What an amazing little place! Busy but seated quickly, the food was outstanding and the service was…read moregreat. An occasional check in from our waitress. Not too noisy in here even with as many people, but the acoustics seem okay. I can see this becoming a regular place while visiting. Kinda 80s-90s vibe for decor. Love it!

Loved this little place! Just a short walk from our hotel. Very nice ambiance, friendly staff, and…read moregreat service. Great place for breakfast or lunch, or tea and sweet treats. I had a delicious toasty with ham and some of the wonderful Irish cheese, which came with a nice little salad. The honey mustard dressing was really yummy. I had some delicious Lemon Drizzle cake with a dish of fresh whipped cream, and got a slice of apple cake to go after hearing a regular customer rave about it. Also delicious! Planning to stop by on our way out of town for some to-go treats. I read some reviews with complaints about price, but honestly I think the prices are reasonable for the quality and portions that are served.

Food and service was amazing! Calamari was ok but not my favourite but the pan roasted hake was…read moreincredible as was the starter of mussels. Friends loved their rigatoni pasta and the flavors were incredible in that dish as well

I came without a reservation, but they were able to seat me outside. I loved the seafood chowder. I…read morealso got the crab roll, but I didn't love that. There's a lot of good people watching outside!

This was a lovely spot for dinner. Very high end modern interior with a covered outdoor patio. I…read morerecommend a reservation, we did not have one but were fortunate to have a few seats open up at the bar. The Hake dish was fresh and delicious. I didn't enjoy the ratatouille that accompanies the dish, but the fish was well worth it. The filet was also cooked perfectly and had great flavor! The chips were also yummy. Great texture outside and soft interior. Their own soup was also delicious. Great flavor and had a great onion to broth ratio. If in the area I recommend getting a reservation or arriving earlier to snag a table. Great overall

I had a reservation for dinner but somehow ended up in the area two hours early. Luckily, the staff…read morewas kind enough to seat me when I arrived! The fish and chips were good but pretty standard. The mushy peas, though, were some of the better ones I've had on my trip. The crispy chicken torn salad was a bit of a surprise--the chicken wasn't crispy at all and seemed more like cooked chicken that had been torn up and pan-fried. Definitely different, but not what I was expecting. The restaurant was pretty packed, with people constantly coming and going. They also had tons of awards displayed outside, so clearly it's a popular spot in the area. Maybe I should have tried more dishes to figure out what all those awards are about.

Cute, spacious cafe with hearty portions and sweet treats. Came here for brunch after arriving in…read moreCork on an early morning train, so a heavy meal was exactly needed. The cafe was busy even though it was Monday, but we got seated within 5 minutes. Indoor seating and takeaway available. The waitresses were nice and I liked the decor. I got the smoked salmon on scrambled eggs with brown bread, while my friend got the Irish breakfast. Neither of us could finish our plates, which were substantial. My dish was on the saltier side; it looked like the tables around us were order more of the sweet items. Overall, it's a cute spot that's good for friends as well as families.

Consistently dissapointing. The first time I visited here, there was about a 40 minute wait, which…read morewas completely understandable as I hadn't made a reservation and the place was busy. When I was seated my server was friendly and promptly took my order. Then the wait began. 30 minutes, one hour, and then an hour and 30 minutes. I was tryiny to be patient as I noticed no one was getting their food. I figured maybe the kitchen was really backed up. It was then I saw patrons who had been seated after I had been getting their food. My server then came up to be and apologetically said they had forgotten to put my order in. I was tempted to wait longer but was incredibly hungry by this point. I went to the front desk, explained the situation, and asked to pay for my cider and go. The woman there sighed and told me to "just go" no apology, no semblance of professionalism just irritation. I have tried several times to go back but unfortunately have been met with the same dismissive attitude. Overall, it's a no for me.

My niece did her due diligence when selecting this place. It gets busy so we made sure that we…read moremade reservations. It's a beautiful restaurant and everything we tried was amazing. It began to fill up rather quickly for dinner. In the States we are used to being rushed out the door. Here starters and entrees are spaced out to allow you to sit and socialize.

There is a particular kind of disappointment reserved for a restaurant you expected to enjoy…read more The SpitJack was one of those. On paper, the proposition is difficult to quarrel with: Irish ingredients, rotisserie cooking, an attractive room, and a menu written with sufficient enthusiasm to make a hungry man begin making irresponsible decisions before the waiter has even arrived. Unfortunately, menus are promises. Dinner is where the promises are collected. And ours came due rather poorly. The food was disappointing, not catastrophically bad, which would at least have made for a more interesting story, but simply nowhere near what we expected from a restaurant built so confidently around its cooking. There is a great difference between a meal being technically edible and a meal making you pleased that you ordered it. Ours spent considerably more time in the first category. The greater disappointment, however, was the service. A restaurant can survive an imperfect plate remarkably well when the people looking after you are attentive, engaged, and interested in making the evening work. Human beings are wonderfully forgiving creatures when somebody appears to care. The reverse is also true. When the food disappoints and the service seems equally uninterested in rescuing the occasion, dinner begins to acquire the atmosphere of a contractual obligation. You eat because you have ordered. You wait because apparently that is now your occupation. And eventually you pay because international law still frowns upon simply wandering away. That was roughly the trajectory of our evening. What makes it particularly unfortunate is that The SpitJack has all the ingredients of a restaurant I should have liked. The concept is appealing. The setting works. The menu creates expectations. There is clearly an idea behind the place. But an idea does not cook dinner, and a concept cannot look after a table. Execution must eventually enter the proceedings. Ours apparently had the evening off. This was not an angry experience so much as a disappointing one. I have eaten terrible meals that became wonderful stories. This was not terrible enough to become folklore. It was merely expensive in the currency that matters most when travelling: an evening. Perhaps we caught them on the wrong night. Every restaurant is entitled to one, and the overwhelmingly positive reputation of the place suggests plenty of diners have had a very different experience. We can only review the evening we were actually served. And ours was two stars. One for the promising concept. The other for reminding me that expectations, like soufflés and political careers, are surprisingly easy things to collapse. Would I return? Possibly, but only because Mark Twain understood an important principle of life: "sometimes a man deserves a second chance." Dinner, however, should not require a third.

