Avoca Café at Powerscourt — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Bray

Right. Picture this: you swing up the short, winding road from Enniskerry, thinking you're just popping out for a coffee. Next thing you know, you've parked up in what feels like the forecourt of an airport, and you’re wandering into a place that is less a café and more a small country of its own.

Avoca at Powerscourt isn’t just somewhere to get a sandwich it’s a full-on destination. There’s a garden centre, a food shop where you’ll want to buy everything in sight, and a café that churns out coffees and fancy teas like a well-oiled machine.

I had a chicken and stuffing sandwich that was so good it nearly made me emotional, while the rest of the family were tearing into scones and croissants like they hadn’t seen food in weeks. Even my mother was happy they handed her a gluten-free scone, and she’s been raving about it ever since.

It’s a proper hive of activity, a sort of international meeting point where you’ll hear about six different languages before you even get to the till. The terrace outside is brilliant if you can trust Irish weather, which, let’s face it, you can’t. We managed a glorious 12 minutes in the sun before the sky decided to dump a swimming pool on us, as it does.

So yes, you’ll wait a bit, and you’ll share the space with every sort of human imaginable, but it’s worth it. You leave feeling well-fed, slightly damp, and very pleased with yourself. Exactly how a good day...

I was invited by two family members to Avoca Terrace Cafe Powerscourt House as a treat for my birthday.One of the group phoned reception at Avoca Cafe to ask if we could reserve a table for lunch and were told no just to arrive as it wasn't busy. Unfortunately when we arrived circa 1.30 p.m the Cafe was crowded with tour groups etc .So we spent about ten to fifteen minutes trying to bag a table. Finally got a share of two tables.One of us remained with our bags etc and 2 others went to self service to be told no sandwiches on offer even though it was written on Board in Cafe and rather abruptly told whatever is out is all we have !!! What was out was Cajun chicken wraps and a salmon bagel at 7.25 EURO So tough if you didn't or couldn't eat either. There were salad dishes priced from 13.00 Euro. No hot food as far as I could see except Soup at 7.00 Euro. Pricey !! Staff at food stations were rude and abrupt EXCEPT for cashier at the end of the Station. So for such a prestigious address it was a totally disappointing experience catering and service wise. As this is a major tourist site Staff , and Management , even more so would need to up their game...

The place is awfully organised. You get crammed in a corner with a salad fridge and desert options, you cannot see the menu on the wall as its facing another direction so by the time they get your order you have no idea of the options available. Also, there were options on the board that were not available at 13:00 pm!! But there were options available that were not on the wall menu so we basically did a blind order. The kids who was serving us was completely disinterested and borderline rude. A man behind the counter spilled some soup and said the F word in front of 2 kids, we were sorta pushed and shoved a bit as there is absolutely no room for 2 way traffic so absolutely not recommended! If you are going to charge that much for a tiny cake and a regular sandwich, at least repay the value with customer service, you can't be both horrible and extortionate to...