Number One Jocelyn Bistro — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Dundalk

We booked a table for 7 people on 28th December for 5pm (booked very well in advance in November) for 2 birthdays, with family. On the day (28th) I missed a call at 3.37pm and tried to call back at 3.58pm but could not get through on the line (which is a regular occurrence in my experience). I finally got through again at 4.13pm and was told my table had been cancelled and given away. Whilst in absolute shock, I could hear someone in the background say ‘’I called 5 times” and the person on the phone said a call was logged at 11:33, unanswered. This was not true. I received one missed call at 3.37. I was told that this new policy was introduced following a party of 15 people not showing up on Christmas Eve. Unfortunate of course but really not my problem and not something I feel my party should have suffered the consequences for. I have never experienced anything like this in my life and certainly did not expect to experience this from such a “successful” restaurant. We were subsequently offered a table at 6 until 7pm in Jocelyn (obviously not enough time for a 3 course meal for 7 people, which the manager agreed with) or at 5pm in their sister restaurant called cathedral. As we were dressed and ready to leave the house with baby sitters also in our homes with our children, we decided to take the 5pm table in cathedral. It was evident this restaurant was also over booked as it soon turned into a circus with an overflow of people. Not the nicest of atmospheres to eat in. Cant help but think this is pure greed on the restaurants behalf? The whole situation was also not as much as acknowledged when we entered cathedral. To make matters further worse the service was pretty slow and when we asked could we order a desert we were told no! That the table was needed in 15 minutes. We were never told there was a time limit on the table and again I reiterate, the delay was due to slow service, not our pace of eating. I am aware in today’s climate it is a difficult time for business owners, however you need to look after your customers not punish them for other people's lack of respect, especially those who have made the effort to book well in advance. One of our party also called jocelyn the week of Christmas to specifically request a table in a certain location of the restaurant so we had been in contact and were very much looking forward to the night to celebrate our birthdays. I strongly suggest you consider a new confirmation process rather than cancelling tables within two hours of the booking after a call not being returned within a half hour. I was told it was tricky because no card details were attached to my booking. Again, not my responsibility to provide this while booking over the phone. Your staff should have asked me for these and I would have happily obliged as I do this with 90% of restaurants I eat in. The inconvenience and disaster of an experience should have been acknowledged by the manger in Cathedral also but was not and would have massively improved a bad situation to be honest, again poor judgement by the business. I did raise the matter with the manager in Cathedral before we left. He said he wasn’t aware of anything but a waiter advised another member of our party that they were in fact aware we were meant to be in Jocelyn. All very surprising and has left a very bad taste in our mouths and ruined a very special...

Now to begin with, on the 1 point I don't usually frequent upscale restaurants as the prices would not put me off but more the value of the price your paying would. You can run a risk of forking out hundreds of euro for a mediocre meal and service for which you could easily have gotten at a mid level restaurant and been happier for it. With Jocelyn I went in with eyes open and expectations not to high so as not to disappoint myself. The location is in a quieter part of Dundalk so not heavy foot traffic or bad parking but what can be said but only that it is a truly hidden gem in Dundalk. The menu at first seemed a bit daunting but once u figure out where it all lays you can easily make your choice . Beyond the words of poets can only describe it . My burger was a dual smashers party stacked with fresh lettuce onion pickles and cheese and nice chunky chips amazing . My missues got the fillet steak and it almost melted on the fork before she got it in her mouth the perfection of medium rare could not be argued with cocktails all made fresh their selections of wines was off the charts including one of the only places in the county that sells Dom . Dessert was baked Alaskan of which was the best I've ever tasted . If anyone dares to say the prices are too much then ask them how the food was because you get what you pay for . Top service top staff amazing food amazing people in general running the place. Funky up to date clean spotless toilets with David Beckham deodorant for the public I smelled delicious 😋. Very fast service for top quality food done away with me absolutely amazing over all experience of dining at its finest .5 stars to the chefs atmosphere was open welcoming and...

I went with some friends to enjoy a nice dinner... everything was going perfectly until the time they brought us the meat that we had ordered rare, when they brought it to the table and we decided to cut it we realized that we did not have a suitable knife for it , so we asked for one to be brought to us, the waitress took a long time to bring it and when we decided to cut it, the point of the meat was not what we had requested, so we mentioned the situation to the waitress and she told us that she sees it and He takes the plate from us, comes to the bar (which was right in front of us) and mentions it to his supervisor and from there the conversation spreads to the entire staff, with bad faces, bad gestures, looks and inappropriate laughter to deal with. of some clients. They prepare to look at cameras and continue talking among themselves to come to the conclusion that the problem was that he had left the kitchen 15 minutes ago and that by spending that time at the table the point of the meat had changed, we couldn't believe it. …at the end of a long uncomfortable conversation with the manager they decide to replace our cut of meat… but the bad manners, laughter between them, and looks of bad taste did not end. We were very upset to have this experience since we had attended this restaurant more than once and had never had any mishap. But after this experience and contemplating the lack of professionalism in addressing the situation, we will not return. A gastronomic experience is not just a good meal, it is the whole from the moment you enter until you leave that restaurant and it is the restaurant's professionals who must...