The Circular & The Other Hand Bar — Restaurant in Dublin

We visited here today (Saturday 21 October 2023 at around 1pm) and were soon very sorry that we did. The Maitre D / front of house staff was a local guy with short brown hair, probably around 25 - 30 years old I would guess, maybe 5’8 or so, with a number of silver earrings.

His first interaction with us was to berate us for stepping foot into the premises when there was a sign saying ‘please wait here to be seated’. Apparently, we impinged further into the restaurant than he would approve of. We then scanned the room and saw 4 or 5 tables to our left free - they were crescent shaped seats with circular tables and there was nobody sitting at any of them. However, he said that he would not let us have any of those tables as they are for parties of 4, whereas our party was only my wife, myself and our 2 year old child. It seems we were one person short of qualifying to be ‘allowed’ to be so annoying as to occupy a table. We were told to stand in the corner to wait for a smaller table to come free. This message was delivered in as rude a manner as possible. Subsequently, having stood for an extended perio without the Maitre D or any other member of staff coming back to us (and without anyone else coming in to occupy the free tables), we left. It’s amazing how one member of staff can ruin the feel of a place - if you enjoy arrogant, rude and incompetent service then I would recommend this place without hesitation. For anyone else, please avoid.

It’s such a pity as the venue itself looked really amazing and we really wanted to try it and like it - we had never been there before and really wanted to try it as we are considering moving to the area, and hoped there were nice restaurants in the locale which would make it a good place to move to, but we never even got to try the food or drink. Really disappointing.

PS - given the treatment we received at this venue we went instead to a place a short distance away called Bridge Cafe. It wasn’t amazing by any means and the food was only ok, but at least they were happy to see us and help us - seating us immediately and bring a high chair for our child - and for that reason alone it proved a vastly superior experience....

I am writing this review to express my dissatisfaction with the service provided by a male staff member with dark hair during our recent visit to this restaurant for lunch. My partner and I were deeply disappointed by his rude and passive-aggressive behavior, which ultimately led us to leave the establishment and seek a more welcoming environment elsewhere.

Upon our arrival, we noticed that the restaurant was only half full, so we took the initiative to find a seat without waiting for assistance. We did not feel that this would inconvenience any of the staff, as there appeared to be plenty of available tables. However, the aforementioned staff member soon approached us and made a point of criticizing our decision not to speak up upon entering. He then proceeded to berate us in a passive-aggressive manner, stating that if we had remained silent, he might have let us sit there for 20 minutes without acknowledging our presence.

We were taken aback by his confrontational tone and unwarranted hostility. It is worth noting that we are not inherently unsocial people; we simply felt that in this particular situation, there was no need to make a fuss over seating. We believe that it is the responsibility of the restaurant staff to provide a warm and welcoming environment for customers, regardless of how they choose to approach the seating process.

This experience left us feeling quite uncomfortable, prompting us to leave The Other Hand and seek a more pleasant atmosphere for our lunch. We had been looking forward to trying your menu and enjoying a relaxing meal, but our encounter with this staff member marred...

They definitely need to hire more staff, the place has 2 bars and barely has enough bar staff for one bar. Even on weekdays you are waiting an annoying amount of time to get served a drink. It's a shame because the bar looks like a cool place but It's not being run well. The staff are too busy making elaborate, time consuming cocktails or running from one bar to the other. As a bar, the lease it can offer is drink orders taken in a timely manner. The small amount of staff are spread too thinly. Seems like the bar is trying to do three things at once, badly, when it should just be doing one thing, well. The pizza is ok but isn't amazing value either. Some security staff wouldn't hurt either as I have witnessed anti social behaviour from very drunk people and staff couldn't/didn't...