Peruke & Periwig — Restaurant in Dublin

My partner and I had a reservation this past Friday, December 9. We were both really excited to try P&P after hearing good things. We arrived 15 minutes ahead of our 5:30PM reservation and, after a squeeze through to the back of the ground floor bar found the host stand to check in. We were instructed to head to the second floor – on our way up we saw that each floor (ground, first, and second) had their own bar and bartender. The top floor comprises the kitchen and toilets.

Once we reached our floor, we waited a few minutes for the bartender to seat us. Currently the floor was hosting a holiday party of 10 and a two-top – leaving three two-tops left. The bar is in a Georgian townhouse, so the space is tight. Of the three two-tops, the table we were seated at was positioned in such a way that each time the server walked by, I needed to move my chair in all the way to make room for passage. After hearing from the party that the table nearest to the window directly next to us was in fact free, we moved there (one of the party had left their jacket on the seat making it appear occupied – this was the reason when we were first sat, as to why we could not sit there). By this point, it had been about 20 minutes since we arrived and hadn’t been greeted by our server – otherwise we would have asked. It was only then, that the server decided to show up – to tell us aggressively and rudely we could not move tables. I asked if the table was reserved only to be told that it would have to be cleared by a manager. We were fine with that being confirmed, however at the 25-minute mark when water was brought, I was told I needed to ask the manager’s permission to move. Rather than use the phone to connect with the manager seated at the host desk on the ground floor, the server had me walk down multiple flights of stairs to ask the manager’s permission. We were given permission to stay in our new seats and the manager spoke with the server.

At the 30-minute mark, we finally ordered drinks. By 40-minutes, I was told the drink I ordered wasn’t available. I should note that the drink menu is extensive and boasts a number of interesting ingredients, but never once did the server make a recommendation for a similar drink or outline the bar menu. Our first round of drinks were finally dropped 50 minutes after we were sat. By this point, the holiday party were only receiving their starters, having arrived only slightly before us (P&P have a simple three-course dinner menu). Because of this, we worried about the wait time for food and decided not to order from the dinner menu. Nevertheless, we still wanted to try out a few more cocktails but upon receiving our second cocktail we were told unceremoniously that we had one hour left for our table. (The holiday party was also told their reservation would end in one hour – having not received their mains or desserts yet, this seemed especially ridiculous.)

We decided the experience wasn’t at all what we were hoping for, so we finished up our cocktails, paid our bill of nearly E60 for two rounds and began to exit. Interestingly, both remaining two-tops were still vacant highlighting that the table we moved to wasn’t in fact, reserved at all.

On our way out, we connected with the manager to let him know we were disappointed by this experience. Dave let us know he “gave out” to the server, which was an odd reaction for a manager meant to train and upskill staff. Dave reached out about twenty minutes after we left with a text asking for my email address, but unsurprisingly, I have yet to have any communication from him. I’m highly expecting the “I'm so sorry we didn't leave a 5-star impression with you. If you would like to contact me… I would be happy to discuss this further” which seems to be their auto-response. Unfortunately, I won’t be returning to P&P anytime soon as there are just too many other options (Bar 1661 definitely comes to mind) in Dublin that deliver high-quality experiences and service – both of which...

Good bar; bad restaurant. We just attempted a meal here (17 Jan 2023) and it was poor. Arrived at 6.30 and there was nobody at the little station in the stairway (I lie- there was a jovial customer waiting there for a friend. He was literally sitting in the staff chair at the table where they check reservations).

The stairway also absolutely stank of the toilets that were a flight down - it smelled like stagnant, warm water (when I went down to the toilets later I found the kitchen staff lounging in the hall spraying air freshener - modern problems require modern solutions).

We went upstairs and nobody was there either so we went back down and a staff member had appeared and she was lovely! She showed us to our table and talked of the music, gave us menus etc and that was the last we saw of her. From then on out we were served by someone who kept repeating our orders back to us and misunderstood us. We asked for all of our food to be brought out at once (small plates and mains, this wasn't asking for starters and mains) but we received them sequentially. This wouldn't be a problem but for the fact that our small plates were not taken away for an HOUR and we were under the impression our mains were on the way.

So anyway, the plates were cleared and the mains were both vegan gnocchi. The sauce and vegan parmegiano was nice - but half of the gnocchi were rocks. Undercooked, flavourless rocks. This is the first time we've ever sent back food in Dublin but it was literally inedible.

And the decor - it's cool for drinking, but not for dining. We were seated on the first floor and we had booked for dining but one of us was sat on a long sofa. This is good for drinks but for eating. Whatever - it was cool and chic (especially if you look past the mountain of diffusers above the fireplace that are, I imagine, in place to get rid of the damp stench of the stairwell).

The cocktails were good though! But this is Press Up. You would be hard pressed (up) to find a bad cocktail from them.

Overall, a...

Awful experience, wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

Drinks were very good. Suelen served us throughout the night. Before the countdown we were asked if we wanted a Prosecco to ring in the new year. We said we would like one but the new year came and went without a countdown so it was just upselling.

Asked if we would like another round, wasn’t told it was last orders. Got another cocktail and the bill arrived with it as the bar had now closed? So spent €30 on two drinks and told to drink up. Was given the option to go downstairs where there was drink up time. Thought this was reasonable.

Walked downstairs and there was a bar man ROARING at everyone to get out - so no drink up time given at all. Bar man tried to take my drink off me. He said I was talking so I wasn’t drinking??? Thought if I bought a drink I would have time to drink it. Another customer was being roared at to leave and he tried to explain his wife was in the bathroom and he was waiting on her but they continued to roar.

Basically it started to become clear that the staff were having a NYE lock in so wanted all customers out ASAP. More concerned about themselves than the customers it would seem after spending over €100 on cocktails.

Horrible experience. Will not be back despite the...