Urbanity — Restaurant in Dublin

This used to be my favourite place in Dublin. And I have to say "used to" because unfortunately, it changed a lot. The food is amazing, the place is also really pretty but the service started to become quite disappointing. If you asked me to leave a review a couple of months ago I would have said that 5 stars wouldn't be enough. But now the situation changed.

It used to have an amazing service before, with friendly people who would go the extra mile to make you feel welcome as a guest. I brought a lot of customer to Urbanity, both from Dublin and tourists. I recommended this place to everyone because I believe that the food and the coffee they have here is worth it, even though it's a bit expensive. I used to eat there almost every weekend coming also from the other side of the city just to have a nice brunch or dinner there.

Currently, the place became very popular and the quality of the service started to decrease a lot: staff changed, people before used to welcome me and remember me (but ok, it's understandable, people change job!). Now I tried to book some space for brunch on the phone since I saw it became quite crowded (and since I live quite far) and they said that they don't take reservations on the phone but only if you go there in person.

So, in their opinion, I should go there from the other side of the city which would take about 40 minutes, then wait other 40 minutes to be seated because they don't take reservations over the phone? As a loyal customer, who supported them since when literally nobody knew this place and brought them lots of people, this is not the way I like to be treated.

Also, the atmosphere became very chaotic and messy, and it happened that the last few times some of our orders were handled wrong. These things can happen, but summed up to the rest it all became a not so pleasant experience anymore. This is an example when becoming popular has a negative impact. Maybe it has a good impact on a financial level, but on a human level not really and this will hurt them in the long run. However I still give you 3 stars because the food is really good and I had a good experience in the past.

In conclusion, I'm sad to say that I won't go there anymore and I will stop...

Unimpressed. I decided to visit this café for lunch last Tuesday due to its raving reviews on Google and Tripadvisor so I drove all the way to Smithfield. I tried to book but the guy on the phone reassured me I wouldn't struggle to find seating at 1pm, their peak time being 11-12. And he was right: we found a seat immediately. The place is nice and bright, with lots of natural light and sime tables outside, though detached from the establishment as on the square. The food was a disappointment, underwhelming and lacking taste. I ordered the grilled halloumi, which came out fried and looked like a fish finger. It was beige, with a beige sauce underneath and beige toppings. The extra bacon I requested was dry, smelled of fat and came at an extra €3 for 2 sad-looking rashers, one also broken (and hidden under the whole one). It tasted ok but it was described as a healthier choice and instead was just greasy. My partner ordered gunpowder chicken on a brioche bun. Sounded delicious, instead it was fried chicken, no spices of any kind, just some sweet chutney-like sauce on the bun. Again, greasy and beige. Their homemade lemonade is not bad but isn't even worth €4 a glass, for that matter. When queuing to use the toilet, you wait just outside the kitchen and next to the pantry, where clear plastic bottles of the cheapest-looking vegetable oil are in the display. The funny thing is, this place has won an award for Best Free-From! The coffee was nice, at least: 2 almond flat whites, no latte art (I know it's almond but you can do better than that). They have a shiny new La Marzocco coffee machine and 2 Simonelli grinders, whose customer-facing backs were dirty. The service was bad, unbothered and borderline rude, especially the manager lady who never smiled once and told us to stay at our table as she would come over to take our payment. This visit was a true disappointment, they need to get their act together. One more thing, they've hand sanitisers in each table, which is a good idea, but the dispensers are cheap Dunnes-bought soap dispensers with messy handwriting on them:...

This was my review four years ago: 'Delicious vegan brunch and excellent coffee. The place was buzzing on Saturday morning. Recommend.' Sadly, I revisited and got completely ripped off. Two of us were charged €32.60 for two coffee (very nice) one orange juice (very nice), one tiny thimble full of nasty hummus with way too much cardamon in it, and half an avocado each with some dry toast! The staff didn't seem to have a clue what veganism means, even after being told and brought us cows milk for our coffee after we said we wanted it black (and no offer of dairy free alternatives) and then brought us butter for our toast - again, no dairy free alternatives were available, despite being sold in every supermarket in the country. The half avocado was completely unadorned - no cress or seeds or even a bit of lettuce or tomato. Nothing, just plonked sadly on the plate, revealing a few brown spots. The toast was very dry and we had to ask for some olive oil. We enquired about the buttered greens, and whether we could have them done in oli instead of butter, but the waiter never even came back to us with an answer. When we complained at the till about the price for sharing an avocado, we received just a smile! No apology or offer to reduce the bill. What a terrible price to pay - effectively, the avocado was €9 (roughly a 1000% mark up from supermarket prices) and each single slice of dry toast was over €1. On our two previous visits we got a fabulous vegan breakfast or brunch with mushrooms, avocado, spinach in a lovely, busy place that we had to queue for. This time there were plenty of empty tables and now I know why. This place will be gone soon if they don't pull their socks up. I certainly won't be back. So disappointed. Also - FFS - vegans are everywhere now, I can get better options in the village in Leitrim where I live, why are there still places like this that have staff who haven't a clue what a vegan eats? It's like being veggie in...