WILDE Restaurant — Restaurant in Dublin

Summary: Probably the best service I have experienced in Dublin - other restaurants: take note!

I am a firm believer that you eat out for the experience as much as the food. A nice setting, professional service. The food can be amazing, but if these areas fall short of expectation, the taste can be soured.

My wife and I had dinner at Wilde after her graduation, so you can imagine that this was not just an ordinary meal out for us, we were celebrating an event of some importance to us.

In addition to this, we are both pretty good cooks and enjoy entertaining friends and family. Eating out in Dublin often disappoints me because I am expecting "Master Chef: The Professionals - final round" but often find that it's more like food I could have cooked myself for far less money.

I also find service in Dublin to typically be poor. Little care is shown and it's more about getting you in and out as quickly as possible for the next booking. In fact, what I love most about entertaining at home is that I feel relaxed and not under pressure.

You can certainly see that I am probably not the ideal restaurant customer. Did I mention I prefer to eat at home?

With all of that lengthy preamble you now have some context for my praise of Wilde. Was this the best food I have eaten in Dublin? No, but it was pretty close to being excellent. Was it the nicest setting with the most professional and courteous staff in Dublin? YES! And by some margin.

If like me you only really eat out when it's to celebrate some occasion or important event and you don't want it spoiled by a bad dining experience, then just go here, you won't be disappointed!

Our waiter Ismaaile and sommelier Eric get top marks for being so friendly and polite.

Why did I rate the food 4 stars? Well, I thought it was good but not spectacular. The portion of scallops for my starter was a little smaller than I would have liked but I had the burger (couldn't resist!) and the meat was a little too dense and mealy...more like meatloaf consistency than the properly fatty beef you need for a good burger! However my wife had the carpaccio and the veal and says they were spectacular and that I'm an idiot for ordering a burger...but I find that a burger is a good "standard" to compare...

One of the strangest dining experiences I have ever had, largely due to the service. We arrived about 40 minutes early for the reservation and were not allowed to wait in the small bar area which was empty, but were sent to the hotel lobby which was absolutely mobbed and understaffed. We were subsequently seated on time for our table, however, our waiter was clearly new and didn't understand English well, nor did he seem to be trained. The entire evening he kept calling me "lady" which was off putting. I asked for a specific wine and he stated they didn't have that wine. Then I pointed to the wine on the wine list and he said, "oh yes we do have that wine". He brought the wine but didn't wait for my husband to finish the tasting before pouring our glasses. Then we asked for extra focaccia bread with our burrata starter and he brought the wrong bread, not understanding the word "focaccia". The thing that really threw us was when we were not yet finished with the starter, he came over to take the dish and, without asking if we were finished, proceeded to take the spoon, mash the burrata all up, and clumsily scrape the remaining amount onto our two plates. In all my 61 years, I have never had a server touch my food without asking if we were finished or having it be part of the preparation (such as deboning a fish). The entree didn't arrive for 10-15 minutes so he wasn't trying to clear space. He then reset the silverware incorrectly. We did not move it and waited to see what would happen when the entrees came. Of course then the person who brought the entree set it off to the side because the silverware was in the way(not even bothering to move the utensils to the side). It was all just so comical and would have been no big deal at a pub, but when you are paying 75-100 euros for dinner per person you expect more. Lastly, I ordered a salad for my entree with an addition of "tiger prawns" at a supplement of 14 euros. I was served TWO prawns which were each slightly bigger than a 2 Euro coin, and inedible. I finally complained to the manager and they took my meal off the bill. There are so many good restaurants in Dublin, this place is trading on its name. Will never...

I have been to this restaurant 5 times for dinner. I would not dine here by choice. The restaurant reservations were made by others. Each time I have been here, the food has been a disaster. How a restaurant of this caliber CAN NOT make a burger properly is absolutely ridiculous. The kitchen staff think it's ok to put tartar sauce on a burger. When it is clearly not. It's not even mentioned on the menu that it comes with tartar sauce. Perhaps if it were a fish burger, then it would be fine. Otherwise, it's just GROSS. I always ask for my bacon to be crispy on a burger. Which is the only thing I requested. It came with crispy bacon, then destroyed by the slathering of tartar sauce. I have had to send back my burger each time. 20-25 minutes later, the fresh burger arrives. Each time, it arrives with the poorly cooked bacon. I had to refuse to eat it, as it did not look appetizing at all. I ate the bread and butter that was served earlier. I had no dinner to eat after that. The manager, a guy with dark features & non Irish, did not even offer an apology. He saw and knew what had happened, and just avoided making any contact with me. Not even an apology from him. The server was nice and apologized. I said, "thank you, and that he did not need to apologize as he did not cook or prepare the food, that the cook & manager should be the ones offering an apology."

Once the other people in our dining party were done. We paid and got up to leave. At this point, I noticed the manager noticed we were leaving and quickly walked in the opposite direction of us and disappeared into some back room. The restaurant only had a few tables occupied by this time. Which was about 10pm. His vanishing act and lack of apology is & was completely unprofessional.

I'm not sure if the restaurant is run by the hotel or if it is a separate entity. If it is part of the hotel. The General Manager of the hotel or the parent company that owns it should really do a refresher course of hospitality...