Wilde – The Restaurant

Overall a good experience. The restaurant was completely empty when we dined. We tried it as it was connected to our hotel (Westbury). Staff was excellent, but the food was just ok. We tried the four course menu and it was good, but not exceptional. For the price, we expected a bit better. Worth a visit… but dont set your expectations too high.

Apologies for the delay in posting, I am updating all my dining experiences (that I can remember) from this year.
I ate here after seeing the voucher on Menupages (thank you Menupages).
This is not somewhere I had heard of before, but being the Westbury I was expecting a good standard. I was not disappointed, from the moment we arrived the service and welcome was exceptional. We opted for the 3-​course set menu which is € 30 per person; even without the 2 for 1 voucher this represents great value.
The choice for all courses is excellent for a set menu and covers all tastes. It is not just the food you get, but the extra’s including a complimentary glass of wine because we booked through Menupages, excellent and endless breads and dips, homemade chocolates. And to top it off all diners are presented with a small package containing the seasoning they use on their steaks as you leave.
The quality of the food, level of service and welcome means that we will be back to Wilde! It was disheartening to see that the restaurant was very quiet, however I expect that is due to not many people knowing about it. I would urge anyone looking for a high quality dining experience at reasonable prices to try here!

I took a big group here, so got quite a good overview of the food. Unfortunately the general consensus was mediocre. I had a pretty good rabbit terrine, but other people’s starters included a soggy tart and badly seasoned soup. For mains, most of of went for the steak option, which were all massively overdone and tough, though the chips etc that came with it were reasonably good. For dessert, I had the uninspiring cheese selection, and the apple tarts had a distinctly multiple-​re-​heat kind of taste.
For the wines, I’d asked the restaurant to recommend a red and a white that would go down well with the group — the Malbec was pretty good, but the Chardonnay instantly forgettable.
The décor and atmosphere is distinctly hotel-​y, so perfectly OK but not exactly inspiring or memorable.
The thing that basically let the place down most was the service. Everyone, particularly the managers, were friendly enough, but everything was just really inefficient. Steak knives came ten minutes after the steaks (and there was no way anyone was getting through those suckers without one) and the same thing happened with cheese knives. Getting attention was always a bit of a challenge and everything was pretty slow. Now, I realise that serving a biggish group can be an challenge, and they might have been short-​staffed because they’s had a massive event that afternoon, but it did mean that (having arrived at ten) that we didn’t leave until half twelve.
I won’t be rushing back.

After my husband’s disappointing late night snack at Café Novo, we did not have high hopes for Wilde. Surprisingly, Wilde surpassed our expectations both in service and in food quality, and helped restore our faith in Irish cuisine.
My husband and I are self-​proclaimed foodies, so unlike typical tourists, we are not looking for the common Irish food fare like beef stew, etc. What we want is for a chef to bring out and even enhance the natural flavors of the ingredients indigenous to the Emerald Isles. That’s exactly what we got at Wilde.
Our favorite was the carpaccio with aged Irish beef. The meat was very tendor, and full of meaty flavor. The horseradish gave it a strong kick, but not too much to overpower the beef. The rabbit stuffed with mushroom was good. Perhaps a little bit overcooked, but can be easily overlooked because of the wonderful wild herb jus. The mashed potato was also delicious, maybe a little bit on the salty side. We couldn’t really distinguish the white truffle taste, but the mash tasted like the potatoes have been cooked in a powerful beef stock, and was just full of umami goodness. For dessert we just asked for the ice cream, but it was anything but simple. We had 4 different flavors of ice cream — French vanilla, custard, chocolate, and strawberry + orange. They were all creamy, rich, and luscious. Sometimes it’s amazing how simple things can taste so good when they are done right. Of course the petit fours didn’t hurt either. :)
Albeit pricey, we were happy to be able to finally appreciate the true flavors of the local ingredients, thanks to Wilde.