Roast

Really nice upscale environment with interesting menu. Had the chicken liver parfait and it was classic with a great fruit confit. Friend had salmon pot which was okay. We shared a baileys cheesecake that was terrible… Vine was available by the glass, carafe, or bottle; which I liked. Lastly, we walked in at 9:50, and apparently they close at 10, but I saw them seat tables well after 10, so I thought that was smart of them. Would return

What you see is what you get. Doesn’t look fancy from outside — isn’t fancy inside. The food is a reflection of what you see — simple. We go here for Friday lunches sometimes. The service is good most of the time.
I love the buffalo blue cheese burger — fish and chips — also good. I wouldn’t order anything else. Salads are on the smaller side.
It’s an honest place, that’s why I give them 3 stars.

We ate downstairs in the pub so we could enjoy the football/​soccer game on TV. The tomato soup and bread was really delicious and the buffalo and blue cheese burger was also very tasty.
It was a weeknight and the pub wasn’t too crowded or noisy. Just good food and a relaxing atmosphere.

First time here. Smelled amazing. Very clean. Food looked amazing when brought to table. I had the pork roast. It was gross. Tough, fatty and the flavor was bad. Didn’t like it and won’t come back. Waitress was very nice. Atmosphere was good.

Ok place, but having spent a few weeks in the area I believe it’s mostly for tourists. Not the most impressive Guinness I’ve had in Dublin either.

Went here with my friend on Friday evening. The waitress was from Mayo and couldn’t have been more helpful. We mixed and matched food from the menu and nothing was too much trouble. My friend had a voucher and this had no effect on food quality or service. Every course was gorgeous and I am known to be one of the pickiest eaters ever, a nightmare! We rolled downstairs too full to have one last drink! I will definitely come back, and recommend it to anyone for good food in relaxed atmosphere with great staff and brilliant chef.

Outstanding lunch fare at a fair price. Stumbled into this place quite by chance — looking for lunch that wasn’t pub food. I normally avoid gluten and Roast obliges by actually marking their menu © for celiacs — thanks for that!
I ate the goat cheese and grilled vegetable salad and added some flank steak for only 2 euros more. The substantial salad had some seriously good flavor. With coffee the total bill was 10 euros. I predict I’ll be back over and over again to try more of the menu.

This is one of those places I’ve passed several times, and just never gone in. I actually had looked up their website at one point, and thought, «wow, this food seems a bit over priced for being in a pub.» For some reason I thought it was a pub? Who knows what I was thinking. Either way, my husband and I came in here after getting one of those groupon/​living social/​grab one whatever it’s called deals to go out for a nice dinner before I had left town. Wow, I was impressed!
Our service was impeccable, and the food was delicious! We each started off with our own calamari, and ERMEGERD it was amazing! I’ve always been a fan of calamari, but there was something about the way they seasoned it, and the dipping sauce that was just so delightful!
For dinner, I had their chicken supreme, and my husband got their slow roasted lamb shank. Now, I’m writing this review about 2.5 weeks after having eaten there, so I don’t remember everything about the meal still, but I do remember thoroughly enjoying my dish, and my husband enjoying his. I will say, the vanilla mashed potatoes did throw both of us off a little bit, but it was still good.
Despite the fact we had a voucher, our service was still very good. BUT, there were all of like 2 other couples in the restaurant the entire evening. I hope the business picks up in this place, they’re pretty good, and we will very likely come here again.

I’ve been here twice — both times using a voucher.
Now, I know that some people will say that you can’t judge a place properly when using a voucher, but I disagree — surely the whole reason for a restaurant to offer vouchers is to give people a taste of their great food and service, so that we’ll go back without a voucher?
Well this restaurant had the opposite effect. The first time we went it was mediocre. Food was very average, and even with the voucher I didn’t think it was worth the money we paid.
Some friends of ours wanted to try it out, so we went a second time with another voucher, and it was even worse. The «bellini» we were meant to get on arrival was some kind of mildly sparkling plonk with some syrup squirted into it — vile.
Again, the food was pretty boring, and unmemorable, and we were made to feel like second class citizens for having a voucher.
I have used vouchers before, and ended up finding favourite restaurants, which we have returned to again and again. Unfortunately this is not the case with Roast — even though it’s only down the road from me, I’d rather go to Subway.

