Roly’s Bistro

A really nice place with amazing food. We were not able to finish but the meals were truly delicious and so was the wine and beer. Highly recommended if you are in the area.

Not a great experience to be honest. We nipped in looking for lunch when close to the RDS arena for web summit — fair enough they were very busy, but the experience, food and service was all pretty poor.
The crab sandwich at 14 euros turned into a game of spot the crab (I’m still unsure 4 days later if there was any in there among the Mayo mess…) and we twice had to chase up our teas after they forgot them/​got them wrong…
Overall the café experience was very poor for what ended up being a 30 euro plus lunch for 2 of us.

Wow well this was a big fat disappointment. I’ve been to Roly’s several time over the years with the parents — it’s a real Sunday lunch, birthday or graduation dinner kinda place with my family. So, at the Web Summit yesterday, I decided to bring a colleague along. Now, of course it’s only fair to mention that the Web Summit was on in the RDS, so everywhere was crazy busy, but honestly, it was still a really really shoddy experience.
We were seated in the café part that was barely clean — the free tables really needed a good wipe down, they were all a bit scattered haphazardly, there was no water on the tables, and it was all a bit cheap & cheerful looking, only without the cheer…
We both ordered the crab sandwich which sounded delicious and at 14 euro, was head and shoulders price-​wise above the rest of the sambos that were in around the ⁷⁄₈ euro range. It was the saddest looking sambo I’ve ever seen. Essentially a mayonnaise sandwich with flecks of crab, it didn’t take long to finish. It was ‘garnished’ in the classic Irish way with some leaves and a pack of crisps. I’d have liked to have thought that we’d moved beyond this — the standards set by Green Bench, 147 and the likes, would shame a place like this in charging double the cost for something I could make better at home.
What happened Roly’s?

After having walked for a few hours in wonderful Dublin it was time for us to get something to eat. On our way in to the city we had seen Roly’s from the street, and we were curious enough to go back for dinner. For a Tuesday evening, the place was surprisingly full of people, but they managed to find us a table. And then it al started. The service and the food was excellent. I had the Sirloin Of Prime Irish Hereford Beef. So tender and tasteful. The Apple Pie for desert was also very good. Going to a place like this for dinner makes a difference, the day simply gets a little better. Thanks!

No complaints here. My husband and I met for lunch and grabbed take away to eat in the park on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. We both got the tandoori chicken sandwich on a multi-​grain baguette. The chicken was well prepared and the baguette was perfection. It was a large sandwich– I had half left at the end of the meal. We also tried the potato garlic soup and it was very flavorful and delicious. Service was quick and courteous.

Visiting from Denver for a conference and came here for a meal for speakers that was hosted by the organizers. The place was rammed … i mean completely packed jammed and on a Monday. I was totally exhausted after coming off the red eye so don’t really recall too much about my visit, except that the food was good and the service excellent. I went for a Salmon entrée which was very tasty indeed.

Solid place great value we both ordered the 2 course prix fixe — did a starter and a main which comprised of a roasted garlic potato soup with some chives and pancetta (I think this was my favorite) then a chicken wonton dish. For the mains /​roasted chicken breast over mashed potatoes — baked cod wrapped in Parma ham over minted peas. These were served with a side salad and then 3 different veggies — we had ordered a bottle of Puligny Montrachet to go with the meal and it was awesome. Their bread that is offered is also quite tasty! Very polite staff — all in I think this place is a great value for what you get!

I had a lovely starter here — sea food kind of thing, then steak for main — I honestly had better steaks in my life — nothing spectacular.
Don’t go there for lunch — too busy, staff can’t handle all the people and small dishes — Caesar chicken salad is hilarious in size.
They do nice take away dishes for those who are too lazy to cook though.

I really enjoyed my recent brunch at Roly’s. My eggs Benedict were fresh and delicious. The egg was poached perfectly. My husband had the eggs Benedict with salmon– the fish was fresh and he enjoyed his meal. Service was good. Their bakery and take out meals look great as well.

