Sfuso — Restaurant in Dublin

The real Italian. We were stopping to eat before going to the theatre and wanted to find somewhere in the Italian quarter in Dublin.

We had a few places in our sights from a Google search, but always want to see them first hand before we make a final selection.

Sfuso was buzzing and seemed quite full, but we went inside to get a feel for the place and see if they had seating. We were greeted with a smile and checked out a limited menu, but were drawn inside by the welcome and the ambience.

As we entered we saw the food counter holding delicious looking food and passed by the bar to be seated at a table, temptingly close to shelves packed with Italian wines.

It seems the place almost doubles as an Italian delicatessen and all sorts of Italian foods, and wines adorned it's walls. The service was great and we were served by real Italians!

I chose beef lasagne, which they serve by weight and I went for a standard portion. My wife selected ghnocci, we had a side of vegetables and 500 MLS of house white wine.

The food was delicious, although we did wish that we had ordered two sides of the veg, which was griddled and absolutely gorgeous. Although we chose the house wine at 25 euros it was lovely. The whole meal was just over 45 Euros and thoroughly enjoyable.

Would highly recommend for authentic Italian experience and great...

Overall, I enjoyed the evening—until it was time to settle the bill. Since I was dining with a few friends, I asked to split the bill and explained to the waitress exactly what I had ordered. She also asked how we wanted to split the tip, which wasn’t an issue. I said I’d pay half of the service charge.

At that point, the interaction changed abruptly. The waitress became noticeably rude and dismissive. Instead of helping us work it out, she told me to figure out the total and come back once I had it, then walked off without further assistance. I found her attitude very disrespectful and unprofessional. As a result, I no longer felt comfortable paying the service charge.

When I returned with the amount, she pointed me to a colleague instead. I explained to the colleague that I no longer wished to pay the service charge. Although they mentioned it wasn’t mandatory, they still pressed me to pay. At that point, I felt too uncomfortable to explain the full situation—namely, that the previous interaction with their colleague had been unnecessarily rude. I ended up paying anyway, but left feeling disappointed.

To me, a service charge—especially one presented as optional—should reflect the quality of the service. It’s not acceptable to treat guests poorly and then expect a tip...

My fiancé and I had a wonderful evening at Sfuso, filled with a delightful Italian touch. The sweetest and most helpful staff in the world made sure we were well taken care of. Arani, in particular, was incredibly patient in helping us find the perfect wine, and we were truly impressed by his wine knowledge. ‘The Lazy Plate’ was fantastic; even the small portion was more than enough, so we didn’t have room to order a main course. The tiramisu was absolutely delicious. Our evening was made even more special with a surprise birthday tiramisu from my fiancé. The entire restaurant, including the staff and other customers, joined in with birthday wishes and helped me blow out the candle. We received truly amazing service. Thank you for everything! If you haven’t been to this small but wonderful restaurant yet, we highly recommend it for your next Italian...