Gruel? - Food Glorious Food more like (Restaurants in Dublin (county) in general)

Member Name: missniff

Product:	Restaurants in Dublin (county) in general
Date:	26/08/09 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wicked atmosphere & great price

Disadvantages: Not one

Two of us were lucky enought to be in Dublin for the weekend... we got hungry! Gruel was recommended to us by my aunt. She lives in Dublin and works in the arts, goes out for dinner often with friends and will always point you in an interesting direction. she certainly managed to do this!

Gruel was easy to find, its close to Temple Bar and has a small neon sign outside at eye level, simple to find! actually although we had been recommended Gruel we did look around at the other restaurants in the area and nothing was appealing to me.

as soon as i walked in i loved it. it reminded me of a New York diner straight away. the ground floor was full of interesting looking people, all chatting away, the kitchen was beside you as you walked in, so you could see everything was freshly prepared, the place was buzzing!

we had to wait a couple of minns to speak to the guy in charge, he popped us on a stool and asked us to wait 10 mins. i was happy to wait, it gave me a chance to peer around at everyone! shortly after we came in about 15 people followed so we were pleased to get in. after about 8 mins we were shown to our seats.

now the room itself was a bit shabby and the tables and chairs were secondhand looking, mismatched and formica style. it all added to the bohemian feel of the place.

no menus as everything was on the chalk boards on the wall.

they had about 5 starters and 7 mains. we skipped on the starters, but they were all reasonable 4-8 euros. mains ranged from 8-15 euros - excellent prices fr Dublin. service was excellent.. by no means falling over themselves but efficient and easy, again perfect for the vibe. they immediatly gave us a jug of freezing water and weren't bothered when we decided to not have anything else to drink (the drinks were listed as 'beer or wine').

i chose the grilled mackerel, with a broad bean, potato and mint salad. it arrived fresh and fast. 3 fillets of perfectly grilled fish was perfect and the salad was tasty, well seasoned and delicately minty. it was delicious and filled me up perfectly.

the sausage and mash with caramalised onion gravy my boyf had sounds like regular fare, but again it was well cooked, well seasoned and well proportioned. the small bite i could steal was again delicious.

we were out within an hour, but thats cos we were tired, i reckon you could sit there for a couple of hours with your friends and feel no pressure to head off.

i would recommend this for people watchers (there were people eating alone) and someone who wants great food with a fantastic atmosphere. it was no frills, but couldn't have been further from 'budget'.

68 Dame Street, Dublin 2.

Summary: You will be missing out if you don't go!