142 Best Restaurants in Ireland

Bringing his classical training to County Limerick, critically acclaimed chef Wade Murphy opened 1826 Adare with his wife, Elaine, in 2013. Since then, his elegant comfort food has been in high demand, served in a pretty thatched cottage with whitewashed walls and cozy decor. Menus change with the seasons and are filled with the best ingredients from Ireland’s top farmers and producers. Wade’s 12-hour treacle braised beef short rib with Roscoff onions and Boulangere potatoes is one of his most popular dishes, though you’ll find delicious and creative seafood and vegetable dishes too, all accompanied by a great drinks offering.

Even with its location in a relatively unfashionable corner of the city, this high-end bistro has the natives traveling miles to get a treasured table. The five-course set menu manages to be daring and traditional at the same time, with game and fish transformed in particularly ingenious ways. The decor is warm and woody and avoids even a hint of stuffiness, but the food is the star here, with Nordic-type snacks to begin, and mains like the shockingly good black sole with parsley velouté and collard greens. 

At this dreamy little cafe, local, organic, and seasonal are the words to live by, where you can chow down on simple savory and sweet delights, all made with a loving, homey touch. The plant-filled courtyard is also the perfect summer spot for a daytime glass of prosecco and small bites. The surprising eggs and soldiers with roast tomatoes and shallots is a typically delicious dish. Save room for the delicate tarts and moist sugar-dusted sponges. Ask about the fun cooking classes: they're the talk of the town.

When Garrett Byrne, the former head chef of Dublin's celebrated Chapter One, returns home and opens a restaurant, people take notice, and the awards---and diners from all of Ireland---start flooding in. The menu is a work of art, with common French themes toyed with and expanded. The ox tongue and cheek, in sauce gribiche with pickled salsify and horseradish cream, is just about the perfect starter. For a main, try the saddle of wild venison with bacon and chestnut dumpling, caramelized parsnip, and pepper jus. Byrne chose an industrial site beside the disused railway yard and transformed it into a stylish, uncluttered space with a beautiful green canopy for a sense of the French bistro. The oak flooring and curved banquettes contrast with the abstract splashes of bright colors on the walls. The wine list is long and luxurious.

When Michelin-starred chef Mickael Viljanen partnered up with this venerable Dublin dining institution, great things were expected. We weren't disappointed. This wonderful, culture-vulture favorite gets its name from its location, downstairs in the vaulted, stone-wall basement of the Dublin Writers Museum; the natural stone-and-wood setting makes it cozily cavelike. The daringly modern French, four-course, set dinner menu is the talk of the town and W. B. Yeats himself would have loved the roast pigeon, brussels sprouts, pear, offal tart all with sauce perigourdine. The only downside is the place is so popular you have to book well in advance.

Proud of its modern Irishness, Cistín Eile takes the produce of local farmers and applies a simple but stunning brand of culinary magic. The menu changes depending on what's good in the local market. Favorites include black-and-white pudding with cabbage salad, apple, and mustard, or the creamed white rabbit and herb spaghetti. "Hunger makes a great sauce," reads the Irish-language motto on the wall, so arrive with your appetite fully intact. Little time is wasted on the decor, though the space has a homey, warm feel. How they offer dishes of this quality at such affordable prices is a Wexford miracle. And the name? It's pronounced "kishteen ella" and means "another kitchen" in Irish.

Ahmet Dede, formerly of the exquisite Mews just down the street, bestows his culinary magic on his in season tasting menu that can include Wagyu beef, black sole, red mulberry, and brown butter—or even brown butter ice cream for that matter. This chef is living proof that with talent, a restaurant does not need the pomp and trappings of fine dining to offer a feast of flavor---because he's wowing critics both nationally and globally with his local ingredients served with Turkish flair in his stripped-back, casual eatery in the delightful seaside village of Baltimore.

The unpretentious brilliance of this husband-and-wife restaurant and deli just off Nassau Street is what makes the classy little Italian joint so popular. The menu is extensive but simple: panini, a horde of antipasti, a few choice pasta specials, and some evening meat dishes and desserts. The all-Italian kitchen staff work wonders with high-quality imported ingredients. The gnocchi with a slow-cooked ragù of Gilligan's Hereford Irish beef makes a great lunch. A couple of long tables are perfect for groups, and the hundreds of bottles of wine on shelves cover every inch of the walls. 

Chef Derek Fitzpatrick creates a refined and concise menu from local ingredients that have been foraged, or grown by local artisanal suppliers or on the restaurant's rooftop garden. There's a choice between an evening tasting menu (sensibly priced at €60 given the options) with six courses that could include scallops, beef, or fresh catch. Top-notch à la carte menu choices include venison loin with maple squash, spiced lentils and sausage, or wild halibut with crubbeen chorizo, peas, and mussel sauce. The setting is full-on white linen in one of Ireland's finest country mansions, with views through sash windows across the wooded countryside or over the tumbling waters of the Shannon. Allow time to view the Visual Art Collection at Plassey House, which includes the works of Jack B. Yeats and Paul Henry.

