The Tea Room

The Tea Rooms is back with a revised menu, way better pricing, and is really playing a blinder!
They have a new market menu ()read: good prices). Available all night long (not just as early bird) it provides a great way to have 2 courses for under 20 quid, or else three for (um, can’t recall). We ate from both the regular menu and the market menu, and the food was great. We were eating early on a Friday night (before a gig) and so when we wat down the place wasn’t busy (at 6.30pm in Dublin everyone’s still in the pub except for Americans :-) By the time we were leaving the place was starting to buzz (around 9pm).
Food was great, and staff were very helpful. Fish pie, Lamb Pie, salads — all excellent.
I’d highly recommend to give this place a go. Plus — it has one of the best looking dining rooms in Dublin.

A friend suggested a trip to the Tea Room in the Clarence to try their Market Menu offer, so we booked a table and said we’d give it a shot.
The menu at the Clarence is actually quite expensive but the Market Menu is fairly reasonable. They offer 2 courses for 24 euro or 3 courses for 26, and it comes with all the special treatment you’d expect from this very nice restaurant. One major thing in its favour is that this is not just an early bird offer. In fact we availed of it on a Friday evening at peak dinner eating time.
The venue itself is quite lovely, with art deco surrounding. There was quite a nice ambient piano/​string group playing while we were there as well. The staff are quite attentive but not intrusive and you can see that their definitely trying to cater to the upper end of the service market.
And what of the food… well firstly there was no skimping. We were greeted with those little mini-​tasty thingies, that I’m sure have a proper name in French or something, on arrival. The market menu gives three options for starters and mains… all of which are inventive and interesting, some of which might be off putting for the less adventurous! However the four of us made a good fist of tasting everything because we covered all the starters between us and there was lots of passing around. Portions were generous. The mains were quite good. The Pheasant with the marzipan tasted really good (I know, who would have thought!). We ordered sides with the mains. More to try out new things than to fill us up. The chips (apparently cooked in duck fat) were not as good as I thought they’d be… but you can’t have everything. The desserts were a real treat as we all went for the combo platter, which was four mini desserts. How I made room for a mini chocolate fondant, crème brûlée, lemon tart and tangerine mousse I don’t know. But there was more. With the tea came petit fors (sp?) which for ignorant people (like me) means little, tiny cakes… as if I hadn’t had enough sugar by this point… I polished off two of them!
Aside from the food, one of the most impressive things about this place was how unhurried we were. We were there from about 7 until about 10 and the staff were not desperately ushering us out or hurrying us along at any point. At the same time we weren’t left waiting for anything for ages… although we were looking for a bill for awhile, although I suspect our animated conversation made it look like we were in no hurry to leave.
I would certainly go back but I have one major reservation. There’s no veggie option on the market menu. I dine with veggies frequently. In fact it’s an unusual occurrence to have a dinner out with no vegetarian in the group. Even on the more expensive ala carte menu there isn’t too much for the non-​meat eater. Throw in a veggie option on the market menu and it would be perfect!

It is only appropriate that my first Irish review is for my absolute fav restaurant. I have dined here many times, for work, and for play, and have never been disappointed. The food is amazing, the service top notch, and the wine as good as it gets. There is just an amazing feel to this place, I feel warm and happy all over when ever I visit.
The last time I was there with my husband, they misplaced our reservation for a Friday night, so they offered us a 50% comp to dine on Saturday night instead. We said – no problem! They even made sure we had the nicest table in the place and added a free bottle of wine.
Grab a drink at the Octogan bar first and enjoy your evening.