La Peniche

I enjoyed an excellent birthday party (someone else’s) here on La Peniche.
Welcomed on board with a glass of bubbly (arranged as part of the party), we descended into the main lounge of the barge.
Stained wood, port holes, fixed lamps on each table. The interior here has so much character. The toilets even have character too. And I thought the button pressing needed for flushing amusing.
The food was really nice too. I had trouble picking a starter as they all looked amazing. I went for the duck confit, which was lovely and tasty. But my husbands goats cheese tart was delicious. I’d order that next time.
For a main I ordered the fish, sea-​bass. Which, surprisingly, there was loads of. And the rest of the dish accompanied it well. I had the cheesecake for dessert. Which was also nice.
But still that one bite of goats cheese won the night for me.
We had the Pinot Grigio for 30 EUR, which was very drinkable. They have a fairly good selection of other drinks too (for a place tight for space) if you don’t drink wine.
The three course set menu came to 29.50 EUR and includes the barge moving up the canal, through a lock and back again. I really enjoyed the small journey we took.
Staff were nice, patiently put up with our merriment.
It was an excellent experience and one I’d like to do again. In the summer would be nice, as it was freezing on this night. I didn’t spend too much time up deck.

Good: Ambience, the staff, the baskets of bread, the soup, chocolate brownie desert.
Bad: Main course.
Let me start by saying that the setting and the staff of La Peniche were wonderful. The starter of potato soup was very nice and the chocolate brownie desert was also decent. I’d have starved without the basket of bread at our table though as the main course left much to be desired.
I want to preface my comments with the fact that I’m a vegetarian so my choice was limited to one, suspect-​sounding option, «Roast vegetables with couscous and feta cheese». Now, any food-​lovers reading this will probably be scratching their heads at that sentence and claiming that none of the three elements would seem to go together, and they’d be spot on. They don’t, especially not cooked the way these were. Limp vegetables with a side-​dish of couscous and 4 or 5 lumps of feta on top. I made an effort to eat though as I hate to waste food, but eventually I had to give up and fill myself with the basket of bread. My companion who ordered the pork main was similarly disappointed with her dish, but when I’ve heard that everything’s reheated on board, it’s probably silly to expect culinary excellence.
Obviously I rate a restaurant based on its ability to cater to me because even a half-​way decent chef will be able to dream up something edible for the veggie option, so I won’t be returning to La Peniche. It shows a lack of being bothered to produce quality food, in my experience, to slap three uncomplimentary elements together and try to pass the result off as a meal.
In La Peniche you pay for the experience and once was quite enough for me. Myself and my partner don’t often spend upwards of € 120 eating out but, when we do, we expect to enjoy what we’re eating.

Visited La Peniche recently for a group Christmas dinner. There were 18 people in total in our party and we had the boat to ourselves.
The staff were great and very accommodating and attentive.
Food was very nice.
I would definitely recommend it for group dinners as the staff made us feel very welcome.
Price came to about 60e each which I thought was reasonable/​competitive for 3 courses and a lot of drinks.

I was astonished that the average rating for «La Péniche» is so low and that only 3 reviews have been written so far on Unilocal.
«La Péniche» is a name in Dublin’s restaurant business since I arrived here in 2007, and I had alway’s pinned it down as too fancy /​too expensive.
Happy was I to receive as a birthday present an evening dinner there.
Being half French, I know my Boeuf Bourguignon from my Coq au vin and I’m fairly experience in regional French wines.
I am also acutely aware of the painful prices one has to pay in Ireland for proper French dining and wining (the last is always eye-​watering and one major reason why growing old on the Emerald Isle is not for me, but I wander).
«La Péniche» turned out to be actually really nice. It’s not Michelin-​star cuisine, but then the prices are accordingly in a normal middle-​class budget: two 3-​course dinners, a bottle of good red wine (try the Pinot Noir from the Aude region — very uncommon to get a Pinot Noir from there, but it’s actually a triumph!) and two glasses of Kir Royal as a starter, and we came out under 150.
The quality of the food was very good, they used fresh and yummy (organic?) ingredients (the charcuterie platter as a starter is good for meat-​lovers) and both the Boeuf Bourguignon as well as the confit of pig cheek were really deliciously prepared.
The desert was seasonally appropriate with fresh blackberries on top — and the boat was driving up and down the canal a bit, under a bridge and up and down a canal lock — what’s not to like?
All in all, la Péniche makes for a great evening dinner «event» for those eager to eat in an unusual, non-​restaurant environment, and I have to say it’s not in many European capitals where one can experience this in the heart of town!
The only REAL downside was that apparently the card-​machine was broken and we had to pay in cash. Luckily not a problem, but I don’t usually carry this amount of cash with me, and they hadn’t pre-​warned us prior eating, so the service failed us on this one!

