Mother Reilly's Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Dublin

Do you ever feel like you’ve been cheated out of a good meal? That’s what we experienced.

We’d walked past Mother Reilly’s more times than I can count, always promising, “Next sunny day, we hit the beer garden.” Saturday gave us that gift — blue skies, a rare Dublin sun, and the added temptation of some nice chicken wings on the menu. Seemed like fate.

The garden’s a good spot in theory — if you can navigate the strange, U-shaped labyrinth of corridors and doorways to figure out how to get served. No lounge staff in sight, so we hiked to the main bar. Three staff at the end, mid-conversation, eyes glazed with the kind of indifference that says we’re off the clock in our heads. I asked for a menu and a pint; the barman waved me back to my seat, said the lounge staff would come.

Ten minutes later, they did. The wings came in either ½ kg or full kg portions — a size measurement of food we both found odd, and in hindsight, should have been our first warning. We ordered the half kilo with fries and then waited well over 30 minutes, long enough to seriously contemplate walking out.

When they finally arrived, the wings were so small they felt like the runt cousins of actual chicken. There was little to no meat on them — the weight of the bones clearly justified the price tag. Fries? Cool, naked, unseasoned. We went on another salt-seeking trek through the maze.

We left €45 lighter and still hungry. No buzz, no atmosphere, no care from the people running the joint. The kind of place that doesn’t know it’s in the hospitality business.

There’s a million spots in Dublin where you can get a decent pint and wings that won’t leave you cursing the day. This, sadly, isn’t...

Dog friendly🐶

The staff are also really friendly. Was staying at the hotel next door and came for dinner both nights of our stay. First night we had the chicken wings and they were awesome but be aware 1kg of wings are more than you think they are...

Second night we had some of the best calamari we've ever tasted on our travels. It was nice and soft even though it was breaded and fried which shows it's freshly made. The jalapeno mayo was a highlight as well 🤘

I ended up going with the striploin steak and my wife the Caesar salad. We were both loving it. My steak was cooked to a rare perfection and the peppercorn sauce was brilliant. Normally I wouldn't get a steak out as they never get it right but this was great with the chunky chips. For a Tuesday night I was very surprised at how good the chef was he/she knows their craft really well.

2 beer gardens front and back let you decide if you want the evening sun or nice sheltered place to chill.

Quiz night on a Tues and we were too stuffed to participate. It was a little busy so get there early.

100% will come back on our next visit to Dublin. And as usual we made a friend at the bar and had a good chat about our travels and doggos. It's one of the reasons I...

Went there on Thursday evening after seeing a film at the Stella cinema. Never been before. Its totally deceptive you enter what looks like a small pub only to find its a warren of rooms serving meals. On Thursday night there was live music from a guy playing quit well a kind of light jaz on guitar which added greatly to the slightly bohemian atmosphere and buz in the old pub setting without being intrusive. Our only slight complaint would be it took over well half an hour for our meal to arrive, but the servers were courtious and checked seversl times if everything was ok. I orferef s starter of calimari which was very good and sufficient for both me and my wife. My pasta dish was excelent and my wife chose the salmon steak option which was also excellent. We washed dkwn our meal with well pulled pints of Guiness and were so full at the end we could not...