Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel

We returned home from NZ to KK for a holiday and spent many evenings in the Hibernian bar. The staff are really friendly and attentive. We also ate in the restaurant. The seafood chowder was delicious and all the food is really well presented.
During the winter they light the fire and it is super cosy. A welcome break from the cold Irish winter. Accommodation is available but I can’t say what the rooms are like. It seemed like a very popular destination however.
Would definitely recommend popping in here for lunch or a quiet drink

Very impressed! Staff were above and beyond helpful and friendly. Food was delicious and good value. The Guinness was exceptionally fresh and creamy but I didn’t expect anything less as I noticed most patrons were drinking the Black Stuff when I walked in.

No, no, no, no, no.
A friend recommended I stay here and I will have to have worlds with him when I get home.
The room was tiny. That’s fine. I don’t need a big room.
The bedspread was extremely worn and had holes in it. Maybe I could have overlooked it. The room was cheap. Suck it up.
The room smelled like disgusting air freshener. Can’t get past that.
The bed was destroyed. Completely sunken in and there’s no way I could have slept in it.
I checked out and went down the street to the pembroke hotel. Much better.

Bar food very good and consistent… service solid and overall good… chicken with black pudding good… I will be back

omg. I had written off any possibility of good food in Ireland– I am just not a fish and chips or stew kind of gal. and then I found this place. After a plateful of amazing lamb shank so enormous I couldn’t finish it, I will retract my disdain for Irish cuisine. You apparently just need to know the right place to go. And this is, by all standards, the right place.

So we began across the street at their sister restaurant, but since they were out of the stew, they suggested a bigger menu here. Seat yourself in this beautiful and nostalgic pub/​gastropub setting with dark wood floors and friendly staff. The menu was awesome and specials were intriguing. I got the Easter soup which was an easter celebration in my mouth! Haha the thick broth accompanied by hard boiled eggs, cooked carrots and a soft, hearty sausage was soothing and comforting and seasoned perfectly. It was served with a crunchy on the outside soft on the inside bread. The crab cakes which were on the specials were good but nothing special. The beer was cold and delicious. I would definitely go back… great spot to hang out, and enjoy good food and beer. The waitstaff worked as a team which meant speedy service!

Stayed here recently for a hen weekend and was pleased with the location and service. I stayed in a twin room and had dinner and breakfast in the hotel. The dinner was nice — not amazing but the breakfast was a triumph with lots of selection and hot and cold options. The staff were all very friendly and I really liked the old-​fashioned style of the hotel — I mean that in a good way! It had personality and catered for our group very well.

The Hibernian is another favourite of mine for a Saturday coffee in Kilkenny.
Quite like The Marble City Tea Rooms in terms of choice on the menu, quality /​quantity of food. They also do a mean scone with cream and jam — a real treat.
There’s a log fire burning all day, even in summer, and there’s nothing better than sinking down into the huge comfy couches with your paper /​iPhone for a lazy hour on a Saturday morning.
What puts me off about the place is (wait for it) the lighting. I know it seems pointy and gay to mention it, but they use multi-​coloured spots — lurid red and pink — that are really at odds with the warm wood-​and-​leather décor of the bar. If you’re sitting directly under one of these lights it actually puts you off the place. If only they’d switch to soft lamps everywhere — I’d be giving it a 5 star!
Anyway, bad lighting aside, the bar of the Hibernian Hotel is one of the best in Kilkenny, not to be missed when visiting our fair city.