Café Bar H

I have been here on a number of occasions for lunch and the service is always quick and the staff are very friendly and helpful. The décor is very cool and different. The food is good, nothing amazing but the portions are very big for the price.

Update as on our last visit the service left a lot to ask for… I’m sticking with my rating for the time being as maybe this was a one time thing. The food was still good, though!

Had the chicken wrap which was just ok, but the service was good and they had a really nice ice tea. A bit pricey but very nice place for a quick bite and a drink that I would be willing to visit again.

This café looked lovely from the outside so we decided to pop in for a glass of wine & a light snack. A small glass of house wine is € 6.50. The wine was fine but over priced. Being charged a lot more than normal bar prices I expected the wine not to taste cheap and like vinegar.
I was surprised to see that a ham and cheese toasted sandwich with no extras costs € 11.95. Maybe this café was expecting the Irish people to get more relief from the 2015 budget and that we would be happy to pay these boom time prices again! I ordered a tapas starter for € 7.50. It was fine.
The service was non-​existent. When we finally got waiting staff they acted like they took our order, but the drinks never came after 40 minutes so we had to ask again, and again. Eventually we left. The worst service I have had the misfortune of.

This was my last meal in Ireland. My friend lives right around the corner and was under the impression that this place still served tapas. We were mistaken but chose to dine here anyway as I had an early flight to catch.
The service was terrible. I just wanted dessert but they said they were out of 3 of the 5 dessert items. Strike one. My friends ordered a bottle of wine, 3 entrees and I just opted to get wings. I said I did not want blue cheese when I ordered them. It took about 50 minutes for our food to arrive and my friends were not happy with the portion size of their entrees. It was rather small for 20+ euro. She proceeded to hand me my wings and managed to spill blue cheese all over my arm and hand. Strike two.
We then had to track her down to get the check and as soon as we were about to hand her the card she walked away. Strike three. Although my wings were tasty I will not be back and neither will my friends.

The hostess, Mrs H, couldn’t be nicer and makes every effort to look after her customers. The staff are always very attentive. Food is excellent and good value, with fast service, good beers, located right beside the (Board Gais Energy) Theatre and open to the Grand canal Plaza, it’s a good place for a drink or bite after work or pre-​theatre and alternatively you get the place to yourself when the show is on. It’s hard to beat this place.

I haven’t really been to this place but sheltered from the rain under their canopy with some friends. We were aggressively shooed away by an angry and very ratty waitress. Any thoughts of dining there have vanished forever.

I find this place a little bit odd. It’s a «café bar» but I don’t particularly think it excels in that guise or as a place to eat or drink in isolation. It’s very well signposted in the Grand Canal Dock area where it’s invariably described as «the award winning Café Bar H». Is it akin to Soccer AM on Sky Sports when they used to take the piss and present themselves with awards during the show? The award winning Café Bar H reminds me of this.
The food is average and nothing to write home about. That said, why would you write home after a meal? It has a fairly limited menu these days — perhaps the almost guaranteed custom from theatre goers means they don’t have to be more adventurous in this regard — and it has that repetitive background music you get in most wine bars.
More positively, it’s a nice location if you want to sit outside sharing a bottle of wine with friends on a sunny summer evening (or if you want to get locked on your own) but I wouldn’t really recommend it as a dining option. GCD could actually do with a decent pub as The Ferryman is the only option at the moment and that’s hit and miss.
All in all, I’d give the award winning Café Bar H 13 out of 26. That translates to 2.5 out of 5 but I’m going to round down even though it’s a Friday because I think this place thinks it’s something that it’s not.

I really enjoyed grabbing dinner here the other night. The location is perfect, I love Grand Canal Square, and the décor is very original and really original. The service and staff were lovely just as was the food. It’s a great spot for dinner or even a few drinks if you’re out and about in the square or during intermission at the theatre.

