Dunne and Crescenzi

Fantastic pasta! Most of which are made in house and you can taste it.
The service is very friendly and the environment is extremely inviting.
It’s the first time I’m trying Italian food in Ireland and it has set the bar very high.
I would highly recommend anyone on the area checking this place out. When you sit down, ask the waiter which pastes they make in house and order that. The quality of the pasta made in house is simply unbeatable!
The location isn’t the best because it’s tacked away in a little corner, but the up side is that it’s never packed — according to most reviews and my own observation.
If you’re in town, in need of a good pasta and a nice glass of red wine, come check this place out.

Oh, how I love you, D&C. I’ve been to multiple locations and find the food and quality consistent. The caprese salad has some of the most gorgeous buffalo mozzarella ever. Ever! The coffee is lovely, and the wine selection immense. Can’t wait to go back!

I’m giving them 4 stars for the coffee alone — I’ve eaten lunch here once and it was decent but quite pricey, nothing to rave about except an extensive wine selection. I’ll have to make a couple of return visits to rate the food more appropriately.
The coffee though is another matter — it is extremely good, on a par with any other top café in Dublin. The take away option is somewhat awkward and limited though due to the set up, which is a shame — this inconvenience is the only reason this place does not get 5 stars on the coffee front. As a result I have often run in to Café Java for take-​away coffee instead — a shame as the coffee in D&C is far superior.
Barring that one gripe the interior is lovely, service is good and there is generally plenty of room during the day to sit and have a chat over the aforementioned excellent coffee.
So, if you are looking for a nice place to sit, have a chat and enjoy a coffee in Sandymount village, this is the place to go — the surroundings and superior product far outweigh the price premium over other options.

Dunne and Crescenzi does wine and nibbles to a T. The walls are lined with reds, whites and bubblys from all around Italy, stacked beside jars of preserves, sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers, pickled artichoke hearts, boxes of pannetone and biscotti, packets of Palombini coffee and those lovely little chocolates with the gold wrappers that go great with their espresso. Here on display is an array of excellent ingredients, and you can be guaranteed that with take-​home produce this good, the dishes prepared in the kitchen will be pretty tasty too. All the ingredients are imported from Italy, and the cured meats are sliced fresh to order. My favourite is the bresaola platter, slivers of cured beef served on a bed of rocket with toasted ciabatta, parmesan shavings and lashings of flavoursome olive oil and black pepper. All the platters are similarly simple (the bruschetta pomodoro is just that — toasted ciabatta with garlic, tomatoes, basil and olive oil) but all great for a light lunch or to accompany a good bottle of wine in the evening. They do a super healthy minestrone soup which is served in huge, steaming bowls, and the pastas are usually good and pretty cheap too, though other mains like the fillet steak can work out pretty pricey by the time you order sides.
The staff are predominantly Italian, professional yet unfussy and friendly.
The wines are keenly priced for the quality, and the house bottle at just € 15 is the cheapest I’ve found in any Dublin restaurant.

Tucked away at the ‘back’ of the village of Sandymount is the Italian Bistro Dunne & Cresendi. A fairly typical Irish Italian sort of affair with perhaps a little more of a nod to the Italian side of how its done than usual — this makes for great antipasti plates and I’m sure if you are a clever swinging vegetarian you”ll get a huge kick out of it but I think a bit more meat wouldn’t go amiss! — don’t get me wrong, they have meat, just not enough!
Their wine list is big and as a fan of Italian reds I can tell you their selection is really very very good. The staff know their stuff too so don’t be afraid to ask them what wine goes best with your chosen foods.
I’ve tried nearly all the starters at one time or another at this stage but as always the simplest turns out to be the best — the tomato brochette is really very good… erm, if you like tomatoes, if you don’t then probably best to avoid this one!

I love Dunne & Crescenzi. It’s just a shame that the one in Sandymount isn’t as good as the original in town. The food is still great which is the main thing. I adore the antipasti plates and love all of the main courses that they have. One of the best I had was a gorgeous fillet steak with parmesan, balsamic vinegar and a side of French beans, for just € 8. It was amazing. So the food is just as good, then what’s the problem?
It just lacks the x-​factor that I think the South Frederick Street original has. It’s the cluttered-​ness, the originality and the authenticity. I just don’t think it translated to this location in Sandymount. Almost, but not quite. You still can’t fault the fantastic food though and all for a super price tag.