Cafe Bar Deli

One of my favorite restaurants in the city. The atmosphere is romantic. It can get pretty loud here. If you dont have a reservation, it may take a few minutes to get seated but you can always start with a glass of wine while you wait. The prices aren’t bad. My favorite dish here by far is the Caesar Salad. I know everyone has caesar salads but Bar Deli’s is a cut above the rest. The chicken is marinated and well seasoned, the greens are fresh, homemade croutons and delicious, shaved parmesan cheese. This is the way a caesar salad should be done. Their pastas and pizzas are absolutely delicious too but I come here for the Caesar.

Right, updated review!
Café Bar Deli may officially feck off with itself. One of the worst dining experience of my life was had yesterday evening. Myself and a friend dropped in for an after work bite and a cheeky Tuesday vino. We were seated and then ignored for 15 minutes till I hollered at a waitress for a couple of glasses of water. 20 minutes later and with no sign of anything to quench our thirst, never mind a chance to order, I signaled another staff member who was pitching for Irelands rudest waiter. It still took 10 more minutes for the water and wine to arrive and then a further 20 for the food. By this point we were both about to chew the leg off the table, so imagine my friends disappointment when her meal arrived, and was incorrect, which it proceeded to be the 2 more times we sent it back!!! The 3^rd time it came it was almost right, so she figured this was probably the best that could be hoped for and chowed down on her baby sized portion (seriously, the burger was the size of a pog!). Mine also was titchy tiny, but at least correct!
Disgraceful rudeness from a particular staff member and shockingly bad food. I’ve been eating here since college, many moons ago, but never ever again.

The restaurant was heaving, which was definitely a good sign, and with an open-​planned kitchen completely open to view by all diners, the hustle and bustle was mighty.
If anything the noise level may have been too raucous at times with the occasional crash of broken dishes interrupting our meal. The menu was varied and reasonable. On the wine front, the house options were priced at € 5.50 a glass. The red French Cabernet Sauvignon and the Argentinean Shiraz were chosen, each very easily drinkable. On the food front, we opted to share a starter of Garlic Pizzettes with herb oil, sea-​salt and rosemary. These were delicious, crispy and flavoursome and the two pizzettes were plenty for four people, and reasonable at € 6.
We all went for pizzas for our main course, with the ‘Parsley, garlic oil, mozzarella, sliced potatoes, rosemary, sea-​salt and parmesan’ one choice selected. This alternative pizza choice (potatoes on a pizza?) came in at € 12 and by all means looked intriguing — wholly white minus any tomato base. The potatoes were impeccably flavoured but the lack of signature tomatoes did feel peculiar.
Two of us went for the ‘Tomato, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, pine nuts, goats cheese and basil pesto’ pizza, though with added pepperoni on mine in an effort to chose at least one stockish dish. The goats cheese and pesto combination was delicious, with one plate scraped clean, although the added richness of the pepperoni ensured it wasn’t mine! The pizza was € 14, with € 2 extra for the meat.
Owing to the vast portions most of us were unable to finish our meals, so we initially thought dessert would be out. However, a peek at the menu changed our minds. We ordered two of the chocolate brownies and ice-​cream to share for € 7 each. They were colossal as well as scrumptious — the ideal amalgamation.
With the bill being settled at € 20 each we came away hugely contented with our afternoon’s lunch jaunt.

A very handy huge Restaurant at the back of Bewley’s Café on Grafton St. They’ve kept a lot of the old Bewleys charm in the décor. Because it’s so large its a really handy place to get dinner without a reservation on a busy night — you’ll have to wait less here than other places.
Prices are moderate and the food is pretty good, but they could really do with changing the menu seasonally as it can get pretty boring after a while