Dela Restaurant — Restaurant in Galway

I never leave reviews ever, and as someone who's worked in hospitality, I have a lot of grace for those working in the industry. But myself and my group had an extraordinarily negative experience at Dela and I would be remiss if I did not outline the apparent standard practices at Dela, which I strongly disagree with on principle.

Basically, we were a table of eight, got seated on time, put our orders in in a timely manner, with one of the girls ordering two starters in place of a main. Everyone's starters came out, including hers; our plates were taken, and we began waiting for the mains, while she continued working at her starter. She was checked in on a few times, but at no point did anyone come over to check on the rest of us. We waited over an hour before finally we flagged over a waittress to ask if our mains were coming. She said, "They're cooking them. Why, do you have somewhere to be?".

To be candid, this response is fairly braindead. It doesn't matter if we have somewhere to be: waiting over an hour for mains to be brought out with no communcation within that time is abnormal. There is no reality where that is not abnormal.

To add insult to injury, the tables around us had their starters, mains and dessert all within the time we were waiting, while waitstaff stood around and did not check on us at all. No apologies, no explanations.

The mains finally came out an hour and a half later. For the record, we did have somewhere to be, which means we had to house our mains within 15 minutes. The cost of Dela's menu does reflect the excellent quality of the food. However, inhaling it while very stressed out defeats the purpose.

Before paying, myself and my friend went up to the till to try and address the very blatant disregard for service expectations. The manager completely dismissed our concerns, stating that it is restaurant policy to allow all starters to be finished before mains are brought out. I pointed out that while normal in theory, this did not follow reasonable expectations on any level, as that meant the rest of us were waiting indefinitely, and also, the girl with her starter told the waitress it was her main. The manager then stated that it was a difficult choice, to rush one person versus seven others, and that if we had somewhere to be, we could have said so in advance.

This review is long enough. I don't feel I need to spell out her incredibly broken, and frankly, nonsensical logic. After several minutes of going back and forth, and with her admitting absolutely zero fault on Dela's end, we wound up leaving. After a few minutes, my friend went back in to get the service charge at least refunded, but the manager still stood her ground and did not apologise for what happened.

It is not my first day on Earth. You literally can't convince me any of this was normal. No credible restaurant makes you wait over an hour for your food without an explanation or apology. It's not normal. But our experience at Dela was basically being gaslit that it is normal and acceptable to wait that long. It's literally not. I don't wanna tear down a local business, but this experience was absolutely nuts and I figure it's...

I went here for a friend’s celebration. There was a group of us and we were quite squished at the table, but I understood they also had two other large parties in the restaurant so space was a bit limited. I ordered the flank steak but I was told it was actually rump. I didn’t hear what the waitress said from the noise but I assumed it was fine so I just nodded and accepted. My mistake. Rump is not really a steak cut and it certainly is not worth 34 quid. It also took about an hour for our food to come out even though other guests seemed to get theirs on time? When it did arrive it was supposed to come with crispy onions and mine had like two or three on top. It was very grey and then very red all of a sudden in the centre like it was cooked very unevenly. I usually eat medium rare but it was strange. It was incredibly tough, I was chewing for ages and it was horrible. There was also an onion puree that wasn’t mentioned on the menu which I would have asked not to be included as I have sensory issues with food. The drinks were nice, dessert was okay. The two servers we had were actually lovely but at the very end another server who hadn’t waited on our table that night gave us the bill. That was fine, she gave us a few minutes and we split it between us and paid our amounts. She said she’d check it at the till and we said no problem. She then returned and said there was an extra two euro paid and we said ah sure grand but then she said she didn’t realise we hadn’t paid the service charge and if she had know before hand she would have mentioned it. We asked if it was mandatory and she said no but it was a standard everywhere. We looked at her funny, knowing it is not standard. She then proceeded to ask if we were from here, which I found rude because two members of the group were not white. We told her yes we were locals and she said that it was standard for groups of 6. She continued to repeat this and say that it’s standard because it’s a lot of work to wait on a large group. I’m sorry but we only ordered mains and two desserts and some drinks. We would have been gone sooner but the food took an hour to come. We weren’t a demanding table, we only ordered drinks when a server came up and asked. I don’t understand how the server at the end can not serve us all night, take the bill and then demand we tip 10% Tipping culture is not a thing in Ireland. I won’t be returning to a restaurant that tries to enforce tipping. If I had it and the service was amazing, sure why wouldn’t I? But service wasn’t amazing and the very snarky tone at the end soured the mood which made me not want to even tip the extra two euro that...

I made a booking at Dela two weeks ago to celebrate a graduation with friends, having heard great things about their food.

The reservation was for 8 pm, but at 7 pm on the day, I received a call from Dela explaining that some guests’ main courses were delayed, so they’d need to push our booking to 8:30 pm. I politely declined, explaining that some of our group were traveling from out of town. The caller suggested we wait at a pub next door, but I insisted on keeping our original booking, as the change was too last-minute.

When we arrived, the atmosphere was lovely, and the drinks were great, though they took a long time to arrive. We were understanding, as the restaurant was very busy.

We placed our orders, but the food took a considerable time to arrive. The kitchen kindly provided us with a free appetizer while we waited, which was delicious. I ordered the steak, a specific cut (we weren’t asked how we wanted it cooked). When the food finally arrived, most of us enjoyed our meals—except for those who ordered the steak. The cut was tough and unsuitable for a steak dish, making it almost inedible. Everyone who had the steak struggled to finish it.

When we asked for the bill, it came to €292.50, which we split. After paying and preparing to leave, a server approached us, asking why we hadn’t left a tip. This caught us off guard, as tipping isn’t usually mandatory in Ireland. While we do tip for exceptional service or food, we weren’t expecting to be demanded to tip. The server then questioned whether we were locals or Irish, which felt irrelevant. We explained that we’re Irish and regularly dine out in Galway but have never been asked to leave a tip like this.

The server continued, stating that we could’ve left at least 10%, adding, “it was a lot of work, you know.” When I asked if tipping was mandatory, she claimed it was standard practice for larger groups and mentioned that some restaurants include service charges for tables over six. While this is true, service charges must be disclosed upfront on the website or receipt. According to Irish consumer information: “Employers are banned from describing a mandatory service charge applied to a customer’s bill as a ’service charge.’”

This experience spoiled our evening and left us feeling unwelcome. The server didn’t even ask if we’d enjoyed the food or service—she went straight to demanding a tip. If Dela insists on a 10% service charge for larger groups, they should clearly state this on their website or receipts.

In a city with such a vibrant food scene, Dela is not somewhere we would consider...