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Aniar

4.5 (27 reviews)
Ultra High-EndIrish
Closed Closed

Aniar Photos

ANIAR ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Good for groups

Recommended Reviews - Aniar

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Joel A.

I love going to Michelin star restaurants not only for the food, but also for the experience, and Aniar did not disappoint. The restaurant was small, intimate, and humbly decorated. This wasn't one of those places that demands that you know you're in a fine establishment through their extravagant decor. The courses were well-paced, interesting, experimental, beautiful, and most importantly tasted delicious. I found the experience entertaining, exciting, and interesting, as I was guided through the many courses of our meal - curious about what creative take on a dish they had lined up next. If I find myself in Galway again, I'd like to also find myself back here. I'd give this restaurant a 9/10.

Steven H.

There is a reason this place is Michelin star rated!! The food was incredible, and the service was outstanding. Our somm was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about wine. We had 23 courses, all using fresh ingredients from Ireland, and the wine pairing. Every dish was fantastic, except for the scallop ice cream, and it was a fantastic culinary experience. One of the courses was Irish soda bread with a whipped butter infused with leek vinegar. I kid you not, I had tears in my eyes eating that bread and butter!!! If you are have a chance to eat here, I highly recommend it!

Awesome! Service was amazing! Only course we were not a fan of was the oyster ice cream.

Plum dessert drink
Diane S.

Dining here was more than just dinner, it was an experience. I had made reservations a couple weeks in advance and was dining with a friend with a number of allergies that I had written in ahead of time. When we were seated the allergies were immediately addressed and our waitress had brought out our custom menus that had been printed just for us. My friend received a menu different from mine that addressed each of her allergies. I was very impressed. The food was amazing. We ordered the 6 course dinner, which was really closer to 14 small dishes. Each one was delicately plated, and each ingredient was thoughtfully paired on the plate. Aniar is committed to serving locally sourced food and I think that really shined through their tasting menu. There was a good mix of vegetable dishes, and dishes with protein, and a lot of creative uses of seaweed and ocean vegetables. We were served effectively 4 desserts, two dessert plates, a dessert drink, and a sweet bite. For anyone that appreciates creative tasting menus, I would highly recommend coming to Aniar.

Menu 7/14/18
Lisa R.

When Eric R. offered me a chance to dine at a Michelin star restaurant in Galway, I jumped at it! We made reservations for our -1 month anniversary, which he said qualified as my anniversary gift. Fair enough! It was a bit rainy and Eric R. had planned for us to take a taxi since it was a Saturday night, but no taxis were in front of our hotel. We took our rental car, and he dropped me off in front of the restaurant at 8:00 PM sharp. The restaurant was not ready for us, however, so the staff gave me two free glasses of wine at the sister restaurant across the street, Tartare, and promised to call when our table was ready. I ordered a class of white and got on wifi to try to text Eric R. where I was. I saw him run into Aniar right when I sent my text, so he was sent over to me and got his glass of wine. The restaurant did call soon after to tell us our table was ready. When we came over, we were presented with menus for the six-course tasting we reserved. We each ordered another glass of wine to accompany our meal, with help from a sommelier. First we were presented with "snacks"which included fennel goat cheese tart, seaweed broth, chicken heart with black garlic, and charcoal potato. Next, we received the bread tray, with delicious sourdough, brown seed bread, and garlic scones, along with two types of butter, the house leek butter being our favorite. The chef presented the bread with a poem. Our first course differed as Eric R. received garlic scapes and I had the oyster. Then we had the mussels with rhubarb. The third dish was a potato and cured egg dish. Our main course was the duck breast. We then had a "pre-dessert" of rapeseed oil ice cream with a birch kombucha of sorts, and then strawberry woodruff ice cream. I finished with the house tea blend. We also received for dessert meringue with elderflower jelly and beet chips with goat cheese. Service was nice throughout, and the chef appeared to discuss each dish with pride. When we paid our check, the chef presented his brown soda seed bread recipe, which I thought was a neat touch. I have since baked this bread at home and it is quite good. It was definitely a unique experience and special anniversary treat!

Barley, pigeon
Larry S.