Located in an atmospheric, vaulted 15th-century house at the heart of the city, this new, award-winning bistro has a young local chef who trained with some of the best in Ireland. Start with seared Wexford scallops with broccoli, smoked bacon, and hazelnut. Modern Irish hearty mains include the fillet and braised feather blade of dexter beef with roast onion purée, kale, and confit turnip. It's a popular pre-theater spot. 

This fresh, one-stop shop for everything organic and delicious in Dublin combines a huge deli with a cozy cellar wine bar and expansive second-floor French brasserie. Located on the top floor of a beautiful old telephone exchange building, the high-ceiling, light-filled dining room is always bustling. The menu covers everything from burgers to loin of rabbit, but the Wicklow pork belly, celeriac, and Savoy cabbage are typical. Leave room for the lemon-ricotta cheesecake. You can pick up a bottle of wine in the wine cellar and enjoy it for a small corkage fee.

Originally a café in a fish shop, this place has moved up in the world, now located in a sumptuous two-story former art gallery in the town park. TV chef Martin Shanahan, who trained in San Francisco, brings California pizzazz to his dishes. There is an unrivaled selection of seafood available here. Stylish young staffers seem thrilled to be part of the show. Lunch is the big event, although service does continue until 9 pm (except for most of January).

Named after the street in Queens where chef-owner Sandy Wyer grew up, Forest Avenue is a star on the Dublin food stage. The menu is a five-course taster, and while choice is limited, quality and value are off the charts. The open kitchen gives the place a lively vibe and Sandy and her Irish husband, John, are only too willing to discuss each dish with interested guests. A floor-to-ceiling glass frontage allows the light to flood in across the elegant white-brick walls. Try the confit cod with pumpkin and crab velouté. They do a cheaper three-course lunch menu Thursday to Saturday.

Opened by a group of friends, the Fumbally started out with a market stall but quickly became the vanguard of true slow food in Dublin, finding its roots in a spacious, light-filled space smack in the middle of the Liberties area, the heart of the old city. Menus are simple but clever, with the Fumbally eggs, lightly scrambled with Gubeen cheese and sautéed kale, a classic. The pulled porchetta sandwich with overnight fennel and caper mayo is another favorite. A focus on local produce and a warm, unpretentious vibe make it a great place to while away an afternoon.

Owner Roberto Mungo brings his brand of simple Calabrian cooking to this classy little Italian, family-run joint in hip Stoneybatter. There are touches of other Italian regions on the menu, but standouts are Calabrian classics like deep-fried aubergine with tomato, mozzarella, and green pesto and baked mackerel with potatoes, herbs, red pepper cream, and asparagus. The wonderful nibbles menu (each for around €5) is perfect for a quick bite.

Look out the floor-to-ceiling windows and see the veggies that you're about to eat growing in front of you at this family-run, organic restaurant in a revamped barn on the rolling grounds of gorgeous Burtown House. Seasonal and homegrown are the buzzwords on the small, ever-changing menu, where Irish beef ribs with sauteed Savoy cabbage and herb mash is melt-in-the-mouth perfect. The chocolate ganache with sea salt and vanilla ice cream is the pick of the desserts. Burtown House is a small trip out of town on the way to Athy.

Tucked away on a cobbled patio, this surprising haven is part of a Victorian warehouse conversion that houses Hotel Isaacs. Stone and redbrick walls are the backdrop to a minimalist modern interior, while out back a gigantic rock-wall waterfall makes a stunning backdrop to the dining area. The menu features the best of local produce, often served with an unusual twist. Start with organic Ummera smoked salmon three ways—with lemon, beetroot, and crème fraîche on organic leaves—or steamed West Cork mussels (marinière or with chorizo and onion). For dessert, try the iced white chocolate parfait with roast peaches or classic crème brûlée.

Advance booking advisable weekends and during festivals.

Gourmands come in droves to the ruby-red dining room at Dunbrody House, where celebrity-chef Kevin Dundon serves up foie gras with toasted brioche and balsamic-marinated strawberries, pan-seared Hook Head monkfish with garden courgettes and lemon butter sauce, and a chocolate "selection of indulgences." The weekend eight-course tasting menu is a parade of culinary delights. If you're a hands-on type, you can learn how to cook the Harvest Room's delights yourself; Dundon runs a cooking school on weekends. After a memorable dinner, sit back with a goblet of Irish Mist in hand and catch a dramatic sunset fading over the Hook Peninsula. Sunday lunch here is the stuff of legend.

The cloisters-and-refectory-style decor is definitely tongue-in-cheek at this upbeat, fun restaurant in sleepy Greystones, an old-fashioned seaside resort a couple of miles south of Bray. Dinner is served by candlelight and the menu specializes in uncluttered seafood dishes in summer and wild game on cold winter nights. Owner Pat Keown is a great host, and his laughter and love of good food and fine wine are contagious. Sunday lunches, in the bar area, are famous for their length (they often last into the early evening) and for the lively atmosphere.

