Carluccio’s

Carluccio’s actually an Italian restaurant chain founded in London. The restaurant also features a cute gourmet food shop with imported products from small Italian artisan producers. There is also a café at the entrance of the restaurant. There are two Carluccio’s locations in Dublin. The restaurant offers all-​day dining. The menu offers authentic, traditional ingredients. There are both set lunch and dinner menus. The restaurant is packed and buzzing with both diners who want to sit and relax or there is hot take-​away options when you immediately walk in the door if you need to grab lunch and run. I enjoy the BBC «Two Greedy Italian» series which features Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo. You can book a table at
.

Super tasty food, great staff and excellent canoli. For me there is nothing better on going to carluccios on a sunny day and getting a coffee to go and pick up some pastries and make your way to a bench in Stephens green.

Sweet Sicily was already closed and we were after meal looking for some sugar to finish off. We took two desserts home as they looked so tasty and yummy on the display (small apple crumble and small chocolate tart). We come back home to become very disappointed with what we have got. I think Tesco having way better stuff than they do. Deserts were very bland and taste like they’ve been baked few days back. Sorry not sorry but never again.

Seated promptly though we had reservations. Ordered some appetizers and later the entrees.
I had the lasagna which unthought was fantastic. Service was attentive and timely.
Desserts were amazing with the tiramisu and gelato.

Had the eggs & funghi with a cup of coffee and it was lovely. Server was very nice as well. I will visit again for that breakfast.

My mom and I had a great brunch here. It has a clean, modern interior and I’d always admired it from the windows. I had the scrambled eggs with salmon. It was very flavourful and tasty, especially with the delicious toast it came with. I got tea on the side with was standard.
What I really appreciated was the service– our server was super friendly and chatted away to my mom in French. Nice location and good value.

Stopped in for a late night supper. I was craving pasta and bread! My husband and I ordered the Trio di pasta; 3 pastas to share for two people. We got the penne alla luganica, penne pasta in a fresh tomato sauce w/​spicy sausage. I enjoyed it. The sausage was a bit too spicy for me but was probably just my mood because I usually like spice! The next pasta was fettucce con polpette, fettucce pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce. I loved the noodles in this dish. The 3^rd pasta was spaghetti carbonara! This was probably my favorite, however we ate it last and I was so full by this time that I couldn’t eat very much of it. I enjoyed the Trio option. It was nice to be able to try different pastas!
We ordered the garlic and provolone cheese home-​baked foccacia to go with our meal. It was not good! It was soaked in olive oil! Very soggy!

Came here for dinner because Carluccio’s has a reputation for great Italian food, which I am a huge fan of Fabulous Italian. Unfortunately this place came up short on this night.
The wine list is pretty short for an Italian restaurant so I passed on the wine. Would like to see some mild red wines.
We got the HomeBaked Focaccia Bread with Garlic and Provolone Cheese. The bread was soaked in grease and stacked on the other piece of bread so the cheese was stuck to it. The bread was also very tough, like it was old. I would not recommend it.
We ordered the Trio Di Pasta:
The Spaghetti Carbonara was excellent. The Spaghetti noodles were tender and smoky pancetta was amazing. An excellent dish I would recommend.
The Penne Alla Luganica was very good. The Penne Pasta was perfect, the sauce was OK, but the spicy Luganica Sausage was not that spicy. Still a very good dish I would get again.
The Fettucce Con Polpette came up short. The tender beef meatballs didn’t have any flavor. The Fettucce Pasta didn’t have enough sauce so it was dry, which made the noodles less tender and clumped together.
Over all good Italian, but not great Italian.
They do have very good service and the staff are very friendly.

I love this place. My most recent visit was for breakfast with my mum. She had scrambled eggs and mushrooms and I had the omelette with mushrooms. Both were delicious and we had two coffees each which were also excellent. The staff are friendly and attentive too.
It’s bright and airy inside and they have outdoor seating for days with nice weather. There’s a deli /​bakery at the front if you want some treats to take home. A trip to Carluccio’s is always a pleasure.
I will be back for dinner soon I hope.

Food is really good here and the staff are really friendly but the best thing about this place is the coffee. Wether you’re sitting in or grabbing one on the go it’s up there as one of the best in Dublin.

Haven’t been here for food for a while but Carluccio’s is one of my go to spots for coffee in Dublin.
In fact I usually get a combination of a macchiato and a fresh mint tea! Hits the spot.
Also a great choice for a quick lunch from the deli counter, fresh pasta or panninis nom nom :)

I’ve only been here for a coffee so this review is going to be light until I can get back for another look!
I’ll admit I came here on a weird day for me personally, and I was in a very unforgiving mood. The service was kind of strange from the off, they didn’t make it very clear what we were supposed to do to get a coffee, and when we just wanted to take our coffees outside, they insisted we have table service. I know that it was a matter of misunderstanding from our side and their policies about table service but it was all very awkward and weird. That said, the coffee was quite nice, and what I could see of the interior seemed very classy and cool. I’d like to come back for some good grub or something from the deli section but this time was a disapointing visit.

Hands down the best Italian food in Dublin. Their warm goat cheese salad has been on mind since I left. Can get a little crowded at times when it’s full because it’s a small restaurant but they’re doing things right in the kitchen, where it truly counts. Very good takeout food as well. Cannoli to go!

