For very special occasions in my family, only the Mitre at the Culloden will do. As soon as you…read moreenter the hotel, you are treated as a VIP, which always works for me! Doors are opened, coats magically whisked away, chairs pulled out and crystal bowls of fabulous nibbles appear. The highly professional waiters and sommeliers are friendly and at the absolute top of their game; knowledgeable about the food and wine without being intimidating know it alls. They wouldn't dream of telling madam that a merlot does not go with fish in this place - what madam wants, madam gets! This really is fine dining for a special treat, I wouldn't bring my little darlings although I would imagine they would be made most welcome. The bill for two with a bottle of wine will be well over £100 but boy is it worth it! My favourite starter to date is crab tian with water melon (who knew they go together like a dream?) and all starters come with a choice from the bread basket of home baked guinness, olive, cheese or wheaten bread. The last time we visited we were also served an incredibly intricate little complimentary starter of salmon which was a single mouthful of heaven. Main courses are fab too. I have had salmon, chicken, sea bass and Irish venison, all of which have been presented like works of art and which tasted amazing. My good manners have also driven me to order dessert - it would be rude not to try the pecan tart or banana pudding and homemade ice-cream. What I love about the Mitre is that you get all the elegance and ceremony of a traditional fine dining restaurant but with modern twists and menu choices like curried butter and smoked paprika oil for your bread. If you are going for a romantic dinner, ask for a table overlooking the restaurant. Mind you wherever you sit you're in for a treat, especially at weekends when they have a live pianist and jazz singer. Dress up and let the good times roll.

During my recent visit to Belfast, I found a Josper Grill, so I pretty much ran to this restaurant,…read moreJames St. I was immediately drawn in by the vibrant and buzzing atmosphere. They had an excellent bar set up. I started with the leek soup, which was incredibly flavorful and light. The seafood salad that followed was equally impressive. It was citrusy which I liked. Both dishes were delicious and showcased the restaurant's dedication to creativity. To complement my meal, I tried their Manhattan. While it had a unique twist compared to the classic, I liked it.

Trust me when I say I don't take pleasure in writing bad reviews or thinking negatively of…read morerestaurants - hence why attempting to visit only restaurants recommended in the Michelin Guide has normally proved to be valuable in avoiding having to write bad reviews. That is why we were so shocked when we visited James St. From start to finish, here were all the issues with our meal: 1) First off, after we sat down for our meal it took an eternity for anyone to take our drinks order. 2) Once we ordered our foods and drinks, it (again) took far too long for our drinks to arrive. And better yet, our food arrived before our drinks. Now, you might be thinking, 'perhaps they ordered some elaborate cocktail' - no. We ordered two diet cokes, and our starters still arrived after our drinks came to us. 3) Our side order of fries simply did not arrive. 4) The main dish I had was simply bizarre, and the salmon did not go well with the assortment of vegetables it was placed underneath. 5) The acoustics in this restaurant are awful, so please do not visit if you are even slightly hard of hearing. Frankly, this was the worst experience I have ever had in a Michelin Recommended restaurant and dare I say it, in perhaps any restaurant in recent memory.

Tried this last Sunday for a treat and was not disappointed. The exterior alone is worth a visit…read morewith its cute old fashioned shop positioned on the main road. The Sunday menu had a great selection with 2 courses £18.99 which was worth it. I had the fresh cod with crab risotto and the desert of sticky toffee pudding with their homemade ice cream and left very satisfied. Staff were prompt, food was well presented and tasted good and overall the venue was nicely decorated with live music being played. Would recommend if you fancy an escape from Belfast!

