Probus Wines & Spirits Dublin

Maybe it’s the sedative power of the hops, maybe it’s Fenian St’s old world atmosphere, but Probus has nailed the art of chilled-​out lunch. In fact, I get the feeling that Probus doesn’t care about Unilocal reviews, star ratings or plaques on the wall, coz it’s just takin’ its own sweet time, stirring that soup around and lining shelves with some great micro-​brew. As reported by a previous reviewer, the salad was awkwardly served and half of my olives ended up on the floor. But there was plenty of them, so no complaints.
Good value, and a lovely mocha finished everything off perfectly. Fabulous staff as well!
The next time I go back I’m taking a book, ordering a beer and praying for snow, so that I get to batton down the hatches for a good few hours.

I finally discovered Probus. Well, I’m not often in that area and from the outside it almost didn’t look like a place were you can sit down and even eat.
I am torn between three and four stars but for this visit I decided on three. We were a group of 10 people on a Friday evening and that’s probably a group size they don’t often get. We managed to get one of the long tables and squeezed together which was perfectly fine, especially as only a few of us wanted to eat something.
But the waiter was slightly stressed out from our group, especially when it came to the bill that he had to write by hand — usually you just go to the till and pay without prior bill it seems. I also wasn’t too impressed by the facilitiies — just one and a bit awkward if you have to queue.
But otherwise: I’m very well impressed and will try to get back here — with a smaller group.
I had a glass of Portuguese red wine which was € 5.50 and of very good quality. And I had their steak sandwich. The description had me a bit baffled with their olives and cornichons but it actually worked. And their sauce coming with it was delicious. Again a bit of a let down was the cutlery though, the knife made it very difficult to get through the steak and the bread, even one by one.
Everyone else in the group seemed to be pretty happy with their drinks and food too.
But despite a couple of negative points at this visit: I loved the atmosphere, variety and quality of wine and craft beer and cosiness of the place and as I said before, I will definitely come back.

Super cute café and bar with a smaller, but well chosen, wine collection. Went for lunch a late Thursday afternoon and had Caesar salad with chicken. Asked if I could have some bread instead of those crispy deep fried croutons that I am no fan of — immediate response was ‘of course’. One example of how cool and laid back the staff was.
Salad was served in a high bowl sitting on a stone board — although it did look very pretty, I must admit it was a challenge to eat the salad as the bowl was so full. Tried sticking sticking down my fork to grab a leaf, unavoidably other salad leafs followed and fell to the floor. This day I didn’t mind messy, so the presentation of the salad outweighed the difficulty eating it.
Each salad leaf had a light cover of a delicious, salty caesar dressing. On top was generous slices of what tasted like an aged Parmesan cheese. Chicken was still warm when salad was served. Price? € 7:95 each. A bargain for this quality. Next time, I’ll be back here for some more food accomplice by a glass or two of that well picked out wine.

Excellent, family run deli, wine bar. Organic food, classic combinations, good deals. Great for lunch, even better for after work beer/​wine

I’ve been here a few times.
Lovely beer and wine from all over the world. Relaxed and chilled atmosphere. But mostly I’ve come in for their sandwiches. I love the air dried beef and goats cheese, which makes me kind of ask myself… why didn’t I have it when I went for a lunch meeting the other day? Instead I opted for the special, which was bresaola, tomatoes and cheese served on sourdough bread. Sounds good, doesn’t it. Instead it ended up being dry and disappointing. Should have stayed with an old favourite.
But I digress, the stars will stay for past experience rather than this one.

Just an awesome little place with a fantastic craft beer selection and wonderful food. It’s a really special place in the multitude of lunch spots in Dublin. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a delicious, healthy, and homemade lunch in Dublin.

Aside from having a huge variety of craft beers and fine wines to sample and take away, this is place is a great spot for a quiet coffee and a sandwich.
Strongly recommend the chicken, bacon and avocado sandwich on rye bread. If you like your soup fresh, hot and with nothing but natural ingredients cooked on site, try the carrot and coriander, potato, French onion, they’re all delicious.
Wonderful breakfast sandwich for early starters and served up to 11am and always a deal going on it.
Staff are very welcoming and friendly. Coffee is fantastic.

