Chez Max

Fantastic food. The back patio was a great location to have dinner. Left there really happy.

5 stars for me. The menu is what you would find in a typical restaurant in France. While some people might be looking for something more original, this is what I look for when I want to eat food from home. The onion soup is amazing. I could have it as a started and then as a main course. The staff is really nice even though we kept asking for more bread. For the onion soup. The boeuf bourguignon is always a winner with the husband. The price are quite reasonable and they have set menus with a decent selection of dishes.
The playlist can be a bit random but why not.

Lovely way to practice a bit of French on this very nice spot right beside Dublin Castle. Only got to the outside sitting for dessert but it was more than enough to make me add a French restaurant in Dublin to my list of musts!

I found the place too small, very noisy and customers are right next to each other :/​I got the cheese platter which was ridiculously small, even for a small plater I was expecting more than 4 pieces of cheese. I am French and a big fan of cheese and honestly I was disappointed.

great place for having dinner or a caffee feeling for a while you are in Paris.
Close to town and beside the entrance of Dublin castle, bon appetit !!

Ooh la la! We were lucky enough to grab the last table on the terrace on a ‘scorching’ dublin summer evening. (Lucky they had heaters as well!) I was well impressed with the menu.
Unfortunately we were too late for the early bird (only 19 euro!!), but the a la carte was not to dear either. I went for the duck, potato gratin and spinach. Tres bon! The spinach was a bit over salted and it was only half a duck breast, but I enjoyed every bite. I tried some of my friends mussels, a huge portion (but also extremely salty broth) and delicious handcut fries.
They seemed a bit understaffed. We were meant to vacate the table at 9, but after we got the bill at just after 9, we were left seated until almost 9.45 as no-​one came to pick up our bill. Eventually we flagged a waitress. Other than that, no complaints.
TOP TIP: (yet to try myself!) They do a raclette from sunday to thursday for 25 euro p.p. So if you like your cheese and a bit of fun/​dining with a twist, this is a must !

Great french food at reasonable prices. I had a goat cheese and honey salad for lunch (do not remember the french name) and a strawberry tart; just perfection.

Chez Max is a quaint little place down a set of stairs on Baggot street.
The atmosphere is great. Very rustic and classic French feel. Tables a little close to each other but that wasn’t an off put.
Our starters were out of this world. Frogs legs (my first experience having them) were delicious. And 2 other people in my party had the French onion soup which they couldn’t get enough of.
The deserts we had were sensational. The chocolate mousse, cremebrule, and the cheese cake all fantastic. Couldn’t fault them.
Unfortunately, the mains were not quite up to standard. Everything was overcooked. I had the beef bourgenon and another had the special (black sole). We really didn’t like them. Everything had dried out, assumably because they sat under a heat lamp for a long time. The beef also tasted of nothing but red wine. It was like drinking a glass of red wine while chewing beef.
Overall it wasn’t a terrible experience. The setting is quite nice, the staff were fine, and the starters and deserts were excellent. The mains were very bad.
Would I go back? No.

was brought here for the office christmas party a week or so ago, really enjoyed it!
when u walked past the place it looked closed as the ground floor had all it lights off. As it turns out the restaurant is in the bottom floor hidden away. I dont like telling people what to order but! you NEED to order the beef bourguignon. Absolutely delicious! Seriously enjoyed it.

Very nice restaurant with a great atmosphere, try get a table out the back beside the back bar. I had a bowl of mussels which were delicious. The prices were very reasonable for the quality you receive.

This is BY FAR my best French restaurant experience! Great wine, food and friendly staff. Feel right in Paris chez Max!

The experience was nice. The food was good and the service was good. Just nothing amazing.

I wouldn’t say French is my favourite food, but this place made me want to explore their cuisine further. The atmosphere is great, the staff are also French and for a moment you feel transported to their country. Wines are pricey but very tasty — and they even have a terrace! I’ll be back.

A several of the other reviews say, when you walk from Baggot St down the steps of Chez Max, you definitely feel as though you’ve gone from Dublin to a quaint little Mediterranean restaurant: the archways, exposed brick, and French accents transport you to a foreign land.
The food was delightful. I recommend the mussels to start and the hake. My husband had the steak and fries, which were good for what they were but that exciting. I wish we had saved room for dessert, as they looked delicious, but we just couldn’t handle it.
If I could change one thing about the dining experience it would be the music. It was mostly ‘easy-​listening’ covers of late 90’s american music (Back Street Boys, Aerosmith, and Celine Dion). While it made for a fun game of guessing which song was next based on the first few chords, it was distracting from the romantic feel of the place. Why not just some Louis Armstrong and Sinatra?
Oh, and if you don’t like small tables or being close to other patrons as you dine, this place isn’t for you.

