During the couple of days I spent in Carlingford I noticed Liberty Cafe directly opposite our…read moreaccommodation and loved how it looked. It's a quirky cafe with flower painted walls and wooden tables outside, so you can sit with a coffee and watch the happenings on Thosel Street. I visited early on Sunday morning, 13/08/2017, and it was wonderful as the cafe and street were nearly empty - most of bustling Carlingford seemed to still be in bed. Within an hour everywhere was bustling again, so it was lovely to enjoy the initial peace and quiet. Two friends and I took a table outside in the cool morning sun and ordered three veggie breakfasts and coffees. My veggie omelette, filled with tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and cheese, and served with toast, was pretty good. The others ordered brown and soda breads with poached eggs. Everyone enjoyed their food. Service was a little slow and there was a slight mix up in our orders - I was initially served brown bread not the white toast I'd asked for and my friend the opposite - but we swapped our bread so all was fine. All in all, an enjoyable experience and next time I'm in Carlingford I will return to try some of the delicious looking cakes they sell.

Located down a gorgeous pedestrian street strung with fairy lights along lanterned street posts,…read morethe ambiance of Liberty Cafe fits in beautifully with this street. I informed the staff about my dietary requirements straight away and they told me the options available to me. I got the carrot and coconut soup for lunch and it was absolutely gorgeous, vegan and gluten free. One of my dining partners had the quiche with smoked salmon, courgette and cream cheese, and the other had a cappuccino and a scone, both of which said their food was absolutely delicious. The staff are really sweet and overall extremely accommodating and I would absolutely recommend coming here, and will certainly be returning next time I'm in Carlingford.

tjis place is really something special there wide variety of menu suits every taste and look out or…read moreask for the daily special it is special my husband loves this place and from the outside looking in it doesnt look that big but what a surprise you get when you open the door. the staff are really friendly even offering to put my childs fold up buggy behind the counter so it wouldnt be in our way or anyones elses way which i liked . if your in kilkeel check this place out its worth it.take my word or better still try it for yourself

We stopped here during our day trip to Newgrange. In this small town, this was really the only…read moregame in town for lunch. Really good fresh made bread for our sandwiches and nice fellow working the counter. The coffee smelled great although we passed on it and went for a soda. I'd like to try for breakfast next time.

Absolutely delightful. The bread is thick cut and perfectly fresh, and the red pepper pesto is to…read moredie for. Thanks for such a yummy lunch.

Came here after hearing great great things from family in the area. We had the shakshuka and…read morecoffee. It was just amazing. And then we had desserts which was just out of this world. Stranfield we will be back

Vegetarian café with great food and ambiance (4.5/5 Green Stars)…read more We stopped here en route to Carlingford on a friend's recommendation and all three of us were very happy we did. The place is lovely - the café is filled with light and plants and the surroundings are beautiful. Mum is a picky eater but she relished the mushroom quiche and finished the entire piece even though it was huge! (Seriously - about three times the size of portions elsewhere.) My brother loved his herbed rice bowl and I liked the organic porridge with fruit and the pistachio plum cake. The only kink was that several items arrived much later than the food - the coffees, bread, and honey for my porridge (I had already finished my porridge by then). The store is filled with great stuff - fresh fruit and veg, and a good selection of some of the most ethical products. Weirdly, the Strandfield website contains no info other than an address, so you have to rely on reviews to get info in advance. The lunch menu is mostly comprised of sourdough pizza, salads (including a quinoa bowl and herbed rice bowl), and sandwiches - see menu photo. There are also lots of bakery items, including freshly baked scones, cakes and wheaten bread (which was really good - I bought one to take home). I'm giving Strandfield café 4.5 out of 5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, for these reasons: · I didn't actually notice at the time but the menu is 100% vegetarian! · Strandfield uses free range eggs from their own farm. · My porridge was made with organic oats · Flowers and plants in the café come from Stranfield's own nursery · The grocer sources local and organic fruits and vegetables along free range eggs, and organic health foods · The store stocks a really good selection of ethical goods - I could do most of my shopping here if I lived here. · Strandfield would benefit from providing more info (on the website or menu) on ingredient sourcing.