Looking for a quiet, friendly spot that’s not pretentious or loud, has some great gourmet sandwiches, homemade soups a killer selection of craft beers, located in a great neighborhood and one that has a friendly staff and patrons?
Sound too good to be true?
It’s not too good to be true, you simply haven’t found Probus yet.
What if you wanted to sit down and relax OR take away your food, beers or wines?
Well you can do either at Probus Wines & Liquors!
Irish craft beers? US craft beers? New Zealand craft beers??? Probus has got them!
The wine barrel tables, the relaxed atmosphere, the tasty food and astounding beer selection were exactly what I was looking for.
Serano ham with pesto sandwich — A+
French Onion Soup — A+
Beer selection — A+
Value — A+
Friendly service — A+
Would I recommend this to a friend? Only if he doesn’t take my seat!
Visited several times during my trip and it never disappointed. Looking forward to my next visit to Dublin to try some more great food and beer and spend some time at Probus with Paul (owner) and the local, friendly beer aficionados.

Great spot, fresh ingredients always and very friendly staff. Coffee the best in Dublin.

This place is a GEM. A gem in the rough, but still a gem. I walked down there from my hotel and had a great lunch. Lunch was simple, a ham and cheese sandwich, but what a ham and cheese sandwich it was!
The baguette was some of the best bread I have ever had (I’m from San Francisco which is famous for its bread). It has great crust and is chewy and slightly moist at the same time, a neat trick. The flavor is perfect, a little yeasty, not sour, but not too sweet either.
Great, freshly cooked ham. Tasty sharp white cheddar. Tangy mustard (relish is available, if you want it). The whole experience is enhanced by having to choose among so many fine beers.
And the prices are modest.

Little independent shop/​café/​off license/​bar just off Merrion Square.
The main attraction is that you can buy good craft beer and wine and drink it there (with 20% surcharge — still really cheap though).
In addition — they also serve food… haven’t tried any but the other patrons said the cheese and meat platters were «delish»!
Very friendly employees who make you feel at home — I will be back to try the food!

Iron Maiden Trooper beer? With Eddie on the label? You gotta be kidding???
Nope apparently not. Bruce Dickinson (long standing Iron Maiden vocalist for the younger generation), I am reliably informed, is a Real Ale enthusiast, and commissioned this very smooth and pleasant light ale.
We had stopped in the Ginger Man for a quick afternoonn pint on the way home and we noticed the quirky look of this place. A quick mobile Unilocal later, we decided to stick out noses in.
The selection of beers is quite varied and although some of the craft beers are fairly widely avaiable now, there were some that I have not seen before, like the aforementioned Trooper.
We had a pleasant chat with the guy in there, sorry i didn’t get a name, he offered his services as a guide and provided useful information about the place, such as the tasting evenings, the on site consumption surcharge, and generally made us feel at home in perusing the wide seelction of beers and ciders on offer.
I pikced up a couple of Trouble Brewing Dark Arts porter (one of the best porters around in my book) as well as the Trooper. I will be returning and hope to attend a tasting in the near future.
P. S. for younger readers, Iron Maiden are a band who were rather poplualr in the last millenium.

Such a nice little spot.
There’s not many places in Dub where you can buy beer to go, or if you rather, just open it up there in the off-​licence and have it with a sandwich!
The selection of beer is great, probably the most well stocked in the city centre. The food is lovely, locally served, freshly prepared and cheap as well. I had a sourdough sandwich with goats cheese and air dried beef, it was delicious and cost only € 5.
The shop is tiny and just really nice a laid back. There’s a selection of beer books in the corner and beer tastings two nights a week. I really want to go back and try some more of their food, there’s lots of cheeses and antipasti, the perfect accompaniment for all the different types of beer available.
It’s a great alternative to the big craft places in the city like the Porterhouse, much quieter and easy going. A beautiful simply designed room too.
It’s hard to find something to fault with this place! Would recommend it to any of my friends! Literally two minutes walk from Pearse station too which is always a plus.

Had a beer tasting here and stayed on afterwards drinking. Beer tasting was excellent, the guy running it was very decent and enthusiastic, willing to chat away about the different beers. Made fast friends with some people at the tasting and stayed on drinking. You just pop over to the fridge and take what you want then bring your empties to the till when finished. With just a 10% surcharge on the off license prices the value is amazing. Plus the selection of beers is hard to beat, I was like a kid in a candy shop. All in all great place with great staff. As a Dubliner I’m proud to have a place like this in my city

Good selection of various craft beers. The best thing about this place is that it is an off license but also has a pub license as well. So you can both buy your beer here and sit down and drink it. They also have good lunch specials and have a café setup.
The staff here is extremely friendly and offer loads of recommendations. Just tell them what you like and they will point to several new things you may have not tried yet.
Every Thursday evening is a beer tasting event that although I have not yet attended, it seems to attract a decent crowd weekly and seems to be a good time.