A unique Korean-Japanese standout in the slew of cheap and cheerful Chinese eateries on Parnell Street (the closest Dublin comes to a Chinatown), Hop House is a restaurant and pub in one. Part of the old Shakespeare pub has been transformed into one of the friendliest, best-value restaurants in the city. The dining room is bright and busy, with little table buzzers for service and the sounds of music spilling over from the bar next door. Traditional Korean specialties like kimchi are augmented with a large selection of sushi rolls, including the mouthwatering crunch roll with king-prawn tempura, cucumber, crab stick, and teriyaki sauce.

This gem of an old Dublin boozer—which was once also the local grocer—has been turned into a gastropub and world-beer emporium, without losing too much of its real Dublin feel. It's the perfect spot for a quick pint of ale and a plate of black pudding (with pear relish and red chard) if you don't feel like a full sit-down meal. Microbrewery beers are hard to come by in Ireland, so the wide selection of small-label ales, lagers, and stouts is reason enough to make the trip to the evocatively named village of Stoneybatter on the Northside. The menu doesn't fuss around with too many choices, but the potted crab with sourdough soldiers is a great starter and the rib-eye steak with whiskey butter and twice-cooked chips is the pick of the hearty mains.

A landmark since the 1940s, Langton's is a labyrinth of interconnected bars and eateries. Up front is one of Ireland's most famous "eating pubs," often crammed to the rafters of its low ceiling with a lively crowd. For more tranquil environs, head out back, where you can enjoy a neo-Gothic garden framed by a stretch of the old city walls. Most of the seating areas, all with open fires, have different personalities—from the leather-upholstered gentlemen's club in the Langton Bar to an attempt at Art Deco in the spacious dining room. The main restaurant offers well-prepared traditional dishes, including (of course) Irish stew and a mean cod in beer batter. There are 34 Art Deco–style hotel rooms upstairs.

One of Athlone's culinary highlights, this bistro is noted for its early-bird menu, which runs through the evening (except Saturday, when it ends at 6 pm), filled with such delights as bacon and colcannon mash with cider sauce, or chargrilled pork fillet. Later on, the beige-on-brown dining room fills up for the main dinner menu, which favors steaks, monkfish, duck, and rack of lamb. For lunch, the most popular dish is tandoori chicken breast on focaccia with sautéed potatoes, although the open sandwich of French brie with tomato chutney on brown bread (€9.95) runs a close second. Irresistible desserts include mud cake, banoffee pie, and lemon-and-lime cheesecake.

Ask joint-owner Annie McNamara about the Left Bank dressing, a specially bottled vinaigrette that people come from all across Ireland to buy.

It doesn't get much better than this 300-year-old, slated, whitewashed cottage with a turf fire and full-length windows that open out onto a terrace overlooking Galway Bay. The specialty is seafood; clams, scallops, salmon, crab claws, and lobster—the restaurant's cornerstone dish. Chicken and beef make the occasional guest appearance. Seat yourself in the conservatory to keep one eye on your crab cakes and Guinness, and another on the crystal clear waters of the bay. 

Located on the Grand Canal Basin which connects the River Liffey and the Grand Canal, this popular new spot features an upturned rowboat on the ceiling, a nod to its location between these two iconic bodies of water. An open kitchen lines the back wall of the restaurant, and features a copper wood-fired pizza oven. The fare is classic American, with generous pancake platters, cheeseburgers, pizzas, sundaes, and giant cookies all designed to encourage lively, casual gatherings and sharing. The bar is a lively spot for after-work drinks and the outdoor terrace overlooking the canal is the place to be for weekend brunch, a fairly new concept and dining category in this city.

The dramatic location of this simple bar on the windswept waterfront of the tiny fishing village of Portmagee has led the Bridge to feature in ads as "the quintessential Irish pub." A simple menu with the emphasis on local seafood, fish-and-chips, and lamb is served in the low-beamed bar's rustic pine interior. From May to September the pretty, adjoining Moorings restaurant serves a more ambitious, pricier menu most evenings. There are also 17 rooms overhead and an ace craft shop next door, as well as set dancing every Tuesday and Friday evening during summer and live music on weekends.

Call to confirm availability of bar food between October and April, as the kitchen closes some days during the off-season, depending on how many visitors are around.

This small thatched cottage is just upstream from where the Dunkellin River flows into Dunbulcaun Bay, the epicenter of Ireland's fresh oyster trade. The local oysters make a regular appearance, straight from bay to plate, though smoked salmon, crab claws fried in garlic butter, seafood cocktail, lobster with boiled potatoes and garlic butter, and fresh crab salad are also on offer. The front bar has been preserved in the "old style," which means it's small and cramped, but very interesting if you want to get an idea of what most pubs around here were like 50 years ago.

This hot sushi bar on suddenly hip Capel Street has given birth to sister restaurants around the city because it finally made the Japanese staple affordable. Japanese owned and run, the restaurant serves fresh and flavorful dishes—all the sushi standards you'd expect but better than anything else in the city. The interior is simple and unfussy: a long, narrow room with dark wood floors and rows of pinewood tables and seats dotted with red cushions. They also do a mean tempura and gyoza for those who don't fancy raw fish.