I have been looking forward to visiting the Poacher's Pocket for some time. I have heard many…read moreglowing reports and was keen to try it out for myself. I have eaten at it's sister restaurants, Balloo House and The Parsons Nose and loved both so I was happy to complete the hat-trick! The opportunity presented itself with a family double celebration, a 30th wedding anniversary and a birthday. Two great reasons to book a table. The restaurant is based in Lisbane in what used to be Lisbarnet House and is really quaint with quirky interiors. The staff are friendly and helpful, quickly offering to stash the surprise cake that I had brought along. We were presented with two menus, one for Sunday lunch and one for the weekend brunch options, both offering plenty of choice. Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of splitting starters when I cant decide so my first mission was to get someone to agree to share. Mission accomplished, we chose to share the Chicken liver parfait with rhubarb chutney & sourdough bread and the Goat's cheese crostini with candied walnuts & honey. The goat's cheese and rhubarb combination worked really well but for me, the winning choice was the smooth, creamy flavoursome pate- delicious. For my main, I played safe and chose the roast beef- always a good choice for Sunday lunch. A huge portion of beef appeared in front of me along with a sizable Yorkshire pudding and plenty of roasties. A variety of vegetables came on the side. While this was delicious, I will admit that the quantity on the plate defeated me. Another popular choice at the table was the shellfish linguine, prawns, crab, cockles and chorizo cream- jam packed with flavours. While I was too full to order a pudding, I managed to procure a spoon to sneak a taste of both the selection of icecreams and the Buttermilk Panna Cotta, strawberries and cookie crumble- delicious! If you are looking for a great quality Sunday lunch with fabulous food and a great location, look no further. Give the Poacher's Pocket a try!

Lovely place for a nice lunch or a big family dinner. My niece decided on Neil's Hill for her…read morebirthday and I was pleased to get trying an evening meal here, as I had been for lunch previously and that left me wanting more. There were nine of us and 4 of us ordered steak. We had enough time to catch up before our food arrived. They brought us some appetisers and I enjoyed a Mai tai. Everything was delicious. I had blue cheese with my medium steak and it was very tasty. Everyone was happy with their food. I enjoyed an espresso martini after my food and the rest of my family enjoyed trying the many other cocktails. Good selection of Gin cocktails. The restaurant was busy with other birthday parties, so may have been noisy for those not in a group. Enjoy one of Ballyhackamore's nicest eateries, book early too.

On first impressions, Neill's Hill ticks all the boxes, soft moody lighting, quirky decorations and…read morecandles sticking out of empty bottles of gin, moody stuff. Busy enough for a Thursday evening, but we got seated no problem and the staff were quick to get our drinks order sorted. The menu had plenty of variety, we opted for some breads and tapenade to start which was lovely however the mains were disappointing, My bf had a pulled pork burger, he said it was bland and a bit over cooked, but the chunky garlic chips were great and a saver! I had chicken and chorizo pan cooked thing, it was far too creamy and made it all a bit rich and bland. Again the chunky garlic chips were a saver though, they tasted great! We didn't stay for dessert, the call of fro yo in Spoon Street down the street was too strong. It's as the sort of relaxed mood and atmosphere I love, and would happily sit there through the night chatting, drinking wine and sampling their extensive cocktail menu, but the food would need to be up to scratch also. Maybe we made poor choices, but the burger was on the specials menu, so you would think it would be good! Not only that it was a little bit pricey. I've had lunch here in the past and been happy enough so marking it on my past experiences also, and I probably will be back at some stage.

We went to Novelli ar City Quays on a Saturday night during a weekend trip to Belfast. The…read morerestaurant is located in the AC Hotel and has a lovely atmosphere, great service and excellent food. We enjoyed scallops & arancini for starters, halibut and pork for mains and a crumble for dessert together with a nice bottle of wine. A lovely high quality meal in a very pleasant environment.

