Whiskey Tasting

Disappointing Restaurant I made a reservation for last Saturday. It was our 6th engagement anniversary ( and Valentine`s weekend). We arrived on time and was seated between a birthday party table and another table of two near the door on the way to the bathrooms.The restaurant was half empty so I politely asked if we could get another table, but I got just a brief cold answer that all the tables are booked. So we took a table, but I felt very uncomfortable so I went to ask the same lady ( tall, short hair, glasses ) if we could eat in the bar. The answer was no as meal is served in the bar till 4.00pm and it was 4.30pm...Fair enough. Well, she didn`t make any effort to make us feel welcomed. I was hungry and didn`t want to spoil our date with my husband ( these days it`s so special having a date just us as we have two small children ), so we stayed. I ordered a steak and my husband a fish. Steak was delicious, but the vegetables raw and peppercorn sauce very watery. We were asked how was everything when paying our bill. I mentioned the above and got a reply it will be passed to the kitchen. Our experience definitely wasn`t value for money. Will not be in a rush to go back. Not to mention when we were leaving most of the tables which were empty when we arrived were still empty...

Needs Service Improvements I have visited this location once for a family event. Sadly I won’t repeat this. Brought family members here for Sunday lunch, as I have done many times when occupied by previous owners.

I am taking into consideration the teething problems as new staff learn where things are, but hey the customers are at the tables that’s all that’s important. What I experienced was the most disorganised display of table service I have ever witnessed. The number of inexperienced floor team is simply too concentrated and there is no leader.
Too much to rant on for one discrete experience so summarised below.
[This is feedback for management not individual staff members]

Stop
Staff walking through restaurant with open laptops, and setting down on customer seating to work. This is our dining experience, not your office.
The insane process where food is carried down from kitchen area on a huge tray and both nowhere to set it down, and staff to relieve the waiter of the dishes. This for me was the most telling of what was going on here, great effort put into decor, but nobody has checked how this current space can serve food effectively. Terrible lack of process.
Collecting glasses from table when not finished, please help the staff understand how little or often this is needed.
Bringing out the soup and main course at same time. No apology as simply inexperienced staff did not suspect anything wrong with this.
Service charge. Increase your dish prices if need be, as the food is tasty, but your service is extremely under par.

Start
Hiring an experienced staff member that can build a team into a min level of organisation.
Ensuring proper table management that parties of people can sit together, joining large round tables together does NOT count especially when restaurant half full.
Following up after each course for the next, ensure customers don’t have to chase down your staff for tea/coffee/desserts. Staff not confident in approaching tables to do this.
Team needs to communicate - Your staff all have mics, but they don’t communicate effectively. This is evident when we have to ask for service repeatedly.
Sunday lunches have a certain min expectation nationally. I’m happy to eat gnocchi on a Sunday, but you need a menu to appeal for folks who require more traditional dining.
Portion sizes are particularly small across the whole menu, this is quite noticeable and is sadly unnecessary on sides.

Continue
To deliver nice tasty dishes.
Invest in the local area.

Terrible - service, process and management of same.
Average - tasty, but dishes small and menus extremely limited.
Rating - Poor

Lovely surprise We ate here a few weeks ago with friends that recommended it to us and I have to say that we had a lovely meal. We knew it was a steak house and our steaks were perfectly cooked. Not really for vegetarians as I have 2 daughters that are Veggies and wouldn’t be taking them here.
Starters and Desserts were fab as well. Have recommended it to all our meat eating friends since our visit and hope to get back soon.
Decor lovely and staff were great
10/10 terrific

The new Clermont Restaurant We recently tried out the New Clermont Restaurant, with our friends. We had a drink in the bar while we waited for our table. The young guy that served us our drinks was so welcoming and friendly. We were shown to our table in the restaurant, and the girl went through the menu in detail explaining everything, very helpful. Our meal was beautiful from starters, main course and deserts. The decor throughout is beautiful. Overall a very good experience, looking forward to our next night out in The Clermont.

The meat is excellent If you want a safe place to get out of the house and feel normal again - this is right for that. In simple terms the are getting it right and seem very aware of peoples fears. Good job to the team there. I must say the meat is excellent. Worth the price and a nice place to sit. Will be back!

All style but poor menu and food Decided to try the new Clermont recently and having waited to allow teething problems to fade.
The premises are attractive and the staff polite but the menu is very limited for all courses. Our mains had a couple of issues, with request for no dressing/sauce ignored and steak well below the well done requested. The person who ordered steak also said it was tough and stringy - it didn't even look like a striploin cut. Pork belly was cold. No veg seems to be standard unless ordered as a side and even then the char roasted broccoli was laced with chilli which we were not warned about - nobody ate it. The accompanying chips totalled 8 chips!
Overpriced for sure when you see what little you get - particularly as a main course.
If you want cocktails and a pizza then head for the Clermont but if you want a decent selection on a menu and tasty food, there are many more options in Blackrock and Dundalk.