Douglas Hyde Kilronan Castle - Boyle

Went for a family meal with my daughters' boyfriend and his parents visiting from the US. The dining area where we were seated was exceptionally beautiful and especially impressed our visitors. Other reviewers mention Michelin star quality and presentation, I heartily agree. However, the man who brought the evening together in a very special way was restaurant supervisor Ignacio Fiuza. Despite Irish and American joking and leg pulling he stayed professional, kind and demonstrated a sense of humour that suited our party mood. We will definitely return.

My sister and I treated ourselves to a night away here with b&b, spa treatment and dinner. We could have gotten a week in Portugal for less! Place itself was fine, spa treatment was lovely, but the meal was terrible! We were so looking forward to it! Menu sounded terrific! We’ve been to several Michelin restaurants and would definitely consider ourselves ‘foodies’. We could hardly make up our minds on what to choose, it just all looked so good! We got different everything so we could sample as much as possible. We agreed on a 1 out of 10 at the end! Absolute let down from beginning to end! I’m not going to bother going through each dish. They all looked great to be honest, really prettily plated and impressive, but were not only tasteless but were all actually horrible! They got one of our main courses wrong also and it was so bad! Cost us €200 and was the greatest waste of money ever! Based on our experience we can’t understand the good reviews! We wouldn’t dare return.

If there’s any way you can get here for the 8 course tasting menu, do yourself a favor and get here! It was 85 euro, but in the states they would charge double for the experience we had tonight. Our favorites were the Camembert mouse that was designed to look like a triangle cut of the cheese, but it ate like a savory panna cotta. The scallops were layered with flavors- in fact all of the courses were elegantly thought out. The tomato soup was light and rich at the same time- can’t figure out how they did it, but you didn’t want it to end. The canapés were such a great start and our favorite was a spicy chorizo rolled in goat cheese and topped with a beet reduction. The beef fillet was a really high quality that you just can’t go wrong with. My husband got the wine pairing and he can be persnickety about his wine, but he was very pleased. The service was good from Ignacio- he kept making sure we were ok, and we were great! How could you not be great after such a beautifully prepared, thoughtful evening. Well done!

When we arrived, our party of 10 was led to two tables of 5 separated by a very busy walkway, despite making the reservations months in advance. We had to plead with staff to accommodate our party. Interestingly, they kept apologizing and saying they had several large parties so they couldn’t. Okay, so if that’s the case, does that mean smaller parties don’t matter? And if they couldn’t accommodate us, why didn’t they call? In the end, they moved us to a mostly empty dining room. Why we couldn’t have been seated there from the beginning was literally a Nancy Drew mystery. Following this, we were served very nice starters, followed by some very dry and salty mains, particularly the chicken. After everyone had finished their meal, we had to wait for a full hour before anyone approached our table. We weren’t offered water or tea or coffee, and had to ask. Overall, a disappointing experience when it clearly didn’t need to be.

We have happy memories of this restaurant from the hotel's early days. What a joy to revisit! A much anticipated family reunion after a couple of years without travel. We were pleased to see that the landscaping had matured and the hotel has established. Greetings were prompt and we were shown to a table that we recognised from much earlier visits. Good dinner menu. Amazing food, well cooked. Nice wine list. Attentive service. Being a Saturday evening there was a big Weedon by party, but this didn't intrude. A treat that we will repeat.