Visited Roly’s on Sunday to celebrate my cousin’s 17^th birthday with the family. The upstairs dining room is an airy, open, elegant space that has always been busy each time I’ve eaten here. The crowd mainly consists of older clientele and families — the restaurant’s calling card is that it’s well established rather than trendy and here is where the problem lies I feel. I’ve been to Roly’s to celebrate family occasions over a number of years and I can’t say that the menu has changed very much at all since my first visit. What you get at Roly’s are well-​executed classics that are basically crowd-​pleasers but not at all exciting. It’s not that the food is bad, in fact, it’s really quite good, it’s just that it’s all a little boring. Judging by how busy the restaurant was, I guess they are going by the old adage «If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it», and although I’ve never had a bad meal at Roly’s I can’t say that I’m looking forward to the next time a family occasion calls for me to eat there again.
I had the Ham Hock Terrine to start, Fish and Chips for my main and the Brownie Sundae to finish, all were good dishes — the starter in particular was tasty with its accompaniment of zingy piccadilli that jazzed it up, but on the whole, they just weren’t memorable. The bread they serve to start is seriously delicious, as was the root vegetable purée and dauphinoise — but these little extras aren’t enough to compensate for a very conservative and static menu. Service as ever, was excellent and the atmosphere is always good too, I just wish they were a little more adventurous with the food on offer.

Woh-​ho was I unimpressed after going for lunch here.
First of all: I got the salmon and mayo sandwich and whilst I was expecting it to come out on some of that «oh-jayzus-that’s-good» brown bread (the one they had on display at the counter), what was presented was a disappointing sliced-​pan style, meagrely-​filled sandwich. This was accompanied by a side of crisps that brought the whole dish down a good few notches on the classy-​scale.
To add another further bitterness to my already sour state of mind, my friend got a side of chips and, at 4euro per portion, it was a complete joke. You could probably count 12 in the dish. In terms of quality, they were about as enjoyable as a sweaty armpit in the face on a crowded bus; grotesquely yellow and kind of shrivelled –avoid at all costs.

Had a great experience in your restaurant. The food was great and it was nice not feel we were being rushed out of the building after we had finished our meal and the service was great.

Having failed to get through to a neighbouring restaurant, my American customers were successful in getting a reservation in Roly’s. They were well pleased with the food, service, and overall ambience of Roly’s. I reckon to survive so long in the Dublin scene, Roly’s must be doing something right — or maybe they just don’t take their eye off the ball like a lot of other establishments do !

I’ve heard a lot about Roly’s over the years so it was about time we gave it a try. We went last night for the set menu option which came in at 35 € for a 3 course meal, or 29 € I think for 2 courses. We had a lovely glass of processo to start and the starters came so quickly it’d make your head spin, but we both really enjoyed ours! Main courses were big, neither of us had a hope of finishing all the accompanying vegetables and potatoes which meant that we only had room to share a desert. Food overall was good but nothing life changing! Saying that I would happily be back again! The staff were wonderful! That really is my overriding experience of the place, they were so professional and friendly, really added to the experience!

I love this place and anytime I’m in town I try to call in for lunch or dinner. Fantastic food, friendly staff and nice atmosphere. They also cater for large groups. I had a work dinner there in March 2013 and we were approximately 50 people; this was not a problem and everything was perfect.

Ahhhh Roly’s, my good old pal and probably the most understated restaurant in Ballsbridge. Sure everyone knows that it’s been around for donkey’s years and the staff are incredibly friendly, but do you really know how insanely delicious the food is??? DO YOU!!!
The host Liam is without a doubt the friendliest man in Dublin. He gives you such a warm welcome, I half expected him to sit down and join us for the dinner. The décor is homely, yet posh with white linen table cloths.
After receiving the menu, the staff are accustomed to having to come back to the table multiple times to take orders as the selection is so fast. Fillet steak, Monkfish, Lobster, Fish Pie, Pasta. The list is endless. And every single dish is cooked to perfection. Literally perfection.
I went there in a group of 9 and for the starters and the mains — for dessert we all got the gluten free triple chocolate mousse cake (stop it! your drooling) — there were only 2 plates that were the same. I almost had to kick my Dad under the table from licking his plate clean it was that good.
If going out for a special dinner with your family this is the place to go — it’s our family’s favourite.

First off, let me preface this by saying that I’ve visited a few times and really enjoyed the food and service but when visiting with a group we had a negative experience and I’m not at all pleased with how it was handled.
It was my brother’s graduation meal and we had a table of 10. We all had a set meal and thoroughly enjoyed all the courses. My mum especially loved her steak. The problems started around the time our desserts arrived. A 20 something year old from the table beside us had had a bit too much to drink and knocked over the bucket that contained our wine onto the floor as he returned to his table. He apologised to our waitress but not to us, nor did anyone from that table offer to replace the wine. Our waitress picked the wine bottle from the floor and put it back in the bucket. That was it.
Ok, we’re here for a celebration, we’re not going to let one thing ruin the whole night (although I was pretty appalled at that point and I’m usually pretty easy going). We settle the (considerable) bill and see the offending bottle of wine still there. Ok, fine. Whatever.
We go to the cloak room and get our coats and my mum is handed her Marks and Spencer’s shopping bag with her brand new coat. So we’re in our taxi headed home and my mum looks in her bag. Apparently there had been two identical bags handed in to the cloakroom and now someone else’s bag was on the way home with us. We turn the taxi back around and head back. My dad goes in to change the bag for the correct one and for the first time he is asked if everything else had been ok. He explains the situation and the host apologised and offered to send a voucher as compensation. My parents don’t live in Ireland so it wasn’t any good to them so he gave them my address instead. That voucher has yet to materialise 3 months later.