First time visit. Very happy we went there. Great quaint restaurant in Carlingford. Excellent…read moreambience and food. Staff were very friendly. Go there if you are in the area.

The atmosphere is relaxed...don't come here if you're in a rush. So many desserts to choose from…read more It was a difficult decision as they all looked mouth watering, however we chose the lemon pie and cake. Perfection!!!! I also loved the egg and onion sandwich. The chicken sandwich was just ok. What a wonderful little spot!

Eight of us rolled up for coffee and cakes including two kids. We had just come from Easter egg…read morerolling and a mountain walk, so we already had eaten enough sugar to last us a week but the cafe's coffee waft was irresistible. Remarkably we were able to sit outside the cafe as the mid afternoon temperature had hit a balmy 17c, phew. We settled into the outside bench style seating. The coffees were really ace quality and the service quick and friendly. It's a very small cafe in a very small seaside town close to the Irish border and it's just a two minute walk down the street to the seafront and the mostly pebble beach with great views of the Cooley and Mourne mountains. The cafe was busy although I'd imagine it's the holiday periods and Sunday tourist trade that allows it to survive. I did look at the small harbour to see if the ferry boat was crossing from Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland but I couldn't see it. I think it's called the red star line run by a private family for most of my lifetime - a unique experience if you ever get the chance but it's possible that the relatively new Carlingford ferry has stolen much of its trade.

It was a cool, dry 5c this morning in this Irish border town. It was St Patrick's day eve…read more We were in the town's 'legal quarter' near their courts where people receive the law rather than 'justice'. The two are rarely seen together and when they are often it's unintended. Unlike my Yelp friend Grey, who seems rarely to slow or stop, I arose early reluctantly on this morning, as I normally only do so to go on holiday, but I had agreed to assist someone negotiate a complex matter that once done with the dotted line signed (it was a dotted line) a human life saw a familiar world change utterly completely in a few seconds and I believe very likely for the better. We'll see. As we left the official task which took a whole 25 minutes we enquired about good coffee from our host, who pointed us to 23 Seats just a short walk away from our Roden place venue. We were assured it was wonderful. It was. The wall sign above the door reads 23 eats until you get close enough to see the S wedged into the front wall. They've done well if they have 23 seats. I doubt they could host 23 folks simultaneously. I didn't count them but it sure is a compact and bijou coffee place. It's within Dundalk town centre, with character and a soul; quirky music tastes, environmentally focussed, and vegans cheerfully catered for oh and I smile to confirm its pet friendly too. We only needed good coffee and that's what we got: we opted for one cappuccino and one flat white - €6 for both. We paid up front by card so we could just go when we were done. We had a table near the rear entrance and, as they were receiving a delivery, it wasn't pleasant as a chilly damp breeze came through the door left open. This is one of those places that are now rare to me as I really want to go back to explore their food selections as it's not a typical coffee stop - they think about the environment and they focus on meeting diverse customer needs. So five green stars. I'm not a vegan but if the ingredients are to my taste I couldn't care less about the label. Who wants chemical filled food of food coloured by derivatives from the crude oil and petroleum industry; I'd rather not. The staff too were charming despite the huge pressures small independent businesses and poorer families must faces for at least the next five years. We in the West are in a war economy between Wu flu and a lunatic white supremacist admired maybe emboldened by a (now thankfully) former US president; an autocrat with unfettered power, who has accumulated personal wealth and with his mongrel side-kick seems to think they can control 45 million people against their will with in humane force. I do not wish him well.

I have discovered the chai latte and an amazing pizza : CHEESE LOVER…read more I remember one waiter soooooo cool. An institution in dundalk !!!

