HQ Restaurant and Wine Bar

I like this place! Very chilled out, perfect for pre and/​or after show drinks if you’re going to the theatre across the road. Have only been here a handful of times but they’ve got IPA on tap which makes me happy!

Good food if you can catch them when they are actually open… Which is never. Don’t let the posted times fool you. They close at random hours even if you see people inside. 2pm closed… 20:00 closed… I only ate here once and I believe it was around 11am on a Friday?

I popped in for a catchup with friends and ordered some brunch, their prices are more reasonable than when it was Ely. Food was tasty and good value, only downer for us was the waiter was a bit rude when we tried to move from our outside table which was cold into an indoor one. He got very short when I mentioned there was a table free and asked that I stand by the main desk then left us there. Eventually someone else said we could take the table, to be fair on the staff it was a very hectic morning but a little courtesy goes a long way.

Dublin is full of great restaurants and cocktail places, HQ is neither.
Had the burger, and the bun was burned black and compleatly took away all flavor of the drycooked burger inside and the fillings, the chips was very good how ever.
Ordered a Old fashioned cocktail, and it seemed like they forgot to use bitter and sugar, but this allowed me to try whiskey with a orange peel, and cocktail cherry’s (horrible!)

Welcome one and all to Dublin, Circa 2005, the boom is at its height and the bright and beautiful are spending their evenings dining out and worrying not a jot about things like bank balances and the economy.
…this is very much what it feels like as you walk into HQ, the place is buzzing, almost full with after work diners, enjoying the low lighting and wine.
From the small but well balanced menu I chose the chicken supreme wrapped in Parma ham… Wifey, a little more adventurously, had the Cod fillet with a carrot and coriander curry foam.
The Chicken was excellent though perhaps a little salty (I’m Irish so A. I’m OK with a bit of salt and B. I wouldn’t complain anyway), the Cod was a little odd, but good.
Staff were friendly but not massively attentive… I found I was waiting a long time to get anyone’s attention any time I needed something (wine, order food, to get the get bill etc.).
No question we’ll be back, the place has a nice feel and the food was good, but for a quick bite, not a long evening in I think.

Gave it three chances. Food was overpriced and average tasting. You pay for the ambience not the food.

If you are looking for tasteless food, this is the place. I am writing this as i am having dinner. I ordered lamb, my sister ordered a hake fillet and my husband ordered chicken. The dishes are overpriced and the food is absolutely tasteless. The dish is very basic and to order side dishes you must pay even more. Will I come here again? No and neither should you.

Meh. I got the crab and prawn risotto. It was not all that. It was a little too al dente. If I had a choice I probably wouldn’t go again, I just didn’t think it was all that special for the prices. The menu is very small, so limited options for the picky eater.

Incredibly charming for outdoor brunch on a Saturday (coming from a New Yorker with lots of brunch options and experience). We were staying at a nearby Airbnb and this and the Herb Street restaurant next door were perfect ways to start the day. I had the salmon salad which was really good and tea.

The staff is bit slow, anytime, no matter is it busy or not. Although very friendly. Try chicken wings and the cheese board, also, salad with halloumi, yum

Meh. I mean, there’s nothing really special about this place. I mostly come here with co-​workers because my office is pretty close and the proximity makes this a convenient choice. The food is overpriced and average — especially if you don’t consume meat. The drinks are just… standard. I really like ambience which is probably what you end up paying for but there really isn’t much apart from that.
I’d rather go to Herbstreet next door or find something in the city centre instead.

I have eaten here a few times, twice on a work lunch and one for a girls dinner. The food was lovely each time and the staff were friendly. Great location for a pre show meal. It can get very noisy at busy times though so you can’t really have a conversation

Every time I’ve been here it has been because we’ve actually had the intention of going to Herb Street, get told that we’ll have to hang around 40 plus minutes for a seat so just say, «feck this, HQ again?»
And in fairness, it has never left me down. I think everytime I’ve been here, I’ve gone for the hash which is delicious with a fried egg on top and lovely crispy bits of bacon with the golden potato cubes, yummers!