This place is truly a gem to find in the heart of Dublin. It is very unique in several ways. The most obvious is that it is both off license and on license. That means you can consume alcohol on the premise like a pub as well as take it with you like a shop. Never seen this before.
Now for the two things that make it really unique, the food and the beer. The food is superb and there are daily specials. I had a cream of mushroom soup that was best I have ever had, hands down, and a chicken and avocado sandwich on rye. Truly great food can be had here. The beer selection is very unique for Dublin. They carry a good selection of craft beers many of which are from Irish brewers. I had a couple very good pale ales and took a couple more with me.
The guys that run this place are very helpful and friendly. They want to serve the best and are happy to chat about it as well. If you are into craft beer and great food, this is your place in Dublin.

I was there for the beer tasting with the cheese and being honest it has opened my eyes to a whole new world of alcohol. Up until then i was a larger lout. (carlsberg or heiney in the pub without fail) but those days are over.
The walk through of the various beers and the understanding of the craft makes a big difference and i cant recommend it enough.
This place is a real diamond of a find and well worth a visit.
«The meaning of the word „Probus“ is an abbreviation of the words Pro for professional and Bus for business.» Or possibly they just made up.

This place rocks. I went for a beer tasting and it was really really good.
I also had a great gourmet sandwich and a taster of the roast pepper and tomato soup that was being made. Both were delicious.
All the food was home made and the guy doing it is obviously a great chef. I wish I lived closer so I could eat there more often.
The shop itself has a great range of normal and quality beers, you could spend a fortune if you were a real ale fan.
Check out there facebook page for a beer tasting, it was 6 euro and you got a good taste of 4 beers (half a bottle each).
They are going to do some wine tasting and specialist cheese evenings as well which I am hoping to attend.
Its really great seeing a small business take itself by the horns and push itself above the competition.

First off let me say two things, Cristin L did a stellar review that really summed it all up. Secondly I am holding back on the five stars as there are exciting plans afoot for Probus that I won’t divulge but when it happens it will definitely get that extra star with my update.
Paul owns the place and Alex is what he termed, «a sommelier of beer.» And that he definitely is. They hold a weekly beer tasting session and I highly recommend it, Alex will tailor the experience to your wants — for example tonight they are holding a porter and stout tasting session.
It was such an enjoyable evening and Alex is so full of information and facts that you can’t help but fall in love with beer more, it was wonderful to be led through the different styles of beers. Paul provided cheeses for the beers. I have never been a big blue cheese fan by my goodness it worked so well with the porter just like the goats cheese worked with the lighter ale.
As a space you can see that they are still getting their footing and it’s still very much a «under construction» effort but their ultimate goal is very exciting and will be a first of its kind in Dublin.
The light that the building gets is superb and there are barrels and stools that you can sit at to enjoy a beer and some of the amazing Irish sourced food which is really impressive.
They are open early for coffee and as Cristin said they do gourmet sandwiches. Paul also does wine courses and he’s a chef by trade so you know the food is top notch. Please check this space out and support — tell them you found them on Unilocal

Did you know that buying a Coopers Ale six pack is cheaper than buying Fanta? Well that’s one of the many things I learned at a recent Craft Beer tasting held here at Probus Wines & Spirits.
First off I am going to mention the gourmet sandwiches. Yes that’s right, gourmet sandwiches in an off-​licence. Amazing gourmet sandwiches in a off licence. Not wanting to drink on an empty stomach, I went for the baked ham and cheese, which came toasted with a dollop of a divine homemade chilli relish on the side. Frickin’ amazing. If I worked in the area, I’d be here every day for my lunch. Paul, the owner of Probus, does the food himself and does it well.
Back to the tasting, we tried a Dungarvan Brewing Company blonde ale called Helvicks Gold, a Coopers sparkling ale, another Dungarvan Brewing Company bitter called Comeragh Challenger and a Belgian trappist beer called Chimay, the red one.
Now I didn’t really know very much about craft beer before this, well apart from the fact that craft beer has become very popular in recent years. But after the tasting here, I’ve learn much and gained a lot of respect for craft beers. Alex chose the four beers today because they were all bottled conditioned, but also because of how different they were to each other. Alex also knows a lot about beer and he knows how to impart this knowledge while keeping his audience entertained. It was a much enjoyed evening. For 6 of your well earned euro, this 90 mins and some four half bottles of beer later, it’s good value for money.
Of course after being wooed by the sandwiches, beer and general craft brewing knowledge, we departed stocked with an assortment of ale, beer and cider.
We’ll be back.