Neighbourhood Naas — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Naas

We dined in Neighbourhood on Saturday 4th Feb, an event we were very much looking forward to after reading some of the fine reviews.

First impressions were that there was a lot of thought given to every aspect of the restaurant from the beautiful warm wood interiors, the table settings, the staff's uniforms and the reception we recieved upon arrival. I must compliment all the staff, they were friendly and very obliging.

Unfortunately, my expectations were not fulfilled as we ventured into our culinary experience. The bare walls and concrete floor, while looking stylish and modern, meant the patrons conversations echoed from wall to wall making it very difficult to hear the servers as well as the members of our party. This resulted in us having our server repeat things a number of times.

The service was good and the intervals between plates was good despite the restaurant being full at the time we were dining.

The starters ( Sourdough Flatbread, Sweetbreads, and Grilled Scallops), while looking great, were disappointing and lacked flavour. We all agreed that our main courses were excellent (Salt Aged Duck, Wild Vension Loin and Whole Dry Aged Turbot) and you got the feeling that a lot of attention and detail was given to these dishes.

The desserts were satisfactory but did not live up to the main course.

The wines, English Sparking Wine with our starter, a Chenin Blanc from New Zealand, and a Gigondas , were all good if not a little on the pricey side for what they are.

We requested the bill and received a bill for another table, a genuine mistake and there was no problem getting the bill for the correct table. The second bill arrived and we noticed that the wine had been left off the bill, thankfully an eagle-eye companion noticed this. The revised bill arrived and we settled it quickly without drama.

It's great to see a new restaurant in Naas and it's laudible that the proprietors are striving for a top quality restaurant, however at the price point they are pitching at in a regional town there a number of things that will have to improve, above all some noise reduction in the main...

We had high hopes for this place after passing it many times, unfortunately it didn’t live up to expectations. The restaurant itself is lovely with a welcoming area for drinks and the dining seats situated behind. We were happy enough with the starters and dessert but the beef main course seriously let the meal down. It was served as if in a canteen. As the waiter put the plate down the chips slid across the dish almost spilling off, and there was a sad looking piece of beef only occupying a fraction of the plate. The chips were very poor, some quite hard in the middle and unseasoned. As for the beef, it was ok but also suffered from a lack of seasoning and flavour. This tied with the abysmal presentation , one felt short changed for €38! We also ordered broccoli as a side which they forgot to bring. After alerting two different front of house, one being the manager (who looked as if he wanted anything more than to talk to us), it finally arrived as our main courses were finishing. Thankfully they omitted this from the bill.

With all of this being considered we were still having a nice evening, but for some reason the manager seemed to have taken a disliking to us. After our dessert he made a comment looking at our plates saying “well I guess this didn’t arrive either”. I’m all for a laugh but his demeanour wasn’t friendly so it just came across as weird!

Then after we payed the bill we realised they had taken our jackets and so were looking for someone to ask. Being the only one we saw we politely asked the manager if we could get them to which his immediate response was “wow you’re very demanding !” Again it just came across as odd.

All in all, disappointing with...

Went here for anniversary dinner and although I can't fault the flavour of the food, its the first time I've ever left a restaurant and had to stop off on the way home to get something to eat! I'm not a stranger to eating out and get that portion sizes are not huge in most high end restaurants but after dropping over 220 euro I wouldn't expect to leave hungry. My starter was scallops which were delicious and more substantial than the main which was the monkfish with razor clams. The piece of monkfish was hard to make last more than a minute it was so small. The razor clam was half a razor clam chopped up into pieces so small it was hard to know whether you were tasting them or not. Luckily I ordered a side of chips which was about a teacup full which I split with my wife who doesn't usually order sides but on this occasion needed something to bulk out the main. I had 3 whisky sours to drink, the first was delicious so ordered another which tasted totally different which I don't really understand if the same ingredients were used. I would have sent it back but the young guy who was serving us was also looking after half the restaurant so couldn't get his attention. The 3rd whisky sour came and they had obviously forgot to put any sugar syrup in it so that went back. It came back sometime later with no foam on top and twice as much whiskey and not that much sweeter. Our server was great he was just run off his feet. Overall a...