OK it’s about time I said a couple of words about Café Bar H.
Since moving to GCD this has become our go to spot for a quiet drink in the evening and occasionally a bite to eat.
First the drinks. This is not a pub, and consequentally does not have 100 draft beers on tap, in fact the beer range is pretty limited, although they do have large bottles of Tiger so that’s me covered if I fancy a beer. They do offer a number of wines by the glass, including a decent Pinot Grigio for these warm evenings. S_​has been sinking the Sangria de Cava with great gusto and having had one myself I can testify that it is as good if not better than most I have had in Spain.
Although we often pop in in the evening for drink, we have eaten her a couple of times as well.
The food, not cheap, is mainly tapas style, and definitely worth a try. The Smokies, a mix of smoked haddock, prawns and scallops in a white wine and leek gratin sauce topped with parmesan is to die for. Equally the Gambas are perfectly cooked in a lovely garlic herb butter with a side of focaccia. The calamari, served with a mildly spicy tomato sauce, are also excellently cooked and display none of the rubbery texture that is all too common with this dish.
S_​, not a seafood fan, enjoyed the bravas and has also cleaned her plate of the cheese fondue and the meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce.
Service is always friendly, although it can be a bit hit and miss, particularly during the pre-​theatre period. A couple of weeks ago, while finishing off a glass of sangria, I discovered a foil tab, probably from a juice carton hidden away under the ice and fruit. On mentioning it as I was asking for the bill (just pointing it out really it did not impact on my enjoyment of the drink) the server was most apologetic, and the drinks were on the house. It was a simple honest mistake but it is great to see a place prepared to take real responsibility for these things.
They also have a good outdoor seating area although unfortunately it is on the wrong side of the dock to get the evening sun.
All in all, Café Bar H is a great spot to get a tasty bite to eat or a quiet drink.
TIP: They do not serve food late, so if you’re going to a show dine early, and as pre-​theatre can get very busy, give yourself plenty of time.

We’ve been here a couple times in the past few months.
Once was before a show at the theater; although the food was good, there was a bit of a wait and the place was packed to the rafters. Good buzz, but when your going to see a show, make sure you have plenty of time. I ended up scoffing my dinner quicker than I normally would due to time pressure.
To make up for it, we went back a while ago, after the pre-​theater crowd left, so give it a fairer chance. I had the meatballs, and the cheese fondue. Both delish!!! The portions are not massive, and if you order a couple things, the bill starts adding up very quickly.
The cosmopolitans are very nice, soooooo nice. mmmmmm, I do love me a good cosmo!
Not somewhere I’d go when money is tight and looking for a good feed, but if its payday and you need a tasty snack with your cocktail, it does the trick!

Was here for quick bite before Rugby match on Saturday. No Estrella :-(They used to do killer bottles (large) of Estrella Beer. Fantastic. Apparently due to whatever constraints their current supplier placed on them, they’re now restricted to Heineken (on Tap), and Tiger (bottle). Ah lads! That ain’t right!
Food still good though.

The newly renovated place is ordinary. There must be new owners as the menu is no longer Spanish but mediterranean and not great at all. The choice of tapas is small and only ok.
I used to love coming here but I am afraid it’s off the list for great food near where we live. The service is also a bit slow. Prices are not great and the wine selection is very limited. Why do people meddle with perfectly good places to eat ???

Amazeballs!
There is no word in the English dictionary that I can use to describe the excellence of Café H so I have chosen to create another to equal the supreme cuisine of this dining palace.
Myself and a friend had been presented with tickets for the Grand Canal theater one night and decided to visit the up and coming docklands area before the show. Feeling peckish we arrived outside Café H and were greeted in by the most polite well dressed hostess who led us to our desired table without delay. After a light refreshing drink, we were taken in by the glorious atmosphere that radiated around us and could not explore the docklands anymore, it was agreed that we were staying here for the night. Only moments after we ordered the famous Dublin Bay Prawns, we were presented with a healthy portion of cooked to perfection, fresh, steak-​like monster prawns and mouth watering linguine with a delicious garlic and olive oil dressing. Another round of their marvelous Tiger beer that was made to compliment our food was the cherry on the cake.
Unfortunately we had to tear ourselves away from the romantically lit restaurant to see the artists world renowned ‘Offset’ festival in the theater. However we could hardly contain ourselves as we were so anxious to get back to Café H afterwards to explore their new full and intriguing cocktail menu. We submerged ourselves in perfection and only felt guilty when the bill came as we both agreed that they deserved a lot more then they asked for. In particular, I enjoyed the extremely atmospheric bathroom that caused a lengthy stay that other customers in line were suspicious of prior to their enlightenment of its pleasurable experience.
If i could give this restaurant 10stars I would for efficiency, atmosphere, quality, quantity and price. Café H is undoubtedly Ireland’s premier restaurant of 2012.
********** 10stars.

This was my 3^rd time in Café H.
The previous 2 visits were about 2 yrs ago and i LOVED this little place.
Back then, the menu was fantastic– mini burgers, meatballs, terracotta pot roasted rockbass– great selection and great ingredients.
Cut to Aug 2012– mezze plates and restricted menu, none of the above available. Very disappointing.
Pitta bread with hummous? Lazy menu, probably designed to maximise profits. None of the food on offer required much/​any effort at all.
Beautiful room though, fantastic buzz and great service.
Food falls massively short though.
I guess with the theatre opening they stopped making an effort as they have a constant captive audience. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was a scaled back menu for the tall ships festival– i’ll pop in in a few weeks to have a look at the menu, maybe give them another chance… maybe!

