My family will be staying in Dingle town for a week this summer. I would like to know some of your favorite restaurants and Pubs in the area.

We will be renting a car. Our kids are ages 21 and 18 years so Pub food and entertainment should be fine.

Thank you for your suggestions! Laurie

"Inexpensive restaurants" in Ireland is a relative term. I find that most places run twice what I would pay in the US. Look for restaurants serving "early bird" menus. Order less things (just an entree as opposed to appetizer, entree and dessert). Split entrees. You can always get an ice cream cone later for dessert. Wine and beer as well as soft drinks are expensive. Ask for a jug of ice water instead. You may luck out and get more than two cubes! Some restaurants that I liked: Novecento, Lord Baker's, Apple Tree, Global Village, Murphy's.

We had a delightful and reasonably priced dinner at Tir na Ri, which means Land of the King in Irish - and is a Chinese restaurant. It has a nice little conservatory room in the back, overlooking a nice garden.

Thank you very much for your suggestions, Irish Eyes and green Dragon.

Irish Eyes, are the restaurants that you mentioned located in Dingle town or elsewhere on the Dingle Peninsula?

The restaurants are in Dingle town, as requested. Murphy's and Lord Baker's are pubs. Why do you ask?

Sorry for the confusion, Irish Eyes. I am asking because we will be in the area for a week in June and we would like to dine well without breaking our bank.

Thank you for your suggestions!
Laurie

You are going to love Dingle...

we had most of our meals in pubs...soup or stew with that wonderful brown bread is inexpensive and very filling. If you like mussels...appentizer portion is a meal. don't forget to try desserts...usually big enough to share! we also found portions (especially fries) to be very generous.

Would recommend The Old Smokehouse in Dingle. We had a great lunch in Ballyferriter at a pub (can't recall the name but it was just down from the school house...on the same side of the street).

For pubs we enjoyed the Small Bridge and O'Flaherty's for traditional and Murphy's for fun sing a long.

Laurie, I found The Old Smokehouse to have the least expensive good meals. They bring plenty of side dishes to fill your boys up. It isn't inexpensive but with just the main course, I found it the best. This would usually be the only real meal we had. Filled up at breakfast and bought cheese & bread for lunch or had some of the wonderful soup and bread at Pubs. I had two older,young guys with me and it can be a problem feeding them. Also, no cokes or American soda's, way too much. We found a orange drink that was fine. They learned to enjoy hot tea. Have a great trip.

Thanks for your recommendations of restaurants and pubs, chip and chatham!

I appreciate knowing about some of the fun pubs for trad music and sing a longs.

The Smokehouse sounds great! We can't wait to get to Dingle and try it.

Thanks again for the suggestions.
Laurie

ttt

I hardly matters. Irish food is OK, but it isnot exactly haute cuisine. I wouldn't put much effort into looking for restaurants. One place is as good as another.

It DOES matter where you eat in Ireland, despite what curmudgeon lmhornet suggests. As with anywhere else there are crummy restaurants and excellent ones. You can find Michelin star restaurants in Ireland just as you can in France. The fact that lmhornet did not find haute cuisine in Ireland only means s/he did not look for or find it or perhaps did not want to spend the money on it.

Just an interesting side note. Last night I caught the TV special of chef and traveler Anthony Bourdain's trip to Ireland--north and south. It was very interesting. He did a pretty good job of advertising and praising the emerging cuisine of Ireland with some remarkable chefs, all attempting to debunk the myth of bad food in Ireland. Try to find it if you can; worth the watch.

From a personal note--I have never tasted better beef anywhere in my life than in Ireland! Bourdain observed that it is because the cows are corn fed, I believe. Anyway, first taste was late one night in Dublin, when all we could find open was a rather non-descript restaurant next door to our hotel. Not expecting much, I ordered only a hamburger because I was starving and not feeling in an experimental mood. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! I have never tasted a better hamburger before or since that night. It was like a new baptism into beef!

Later in the trip I was a little disappointed in Irish stew, found fish and chips too greasy (with the skin always left on), and wanted to order a beef dish everywhere I went. DH discouraged me from ordering hamburgers, but I wanted to, and I am not a burger lover! I like to always try local food. But I did love the Irish breakfasts and the scones (biscuits) are to die for. Happy eating in Ireland! jg

jgarvey, I wish I had known about the show last night. Maybe I can catch a rerun. Ireland also has excellent lamb, salmon, seafood, mussels, shellfish, dairy products and chicken in addition to beef. I actually had some of the best pasta in my life in Ireland. You just have to know where to dine.

Irish, of course thanks for mentioning the seafood. I am from New Orleans and did enjoy the seafood when I was in Ireland, especially the salmon.

About that Bourdain show, I wish I could remember where he was when he had this HUGE seafood feast somewhere that he almost had an orgasm over! Two things I do remember from that particular restaurant, shellfish that I have never seen or heard about before: periwinkles and these long, thin clams. The periwinkles, which looked a little like snails, were cooked in white wine and butter, dumped from a large bowl onto his plate, and eaten with a tiny fork, like for snails. And then there were these odd-looking clams--long, thin, and flat--that looked very interesting. He also has some grilled prawns and lobster. What a feast! Anyway, I know if you could see this show you would enjoy it, not to mention seeing Bourdain loving his Guiness and the fact that he could still smoke in a pub!--something which you could not enjoy when I was there a year ago. Such a pity! For the love of mercy, shouldn't there still be some place in the world where a man (or a woman, such as myself) could throw back a good whiskey and enjoy a cigarette at the same time? What has happened to civilization??? "Saints preserve me," as my Irish grandmother would have said.

Yup, I caught that episode last night, too. The long clams were 'razor clams'. I don't remember the restaurant name

jgarvey, It must have been in Northern Ireland. At the moment you can still smoke in pubs and restaurants there. Not for too much longer though. I can't wait for the rerun and will be on the lookout for it. I appreciate knowing about it. Sounds great!

Can't go to Dingle without a stop in Dick Macks. We hit almost every pub in the town (which means we are going back in March to hit the rest) but went back to Dick Macks several times. It is a great place that appears to be a traditional pub - no TV, no games, no non-live music, just alcohol, some stools, and people. We met some great people at Dick Macks. We were drawn into the place by the sounds of an accordion and harmonica being played by two customers. Don't miss it.