The Black Lion Inn — Restaurant in Dublin

Dear Sirs,

We would like to share our visit to your pub today. We have been regular customers for many years and have returned many times with satisfaction. Unfortunately, today's experience was extremely disappointing.

The dishes ordered left much to be desired:

Half a duck looked more like a few random scraps of meat - definitely not a portion that could be considered "half a duck".

The chicken curry had neither a distinctive taste nor a proper main ingredient - the chicken content was limited to three small pieces, the rest was mainly red onion. The rice was dry and the sauce looked and tasted reheated.

Mammas burger - after a 45 minute wait we received a burnt bun with an unspecified content. The dish was returned. After another 25 minutes the burger was served in a cold bun with overly salted chips. We had to send this dish back too.

On top of all this, there was terrible service – no response, long waiting times and a sense of complete chaos.

We regret to say that this experience has completely discouraged us from future visits, despite many years of loyalty to the establishment. We hope to draw conclusions and improve the quality – both of the food and the service.

Yours...

We decided to try the black lion for Sunday dinner as we haven't been here in ages and it used to be lovely.

Sunday afternoon & it was so quiet. No carvery section but roast dinner available on the menu so not too bad.

3 adults & we ordered 2 roast dinners (turkey and beef) and a chicken burger ordered. Beef was tough and dry, gravy on the side, turkey was re-heated and fried on the pan. Very dry. Vegetables just boiled no flavour to them what so ever. Chicken burger never arrived - a senior staff member told us we must have ordered the burger separately but we didn't. The burger eventually arrived as we finished our food of what we could eat.

Too many staff on with nothing to do, basically walking around us as we ate waiting to take our plates.

No one asked us if all was ok, the roast dinners were basically untouched and the staff just took the plate and walked away.

We won't...

I ordered an Aperol Spritz as offered on their menu and I have been disgusted by the drink I have been provided as despite being advertised as Aperol Spritz it is instead an insult to the history of the Aperol and Campari Family.

The drink I have been provided with (and I paid 11 euro for it) is a glass of prosecco with Aperol colour.

Despite the classic recipe and preparation instructions available on the bottle and your website i received a glass of prosecco with no ice and with 35.5ml of Aperol.

I have tried to explain that what I was served is not an Aperol and I have even said that the Aperol bottle shows how to make one.

I was instead told that they don't care about what the bottle says and they do it with measurements and they show me a piece of paper stating that 35.5ml on Aperol needs...