I’ve been to this place a few times now and it never disappoints. It would be nice if there were more vegetarian options on the menu, but you can’t really fault a tapas restaurant for that. I really love the pimientos de padrón and the tortilla española. Go for a light dinner and some wine with good friends or that special someone and you can’t go wrong, especially on a nice evening sitting outside enjoying the lights of the canal.

What a lovely location to spend a leisurely evening outside on the patio at night, watching the modern lights over the old canal, enjoying the locals as they dance a little in the public walkway. Nice, attentive staff will guide you thru the evening in the event you don’t wish to think too much about anything beyond the second glass of wine in your hand (beer lovers, forget it, one bottle option only).
Food however was a little disappointing; The use of frozen calamari rings resulted in an appetizer that was a little rubbery, which foreshadowed two fish specials that were a little over cooked, bland, one with a tomato sauce that didn’t taste fresh, and the other served with frozen then deep fried potato quarters that remained on the plate.
Over-​all, an enjoyable location that we would go back to again for a bottle of wine and the very relaxing view.

Had a lovely walk around Grand Canal Dock on Wednesday evening and decided to visit Café Bar H. We ordered spicy meat balls and a hake dish. The meat balls came with a bowl of cubed potatoes, both were yummy. The hake dish was piping hot and delicious (although quite a small portion). We finished with two coffees and the bill was almost € 30 which was a little on the expensive side I thought. The service was excellent and the ambiance good too.

Service A+, food A+, atmosphere B, wine B!
Calamari was amazing! A burger on foie gras with truffle = amazing! Jd = happy man!!!

Went to Café Bar H just after 9.30pm last Friday, 25^th February.
We ordered patatas con salsa mojo, calamares with spicy tomato & roast garlic, crab cakes with romescu sauce, McH mini burger with foie gras & truffle mayonnaise and a ‘bikini, warm sandwich with Serrano ham, buffalo mozzarella & black truffle’ and a bottle of Rioja.
Crab cakes came within two minutes of ordering, no exaggeration. We had barely put down our menus, hadn’t even got our wine and I’m not sure either of us had finished a sentence since ordering.
Four thumb-​sized crab cakes, which were really delicious and came with a sauce you could have eaten on its own, straight out of the bowl.
Just as we were starting on them the bikini sandwich arrived, which was grand (I’m a bit unsure about truffle but that’s a personal thing) but no size for sharing, which I understand to be the point of tapas. However, it’s a sandwich, so perhaps geared more towards lunchtime or lone eating, so fair enough.
The wine arrived at some stage before the calamares, mini burger and patatas appeared in the following few minutes. The calamares were really good, the burger was quite mini and at that stage I was getting a bit flustered by the speed of things so just left himself to eat it (and he really enjoyed it). The patatas were a bit under-​cooked and quite average. The sauce was too similar to the one that came with the calamares, even though it was supposed to be ‘mojo’.
By 10.10pm the food was gone and I didn’t feel remotely full. The food was good but it was so rushed and some of the portions were not for sharing. It really felt like they were trying to get us out as quickly as possible. As we ate there were three staff washing and drying glasses and cutlery behind the bar and as soon as we finished our food the waitress came over and asked if we wanted dessert.
I told her we’d take a few minutes (to swallow!) and then when she came back again a few minutes later and again asked ‘do you want a dessert?’. I was quite frustrated and said ‘well, we haven’t seen a dessert menu yet’ and she replied ‘I’m going to tell you them now!’ then stood over us waiting for a response. Needless to say we didn’t have dessert.
The bill came to around the € 60 mark, similar to other tapas places I frequent, but it didn’t feel worth it. I didn’t leave feeling satisfied food-​wise, even though it was good food, and the service made me almost anxious.
We agreed we would go back in a few months, when they’d settled a bit, but I wouldn’t be in a rush. The food was quite good, but I felt a bit on edge and hurried so I didn’t get the benefit of it.
Maybe it was an isolated incident, a once off, bad luck, but when a restaurant is this new I think that every experience should draw you back and have you singing its praises.
I really hope that it does take off and does well, it’s great to have a choice of restaurants in that area and I love to see new businesses do well. I will go back in time and will certainly update this review, hopefully giving it more stars.