I've popped in here almost every time I go through this fishing village to grab a cappuccino to go…read more(£2), as it's really tasty. I've been known to grab one just to amble around the nearby charmless ASDA. It's a mish mash place and it's all the better for it. It has a sit in restaurant; it's a green grocers and a butchers (with a Himalayan salt cabinet to dry age good beef, turning an exquisite product to a sublime one) a deli shop and it does a range of ready meals, cooked hot meals to takeaway, coffee & cakes, sweet & savoury pies and they bake breads. A few visits ago I was tempted by their lemon meringue tarts as they sat nestled among other sweet treats. It's £2.4 for the pie and it's a generous single portion if you're a pig (moi? perish the thought) or go half and half with someone else (moi? perish the thought). As the old Irish saying says 'it was looking at me'. Oh matron don't mind if I do. And I did. It was very nice. The staff greet you warmly

This place is great!…read more Quick and friendly service (with a smile), delicious pastries, and great Chai Latte. There is a small patio outside to take in the sights and sounds while people watching. Can't wait to come back tomorrow morning!

Great coffee and friendly staff, a good spot to chill. The muffins are tasty also. What more could…read moreyou ask for!

I looked forward to trying this cafe/bistro, but I was really disappointed. I left regretting that…read moreI went there. We were absolutely ripped off and misled here. I'm not sure which is worse but neither is acceptable and we certainly won't return. First the food. I ordered the scampi from the lunch menu. This came with salad & chips. It is priced high end at £14. I thought for 14 quid I'd be served quality scampi in a light or even tempura batter, after all it's a bistro. Scampi includes various culinary preparations of certain cold water crustaceans, commonly the Norway lobster, also known as langoustine or Dublin Bay prawns. I mean we were within a 5 minute walk of the sea here, we are surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and just half an hour from the harbours of Kilkeel & Annalong. Proper scampi by the ton is right on our doorstep with very few food miles involved. No. This dish contained 7 pre frozen warm water Pacific king prawns in a heavy, greasy batter. These prawns aren't scampi by any stretch of the imagination. Any chef worth his salt will know this. I could go to a local supermarket and buy a bag of frozen Whitby scampi for £2. I'd certainly get a dozen or so and 39% of the Whitby product is scampi. These warm water prawns do not come close to the sweet taste of scampi either. They are usually intensively farmed in Thailand. The sort of warm water prawn you usually get 10 or more of from a Chinese takeaway, with rice or chips, for around £6 and the Chinese price includes curry, salt & chilli or sweet and sour sauce. I tore off most of the excessive greasy batter. No thanks folks this is grim greasy-spoon fare. The chips were alright but I couldn't rate them as very good either. I ate most of the chips because I was hungry. The fact is that £8 would be a realistic price for this meal. The fact is that had I known I would be served warm water prawns I'd have taken soup. Had I eaten the quantity of greasy batter I'd certainly have been bloated. The tartare sauce isn't home made either unless you define out of a jar as such. I don't. Any chef worth his salt likely wouldn't either. My wife had a chicken club type sandwich with salad & chips at £9. Again easily overpriced by £2. She said there was a good portion of chicken; and she left half of her chips. It's this that raises this review to 2 star albeit reluctantly. Second the service. Terrible. We were there over an hour and 10 minutes. It was a full 30 minutes from we placed our order to the time the food was put before us. Let's put this into context here it was fish & chips and a sandwich with chips folks. We ordered two coffees. We said that the coffees could be held until we were well through our meal. The waitress forgot my coffee order. She asked twice more and when we did tell her we were ready for our coffees she went off and didn't return with coffee rather we sat and watched her as she instead began taking credit card payments from customers who wanted to leave. We wanted to leave at this point too. Anyway she eventually returned from the bar area which was littered with dirty dishes (we sat with our dirty dishes for over 10 minutes) to take our coffee order for at least the third time. We had enough and just wanted to leave. We regretted going there. I wanted to tell the waitress exactly how awful the food and service was but the place was full of customers so I decided to be kind and stay silent, cancel the coffee order, hand over £23 and get out the door soonest. We got our coffees and ice cream in Maud's at the other end of town. I noticed they serve the tiny bottles of Coca Cola. About 200ml so the customer is being ripped off here too. Their free wifi kept crashing too. A SABENA visit - such a bloody experience, never again.

We we're in a group of 8 and were quickly seated. I had the Sirloin Pot Roast, it was worth 5 stars…read morealone. All 8 of our guests really liked their dishes. Friendly service. We'll be back!