I had such high hopes for The Elephant and Castle. I had stumbled upon this restaurant a few years back on my first trip to Dublin and was blown away. I recently went back, while I was passing through Dublin, and was more than disappointed with the service.
Food: I give the chicken wings 5*! I've only ever had the wings here, so I cannot vouch for the other food, but the wings are top notch! Being an avid buffalo wing lover, I have extremely high standards for buffalo sauce. The Elephant and castle does not disappoint. To this day, is have to say their wings are in the top 3 I've ever had! The sauce is different from what you normally get in the states, and isn't overpowering! Plus you can taste buttery hints in the sauce.
Service: 1* On my most recent trip to the Elephant and Castle the service was atrocious! My friend and I walked into the over packed restaurant and went to the host stand, and were not even greeted. The male host didn't bother to say anything to us, just look at us with a scowl as if waiting for us to explain to him why we walked into the restaurant. We proceeded to ask for a table of 2, and we're told that there wouldn't possibly be any tables for hours in an overly exaggerated voice, and an arrogant tone as if to say no one can eat at this restaurant without having reservations for months in advance. We were both starving so decided to find some place else to eat, but quickly decided we couldn't leave Dublin without having their wings and went back inside to try to reserve a table for later. Upon coming in this time, we were greeted by a female host, who was slightly better, but by no means friendly. We made a reservation for 4 hours later and went on our way. About 2 hours before our reservation were we're starting to feel the jet lag, and thought we'd check if we could order wings to take back to the hotel room, and not have to wait until our reservation for another 2 hours. We made our way back to the restaurant and there were about 6 parties of people in front of us. The male host who had originally greeted us was walking past, and I thought I'd ask him real quickly if they did take away. I politely got his attention and asked him the question. He looked at me like I was insane for thinking he would have the time to answer a customers question, and walked away without a word. My friend and I came back for our reservation. We ordered our wings from an extremely unenthusiastic male waiter, who basically left as soon as the order left my mouth and only came back when we called him over to bring the check. The only person working in the entire establishment who showed an ounce of customer service was the kind man who refilled our water glasses, and he did so with a smile and replied when I said thank you.
Elephant And Castle, I understand that customer service isn't your forte in Ireland, as it is the USA, but I was highly disappointed with my experience there, and if not for your amazing wings I would NEVER step foot in that establishment again. Who wanted to eat somewhere where you feel unwelcome. Certainly not me. read more