Tuesday evening after the Easter bank holiday and there are tumble weeds dramatically rolling down the main street of Ballsbridge, pretty much everyone has gone straight home after work and probably straight to bed, quite right too!
Not so the family Q, no, we have a
voucher for Roast that expires this very eve, so hell or high water, we will use it!
The place was quiet when we went in, only one other table. probably just as well, Junior was in a vocal humour. Not a lot of atmosphere as a result of the emptiness but not uninviting all the same.
The music in the background was that of the ‘someone I’ve never heard of butchering the classics’ sort — this time a band called ‘Nouvelle Vague’… what they did to music from everyone from Violent Femmes to Talking Heads was practically a crime… no, not practically, definitely, a crime.
Thankfully, the music tracks were the only classics that got butchered, the culinary classics we ordered up were well worth ordering.
I got the chicken on beans with Chortizo (not bad, needed the chips that were ordered separately), gougons and chips for Junior and she who must be obayed as usual managed to order the dish I really wanted but didn’t know I wanted till I saw it and by then it was too late so I had to settle for stealing bits when she wasn’t looking.
Yup, definitely the dish I will be going back for (because Wifey is wise to all my scrounging tricks) will be the Pork belly, it was spectacular.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ for the service, our waiter was attentitive and chatty (but not too much)
Probably only ⁷⁄₁₀ for the food, with the exception of the Pork which was somewhere close to 9.5÷10
Price wise Roast is not expensive; this is the perfect place for just grabbing a quick bite, it is not fine dining by any means but well worth a visit.

On a cold winter’s evenin’
On a train bound for Howth
I’d got on with my Rambler
I couldn’t wait to eat…
So off I set for Roast to avail of a voucher I’d had. I was early so I sat at the bar in Mary Mac’s and had a pint and read the paper — a nice start to the evening.
Then Mrs M came in and we headed into Roast. Not exactly hopping and not the most atmospheric with the slightly-​too-​bright lighting but it seemed nice enough.
Went for the chicken wings for starters and they didn’t disappoint. I was torn between the fillet of cod or the half roasted chicken for the main and the steak was her choice. Both came back with a good sized portion. The stuff of Goldilocks dreams… not too big, not small but juuuuust right. And tasty. As was the steak which was cooked to perfection in terms of what had been asked for.
The service was really good as well: our waiter was a very pleasant young fella and was attentive.
Can’t fault the food or the service at all based on this.
It is a touch pricey at an average of € 16 for a main, I’d have thought and it’s that and the apparent lack of a dimmer switch for the lighting which lets it down.
In light of what I’ve given 4 stars to, it’s probably a 3.5 but 3 stars here wouldn’t be fair given how much I enjoyed the food.

While at the pub, on a rambunctious rugby playin’ weekend night, I had too many pints of Guinness and before I knew it, food stopped being served. Bastards. At least the bathroom hadn’t been closed early, and so I made my way downstairs to the ladies’ room when I looked out the glass door window and spotted something… a pig. A suckling pig. On a spit. I don’t remember opening the door, I only remember standing in a line behind rugby jerseys and business suits, shifting from foot to foot impatiently.
Roast, a restaurant on Merrion Road, provides the downstairs Crowe’s Pub with their food. And it was Roast that had what I was standing in line for. The young chefs were working frantically, smothering the Irish Tomato Relish and applesauce onto a bun, shaving the tender slices of piglet, a few slices of cracklin’ and then topping it off with a stuffing heavy with sage. A heapin’ behemoth of post-​Thanksgiving goodness on a Saturday night in April and all for € 7.
How can I explain how good it was? Well, I shared it with my traveling companion and almost got into a fist fight when I thought I hadn’t the same amount of bites he did.

Roast is a new-​ish restaurant above Crowe’s Pub (and next door to Mary Macs/​Paddy Cullens) on the Merrion road. It is easy to miss as it has just a narrow door and sign at ground level sandwiched in between the landmark pubs.
It occupies 2 floors and the main window overlooks the Herbert Park hotel and the Anglesea Road, so good for watching people streaming out of the RDS after a Leinster match.
The first floor is set up for more intimate dining while the top floor has larger tables to accommodate bigger groups. The décor is tastefully done, well finished and classy.
As for the important parts, the service was very good, though we were there on a quiet Tuesday night, so your mileage may vary at busier times. The wine was served at an excellent temperature (Red, Shiraz), and was a good example of the variety. It is not an extensive wine list but this was a reasonable bottle for a reasonable restaurant rate.
The food was very good, the Hash Brown and Black Pudding starter was the right size and extremely tasty — I was reminded of a similar hen’s egg starter in the Pig’s Ear on Nassau street.
The main, a rump fillet was cooked to perfection (ordered medium, now that I know they can be trusted I would order medium rare in future). The duck fat chips as a side were tasty and the mashed potato was the creamiest I have had this side of the Atlantic — which is how I like it :)
My only slight disappointment was the crème brûlée dessert — I am a huge fan of this dessert, and it came with the accompanying sorbet in the middle of the dish itself — not something of which I can approve. It was, however, very nice besides that one misstep.
I will reserve a 5 star review for a return visit so I can confirm findings and expand my experience of the menu, but certainly a good first step. Besides the wine, the meal was approximately € 30 a head (no starter for my partner). Reasonable enough, but not cheap. The wine and the tip brought things up to the € 50 a head mark.
Last but not least, I believe they have a bar menu for consumption at Crowe’s downstairs. Given the quality on offer in the restaurant proper, this may be an economical (and less formal) way to sample their wares in the future — we will have to give it a try :)