Came here with my colleague for dinner since we are staying at the AC hotel where the restaurant is…read morelocated. I will start by saying their menu was very detailed and had lots of different options that I was excited about. Our waitress was pretty good with recommendations and giving us time to order and what not. It took a little bit of time to get her to our table, but she did well serving us. I wanted to start with a side salad and my colleague got the French onion soup. She loved her soup and I loved my salad, but the portion was very small for a £5 side salad. I could've bought a full bag of spinach and vinaigrette for £1. That was my first disappointment. Since the menu had lots to offer I went with the Lamb loin cutlets and my colleague got the pork loin and we asked the potatoes au gratin style. The dishes were not as good as we had hoped for. The prices were steep for the quality of food received. My lamb loin was more fatty than lamby - maybe that's the way they're presented, I just disliked the dish for the portion along with the taste. My colleague didn't appreciate the pork loin much either. The potatoes were flavorless, but they were edible so that was my main course. The two stars are for dessert. Their dessert was dreamy and I highly recommend it! This place seems like the place you can bring a date for a cocktail and dessert.

Metro is a great wee place for good value food. I love the art deco style interior with its Tiffany…read morestyle lighting, polished hard wood and funky wall art, it all adds a sense of classic style. Personally I think if you were ever having a 40's themed party this place would be the way to go for it. They do some really good deals on lunch and dinner options and while the food isn't top class restaurant standard, its good enough to be tasty and fill hole in your stomach. Id recommend the place for a wee lunch visit on the cheap or even a night out if your wallets a bit light toward the end of the month. I think with a wee bit of love and attention to this place and a reclaiming of its older popularity it could be brought back to one of the high points of Botanic. Overall; Nice venue, Ok food and Ok atmosphere. I'd definitely go back but with the choice of venues on Botanic its just missing something I can't put my finger on to bring it up to their standards.

I was in Belfast for a night and needed to get some food in between drinking sessions…read more...... So this place did that, but I wouldn't be running back. We were eating in the bar section, which has a tapas menu. We got five tapas for £15 and the quality of the food was ok (but nicely presented). The cocktails were pretty bad to be honest, considering the poor quality they were overpriced at £6.50.

I went here at lunch time on a Saturday and it was very busy, but still the staff managed to put on…read morea really good show. They were very attentive and fast even with the full house. The interior is classy and the soup I ordered was very nice. On the down side my Philly sandwich was just OK and, although tasty, the small portion of chips did not seem worthy of the €3 fee. Other meals I spied did look good so I still suggest you check it out. Some nice seating, both indoor and outdoor, could make it the ideal spot for a coffee also. It's a really nice place with great service and a good menu. My only concern would be price.

Had dinner with 3 friends while in Dundalk overnight. We fell across Riva based on a recommendation…read morefor good fish and chips. Sadly, my order was a disaster. But it's partly my fault for ordering 2 starters when the main dishes are their better plates. Lesson learned. The pan-fried risotto cake was a bland mix of tomato and rice, topped with a sad portion of aubergine. The Cesar salad was bitter and poorly dressed with an un-bendable Parmesan crisp and a stale, giant crouton. Really bad. I asked for the salad without chicken but the waiter nor the menu mentioned that the greens were covered in bacon bits. From the time the dishes were first served to the time we could flag down service, my companions were 3/4 of the way through their meal. The waiter also made a stink when I sent it back. In contrast, my friends liked their meals. The "deconstructed" fish and chips aren't deconstructed in any way. The chips are oven-baked so they aren't crisp - ask for them well done. Bacon was snuck into the peas too. The salmon was fresh and rich. It came on top of some sort of potatoes which were pretty much ignored, as the fish was far better. The best dish (and what I really wish I had ordered!) was the "special" chicken in a tarragon cream sauce. The mashed potatoes were divine. And that sauce... To salvage my meal, we tried the "real" death by chocolate dessert. For €7 it was just an undercooked piece of cake with some watery fudge sauce on the plate. There was no trace of the chocolate dirt or other fancy decadence the menu promised. Service was polite but slow. The waiter was kind enough to ask if/when we were done with our appetizer so he could bring the entrees. However, he did give me attitude when I sent back a salad - and I didn't even ask for a replacement. Geez.