HQ bar is located in the beautiful Grand Canal Docks beside the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, a truly under appreciated part of Dublin that shows signs of a city from the future.
I’ve been to HQ on nights out and also for coffee in the day, and every time it’s impressed me with it’s cool laid back vibes and a real feeling of class. There are big comfy couches for you to chill on while drinking their (good) coffee, the staff are super attentive making sure you’re being looked after & the space is wide open and airy, meaning you have room to breathe. This also means you can get some privacy to yourself and some friends if you feel like having a low-​key chat.
At night the place really shines with the great attention paid to lighting creating a sleek ambiance & the bar serving a huge array of beers & spirits meaning everyone is catered for. I have yet to try the food here but I’ll update my review when I do.
In short: Whether you’re in the mood for a midday coffee of a late night whiskey, this cool & trendy place has you covered.

Have eaten brunch a few times in HQ as we never seem to manage to get a table in Herb Street next door! They do a nice selection, but it’s a little pricey and the portions are a little on the smaller side. I usually brunch to cure a hangover so I tend to like a feed of eggy/​carby goodness that’s more on the epic end of the scale portion-​wise a la Whitefriar or San Lorenzo’s — but I feel that HQ is going for a more refined affair and I guess that’s just not really for me. The food is nice though and the service is good and I can’t say that I’ve ever left unsatisfied but it’s just missing the buzz of other brunch spots around the city and the wow factor in terms of its menu. Wouldn’t make my list of go-​to places for brunch but it’ll do again in a pinch.

I work in the area and I have been here a few times for lunch. They do great GF burgers, awesome brunch (I recommend the bacon & hash), and their chicken wings are just the right kinda spicy.
The service is wonderful and the staff is very attentive. I’d love to come here sometime at night to see what the scene is like then.
All in all a great place.

This was until recently the Ely bar at the grand canal. So if you’re familiar with Ely’s this is pretty much the same place by a different name, which means good selection of beers and wine, nice food menu options if a little bit on the pricy side food wise.
The place itself is nice though, plenty of seating options, from proper tables for dinner, seats at the bar and around it for after work drinks, or comfy couches for a long session catching up with friends and chatting.
The location is great if you’re a tech worker in the area, for dinner or after work drinks, but this place is also great pre theatre as it’s very close to the grand canal (bord gais) theatre. I’ve been here plenty of times when it was Ely’s and after my latest visit under its new name/​ownership I will definitely keep coming back!

Terrible lacklustre service from staff who seem to spend more time nattering at the bar and chatting with each other than keeping tables clean or getting orders right. Juices were bland and boring and I’d be surprised if they were freshly pressed. The fries were decent but everything else was terrible. The brownie was awful — dry, tasteless and served with horrible cheap strawberry syrup. The ‘selection of cheeses’, which arrived on the third try, did eventually have a ‘selection’ of cheese and some dry bland crackers and acidic grapes, but none of us was impressed. Won’t be going back.

Formerly known as Ely, HQ seems to be pretty similar so far. I’ve been here a few times recently for a late brunch or early lunch and while the menu is not extensive, the food is good, the service fast enough, and you can usually find a space. On my last visit I had the eggs florentine which were lovely — the hollandaise sauce in particular was a nice surprise since HQ serves this normally rather thick sauce in a lighter, slightly foamed up variation. On another occasion I asked for a different omelette than the one on the menu and got that request without a problem (and a huge portion too!). The only reason I’m not giving it five stars is the rather small brunch menu and the fact that the staff seems rather insecure and has trouble remembering orders at times. Overall I’d recommend it and will probably be back.

Located in the spot formerly known as Ely Gastro Bar, HQ is basically the same place with a different name. They are now open earlier and I think they simplified the menu a bit. The fries are served in the same basket that Ely did, the seating and look of the place is the same as Ely, and the food tastes about the same as well. They have improved upon one thing over Ely and that is the service. Ely was notorious for having bad service and from my first experience at HQ it appears they paid attention to that feedback and the service now is much better.