Cyprus Avenue — Restaurant in Belfast

It has felt like an eternity. Although we have enjoyed some fantastic “at home” kits from many of our favourite eateries, nothing quite compares to the traditional restaurant experience, and we just couldn’t wait to return to Cyprus Avenue, one of the very best in Belfast.

The CA team have really gone to town to ensure that the customer feels comfortable, and most importantly, safe in their amazingly inventive and expanded outside terrace.

The updated food and drink menus feature some new dishes, but lots of the old favourites are still there.

We enjoyed a glass of fizz (thanks Aveen!) while we perused the menus, then got down to the serious business of lunchtime cocktails! Well, we felt that we deserved to push the boat out. It’s been a long time since we heard a cocktail shaker that wasn’t our own! And can we just say that the CA Old Fashioned was well worth the wait!

Waiting for us at the table was a bread selection with hop butter and CA’s wonderful tapenade which we made short work of while we ordered our food.

The starters included; Crispy harissa spiced squid with avocado and mechouia salad, Bbq pork and Sporeshore mushroom dumplings with black vinegar dressing, tenderly sweet scallops with chicory, black pudding, and a poached egg, Kimchi cabbage dumplings with Asian slaw and a chilli dipping sauce, a spiced beef raviolo, and a wonderfully pink pigeon breast special.

After a “rest to digest” ( I think we’d forgotten what great value for money Cyprus Avenue’s small plates are) the main courses arrived.

The red lentil dahl with curried cauliflower, raisin, coconut, and poppadums is a filling vegan treat with a gently comforting heat. The Grange Farm chicken cooked in Long Meadow cider was moist and delicious, served with Corndale salami and potato gnocchi. We can never resist a fish special, and Cyprus Avenue had two on the menu; a whole plaice served with prawns and curried cauliflower, and an East Coast seafood mixed grill, both championing local fish suppliers.

A shared dessert or two always brings a great dining experience to a satisfying conclusion, but three? When they’re as good as Cyprus Avenue’s sweet temptations, why not? The chocolate and passionfruit tart has a surprisingly savoury smokiness, and had a very grown-up dark cocoa hit. In total contrast, the Baked Alaska with its light, fluffy mound of meringue cloaking a zingy mango sorbet and surrounded by coconut shavings is an indulgent sugary treat. And somewhere in between lies the creamy Raspberry & white chocolate cheesecake on pistachio sponge topped with a crispy macaron. Sublime.

Thank you Cyprus Avenue for a fantastic lunch with attentive service from a great team for whom nothing was too much trouble. We’ll be...

Zero acknowledgement from staff while we were waiting to be seated. When we were finally escorted to an outside sheltered corner area (that had multiple heaters on and blankets at every seat) we were given a table that went down hill. Literally! The waitress didn't seem to care when I pointed this out. She handed us slices of bread. We asked for side plates and got saucers! Starters came out cold and the soup nearly spilled out of the bowl due to the incline, no joke! It was like the starters were sitting out for some time. At this stage all 4 tables around us had left. It was really cold the kids had coats on and we had blankets covering us. When the waiter came back we said this, he said if we wanted to move but when we turned round the mains had already arrived! The Mains: Cold! Salty and ham was as thin as packed sandwich ham but hard and crispy! Beef was raw. No sauce on the chicken. They had all been sitting prepped for sometime. After half finishing the mains the staff had forgotten about us (or just too embarrassed to come near us in the artic)! We had to go and ask for the deserts which took forever to arrive and I think if Poundland sold Eton mess it would have been better! It was gritty and old and an extremely small portion (then again no one finished it, it was that bad) cheese cake wasn't any better. When the rain started the ceiling also started leaking! We just decided to pay and leave at this stage. The waiter did not have the decency to look us in the eye, ask how our meal was or even a thank you and have a nice evening, or her knew better. The front of house however was pristine, tables clear even music, not like where they had seated us where the tables were still dirty from the previous customers. They were greedy trying to cram so many people in on 1 night and not able to cope! The menu is deceiving. It is worded extremely badly. Prawn cocktail and Wheaton translates to half a glass of mushy prawns with a slice of mashed avocado and no seasoning and a cracker style Wheaton It's not Wheaton bread and there is no rosé sauce you traditionally expect with a prawn cocktail! Waste of money and a lot at that! The only good thing was...

I'm sorry to be writing a negative review as I've heard so many good things. But my partner and I went here for a mothers day meal and were so disappointed.

We were still queuing outside in the rain after our reservation time had passed. We were eventually sat in their outside dining area. It's fine, but nowhere near the vibes and atmosphere as the main indoor restaurant.

We had the 4 course mothers day set menu. We waited far too long for our drinks, I had to ask twice for them to be located. Unfortunately my cocktail tasted like water and an order for a different drink had to be followed up on as it also didn't make it to our table.

Our starters arrived around half an hour to 40 mins after we ordered, but this was before the bread and and our drinks had even been served to us (I had to ask where the bread was after watching other guests recieve theirs upon arrival). We ate our bread after our starters but then waited almost an hour for our mains. These tasted fine, just fine, and certainly not worth the price we paid.

By the time the mains were finished we had been sitting for over 2 hrs, had actually stayed over the time they request the table back, and our dessert orders hadnt been taken yet. By this point we'd had enough and left without desserts.

It felt very much as if we were forgotten about. I had to go and find staff to request updates on our orders multiple times, and the set mothers day menu was overpriced for the quality of food we received.

We understand it was a busy night despite a definite lull when we were sat, but the whole experience was in no way worth the...