Elephant & Castle Galway — Restaurant in Galway

A Masterclass in Incompetence – Truly Dismal Experience

This was, without exaggeration, one of the most disorganized and unprofessional dining experiences I’ve encountered.

Our server, who appeared either severely distracted or under some influence, took our drink order and then proceeded to loiter at the table in complete silence for an uncomfortable amount of time. So long, in fact, that a member of our party had to physically get up and go to the bar to place the order himself. This set the tone for the evening.

When we finally ordered food—through passive-aggressive remarks from the same server—we were informed half an hour later that multiple dishes weren’t available. Several guests had to change their orders well after the fact, suggesting basic communication between front and back of house was nonexistent.

Despite the menu clearly stating 2- or 3-course options, we were inexplicably told that 2 courses were “not allowed.” No explanation, just a refusal.

The calamari arrived—five sad strips of it. My schnitzel, as someone who loves salt, was so aggressively oversalted it was borderline inedible. My partner’s burger patty? Charred beyond belief. Visually indistinguishable from an ice hockey puck, and about as enjoyable.

The one passable item? The chips. But even a frozen bag of pub chips would’ve managed that.

Dessert was no redemption. After seeing the disgraceful “sticky toffee pudding” (dry, cold, and completely sauce-less), I changed my order to a brownie—which prompted an unprofessional exchange between the waiter and kitchen, visible from our table. The brownie itself tasted like it had more plastic content than chocolate, reminiscent of something mass-produced and microwaved in desperation.

To top it off, none of our drink orders made it to the bar throughout the night. We had to order them ourselves—again and again.

This was not just a poor dining experience; it was a case study in how not to run a restaurant. I’ve worked across the service industry for 15 years and would be genuinely ashamed to have my name associated with this level of service, food quality, or hospitality. Unfortunately, The Elephant and Castle appears to operate with no standards whatsoever.

Zero stars. Avoid...

Got Food Poisoning

Our special request for a booth was not considered even though the place was not busy with 4 staff and around 4 bartenders. We got sat in the middle of nowhere next to a booth that was empty for 20 minutes that nobody cleared the table of.

It took 30 minutes for our order to be taken. Drinks did not come out for 20 minutes. Moving onto the food, we ordered appetiser and main course. They took another 20 minutes to get our appetisers out and another 20 minutes for the main courses to come out. Honestly felt like the staff forgot we were there and were just an afterthought as no one checked up during and after the main course. We were there for 2 hours just waiting around most of the time.

We wanted dessert, but nobody cleared our table after the main course so we had to wait and eventually we went up to the main desk to pay since nobody bothered to get us the bill. Mind you this place was not busy and with several tables next to us empty. A couple that sat down next to us a few minutes after appetisers got their food the same time we did.

Terrible service, The food was alright but not worth it for the time and was not filling for the price. The salad I ordered felt like rabbit food and chunks of lettuce were just sitting in a bowl. Drinks were too concentrated in my opinion especially since it took so long to come out. Drinks were €13 each and food was around €30 a dish.

The next day, we got food poisoning from the food and felt sick. I don’t think the food was cooked right, from salmonella or believe, and just made me feel so much worse about the situation. The food poisoning felt like a cherry on top at the end. Just want my money back at this point cause there literally isn’t a way to fix this..

The food was not great, The service was non existent, and the whole atmosphere just felt...

We had the pleasure to experience the 'elephant & Castle' for the first time yesterday. And to say we were so disappointed is an understatement. There were five of us, excited to try out this place as we were never before. And we had a day out at the Christmas markets and wanted to go somewhere nice for food after. Our table was booked for 6. We arrived 15minutes early. And got seated right away. The place was beautiful. We were loving it right away. The food on the menu was pricey enough but we didn't mind if it's good food. We ordered our food and drinks at 5.55 and after 30minutes we got our drinks and another half hour we called a waitress over to see if they actually forgot us, we were still waiting for our food. At 7.10 we finally got our food. And there was another cocktail ordered at this point. One person got a chicken supreme dinner for €24.95 and the veggie wasn't included and that was another €5.50. There were striplion steaks aswel for €36.45, also had no veg included. About 7.45 we got the bill and then the second cocktail finally arrived, at this point it was too late for the drink. We were getting ready to pay the bill and leave. It wasn't cheap for what we got. Five dinners & 5drinks. (The second cocktail is included in this, (after the waiter said the cocktail would have been taken off the bill) that was left after us) we paid €187. The restaurant was not busy. I would hate to see it if it was. We will never be...