Casa Del Toro

Nice food. Nice wine. Good service. Let down by not allowing me to add a tip on my credit card.

This place seems to be garnering mixed reviews, so i thought I’d weigh in on the positive side. Visited last night with 7 or 8 work colleagues, at 6pm. most of us opted for the early bird platter — 7 dishes for € 17.95 or thereabouts. The platter is excellent value, the dishes were uniformly good, and there’s ample food for one. A few of the group tried other menu items. I didn’t hear a negative comment from anyone, and the consensus was that we’d be back. Service was friendly, pleasant and relaxed. They also have some interesting beers. I asked which ones they have and stopped him at the first one I hadnt tried before– Barcino Gotic (pleasant enough pale ale). By the time we’d finished, the place was filling up, but we weren’t pressured to leave as we lingered chatting while our digestive systems got to work. Nice décor too and some outdoor seating on picturesque (!) Drumcondra Road, which will be useful 3 or 4 nights a year (last night was one of those nights actually). All in all, a pleasant and good value experience.
Update 23 August: came here just after 7pm but, after checking, the waitress said we could still have the early bird platter, which stops at 7pm. And now I see why it’s getting mixed reviews. Clearly there was a different chef on duty this evening and, rather than being uniformly good, the dishes on the platter were mediocre to poor. Had this been my first experience here, i wouldnt return.

We’re fairly spoiled in Dublin when it comes to tapas restaurants, so I suppose I was expecting a little more from this place!
At the start of our meal we were given small samples of their sangria to taste and it was delicious. If I hadn’t been driving I would have been tempted to order some so they’re on to something trying to promote it.
We ordered the seafood paella, patatas bravas, meatballs and breads to share and everything was… nice! Nothing really stood out as being particularly good or bad, but it wouldn’t really entice me to go back for more. The portion sizes were fine and there was a satisfying amount for two people in what we ordered.
And then came the desserts. My friend asked for a recommendation and got the cheesecake, which was average at most. I got the crème brûlée and when it came out the top was soft… SOFT! One of the reasons I order crème brûlée is so I can hear that sayisfying sound as my spoon cracks through the caramelised sugar so I was really disappointed with this. I sent it back but the waitress didn’t really see the problem with the top being soft, the second one I got was better but, again, I wouldn’t be rushing back for it!

I’m not a tapas fan, but I’m glad I let myself be talked into trying this new place in Drumcondra. We went on a Friday evening and there was a nice relaxed, but lively atmosphere. The staff were excellent and the décor and seating were nice and relaxing.
The reason I usually don’t enjoy tapas is because I always end up hungry shortly after. That wasn’t the case here. 7 dishes between two and we were nicely full afterwards. (The goats cheese was the best I’ve ever tasted).
Some dishes are a little pricey, but on this occasion, with a nice bottle of wine, good quality food and an enjoyable night I think 5 stars is the only fair rating.

I’m not going to say it was overpriced slop… but it was seriously overpriced Tapas, one which doesn’t have pan tomate on the menu. WTF?!?
Wasn’t overly enthused before the food even came out to be honest. They hadn’t cleared the sign saying two tapas plus side and tea/​coffee for EUR11.95 and it was about 4.30 How is one supposed to gauge when they consider lunch to be over when one is dining in the no-man’s land of dining times? So anyway I was informed of this hecho that lunch menu was over, then, the waiter went off and got the menu which again listed the 11.95 deal so I was like, okay these guys are being really nice. I decided, they came over, didn’t apologize about the mix-​up and just gave me a different menu. The explanation of the dinner menu was coldly rebuffed. i was like, who would be hungry for 7 tapas at this hour? The usually slim girl inside me put it out to the universe that this and other restaurants just offer the lunch menu at dinner time and charged a little more.
Maybe they were trying to introduce a subtle almond flavor to the chutney which accompanied the duck filo pastries (reasonable for five bucks), but it just tasted like cranberry sauce.
The only saving grace was the apple salad. Something I will recreate in the home, (lettuce, avocado, blueberries, walnuts and cherry toms) A dish i feel will be recreated for significantly south of eur7.50
At least the sun was out and the restaurant was clean.

I went here after a week of stomach pains :(so I played it safe with the menu ordering patatas alioli and chorizo in cider. They were very good. The potatoes were just the right amount of garlic. My partner ordered one of the daily specials and was very happy.
The staff were very attentive and at one point took the role of babysitter as one table allowed their kid to run around the restaurant. This was inconsiderate of the parents especially as the child started spitting water on the ground! However, the staff handled the situation with a lot of patience.
This is a good place if you are staying in a local hotel or B&B and do not want to venture into town.

I finally ate here this weekend, we are short on good restaurants in Drumcondra so had high hopes for this place. The restaurant itself is nice, cool bar and décor. The service was excellent and staff were very friendly, especially the hostess who asked us several times was everything okay. The quality of the food was mixed, some of the dishes were tasty but I felt some were below average for the price. This was my real gripe, the Patatas Bravas cost around € 6.50, the same price as some of the prawn tapas. This doesn’t make sense to me and I really think a local eatery should charge less then somewhere in Dublin 2. I would eat here again as it’s handy and it was an enjoyable experience but I really think they should take another look at the cost.

I was a disappointed… I know I know its not a new thing lately. This new tapas bar opened up 4 weeks ago in Drumcondra. I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry and as I was dining on my own I didn’t get to sample many offerings from their menu. I ordered the octopus and the seafood salad.
The octopus was really slimy. Ok it has been a while since I’ve had octopus. but it was just a texture I couldn’t get used to. and I love octopus! It came lightly sauteed in olive oil, sprinkled with smoke paprika and sea salt. For € 11,50 I just wanted to be WOWed. and I don’t think serving it with purple potatoes was a good idea. slimy and mushy. not a good combo.
the seafood salad was good, but I always have a tendncy when the mussels come already de shelled… and all the seafood was tepid… not warm, tepid… I just didn’t enjoy it. the dressing it was tossed in was marvelous though. This definitely was a dish that could’ve done without the potato I really want to go back as I just think I ordered things that maybe are a little out of my depth. The goat cheese tosta looks AMAZING so will be going back for that!
For dessert I finished off with the chocolate mousse which again I didn’t enjoy. Now dessert is my forte. It says dark and white chocolate mousse… I didn’t see the white chocolate mousse anymore? and half of it was just coffee flavoured whipped cream…
Service is efficient and good. I would go back to sample more things that aren’t from the sea.