It could be a fairly alright 3 star on a good day but I opt for 2 stars. First we were crammed…read morecheek by jowl into a window table for 2, so close to other diners that their conversations were audible without our having to work at it. The family to my left were critical of the food but told the waiters it was 'lovely' on the four occasions I heard them being asked. This also annoyed them. There was also a dispute between them whether to go for a pint to 'Laverys' afterwards. The father clearly wanted to, his wife and daughter were lukewarm & hostile respectively and the son in law or potential in law was too polite to decline. So they unhappily agreed to disagree and went off two by two. When the male waiters (no female wait staff) attended the tables either side of us their elbows were inches from the side of my head with their movements occasionally forcing me move sideways. One waiters' derrière was 2 inches from my butter chicken a few times. Hardly a romantic setting. Once wedged in we got 2 'complimentary' pappadams with 3 dips. I asked for a Nepalese beer only to be told they don't have any so I ended up with an over-priced Singha beer, most likely brewed in Carlsberg's Russian plant that distributes to most of Europe. I imagine if these folk really are Nepalese they'd proudly flog their Khukuri beer and Hinwa and Dadaghare wines. I got the small one at £3.5 which works out at £6 a pint. My wife got a mini bottle of white wine at £4.5 which is £18 a 75 ml bottle. The young waiter who said his only job was serving booze did suggest I'd be able to get some Nepalese beer in London, but I thought it was a tad far to go for a beer at 8pm on a Saturday night in Belfast. It's a well overpriced place, with my paneer cheese starter at £6 when £4 would be fair. My butter chicken main was £13 when a fair price would be £11. They do that deception where meat is cut into cubes to give the impression of plenty, bulked out by copious cheap sauce. The menus don't mention that chemical food colouring is used. I'm not a fan of these food colourings, so I'm disappointed when I see vividly red food being served up. I'm also peeved that the use of chemical colourings is not mentioned on the menu either. My paneer starter had 5 pieces of almost tasteless cheese in a lightish batter, with a smidgen of hot sauce staining the plate, a morsel of lettuce, a sliver of carrot & a cucumber slice. My butter chicken was near scarlet, packed with sugar, with small chunks of equally bright chemically red chicken. My wife had an overpriced chicken pakora starter (3 battered bits should be £2 cheaper) with a similar smear of hot sauce, morsels of carrot, lettuce & cucumber. Her overpriced main (£17) was meant to be a sizzling dish but it wasn't. Not that we minded, as sizzling just means that the very hot iron plate on which the food sits is drizzled with cold cooking oil. Again this main was bulked out with lots of fried onions with some shards of green pepper made to look a generous portion, but there wouldn't have been £3 worth of meat on the plate. The boiled basmati rice was perfectly cooked, the small vegetable curry accompaniment was watery and lukewarm. The nan bread isn't nan bread as it's too thin to be proper nan: so it it's a crisp bread, probably 20p to make the dough turning into a £2 price tag. The service was effusive, nearly as sugary sweet and artificial as the butter chicken but when I know I'm being ripped off I don't tip. We'd paid handsomely for two 'free' pappadams with dips. We were asked at least three times about our food. I said read my review but I guess I wasn't understood. We paid near £53 for a two course meal for two with a small drink each, so it was well overpriced once it went above £40. I suspect it's just another Pakistani restaurant which has come up with the wheeze of Nepalese cuisine and the ancient romantic Kathmandu as devices to overcharge and how. If this is dining in times of austerity I'd hate to see their price structure if we ever see good times. Back to M&S butter chicken - wonderful for a factory made meal and without artificial muck too.

Have eaten in Kathmandu Kitchen twice now and it is nice. Visually this is a dated restaurant and…read morewas chilly on my first visit but much warmer second time round. I found the food pleasant, but spice levels too high for my taste. Having tried mains of Chana Masala (chickpeas) and Vegetable Bhuna I found them much spicier than I would have preferred. These usually are mild to medium dishes and indeed were marked as medium spiced on the Kathmandu Kitchen menu - but they were fiery hot. Also, be careful when ordering, as the vegetarian dishes sometimes seem to contain paneer - so if you are vegan you will have to be aware of this and specify no paneer cheese. Complimentary poppadoms were a nice touch.