Food was very inventive and creative. Savory meringue? Oyster sorbet? Poems to accompany dishes?? Yes, and we thoroughly enjoyed all of it. We're all dishes a hit? No, but not because they weren't provocative or novel or even tasty, just not my particular taste. Definitely an experience to have while in the charming city of Galway

Lisa B.

Absolutely outstanding establishment on the other side of the bridge. Aniar meaning "from the West" or "Westerly" is a Michelin Starred restaurant since 2013. The space is quite small and on the Tuesday when we visited wasn't completely full, but definitely busy. Seemed to be a special event, date night restaurant for locals and a destination for visitors from out of town. There were from what we could hear at least two other tables with Americans or Canadians besides ours. We were greeted warmly and given the two top near the window at the front of the room. We were served by both a lovely young Irish woman and the Hungarian Maitre D. The menu hearkens to many of today's most popular restaurants in major cities like for instance Copenhagen's Noma and Amass. Restaurants where they use in-season hyper local ingredients that are both beautiful to look at and and make your tastebuds swoon. We started with gin and tonics made with a local gin and a sprig of local thyme. They were fresh and crisp. You cannot order a la carte at Aniar. They serve only prix fix tasting menu which changes daily. The meal consists of five courses, three snacks, bread and a petit four. As always....you also get an amuse bouche. Amuse bouche - Dashi soup...so rich with several layers of flavor. I could eat this EVERY day. Smoked Cheese, Kelp, Dillisk and Sea Radish - In the form of a tiny, pie with the cheese in the consistency and even the flavor of high falutin cheese whiz...and oh so good. Bread & Butter (three breads...a kind of rich corn bread, soda bread and another one which I cannot remember). Carrot & Elderflower - The carrots had been pickled and then cooked and had the most unique consistency. I desperately dislike cooked carrots, but the pickling and resulting consistency gave them a toothsome fleshiness that was irresistible. Potato, Hock - Senior moment....can't remember this one. Turbot & Sea Beet - A very small piece of turbot with a tendril of a plant which tasted and looked like a pea tendril. Incredibly tender and set off by the earthiness of the sea beet and tendril. Pork & Leek - The main course and one of my favorites. A lovely slice of pork belly and one of my favorites....baby leek. Carrot & Sea Buckthorn - First dessert. DAMN. The frozen carrot was TO DIE FOR. The Sea Buckthorn Foam the perfect, light accompaniment. Almond Sorrel - I'm not sure how to describe this dessert. What I remember was that every bite was heaven. There was a granita palate cleanser somewhere in the first several courses...can't remember when as it's been over a week since we were there. Also tremendous. We added the cheeseboard supplement which I didn't have the room or inclination to try as I was full. The cheeses were local and my husband loved them. We paired the meal with the following beverages (selected to go with the menu). Vincent Lacour Les Chilloux Fattoria San Lorenzo 'Integrale' - A table wine that was meant to go with the Turbot. I get that it was meant to not outshine the fish, but I thought it was underwhelming. Weingut Umathum Zweigelt - This Spanish Wine was so good, we ordered another glass and it made the Pork shine. Dockage Cider - Made locally in the maker's shed. Not your regular sweet cider. More sour and perfect for the Carrot and Sea Buckthorn. The service was outstanding from start to finish. The food was absolutely memorable and the space warm and bright. I loved this meal and can't recommend this spot enough if you're in Galway.

Meringue with honey petit four
Jin C.

