Tasty quick lunch, I didn't even check the menu, I went with my standard favorite for Italian. They…read morebrought spaghetti instead of penne, but were willing to replace immediately. Much appreciated. Sauce was delicious. Bolognese, al dente, spicy. Done.

What an incredible hidden Gem at the heart of Newbridge!…read more We've heard about this place from a few of our friends and decided today to check it out. What a check out it's been, my partner started with the Garlic flat bread, Delicious! I myself started with the Prawns in a spicy tomato sauce adorned with tomato & rocket with chilli, incredible. We're about to have our main, my partner has gone for the basic option of Pizza, I will try the Chorizo & chicken breast on a bed of Penne with a spicy sauce! We cannot wait to try more amazing dishes from this establishment in the near future. 100% recommend this restaurant.

Very good Italian food and the presentation is fabulous as well. The hostess is wonderful and…read morepleasant to talk to, the restaurant itself is relaxing but elegant. Call ahead to make a reservation but it's well worth it and not too costly.

From the owner: We are the perfect location for Weddings by the sea.read more

We were in the Heritage hotel on a two night deal. Our deal included food in their Italian Spago…read morerestaurant (see photos). A ciabatta with olive oil, cheese, tomato and tasty as well as a generous portion; a duck leg main and a sirloin steak main. I asked for the steak to be medium. It was. It was a good thick tasty steak. It had a good pepper sauce on the side. I asked for English mustard - best mustard in the world too - no problem. Mashed potatoes, chips and a mix veg of turnip, green beans & carrots. All perfectly tasty, all perfectly cooked. Desserts of profiteroles and a tiramisu - both liberally dosed with chocolate sauce and cream. Phew. The cocktail waiter cheerfully conjured up two cosmopolitans (€10 each). The staff were attentive and efficient.

Spago is one of the two restaurants owned by the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel. I'd visited previously…read moreon my hen weekend last year and enjoyed it so when we came back to Portlaoise (ironically enough on a voucher for a free night given to me due to a horrible experience in Kelly's Foundry, the other restaurant) we decided to go back, big mistake. Spago do, what appears to be, a good value dinner menu, 59 euro for a 3 course meal for two and a bottle of wine. When we arrived we were told the lamb shank was gone but we could have chicken instead, off to a bad start. I ordered the baked ricotta for my starter which came out cold, I'm not sure this chunk of ricotta had ever seen the inside of a microwave never mind a real oven. My main of chicken supreme was actually quite nice, the chicken was really tender and the chicken pasta himself got was apparently lovely. The white wine was fine at the start but it needed to remain ice cold to be drinkable, even the slightest hint of warmth turned it to vinegar. The service, as in all my 1 star reviews, was where our night really started to go downhill. Our table was tucked away in a corner so we were virtually ignored for most of the night, for periods of 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Our starter arrived quickly, then there was a long gap until the main arrived and then a huge wait to even get a dessert menu. After sitting with our menus in front of us for ages (well I did manically wave mine in the air a bit to try catch some attention) himself got up, walked over to the other side of the room where our server WALKED RIGHT PAST HIM and gave our order to one of the three waitresses standing around. The other staff seemed much more concerned with setting up for the next day than attending to the remaining patrons. After dessert came and went (my "variety of icecream" consisted of 3 scoops of vanilla and one chocolate, all of which tasted like they'd been melted and refrozen at some point) we got tired of waiting and got up to pay the bill at the register. This is where I got really annoyed. The supervisor (I think?) apologised a few times for the slow service across the night. If you knew the service was slow why didn't tell your staff to get their finger out? Apologising to us now is not really any use. Then she asked me several times was it ok, glancing at my darkening face with a pleading look as if asking me for forgiveness and to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. With every question I got more and more quiet and more and more angry until she eventually figured out it was time to shut up. This is the second time I've had a horrible experience in a restaurant owned by the Heritage Hotel, as the biggest hotel in the town you'd think they would realise that they play a key role in enticing tourists to visit and revisit the town? Clearly not. They asked me to give you another chance when they messed up the last time and I came back to experience the exact same thing again, nice job.

Great food! This is my first visit in Athlone and we were looking for a good, reasonably priced…read morerestaurant close to our B&B. The aroma of food smelled wonderful when we walked inside. I ordered the Penne Bianca and my fiancé ordered the Italian Meatballs which came with a small salad and bread. Both dishes were amazing! Our favorite dish was the penne. They only had two wine options but would allow you to bring in your bottle if you'd like. The environment was charming. I would definitely return here if I was in the area again (we're from the US).

This was baked sea bream on rice/spinach/mushroom pilaf with a creamy muscle sauce. The food was…read morecooked very well and was really more than I could eat. My only complaint was there were a few scales left that prevented me from enjoying the skin of the fish. I will go back again.

Staff were lovely I honestly did not eat here just had a latte but the place looks well inside all…read moregenuine pastas and spices and everything up on the shelf for purchase straight from Italy so even if you don't want to eat in here you could buy all there cheeses pasta and sauces if you wanted and go home and cook your very own Italian meal with ingredients from Italy Lovely little place

Excellent. Fresh. Service with smile from Fionn, the lovely waiter. Definitely coming back!read more

I was in the Gate House last night, and the Guinness was superb, the creamiest pint I have seen in…read morea very long time, 10/10 , friendly staff, and locals, highly recommend, I have not been to the Restaurant, but definitely will go,.

The cutest atmosphere for a romantic delicious meal. You can have the risotto made with whatever…read moreyou'd like and it takes about 45 minutes. So worth the wait!! I had mine made with prosciutto, peas, onions and Parmesan. Amazing!!!!!

This tiny Italian restaurant delivers! We had the triple mushroom, delicacy appetizer with the…read moregarlic bread and it was so yummy! Also the panzerotti with the bright green spinach sauce will knock your socks off. The tiramisu is wonderful, but we are partial to one that is served on a plate. But if you like having a lot of cream, get the version that they serve in a glass. Also, their valpolicella goes very well with all this. The service is very good.

This place is the real deal. Stopped by on a whim, they got us in with a busy reservation list, but…read moremade an effort to get us seated. We had appetizers, wine, entrees, and dessert. We were blown away. Best food we've had in Ireland so far.