Ouzo’s Bar and Grill

The bread basket and house wine says a lot about a restaurant in my opinion — Ouzo’s attention to detail is superb.
My favourite restaurant in Dublin. Their crab claws are divine!

Reading the earlier reviews I’m wondering if I am just particularly picky or if they had an off night. We’ve seen the takeaway ‘shack’ they have on Dun Laoire pier which looks pretty cool, smells divine so thought we’d try the real thing on a beautiful summer Tuesday evening. No reservation but the place was relatively quiet. Service was ok rather than oppressive which was fine. We had calamari to share for starters and I thought there was a distinct aftertaste to the batter and therefore probably undercooked. The squid itself was rubbery and tasteless although my companion was happy enough. For main, she opted for an old– fashioned favourite, scampi and chips. To my taste, the scampi were on the well done side of deep fried and the chips were only ok. I had the seafood bake which, again, was ok, nothing to write home about. It consisted mainly of chunks of salmon in a thick white sauce covered in breadcrumbs and baked for a while. Meh. We had a carafe of house Pinot Grigio with a couple of extra glasses at the end. That was ok. Somewhat disappointed and won’t be rushing back.

If Dalkey a town you must visit in the south of Dublin then the Ousoz is the restaurant try there. It was recommended to me by a local… Are you a muscles, fish & ships or lopters person… they got it all and it is very tasty. Excellent for a diner with friends

I brought 5 french lads in here for a fish lunch on a Saturday. Suffice to say they were impressed! :-)
The key thing — the fish — was lovely — across the board. Aside from that — home made breads offered at the start were truly delicious. The staff were great — very helpful and welcoming even though we had no reservation.
The place seemed neighbourly to me, and I reckon it’s a local institution. I’d return!

thats was our great find in Dalkey, loved the place, the staff, the food. Went only twice yet… recomended to some friends, they enjoyed aswell.

Very unimpressed with the waiting staff and the tasteless food. I wanted to complain, but Padraic Hanley they owner said — we have eaten almost everything, it must not have been too bad. I took it as a personal offense…
NOT RECOMMEDED, unless you want to spoil your mood, your day and waste lots of money.

It’s Friday afternoon and I’ve finished work. Walking through a picturesque and bustling Dalkey I see a sign outside Ouzos restaurant, «Lobster and Crab feast for € 24.95.» My girlfriend is a big lobster fan so I figured this might make a wonderful treat to the start of a long weekend.
We arrive into Ouzos without a booking. Downstairs is small, one corridor of booths and a hall sized space filled with 4 – 5 tables. The colours are white and orange, there’s a lovely light atmosphere in the restaurant. The restaurant seems to be full of the more mature diners. There’s a little screen behind the service area/​bar screening what’s going on in the busy, small kitchen. The Waiting staff are very welcoming, all is white shirts, black trousers and ties, very clean and professional looking and accommodating, we’re brought over to one of the tables with the request we’re to be done by 8.30. It’s 6.45 so that gives us loads of time.
The menu is a bit confusing. The first page is lined out with the lobster & crab feast and the other side is the early bird. It’s not clear if you can mix and match. I suspect probably not. My girlfriend is a little disappointed that it’s not the «feast» for 24.95 we were promised. There’s a supplement on the lobster for the weight. There is a full menu also but we both decide to try the feast menu.
The girlfriend orders goat cheese parcels for starters, me the calamari. For the main we both have the surf & turf. Her starter is very solid and beautifully presented. Crispy pastry parcels stuffed with melting goat cheese on a slice of beetroot. I swap a parcel for some of my calamari. It’s delicious. The calamari is a generous portion but it’s just deep fried calamari, nothing more. Some seasoning on the calamari or the batter wouldn’t go amiss. The calamari is a little hard, though is not chewy.
Our mains come with a fine steak with 3 – 4 crab claws on top. There is plenty of choice for what sauce, I go for the pepper sauce, which is lovely, probably the best component of the dish. The steak is fine, nothing spectacular. The crab claws are tasty. It was a fine dish, but nothing more. I wouldn’t be raving about it.
We get a dessert to share, the rhubarb and apple crumble. The pie is big and piping hot, too hot for my girlfriend, and the crust is too thick, she has a battle to get the spoon to cut through the piece. The cream tastes watery. My coffee was delicious.
I have no complaints with Ouzo’s wonderful waiting staff and the entire room gives the air of a proper restaurant with good food. The food is solid, but it doesn’t shine, I’ve been to other restaurants and paid less for better food. It left me with no desire to recommend or return to Ouzo’s, I’m sure with the ingredients they use they can do better.

Four of us dined in Ouzo’s on Saturday night. We started a night off with a visit to Finnegan’s Pub just up the street a bit from Ouzo’s. Its still a lovely buzzy pub!
Having never heard of Ouzo’s, I was a bit unsure what to expect but I loved Ouzo’s from the minute we got there. Very friendy staff, buzzy atmosphere, very nice décor and a leisurely pace of service. Seafood is a speciality with fish, crab and lobster coming from their own boat, however there’s also a good selection of steaks to choose from if you prefer. The portions were modest, which I prefer, but not everyone likes to see so much of the plate.
I can never resist a mussels starter and this was one of the better ones, steamed in white wine with cream, shallots and garlic. My fellow diners were also very happy with the Crab Claws and also the Scallops.
For the main course, I had baked fillet of Atlantic Cod. It came with a piped herb potato mash and my first ever portion of «samphire», also known as sea asparagus. Delicious. We can also vouch for the very tasty fish pie and the grilled salmon with herbs and sesame seeds.
It was so good that we had to have a cheese board to finish the evening.

Excellent service and wonderful food. What more do you want? Oh yes, great ambience too.

Forgot our mussels appetizer
The bread used for crab sandwich was too thick and didn’t taste right
Credit card machine didn’t work. Had to run out to get cash.
Will not be returning.

I’m so torn if I should give this 3 or 4 stars, so let’s really call this 3.5, shall we? The seafood was incredibly fresh, prepared in interesting recipes (not bad interesting, but good interesting) with my friend trying pan seared crab claws for a starter, while I chose the potted crab and prawn with dill (which is highly recommended!).
For main courses, she had the fish and chips while I had the lemon sole stuffed with Irish crab. When mine arrived I thought it was a bit small-​portioned, with three small button potatoes and two small sausage-​sized fillets but it was incredibly filling! The fish batter on the fish&chips apparently had spicy chillis in them, which my friend adored.
It was a bit pricy, but you really got what you paid for in terms on nicely prepared seafood, good service and it being one of the only places to eat this far outside of the city centre. Would certainly visit again after a full day of frolicking at the nearby beaches!