The Cloth Ear — Restaurant in Belfast

Went on a Friday evening for dinner - two courses of mains and dessert

There were no reservations bookable online but thankfully were able to get a table for two.

The bar was busy enough but well staffed and they do have a good choice of drinks on the menu. We waited at the bar for the table to be prepped which wasn’t long at all.

Table was comfortable, at a good height in relation to the seating level which were comfortable.

The music was great, however, at one point the volume was significantly increased, which did mean shouting for conversation.

Food review

I had the fish and chips which were nicely presented. I think the chips were slightly undercooked and didn’t get a beef dripping taste from them and were unsalted.

The fish was really, really nice. Perfectly cooked and batter was lovely.

The sides were also nice. Mushy peas had a nice tang to them. The tartare sauce(?) I think was very buttery in taste which I wasn’t a fan of and not very tangy if it was tartare sauce. The curry sauce was lovely though.

Burger was nice but slightly plain. Skinny fries were nice too.

The homemade ketchup relish was really nice, had a beautiful sweetness which went nicely with the fish.

For dessert, I got the ‘tiramisu’ profiteroles, which are in quotations are these did not taste of tiramisu at all. No coffee taste or mascarpone. there was some sort of buttercream between the profiteroles to aid the stacking but the flavour was lacking. Very disappointing as I was quite excited for these:

Sticky toffee pudding: sponge was tasty as was the sauce. Think the presentation needs improved however. The vanilla ice cream clearly does not have real vanilla in it as there is no black seeds throughout.

Unfortunately, uncontrolled by the restaurant, the couple, especially the man, beside us stared at us for long periods and listened to our conversation throughout the entire time and was extremely uncomfortable for both myself and friend.

Staff were attentive enough.

Total price was almost £60 odd, which I don’t think was reflected in the quality of the food so I’m not sure I would recommend or...

I've been delivering food to the cloth ear for a few years now and never actually been in for a pint or something to eat. I've always thought it a was a nice looking place and never had any reason not to go other than I don't head into Belfast city very often. Today, I called in to change that and I was not disappointed. It lived up to all of my expectations. The staff were all very friendly and seemed like they new exactly what they were doing and what was going on around them. Attentive as they should be and clearly have some experience behind them. I had a pint of Orchard thieves which was lovely and my girlfriend's Carlsberg seemed to be going down well too. We had a Ragu pasta and some battered chicken strips both of which were devoured. I tried both dishes and couldn't really fault them. In fact the batter on that chicken will probably draw me back to the city centre alone. Standard city centre prices but being part of the merchant, this place feels just that little bit more 'fancy' or something along those lines. Next time I'm in Belfast for drinks or a meal I'll definitely keep the cloth ear in mind....

Shame about the service. Was looking forward to eating here as heard good things. Left incredibly disappointed.

Seated on arrival and given menus.

No body came to take drinks orders.

So after waiting and trying to get attention, I ordered at the bar. Only had 2 of the three gins in stock, no Hendricks unfortunately :(.

Back at the table and needing three trips to carry everything, with no offer of help, we continued waiting to order. Finally, was able to get a waiters attention.

Ordered food and water. Never got the water.

Our bread arrived. Lovely bread. But no side plates. Used up our napkins and ate off the table.

Ordered Red wine before the meal arrived. Only had two of the three red wines in stock...

Meal arrived and we were halfway through our meal before we got our wine.

While one of our party was still eating we had THREE waiters try to clear plates. After begging for attention for the rest of the meal, it was as it now they were wanting to be rid of us.

The food was lovely. It's a shame about the truly poor service from everyone. Including the...