I really like the cakes here! But was really disappointed today! Myself and some friends decided to go to rolys café after work today for coffee and cake! The place was empty only 2 tables of customers, but they wouldn’t let us sit in, take away only for cakes, dinner only at night. Now if the place was busy we’d totally understand, but it was half 6 on a Thursday and the place was empty! Would really put me off going back to be honest!

Let’s get one thing straight: I am not a foodie. I can appreciate a tasty dish as much as the next person but I’m usually happy with pizza and chips or a nice ham sandwich. Before the denizens of Unilocaldom chase me from the land with pitchforks and torches I will say that Rolys subverted my philistine attitude towards food.
At first I thought it was like any other upmarket restaurant, overwrought presentation and pretentiously unusual ingredients, and initially I thought I was right but when I tasted the food I was promptly silenced.
For starters I had the crab and chicken wontons with sweet chilli sauce. The crab was the highlight here and the sauce was possibly the nicest sweet chilli I’ve ever tasted. For main I had the fillet of salmon with sides of veg and before I’d even tasted the buttery goodness of the salmon the vegetables had already blown my mind. Broccoli and carrots shouldn’t taste this good.
When it came to dessert I was already slightly overloaded on taste but I pushed on nonetheless. The warm chocolate pudding with ice cream finally pushed me over the edge. I made up my mind that I had never eaten such delicious food in a restaurant and my non-​foodie stance lay in ruins.
Go to Rolys if you want to have a lovely evening being served by delightful staff and eating food that is so good you go slightly insane.

I have only ever had brunch here and loved it. This was the very first café I went to when we arrived in Ireland and has been a favourite since. Good coffee, nice scrambled eggs and great smoked salmon. The pastries also look great.

Nicht vom Namen täuschen lassen! Das Roly’s ist eher ein Restaurant als ein Bistro.
In der Nähe des Herbert Parks gelegen bietet es auf 2 Stockwerken eine exquisite internationale Küche.
Das Mittagsmenü liegt bei ca. 25EUR, das Dinner bei ca. 45EUR. Die Hauptgerichte liegen bei 25EUR+. Dafür bekommt man aber auch hervorragendes in stilvoller Umgebung. Das Personal ist zuvorkommend und freundlich.
Gönnt man sich nicht alle Tage, aber wenns mal was besonderes sein soll. hier ist der richtige Platz!
Reservierung wird empfohlen.

Das Roly’s ist ein völlig unscheinbares Restaurant in Dublin. Ich dachte zuerst es wäre ein eher mittelmäßiges Restaurant, aber schon beim öffnen der Tür wußte ich, daß ich in einem sehr angesagten Laden bin. Es war brechend voll und der Empfangschef geleitete die Gäste zu ihren Tischen, sobald einer frei wurde. Es gibt dort extra einen Warteraum.
Bei uns hat es gut 15 Minuten gedauert bis wir einen Tisch bekamen.
Am Tisch dann die nächste Überraschung. Eine lange Speisekarte mit sehr ausgefallenen Kreationen. Wer bislang meinte irische Küche sei eher bodenständig und einfach, der wird hier eines Besseren belehrt.
Die Speisen waren allesamt von außerordentlich hoher Qualität und ich kann wirklich sagen, daß ich selten zuvor so gut gegessen habe. Vor und zu den Gerichten gab es immer auch Körbchen mit besonderen Brotvariationen und irischer Butter. Wie gut kann so ein Butterbrot doch schmecken Mmmh, seitdem nehme ich nur noch Butter aus Irland. :)
Die Preise sind allerdings auch entsprechend hoch, man kann schon sagen, sehr hoch. Für ein dreigängiges Menü sollte man schon mal um die 40 Euro einplanen und zwar ohne Getränke, aber dafür bekommt man auch etwas Besonderes geboten.
Am Besten laßt Ihr Euch einladen ggg