make sure you have plans to go get a second dinner somewhere else, you will leave hungry and disappointed, but at least we had a good laugh at how ridiculous...

Do NOT book here before a concert in the Royal Hospital. Arrived at 5.30 for our booking. A queue of people out the door also waiting to be seated. Left standing beside the fridge for 50mins. No attempt made to move diners who had finished eating..more wine and desserts and coffees brought to a large table (and others) who had finished their meal when we had arrived. They were still there when we were seated at 6.20 and people were still queuing. We couldn't leave as our 74yr old mother was with us and there were no options to eat elsewhere (we did try). Toilets were constantly packed with concert goers, ladies toilets stopped flushing, ladies using the mens toilets. No attempt to close the main entrance door to keep the toilets for paying customers. Staff came in to use the toilet so they were aware of the situation. Food was beautiful but staff were clueless about how to move customers along and no apology or compensation for being left standing for 50mins..crammed against a fridge and moving every time staff needed access to it, and so close to diners you could clearly hear their conversation. The restaurant itself is actually fairly shabby, cheap tables and chairs, napkins etc, very cramped. It's a good job the food is nice. Oh, and the card machine was 'broken' but apparently that is always...