I have always seen this boat going up and down the canal and everyone on board looked so happy that I finally bit the bullet and tried it.
Overall, it was a really great experience.
The evening begins on the roof? (not great with boat terms) with drinks outside. The drinks weren’t too overpriced considering you had no other options. I got a decent bottle of wine for € 24. You move down the canal while drinking your drinks before dinner.
Seeing the way the boat moved down the canal was great with the lockes, as was going through the small tunnel that I never would have believed we could fit through without sinking.
At this point in the night, everyone moves downstairs for dinner, which was surprisingly good considering the kitchen was tiny. I had the fish, which was delicious in a cream sauce. Everyone else agreed however that the beef was the ultimate winner of the night. We skipped on dessert as we were too full and the portions were decently sized.
A short sail back to our starting point with some relaxing swing/​jazz music and we were done.
It is a good activity for nice weather, though I don’t think I would go in the rain. My only other gripes were that you actually only go about 400 feet in total before turning around; and that I would have liked to spend more time above deck looking out instead of below deck eating.
I would highly suggest this for a nice date/​couples outing as it was a romantic relaxed atmosphere.

Disappointing venue for private parties!
First off, let me say that I have only been on La Peniche for two private parties and can only base my review on that. I have not experienced the normal food or atmosphere, so it could be different than for a private booking.
You can book La Peniche for a private party, but I can’t recommend you do. The staff is very nice and the atmosphere is cosy if not tight. The food is tasty, but that’s where the good things end.
When I was on La Peniche, the finger food was good, but not even close to enough. The spaciously filled plates with tiny hors d’oeuvres wouldn’t have satisfied a normal person if he or she had got ALL of them and distributed among 20+people we were hungrier when we left than when we arrived.
The other big issue is the price. I am not sure what the price for food and drinks was, but La Peniche charges EUR 500 for a private booking just to be able to use the venue. Food and drink is on top of that! If you book a restaurant in the City Centre you don’t pay a venue rental charge and you get proper amounts of food. (You could get a massive amount of finger food for the EUR 500 alone!)
And to top it all (in a negative way) the group I was on the boat with, wasn’t even told at the time of booking that the boat will not be able to move more than 100 metres due to the canal maintenance, which took place at the time.
Not the way to get customers to come back again and again!
——
Update/​Addition:
I just realise that the EUR 500 charge is only for a booking between 17:00 — 20:00. If you want to spend the whole evening/​night (until 01:00) on the boat, the charge is EUR 900!!! And even if you only go there for dinner (i.e. with a group booking), you pay a «cruise contribution» of EUR 5 per head on top of the not exactly cheap food bill. They justify and explain the charges on the website, but imagine a restaurant told you: «Because we have to pay rates to Dublin City and Waste Charges and insurance and heating etc, we will charge you another EUR 5 on top of your meal, love. I’m sure you don’t mind!»
[What they don’t explain is why for a group booking the additional cruise charge is a minimum of EUR 15 per head (assuming a totally packed boat with 60 people and EUR 900 charges) and could go up to EUR 30 for a more comfortable 30 people on board.]

Once know as «The Party Barge» this boat (yes, it’s a barge, it’s on the water) was taken over by (rumour has it) the same people as La Mere Zou and have turned it into a lovely French restaurant with a very special USP!
After you’ve boarded the barge on Mespil Road, you’re shown down into the restaurant. It’s so cosy. Great spot for a first date or a special dinner. It can also be taken over for private parties. And it moves. There’s a «sailing» at 8pm every evening, so if you’re there for that seating it sails up and down the canal.
The food is lovely, I want all the starters. The charcuterie board is absolutely gorgeous and the mussels were also scrumptious. The main courses were a little disappointing — we had lamb and cod (not together). I think it’s because the main courses are just heated up on board while the other courses are prepared fresh. It’s still very nice, but the starter was definitely nicer.
You can sit up top when the boat’s not sailing and they are also doing lunch now too. Really nice for the novelty factor and great idea for a private party!