Came here today for breakfast and was not disappointed! It’s great to find somewhere that’s open so early in the weekend (8am!). They have lots to choose from for breakfast (sweet and savory) — we went with the Magnifico breakfast. It came with scrambled eggs (cooked perfectly), toast, pancetta that was fried like bacon, mushrooms, sausage, coffee, and fresh orange juice. All of that was a little less than 12 euro per person. Everything was great!
If it looks full from outside, try and ask anyways — there’s loads of seating upstairs.

Had lunch with a party of 3 adults and 4 children. The restaurant was very accommodating for children and provided an activity pack for each child. I had focaccia with dipping O&V to start. The focaccia was more of a brioche texture vs traditional rustic focaccia and a larger O&V could have been provided for the bread. For my main, I had prosciutto tortellini which was tasty. For dessert I had the berry meringue which was served more like Eton Mess and was too sweet. Didn’t need so much sugar– my teeth ached! Overall food and service was enjoyable, (not authentic Italian) and the host should be commended for his warm welcome. He offered me a chair whilst waiting (I did decline) because I’m heavily pregnant, and he remembered me from a year ago when we had lunch prior to flying to Sicily to get married! That’s service!

Come here for breakfast as it suitable for biz purposes but its still chaotic. There’s no sense of order. There are a good selection of egg options but the execution is erratic from great to only grand (Irish term not English meaning)
I still come back regularly but they just need a little order and direction to make it better value.
Avg 25e for two for breakfast

My girlfriend and me were vere impressed with this honest, kind and delightful Italian restaurant. 18.90 euros each for one starter, one main dish and one dessert… good value for your money since the dishes are delicious:
We tried a little bit of everything: pâté, goat cheese with aubergines, rocket and tomato, penne alla luganica (spicy sausages sauce, not very spicy), tortellini with spinach and ricotta in a sage & butter sauce (this is ridiculously tasty!), tiramisu and panna cotta. Everything was good, but the panna cotta… mamma mia! This is one I will come back for. A good «double deal» is come to Carluccio’s for a main dish and then go to Sweet Sicily in the same street for a coffee and cannoli. You are welcome.
PS. I asked for some focaccia bread (outside the menu deal) while eating the starter and they gave me a slice for free! Good people…

This is now my third time here. Each time I love every morsel. Their desserts in their bakery are incredible. I also just had fresh foccacia and was in heaven. I have had their Gnocchi AL gorgonzola before and love it again.
I highly recommend this place!

I feel like I’ve been transported back to Italy. Carluccio’s is an Italian oasis in the middle of Dublin. Casual and accessible, it gives off a family trattoria vibe with a bit of posh branding for a more polished experience. Sitting outside along the walkway you get a perfect and intimate view of Dublin as you watch people move about their day.
The food is surprisingly fresh and this California girl finally was able to experience some great produce (beyond potatoes) in the heart of Dublin. I started with the mozzarella, tomato & rocket salad (
) with melt-​in-​your-​mouth fresh, moist and far too decadent mozzarella. I was in heaven.
As someone with celiacs, it was a wonderful surprise to be able to order from a gluten free menu and choose from a generous amount of options. Craving pasta I ordered the gluten free pasta with pesto and added on pancetta (
). Easily this is the BEST gluten free pasta I’ve ever had and in California we have lots of options for fresh gluten free pasta. I have to say Carluccio’s has clearly come up with an excellent recipe.
Hubby ordered the steak and like all Italian hotspots, it came out spot on medium rare (
)
If we were to have one complaint it was the wait. After ordering my salad came quickly be we then waited for 60 minutes for our entrees. For lunch, it wasn’t a desirable wait as we wanted to get on with our day. Thank goodness the food made up for it. By the time we left, we were full, happy and rolled ourselves up Grafton to our hotel.

Delizioso, amichevole e di buon valore!
Delicious food, friendly staff (great bants lads!), great value, and lovely ambience — sure ye can’t beat that. Unless you’ve got a rug rat situation and you need somewhere that’s got delicious food, friendly staff, good value, nice ambiance, AND facilities to entertain said rug rat whilst the rest of the elders stuff their faces. Then, you can beat it. With a cuddly toy shaped stick.
We had the lunch special — two courses for € 12.95 I believe it was. The bruschetta to start was genuinely the best bruschetta I’ve ever had. No, really. It comes on a massive plate, one half piled high with lightly seasoned and oiled rocket, the other with fresh tomato, basil, peppers, literally piled on top of lightly pan fried bread. So. Good.
This was followed by Italian sausage and tomato sauce penne. Again, perfect.
The waiter was funny, attentive, professional, and completely on the ball.
The kicker for the crew I was there with, was the elements for the childers. There were high chairs brought over straight away, and each child gets a beautifully wrapped little pack with a cute little drawing kit inside. I noticed there were a few other children around the place who were all very intently concentrating on their colouring, not a word out of them.
in the same vein, I wouldn’t let the child-​friendliness put off other non-​mini-​me people. It’s still very much a grown up restaurant, oozing good food, great service and a sophisticated atmosphere.
Top notch stuff all round, well done