I’ll preface this review by saying I was tired and in quite a rush when I happened upon Chez Max one Saturday afternoon, and thought I might stop and get a quick, tasty lunch in the 40 mins I had to spare before an appointment.
The atmosphere was certainly unique as far as most French restaurants go in Dublin, being that the wait staff — and the majority of customers– were all French. The dark wooden interior and the crackling French vaudevillian music easily led me to believe, for the briefest of moments, that I had been transported to a small corner of Paris and not staring down the grotty piss-​stained lane way at the back of The George.
I ordered the Chicken with Tarragon, for € 15.50. The plate arrived after a 20 minute wait, but the taste led me to believe it could have been produced in an eighth of that time. The rotisserie chicken was not only tiny, but overcooked, dry and tasteless. The tarragon cream sauce helped with the dryness, but the flavour was nothing special. I finished the plate in 6 minutes and was still starving afterwards.
Considering the price I was not impressed. I might have ordered dessert if I hadn’t had to leave urgently, so I requested the bill. After 10 minutes I assumed they’d forgotten about me and I had to get up and ask for another waiter to bring it to me, as at that point I was running late for my appointment.
Pas si bon.

Café Max became my dinner venue «place» when visiting from the States and things got too stuffy at the Merrion. When the dignitaries arrived, there was stifling security, police and even a hovering helicopter at the hotel; not my idea of how to unwind after a long day at the office.
Café Max was inviting, warm and quiet — exactly what I was looking for!
I enjoyed escargot for a starter — very good, with lots of hearty bread to sop up all that ‘garlicky’ goodness.
The mixed green salad was oversized and the vinaigrette was tasty, but not overpowering. Very enjoyable.
The Beef Bourginon was everything it should be — rich in flavor, tender and delicious.
When accompanied by two glasses of wine, it tasted even better, especially after spending a long day at the office.
Chocolate cake for dessert and a double decaf (?? We’ll See ??) espresso.
Friendly French waitresses and an especially nice hostess; loved the jeans ;)
Bravo Café Max. Je t’aime!
Good value, food, service & atmosphere.

Avant même de pousser la porte de Chez Max Baggot Street, on retrouve déjà l’atmosphère du bistrot parisien sur le perron et la terrasse.
On entre et nous voilà en France. Une ambiance chaleureuse, un fond musical à base de vieilles chansons françaises et une épicerie remplie de produits made in France!
Un endroit parfait pour ceux qui ont le mal du pays mais aussi pour tous ceux qui veulent passer un bon moment autour d’un café ou lors de la pause du midi.
So… GO GO GO!!!

First time… awesome! Food was unreal!
The lamb n duck were the best ever! Highly recormended!

We just missed the restaurant’s lunch period. That hardly mattered — the bread, French onion soup, and ham and cheese made us believers. The staff were friendly and on top of the service. Chez Max offers a little bit of France in the heart of Dublin. Irish grass-​fed dairy combined with French cuisine, there could be no better duo!
P. S. One will need to channel a monk’s resolve in an effort to leave room for an Apple Tart dessert.

Smoked Makerel with Roasted Beetroots
Caramelized Parsnip and Shallot Tart…
White Fish Mousse…
Pommes Frites…
Need I go on???
Our meal was fabulous and, paired with a couple glasses of house wine, quite reasonable.
I’m a fan of the Chez Max at the Dublin Castle; but, now I’m also a fan of Chez Max on Baggot Street. It’s quite warm and inviting!
Head downstairs to escape the City and enter a ‘le vie en rose’ world just below street level. There are two dining rooms and they’re both lovely with soft amber lighting and rich dark red seating.
I shall return mon amie!

Like descending into a French Narnia, the beautiful bistro below the steps is without a doubt one of the best ways to fill your belly in Dublin.
It doesn’t surprise me that Chez Max was winner of a 2012 Travelers’ Choice Award. The service is excellent, the food delicious, the portions great, and the restaurant warm, cozy and French chic.
I went here for lunch, and got the plat du jour, a glass of wine and a coffee for € 11.
If you can find better than that, I’ll eat my baguette. (quite gladly actually!)

Ah Chez Max! Ah the French! Ces’t Bön! Baguette!
Chez Max is a piece of Paris right at the heart of Dublin. You enter into the little restaurant just outside the entrance to Dublin Castle. The interior items are French, the Waiter is French, the chef is French, the wine is French… if you gaze out the window you can just see the laneway leading up to Georges St, it could almost be a Parisian street.
We were seated inside but there is also a beautiful little outside area where the tables have umbrellas and heaters. All the dishes on the menu are French. You can have frogs legs or escargot, which my girlfriend decides to go for. I had the french onion soup, rustic classic and delicous. Reagans’ escargot are beautiful and smothered in garlic butter.
For mains Reagan gets the duck and I order the mussels. A wall of mussels arrives, a huge amount, which comes in a creamy sauce and french fries. I would never have thought chips and mussels would go well together but it’s a wonderful combination. The duck comes with delicious patato gratin and a delicious red wine sauce.
The pièce de résistance for me, comes at dessert. Their crème broulee is the best I’ve had, hands down. The top perfectly cracks when you hit with a spoon, straight out of the scene in Amelie, and it’s delicious and plentyful.
Chez Max is perfect for a change and definitely hits the mark for a romantic date. C’est magnifique.