Blackboard Bistro

The Blackboard Bistro was a fantastic find. It is a cozy little place on a side street close to the Trinity campus so very accessible if you are staying in Dublin. The service was excellent, attentive but not overly so. We had booked a later reservation but requested a last minute change to an earlier time. They kindly accommodated us. The menu was small but had a nice variety of choices. We each tried one of the four starters and mains. I had a lovely hazelnut soup and pan-​fried cod dish, my boyfriend had the squab starter and steak main. Everything was cooked perfectly and the accompanying vegetables were lovely. Beautiful presentation and quiet atmosphere made it the perfect last evening’s meal in Dublin.

Loved this place. Relaxed atmosphere. Staff were extremely friendly, accommodating and helpful.
Food was just simply perfect and excellent variety and choice of wine.

Creative menu and very nice presentation. Food was excellent as was service. They could have more menu choices and appears that menu changes often as the items online were different than at the restaurant. Wine glasses were pored a little short in my opinion and they were not offering any hard ciders. Overall a pretty good experience.

Beautiful presentation and wonderful dishes. They have a small menu of good things which is always my preference. I hate it when a restaurant tries to have 100 things on the menu; stick to what your good at. Everything was wonderful, even the bread that came with the meal. The lamb shank was plenty of food, wonderfully prepared and tasty. The salmon dish was also beautiful, but a bit small of a portion. Its a nice small place that makes you feel at home.
Note, it is downstairs in one of the old victorian buildings, so don’t be turn off when you see the stairs.

Excellent food! The rib eye steak with potatoes were done to perfection. The honeycomb saffron crème brule was heavenly with the tea jelly and fresh pineapples. We were recommended to come here after not being able to get a table at The Pig’s Ear. We had high expectations at The Pig’s Ear and hope when we do have our dinner there, it would measure up to this. Two thumbs up!

Perfect place for a low-​key lunch/​dinner or romantic evening with outstanding food! It’s central, yet off the beaten track, so that the quality of the service, food, and atmosphere is very high.
I’m glad that my friend made a reservation ahead of time, as it is an intimate space that can only seat so many people.
Also, I loved the jazz music! When I’m back in Dublin I’ll definitely come here again.

Pretty tasty food, nice dish presentation, and fair price for a 3 course meal. Ambience was just ok– folding chairs, tight space and commercials between songs (I mean come on you can splurge for Spotify premium…) Not itching to run back, but also wouldn’t be opposed to trying it again. If you go, be sure to book a reservation ahead of time.

A romantic dinner for two in Dublin. Certainly very different from your run-​of-​the-​mill Irish food! Absolutely delicious French cuisine served by a very friendly owner (?). There were only two slight downsides to this restaurant, which barely affected our evening at all: the restaurant was very understaffed, making the service quite slow; and the romantic French ambiance was slightly ruined with silly 80s pop tunes! Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time and would recommend this place to any couple visiting Dublin!

Allons-​y (Get thee to) the Blackboard Bistro! The unassuming name and street-​level façade belie the excellent French fare served up down below. The BB would not be out of place in Paris (including the smoking on the patio), although the wait staff are much friendlier and will humor you (et moi) if you want to practice your French (mais oui!). The downstairs restaurant is intimate, lowlit, romantic AND (I’ll say it again) French… i.e., Great place for a date! It would be perfect if they’d play some Edith Piaf rather than the 80’s rock soundtrack, but the noise level is minimal and allows for easy conversation. The menu includes ~4−5 dishes each in starter, main, and dessert categories (whatever they can fit on the blackboard, I guess!). You can also read the choices off of the one-​page printed menu provided. All of the dishes are daily specials (except the steak, which is a fixture). The food is superb, seasonal, and satisfying, like the starter tartifilette of potatoes, smoked haddock, cheese, crème fraîche, and garlic, followed by the pork belly main with roasted potatoes and chorizo sausage. Desserts are also magnifique in any language, with a fantastic cheese plate on offer As noted in other reviews, prices are commensurate with the quality: 3 courses will set you back 30+ euros each. If you’re economizing, two could share a starter and dessert (or cheese course) and each have a main and that would be plenty of food. The Blackboard Bistro strikes a nice balance between classic, heavy French food and prissy, sparse nouvelle cuisine, as well as between the very formal restaurant and casual café. What could be better on a cold, dark Dublin night than French comfort food in a cozy bistro except un bisou from your date? Kiss! Kiss!

This is a little gem of a placy. A big group of us went here for a birthday celebration a couple of months ago. I hadn’t heard of this place before, so I couldn’t vouch for it to my buds. Luckily, everyone seemed to enjoy it. The atmosphere was great-​very small, chilled out, and nicely lit (not too dark, not too bright). The background music was great as well. The matradee was very friendly and helpful from the moment we arrived. The best thing about this place is the food-​it was absolutely super! Everyone was happy with what they got-​simple french food (done ridiculously well). The portions are quite small but this is a good thing, and by the end of the meal everyone was stuffed. I couldn’t fault anything about this place apart from the length of time it took to get served. But then again, given how great everything else was most people were happy to overlook this. When the food did arrive it was beautifully cooked. When this place claims to be coeliac friendly, it really is. Overall, a great place. Nice touches like decorating the dessert plates with handwritten in chocolate ‘happy birthday’ wishes, and general attentiveness made the evening very enjoyable for everyone. They didn’t express any irritation at the fact that we were up and down like yo yos to the smoking area, and If I remember rightly, we kinda hung around til after 11pm, but didn’t feel like we were being ushered out of the place. I really liked this place in spite of the size and the length of time we had to wait for our food.

This place is great. The restaurant is quiet and small but really cosy. The staff are friendly and help give the place a real French feel as they all take turns in going out front for a cigarette.
The food is delicious, I’ve had both pigeon and venison as main courses and I would recommend either. Starters and deserts are also fantastic and they have some great wine too with which the staff are more than happy to advise you on.
It can be a touch pricey but you get what you pay for and if you opt for the early bird its a steal. I think 3 courses for € 22 (approx).
Overall I really like this place and will definitely return again.

This is a pretty nice little restaurant in the city centre, because it is in the basement of the building I used to walk past it all the way but decided to have lunch here the other day. The restaurant is pretty small but it wasn’t too busy for lunchtime. Having a look at the menu I decided to go for a starter and dessert, because the desserts sounded delicious. I had the baked goat’s cheese stacked with Aubergine and other Vegetables and then the ginger crème brûlée which was just yum! The service was great, the food was pretty good as well and best of all the two courses were less than 15 Euro and pretty filling. The mains were also all below 15 Euro so I can recommend this place for lunch.