66%The Seafarer Restaurant

Sadly the Seafarer is no more - Mike has taken off to Spanish Point's Armada where he heads up the Restaurnt there.

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by anonymous – posted on Oct 21, 2008

My boyfriend booked ahead of time and requested whether ‘The Seafarer’ could accommodate us for a romantic dinner for two for my birthday. The restaurant insisted that it would be suitable for our requirements. On entering, you are immediately standing at the till/reception area. There is a... more My boyfriend booked ahead of time and requested whether ‘The Seafarer’ could accommodate us for a romantic dinner for two for my birthday. The restaurant insisted that it would be suitable for our requirements. On entering, you are immediately standing at the till/reception area. There is a small high top waiting table further along the entrance corridor, which leads to the toilets. To the right of the entrance, slightly partitioned, is the main restaurant floor, which is quite small. They say that they can seat 35 at a time but that would be pushing it I think. On arrival, they hurriedly began preparing the high-top table with bar stools, situated beside the toilet door for us. You can imagine our discomfort at this development, particularly as two older ladies who arrived after us were seated at a table on the main floor. On protesting, we were told to ‘take it or leave it’ and that they had turned that particular table three times that night so surely it was good enough for us. We did not want to let the matter rest but were met with total ambivalence. As the other customers looked on, and with some having to squeeze by us to go in and out of the toilet, we were left feeling exposed and embarrassed. The menu is relatively pricey, with mains averaging at about €25. The interior is slightly shabby and neither the décor nor the personnel reflect the cost of the menu. To pay such prices, you would at least expect a sanitary and comfortable seat. At 9pm on a Saturday night of a Bank holiday weekend, we felt as though we were left high and dry. As we tried to sort the situation, we could see that two other groups were unhappy with some element of their meal as they complained to waiting staff. Luckily, I called an excellent restaurant nearby called ‘Holywell La Taverna’ and although booked out, once I had explained the poor treatment we had suffered, they pulled it out of the bag for us. We enjoyed the service of extremely friendly staff and excellent, fresh seafood at half the price. Having spoken to some locals, we were informed that ‘La Taverna’ is indeed the favourite for connoisseurs of good food. No respectable establishment would offer such a table as attempted by ‘The Seafarer’, or if by special request they would at least offer some kind of compromise. To add insult to injury, our taxi driver that night informed us that his daughter had received the same treatment when brought out for a special meal by her boyfriend, booked well in advance. Unfortunately, at only about 19 years of age they were naive enough to put up with the situation – even though they were charged full price for their meal. They were of course very disappointed afterwards. It would seem there is a policy at ‘The Seafarer’ to treat younger clientele with less respect in the hope that they could pass off bar stools as normal seats and pack more in on the main floor. I doubt they would try that trick on an older customer. Cowboys!close

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by rushshan – posted on Aug 10, 2007

2

The most amazing seafood restaurant. Wouldn't be able to find anything better in a 5 star restaurant in Dublin! The desserts were gorgeous too if you are able to squeeze them in!

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by aisling – posted on Jun 21, 2007

71