The Exchange Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Dublin

Excellent Peruvian (yes, really) restaurant. First off, well done on a great safe Covid experience. Visited on 10th July (easy booking on opentable). Greeted by the door being opened for us. Host was wearing a mask and quickly guided us to the table. Loads of space here - really great for social distancing. Our seats were nearly 3 metres from the next ones (we sat as two in a four seater as did our neighbours). Menus already on the table, orders for drinks taken efficiently - a super collection of cocktails. Went for the Pisco Sours which were brilliant. Amuse bouche provided beforehand - nice cornbread with dips (but we had to share the dips - hmmm I would prefer individual ones).

Went for the 3 courses plus a cocktail for 45 euros which was excellent value. Had sweetcorn pancakes, barbequed monkfish, and churros. All three were excellent quality and really different to the usual restaurant fare in Dublin. An espresso was 4 euros which I thought was way too pricey. There was a great view of the open kitchen - again everyone wearing masks there.

A couple of things to work on: the DJ in the adjacent bar started shouting really loudly when his set was starting. This seemed to be accidentally piped through the restaurant and was startling - the floor manager quickly sorted this out without being asked. Also at the end of the meal there was a horrible sensation in my throat which seemed to be a disinfectant piped out (I heard hissing). It went after 10 minutes but was unpleasant.

Otherwise I thought this was really excellent and would absolutely come back. Their bar is also spacious (and was empty), the toilets are beautiful and clean. The staff are extremely pleasant and courteous. Well done Zampas team, in difficult times you are doing almost...

NOT advisable to eat here if you have theater plans or an hour or less to eat. Very disappointing experience, especially from a hotel restaurant where travelers usually have events to get to and need a reliable but quality food experience. I was staying at NYX, arrived at the bar at 1750, promptly informed the staff I only had an hour and had a show to catch, ordered a ceviche and burger and asked for them to just bring them out when ready. 30 mins later had to ask the manager for a glass of water and question if the food was lost, at 45 minutes none of the food had even arrived. At 50 minutes it came out but was too late to even try and eat so I just asked for a box and the bill. After 5 minutes the food was still not out, I had paid and informed the manager this was not good business for travelers. Finally made it out the door at 1850 to catch a taxi. They ended up sending the food via room service to my room but I didn't get back for hours and was not going to risk food poisoning by eating it. All told it was about €60 all gone to waste. Just a very unsatisfactory experience from a hotel restaurant that's supposed to be on the higher end. (Literally the day before I had a 3 course meal with 3 different wines at Amuri, all in an hour for very lovely experience there 4.5⭐). For the NYX restaurant not even 1 ⭐ for the frustration of buying food I never got the chance...

Truly Memorable and unforgettable for all the wrong reasons - Awful!

If the brief was to create the worst environment to dine in? They've nailed it.

If anyone wants to visit for inspiration, go!- then do the opposite!

Even the Hard Rock Cafe franchise has distanced itself from this, or perhaps needed to.

Open plan, noisy, no safe place from the music, the live band played to nobody. When they stopped, it was still noisy!

This is where atmosphere comes to die.

5* The waiters were charming and smiled like they knew it was the worst place to be.

The food was deep fried, overcooked, smallest fish, driest burger. Nailed on every level.

Booking? Don't bother. Most people would run out of it.

If you hate yourself or someone else, go here!

Tip your waiters...they deserve Oscar nominations.

It's wheelchair accessible but leave before you need to go to the bathroom - you'll age waiting for the lift. I think l was back by the time it arrived.

If this is how Hard Rock colonise cities around the world, they'll all be found as temples to a dying civilisation.

Seal it up, maybe put fish in it. Just not the deep...