If you were like me and struggling to decide between Loam or Aniar and you only had one meal to spare in Galway, here was my justification for choosing Aniar: after reading as many reviews and forums as I possibly could, I learned that Loam has a larger, more fancy space with more technically adventurous food with "restrained" flavors, while Aniar has an underwhelming space with more punchy flavors. I am also fond of a thoughtful bread course, and the photos/reviews seem to suggest that Aniar has the more interesting/diverse bread options (which it was indeed, yay!) Since I was dining solo and no one to wax lyrical with about the decor or the technique, I decided to go with Aniar, and boy, I was not disappointed. (Not to knock Loam since I haven't been there, but I was happy with my choice.) I liked that there was a bookshelf of cookbooks that must represent the chef's/owner's ethos; the abundance of bread-baking books confirmed by suspicions. I got the five course tasting menu without the wine pairing, which set me back 60.50 euros after including service charge. I was actually sad that my meal ended because I wanted to keep getting delighted by new and inventive dishes. I'll just remark on a couple since I don't want this review to be ten pages long: 1. The monkfish entree was superb. It was buried under a foam that when parted, revealed bright orange fish roe - I loved the visual element. The greens and green (bay leaf?) oil that dressed the dish gave it so much more depth and complexity - it had floral notes, vegetal notes, a bit of sea umami flavor... it was really excellent. 2. The celeriac cocoa dessert was so interesting! It almost felt like I was licking champagne off a forest floor - it tasted earthy and woody but also a bit like grapes and citrus (from the frozen yogurt). 3. The final dessert was blackberries, a frozen goat yogurt, parsley oil, and balsamic vinegar. It was so simple, yet so effective. I've never tasted blackberries so concentrated in flavor before, and the dressings truly rounded out the flavors. Some notes of criticism: my sourdough was just a touch moist/gummy on the inside. The interior of the restaurant is just not a very private/intimate/luxe space, and I feel like if it was, it could definitely be elevated to a two star. The food here is certainly miles superior to Chapter One in Dublin, which also has one Michelin star. My meal took 1.5 hours, as indicated when I made my reservation on the website. However, the food is amazing and I would certainly return if I ever find myself in Galway again.

Bread course- yum!
Chrissy M.

My husband and I came here for a special dinner on our honeymoon. As some of the other reviews mention, they have one Michelin star, which was how we discovered it. Each table has the option to choose 5, 8 or 10 courses. We probably should have done 5, since we were so full at the end, but we had no regrets, since everything was so delicious! We are from the bay area of California, and a meal this good where we live would cost a lot more. If you are anywhere near the area, it is worth the journey! On the menu, it says Aniar means 'from the west'. The food is all sourced locally, from west coast of Ireland. You could really taste the freshness of the produce. There was definitely an influence of traditional Irish food (soda bread, potato, lamb, etc.) but it was still very innovative. Some of the dishes resembled the landscape of Ireland, especially the coast. A few especially memorable courses were 1. the tomato, with curd and fennel 2. the potato, ovage and 3. the courgette, pea, scape. On top of the amazing food, they had exceptional service. We had the wine pairings with our food and the timing of everything was perfect. I also felt like we were friends with our server by the end of the evening. We were so well taken care of.

Completely amazing rhubarb dessert

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Food was incredible and beautiful. attentive staff. Highly recommend for solo diners

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Kai Cafè + Restaurant - Hake

Kai Cafè + Restaurant

(100 reviews)

€€

Kai Cafe is one of my favorites from my trip to Galway. This place is super popular so instead of…read moretrying to snag a table for dinner, I popped in for brunch. The inside is beautiful - like a converted greenhouse/cottage with stone walls and lots of natural light. One of the first things I noticed was the pastry counter. It was absolutely stunning with gorgeous cakes and other sweet treats available by the slice. The menu is written on a large chalkboard at the far end of the cafe, which can be hard to read depending on where you're seated. I asked for the staff's recommendation and she said I should try the fried fish. It came served with slaw, salad, brown soda bread, beautiful yellow butter and the most perfect fried pieces of cod I think I've ever had. This was not your typical "fish and chips" style fish but instead, was seasoned to perfection with a bit of a crunchier, thicker batter. Wow, it was incredible. I was also so grateful for the side of slaw and salad as I think that was the first leafy green I had had in over a week since arriving in Ireland. The latte I ordered was also delicious and well made. Staff was friendly and helpful throughout my visit - all working together to efficiently service the lunch rush. I would totally come back here next time I'm in Galway. It is highly recommended for good reason so go see for yourself!

Kai is an incredible restaurant with a lot of options that has a fine dining type of appeal!…read more All the food items, we'd get again! The scallops were well made and flavorful! The eggplant was very unique! The turnips were good! We shared a bottle of wine that paired well with the meal. The dessert was also nice Service: good service Ambience; best part about Kai was the fancy vibes!!

Aniar - irish - Updated May 2026

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