Fodor's Expert Review The Clarence

Temple Bar's most prestigious hotel, and occasional home to your potential new best friends/elevator buddies, co-owners Bono and the Edge of U2, this renovated 1852 grand old hotel is the place to sample Temple Bar's nightlife, even if your pals are too busy rocking to hang. The design of the public spaces uses a subtle palette of natural tones and materials, and maintains the unique shapes and Arts and Crafts style of the old hotel in the Octagon Bar and the elegant Cleaver East restaurant. The Curious Mister is a Prohibition-style cocktail bar with a bistro menu. Guest rooms, with Shaker-style furniture, are a bit underwhelming, decorated in a mishmash of earth tones accented with crimson, royal blue, gold, and chocolate. With the exception of those in the penthouse suite, rooms are small.