I had gluten free chocolate cake here and it was phenomenal! I hope to be back before my trip is…read moreover!

Ahh what can I say...there bread is sooo nice, they do spelt breads and the like. Im Coeliac but I…read moredo eat nice rustic breads as I can handle them better. Their pies are so nice too, I tend to go to their city centre cafe where I find the staff to be nice and friendly. What I like about this place is that its not huge and impersonal ,they've another one in Blackrock which is wicked good also and has seats outside for those sunny day

Great experiences from Kiely's in Cork always. I will recommend them forever. Last time I went in,…read morethey even offered to make the haddock or whatever fish available into tenders for me (not offered on their menu). It was so kind and the vibe in there is always great. They even swapped my mushy peas for a truffle mayo and gave me vinegar in a little cup to go! :)

The rumors are true! Kiely's fish & chips are gluten-free! & very tasty…read more We specifically stopped in Cork just to go to Kiely's. Although it was inconvenient, it was worth it. It's a cute, casual little spot with nice staff & a variety of menu items - Not just fish & chips. But that's what we came for so that's what we got. The fish was delicious, the fries were good, & the mushy peas were ... Not my thing. But I think some people like the mush. So I won't yuck someone else's yum. They do not serve alcohol, so we just paired our meals with a Coke. I wish there was a bit more seating. There was really only enough space for one or two parties squished inside & two parties of two outside. There was also NO public restroom. We were in the middle of a road trip, so this was particularly devastating. I wish Kiely's the best! I hope they'll be successful enough to move into a larger space someday.

The food was really outstanding and the service was as well. The atmosphere is like bits and pieces…read moreput together but definitely works. EXTREMELY good regular and matcha latte's!!!

It was a little confusing when we got here. People were ordering at the counter and we weren't sure…read morewho to see to get seated, but eventually someone came and seated us. They don't list sodas on the menu, but we asked and the had them. We had chicken burgers and they were huge, messy, and yummy. The service was friendly.

The food market decor and ambiance is a great visual fit setting the expectation of fresh tasty…read morefood. The friendly service only adds to the ambiance, and the small but diverse menu delivers with great options food, drink, and wine options. Recommend parties of two sitting at "bar" area to people watch the lower meat market.

I saw this place recommended on a lot of blogs, so I decided to check it out. I came for lunch in…read morethe afternoon with a reservation, so getting seated was easy. Honestly, the food was just very ordinary to me. Nothing really stood out. Service was okay, and the dining room felt a little cramped with the tables fairly close together. If you're in the area or checking out the market, it's a perfectly fine place to stop for a meal. But if you can't get in, I don't think you're missing out on anything.

Great bread in the English Market (4/5 green stars) The…read moreAlternative Bread Company has been in operation for 20 years in the English Market, and is well worth a visit if you're in Cork. Sheila Fitzpatrick, who used to work for celeb chef Brian Turner (of Ready Steady Cook fame), has won several awards for her breads and they all look wonderful. We chose a fruit soda bread (€2.50) and a white crusty sourdough (€3.90). Both were very large loaves and both tasted wonderful. The fruit soda bread stayed fresh for about 4 days, and was well balanced with plenty of fruit and not too much soda, while the sourdough made excellent grilled cheese (halloumi) sandwiches. They have a wide selection of breads including some styles that you are not likely to find anywhere else in the city, such as challah, spelt breads, sourdough ryes, and even omega-3 breads! I'm giving them 4/5 "green stars" for social and environmental impact. Besides the baking awards, the Alternative Bread Company has also won a Friendliest Business in Ireland award, and appears to be closely involved in the community. They source some of their flour from France, and although it's not organic, they describe it as "clean" in that the bread contains no preservatives or artificial junk. The loaves are sold in simple paper bags but if you have your loaf sliced it will normally be packed in a plastic bag, so request a paper bag if you are avoiding plastic in your life. Obviously, the fact that it's locally-made and sold with minimal packaging helps to cut down the carbon and waste footprints. Interested in writing green star reviews? If so, contact me! (greenstarsproject)

Fighting through the crowds after QE2's visit; eventually I gave up and found myself in front of…read moreABC. Good thing too, because this is definitely one of the jewels in the Market's monarchy-charming crown. Their range of stock is nearly limitless, their prices are low and the taste is incredible. I'm just looking forward to getting more of their pretzels, but there's a lot more on offer.