Duende Gastro Bar — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Laytown — Bettystown

Fine for vegetarians, not great for vegans (2/5 Green Stars) I looked up Duende and the name refers to either charm or a supernatural spirit – maybe both :-) Well, I’m not sure if there are any supernatural spirits in the house but it is a charming place. With a brick wall on one side, a large mural on the other, and candles on every table, it’s a welcoming place. Staff members were also very friendly and helpful – props to the chap from Nicaragua. It’s a pretty meat-focused place. If you are vegetarian, you’ll have several options, but if vegan you’ll find the menu fairly limited. We shared the Hummus & Crudités (€9.80), the Pizza Catalan Veg (€15) and a couple of beers and enjoyed everything. This was actually pretty filling dinner (the pizza was large) for a reasonable €37. The pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, spinach, pesto, Manchego shaving, and mozzarella cheese) was really good thanks to a nice crust and lots of fresh spinach and garlic. The hummus was also very good and nicely presented, with veggies and grilled bread. Would definitely come again but wish there were more plant-based options.

I’m giving Duende 2 out of 5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, for these reasons: • There’s a lot of meat on the menu. One of the best things that Duende could to is to offer some more plant-based alternatives, especially to the beef. Offering a Beyond burger (or equivalent) as a substitute to the beef burger would be a great start. • More information on food sourcing should be provided. • Beer is available on draft, reducing packaging and...

I was not disappointed on my first visit here. Although there were some cons, the experience on a whole was incredible. It was very busy during my visit, which may have contributed to some cons.

Pros: Staff are on the high-end. It's been a while since I've been to a restaurant where the staff is this friendly and welcoming. Atmosphere is top quality. It's stylish, colourful, and lively. Seems like a far cry from the rest of Southgate. The food is, simply put, phenomenal. It is well-presented, well-cooked, and so flavourful. The creme brulee stood out the most to me as the one of the very best desserts I've ever had eating out. They're open until late! This is quite rare to see of a restaurant in the area and a very welcome characteristic. Some nights even have live music, although I did not have the pleasure of experiencing that.

Cons: All this quality does come at a steep price. Be prepared to really spend in this place. And the biggest con: it took exactly an hour from the time we sat down to the time we got our mains served. It even took roughly 30 minutes to serve the starter, which was simply bread, salad, and a bowl of hummus.

Conclusion: This is a restaurant worthy of a stylish and incredible night out. I highly recommend it. The staff, food, and atmosphere more than made up for the slow service during that busy night. I will return for...

Amazing Local Spot with Great Food & Staff Food Duende by accident about 18 months ago while we were going grocery shopping, the smell of grilled steak coming from the vent dragged my wife in for a quick drink and small bite to eat. We weren't expecting much as we had heard mixed reviews. We were blown away with the décor, friendly staff that seemed to enjoy their job and wanted to help you and mostly the food, I ordered the Hot Wings, my wife ordered the fresh cod & chips. Duende has now become our local with at least one or more visits per week either by ourselves or meeting up with friends. Even when they are fully booked up, Amy and her staff will bend over backwards, move tables to get you a seat, which takes me to the staff, over the last 18 months with staff shortages we have seen many of the same staff retained, and the new staff are highly motivated, trained to a high degree to give amazing customer service and seem genuine when they seat you, take your order, say good buy. Its nice walking into a place when the recognize you, know what your first drinks are gonna be, where you like to sit (low table) or when you tell them you have 20 mins as your in a hurry they accommodate you the best they can, always way and above what you...