Relish formed my first impression of Ireland. Being a tourist, I travelled to the famous island and…read morenaturally pines for a pint of Guinness. Our amazing waitress (sadly, in the time since my visit her name has escaped me, but her hospitality has not) decided that a simple can would not suffice, and she braved the storm to walk to a nearby bar and purchase a pint for myself and my father. I have never before witnessed such kindness and care from a sever, and doubt I ever will again. In addition to the world class service, the food was tremendous. For some reason the stereotype exists than Irish food is somehow subpar, but Relish served me the best chicken sandwich of my life. Good food and an amazing staff serve to make Relish a MUST-VISIT for anyone in Portlaoise.

Relish is definitely one of the tastiest places in Portlaoise!…read more More often than not I'll go for the Southern chicken burger, which comes complete with guacamole, bacon and an onion ring on top, and it really is very tasty! I've never actually been unhappy with any of the food I've eaten here, and they have a pretty good selection of desserts along with daily specials at a reasonable price! The only thing that lets Relish down, in my opinion, in the service! I have been left waiting up to an hour for my food here so I wouldn't advise to go here on your lunch hour or if you are pushed for time.

This was the first place we stopped at on our trip. It was located in a cute town. Parking was easy…read moredurning the time we went. Everyone inside was friendly. Very cute cafe. They had a great selection of food. I had poached eggs and soda bread. Coffee was good and hot. I would recommend!

Stopped in to this cute, low key little place for lunch on the way from Cashel to Dublin. It's in…read morethe small downtown set back from the street in a pedestrian area with a few outdoor tables in front and banquettes and tables inside. Had a tasty warm salad with squash, wilted spinach, toasted nuts and goat cheese (you choose the protein). Other family members had sandwiches with chips, and a beef and rice stroganoff. A few pay parking lots nearby. There were homemade looking desserts in a case that we didn't try. Pop music playing on the sound system. Friendly servers. Not touristy. Recommend

Occupying premises once used by the AIB bank in the centre of Portlaoise, the Kingfisher restaurant…read morehas become a fixture of the local scene and a popular choice for authentic Indian cuisine. The high-ceilinged dining room is appealingly atmospheric, with its saffron-tinged murals portraying ancient temple scenes. The menu is a long trawl through the familiar North Indian and Punjabi repertoire, with a few forays into other regions of the Sub-continent. A substantial list of starters takes in pakoras, samosas, kebabs and various 'chaats', while main courses span everything from tandooris and tikkas to murg chashoo (chicken and vegetables cooked in a spiced red wine sauce with cream and almonds).

Lethean is grand...which probably sounds really bad but is not meant that way!…read more The staff are really nice, which is a major draw for the place and apparently at night this is THE place to be but my review is purely based on the food (of course). I've been here for lunch quite a few times and most of what I had was nice but nothing special. My friend is vegetarian and has been left disappointed many times as they seem to only do one hot vegetarian option daily and it seems to sell out pretty fast so if you go in after the typical lunch 'rush hour' the selection could be slightly more limited to the salads and sandwiches on the menu.

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.

We we referred by a local here and it didn't disappoint. Classic old school bar and restaurant…read morevibe with a bunch of locals inside. We ordered a ham and cheese melt, chicken with mozzarella wrap (more like a chicken and cheese quesadilla for Americans), with chips. Service was polite and friendly, food aplenty and all was delicious.

Service and atmosphere were nice but the food was just ok. I ordered the cheesesteak, but the bun…read morewas dry and there wasn't enough cheese. The Cole slaw had too much mayo for my liking.

Was desperately craving a soup and a sambo after the gluttony of xmas, and so I was thrilled when I…read morestopped mid-journey to this place. Not so much when I went inside... Costing up my basic veggie slimbo and soup here came to almost a tenner not including a drink: it was a basic offering at double what you'd pay anywhere else. When every second Centra or Spar has just as nice ingredients for an over the counter roll - and at s fraction of the cost - I've no clue how O'Brien's are even surviving.

Best coffee in town Staff are so friendly and know what you…read morewant Mary the barista is amazing always has a smile and chats to you Food is lovely Lots of space in midway too free parking also great meetup place

Delicious coffee! (4/5 green stars) Bull Lane is a great…read morelittle delicatessen and café with very friendly and helpful staff. It's mostly designed to be a place to take food and drinks to go but it does have a counter and stools at the window. I picked up a flat white and a small Portuguese sweet cream tart. The espresso coffee was delicious, and the flat white was really well made. The coffee, from a traditional Italian roaster, is actually a 50:50 Arabica/Robusta beans and it blew away my misconception that you can't make good coffee with Robusta beans. The tart was interesting; the sweet cream was like dense sweet custard, rich with egg yolks. I'm not crazy about custardy things (why did you buy it then?!) but still enjoyed it! My brother goes there often, in particular for their Reuben sandwich, and highly recommends their savory food (along with the coffee!). They have just been has been nominated for Best Café Award in the Restaurants Association of Ireland - congrats folks! I'm also giving them 4/5 "green stars" for social and environmental impact. They have a lot of healthy and vegetarian options and their food is made in-house, including condiments like chutneys, dressings and pickles. They source ingredients locally whenever possible; from either the green grocer next door or their own garden (the owners have a poly tunnel). They source their local cheese directly from makers or via Sheridan's and their bread is from a local artisan baker. They use free-range eggs, including some from hens belonging to a staff-member! Their coffee is from Portioli, and old family-run roaster from Milan. It's probably because Portioli are so old-school that they have nothing to say about their coffee sourcing practices and they also don't have any certifications (Organic, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, etc.) so it's hard to judge for sure. Coffee aside, Bull Lane deserves kudos for making the effort to be independent from Big Food and intensive agriculture. Interested in writing green star reviews? If so, contact me! (greenstarsproject)

Best Indian Restaurant in town bar none & one of the best Indian restaurants in the country. If you…read morelike Indian food it is the best restaurant in Portlaoise also. Top quality food & service.