Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud — Restaurant in Dublin

Good food, not great by any stretch. Showy service without real customer care: no substance to it. Prices high for the privilege of paying more. Really high. A great disappointment for a Michelin starred venue.

First, the food. One starter was truly exceptional. It involved a pea mousse, very creative. For mains, I had turbot as did my wife, and we both agreed it was quite good... about what I'd expect for maybe €25-30. One of our party had a fillet and it was good, not great and nowhere near the best I have tasted. There was a crab appetizer that was very showy with none of the flavor and chewy succulence of crab...the crab was over powered by the fennel and sauce, which was quite bland. How does a bland sauce overpower anything? Oh, yes, one main at the table was an overwrought cylindrical fish combobulation about the size of a single serving cat food can. I declined a taste as it would have left my friend practically bereft of a dinner. Paltry does not begin to describe...

My wife and I lived in New Orleans for 23 years where there are about 35 Michelin starred restaurants and we have eaten at probably 20 of them. I have eaten in great restaurants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London and Patrick Gilbaud's food did not hold a candle to any of them. My dinner there was not among the top 50 I have experienced, not even close. Not as good as Bayonna, Le Petit Grocery, Brigtsen's, Shaya, Commander's Palace, Cafe Atchafalaya, etc. I've had more transcendant fish dishes in Cleveland and Milwaukee. Having cooked in several restaurants in my younger days, I appreciate quality recipes, attention to detail, and creativity in cuisine. But then there's showy stuff without much heart and soul and that is what I found here.

Now the service...it was pretty cliche...two waiters set four covered dishes down simultaneously, then on cue they lift off the four lids. Very fancy, Dawlin, but definitely hackneyed and forced...a charade of good service. I felt as if I were in a cartoon of upper crust life. When one of the young servers accidently backhanded a gin & tonic onto the lap of the husband of our companion couple, a quick apology and fresh drink was delivered. But no offer to pay the dry cleaning bill or comp some of the price from the final check, maybe provide a towel (ya think???)...truly NOT the sort of higher end customer care/pampering one expects when paying €200/head for dinner. As I said, a charade of fine dining service.

So overall, at a cost of a smidge under €800 for four diners, I expected and did not receive truly spectacular food and calmly gracious service. What we got was a charicature of a fine dining experience. This is something that I had pretty much forsworn when I left New Orleans and I have renewed that vow. I will occasionally spend more than I think I should for a special night out, but I will steer clear of these stratospherically priced poseurs in future. Why, there are even restaurants in humble Stroud, Gloucestershire whose food compares favorably to that at Gilbaud's at a fraction of the price. I would have preferred to have gone out for hamburgers and donated our remaining €350 to a food kitchen. THAT would have made me feel better. Frankly, the experience was obscene.

I will add that my wife was kicking herself for several days afterward because she consented to go to...

I will give it a 1 star, and I will explain why: (Un)fortunately, a friend gave us a voucher of 300€ to spend there, so we decided to give it a second go after a first try that wasn’t something to remember. From the very first moment we felt like a condescending impression when I said I had a voucher to collect. "Probably someone who won't spend too much this evening" is what transpired from the waiter's behavior. We were seated facing each other, while most of the other couples were on the side of the round table, making it easy to have a conversation. On top of that, the sommelier had his little table to put his wine literally next to my elbow, and this was for a table far away. This table wasn't bothered by the sommelier putting down his bottle on the marble top, but I was, so I asked to change tables. This time we thought we'd experience the Tasting menu along with the wine pairing. Come the Amuses bouches, nobody tells us that this is the amuse bouche, so we eat our oyster with water since wine only comes after... little did we know so I had to ask when the wine was coming... to think I'd have to ask for such info in a 2* restaurant... Next dish, is just ok, wine comes, really good wine. Next dish... we finish it without the wine. The sommelier was just not synchronized. A shame but we're only in a 2* restaurant... The rest goes ok. Food is ok but not excessively great. I've had better in 1* or even Bibs. Comes dessert. First dessert is great. Then we get the wine for the second dessert. And we wait. Wait. Wait again, 10-20-30minutes. All the waiters walk in front of us. Nobody would ask anything. They see my face going from happy to wondering what was happening, to being quite mad. It's late, we've been there for almost 3 hours. I ask the Maître d'Hotel what is going on, he goes and comes back telling me that we've had everything as well as the last dessert. I'm really annoyed, this couldn't be more wrong. He understands something is really wrong, and finally, less than 2 minutes later, our Chocolate tart comes. Needless to say it takes much more than 2 minutes to create that dessert, and it had been waiting to be picked up for probably the last 30 minutes... I expressed my disappointment, we got offered a glass of champagne, but that's all. Overall, for both my wife and myself, we grade this restaurant as: Food: 2 out of 10. Wine: 9 out of 10, really great pairing. If it wasn't for the wrong sync with the second dish, it would have been perfect. Service: 1 out of 10. Had we been Michelin reviews, this restaurant would have lost this 2nd start right away. This was an unacceptable service for a 750€ dinner for 2 people. Make yourself a favor, just avoid, take a plane, go to France and for the same price you'll really enjoy 2*...

I had just arrived in Dublin after spending two weeks on a food wine, and safari tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, and I wanted to keep up the gastric adventure as I had three days in Ireland to kill. After careful research, and menu study, I decided on Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud at the Merrion Hotel in the Dublin City Center. Normally when I visit a country I focus only on the cuisine that the specific country offers, in this case Irish. Patrick Guilbaud was more of a French infusion, but had some Irish dishes. The main reason I chose them is because they were listed in the top 10 restaurants in Dublin, and Elite Traveler had them listed as number 80 in the top 100 restaurants of the world. Considering one of my many bucket lists includes visiting the top 100 in both the Elite Traveler and San Pellegrino lists, I added Patrick Guilbaud to my list based solely on that merit alone.

The service staff was dressed in tuxedos, with both Captain or main server and back waiter assistant. A gentleman approached and took my drink order, as well as presented me with the menu’s. The restaurant offered assorted ala cart options from two to four courses, and a four or eight course degustation menu. There wine list was one of the most impressive that I have seen in a restaurant since dining at The French Laundry in Napa Valley, consisting of over 25,000 worldwide selections. As I reviewed the menu selections, the Captain waiter on more than one occasion would push the 8-course degustation menu. I understood mentioning it once, but in a fifteen minute period bringing it up three times, with the third time being almost rude about, was not selling me on that menu, but irritating me. I made my selection of the four-course ala carte with appetizer, meat, fish, and dessert selection. The funny thing, is that I was ready to choose the 8-course if it weren’t for the waiter arrogantly trying to push it on me. I was escorted into the dining room and seated at my table.

The food was exquisite, and the presentation was top notched, putting it into the same category for me as other French restaurants such as Fleur de Lys, in San Francisco and Restaurant Le Gabriel, in Bordeaux. The restaurant itself has very high standards and an outstandingly professional kitchen staff with Chef Lebrun at the helm, the only reason why I did not give Patrick Guilbaud higher rankings was the service staff’s arrogance at the start of my experience. Once I arrived at my table a female server took over, and she was exceptional and spot on with her delivery and expertise. To read the full review, visit the Wine, dine, and Play Blog, under the blog archive go to January 2014, then click...