No. 27 Bar & Lounge — Restaurant in Dublin

My friend and I came here to have a drink before our tea reservation. We had the pleasure of meeting Ethan, our bar tender, and he took amazing care of us. He was very personable and chatted with us as well as made really good drinks. And of course he is also incredibly handsome. We told him about what we had seen in Dublin and he gave us some recommendations for other things to see as well in Dublin. I don't drink alcohol, but my friend does so he got her an Irish whiskey, and he made sure to not leave me out. He showed me the non alcoholic "mocktails" and he even said he could make me something special. Of course I said that he could surprise me. He made me a very nice non alcoholic drink. I am so grateful he took the time to do something like that for me and made me feel so included and welcome. After tea my friend and I came back and we were so happy to see Ethan was still there. We tried to sit in his section, but it was full. The bar got really busy in the evening and that is to be expected. We sat further down the bar and had trouble getting service from the other bar tenders. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because we seemed to be in a weird spot of the bar where every other bar tender thought someone else had helped us so they didn't check in or get us drinks or pay any attention to us. Ethan would check in on us when he could even though we weren't in his section and that was really nice. He made me some other drinks and my friend and I had a good time chatting. We noticed that under his name tag there was another tag that said he was in training. We talked with him and we're blown away that he has been there for just over a week. The drinks are good, the bar is busy, and the aesthetic is very modern. The bar has a lot of space, a lot of people working there, and has a wide variety of drinks. We didn't get any food there so I can't speak on that. Like I wrote earlier, the only issue we had was where we sat at the bar seemed to be some sort of dead zone where no one really seemed to know who was supposed to be paying attention to that section. Other than that I would recommend this bar and hopefully you have Ethan as...

Terrible experience! Definitely not coming back until covid restrictions are over! As we know there is a minimum spend now in bars to get a drink.. we were given a menue but when we chose a dozen of oysters, 2 desserts and 2 glasses of wine (which added up to 60 euro for 2 people, we were told we can't order this to get wine and must only order something from their main course list, which also cannot be the soup of the day (which by the way was on the main course list). It was 8.30pm. We asked for more time and decided to order one fish and chips to share because we both weren't hungry but just wanted a couple of drinks and nice atmosphere. Yet again we were told that they can only serve us 1 glass of wine if we get 1 main course, until I expressed my big dissatisfaction with the whole process. It seemed we overcame the challenge and could enjoy the rest of the evening but as time got to 1h 30 min out of our 1h 45 min sitting we started getting reminders every 5 minutes that we have 15, 10, 5 min left and then time is up. Which was totally annoying and ridiculous considering that the bar at that stage was empty with only us and another couple there, and they still had 45 min until closure. As we walked out of the bar, we got another person running after us, trying to bring us to the exit so I had to say that we want to use the restroom first, thank you. At some point we were worried that someone will follow us into the restroom and remind that we only have 5 min left or time is up girls. God I'd never expect such a bad and frustrating experience from a 5 star place like Shelbourne! I have been to other highly rated restaurants and bars over the past 2 weeks that are under the same restrictions but it was all very pleasant and not to compare with this nightmare! I totally recommend to avoid this place if you don't want to ruin your night out, at least until the...

Oh Shelbourne Hotel... such an icon but my experience in No. 27 was actually a bit of a letdown. TL; DR version: Food: 4 stars. Best Irish Soda bread I've had thus far in Ireland. Potato & Leek soup and fish & chips were quite good. Service: 2 stars. A real letdown. Location/ambiance: 5 stars. It's the Shelbourne, what else can you say?

We were in Dublin for a few days and staying at the other 5 star hotel around the corner, and I wanted to visit the Shelbourne since it was one of the reasons that prompted the visit (I watched the show about the hotel on PBS, and was so fascinated by its history). To compare experiences we decided to lunch at No. 27 Bar. We arrived just before the lunch rush, and I noticed immediately the slow service. The bar was clearly not staffed properly to keep up with guests. Tables were left uncleared, and it took over 10 minutes to even get a menu. My experience was not singular. Other guests were not receiving timely service either. Some other small things bothered me... like limes served in my water had quite a bit of brown. The beer selection in the bar was pretty boring. Coors Light? C'mon, there's got to be a light beer made in Ireland that could be on tap instead. Thankfully the food was good, and the bar is beautiful. This is a place that's perfectly fine to hang out and grab a casual bite, as long as you have time to wait around. Service pales in comparison to its competition...