# Cafe Boulevard - very unpleasant experience



## Tarquin (13 Dec 2006)

Hi folks, any opinions on this restaurant (just off Grafton Street)? I had a meal there last night with some colleagues and it was awful, on several aspects. And we were paying for it ourselves. 

Service was appalling, the staff were in that fake pleasantness mode 'Hi, Im Damian and Im your server for this evening', yet we had four different waiting staff at our table. We were asked to move from our table twice, to make room for more chairs at a table behind us. We grudging moved the first time but would not budge the second time and the looks they gave us. We tried to order wine twice and both times, after waiting a good while, we were told both bottles were not availabe, so eventually, after 30 minutes, it was third time lucky.

While the food tasted nice enough, the portions were that nouvelle cuisine type, visually ok to look at but tiny portions! Its been a long time since I had to go for a burger after a restaurant meal and I had to, after this one last night!! Tandoori chicken was 2 small skewers of chicken, that was it, the main course of salmon was one small cutlet with small portions of vegetables. The dessert was a small piece of caramel mousse cake. If you were on a diet coming up to Christmas, great, but we were all out for a hearty meal.

When it came to the bill, we were charged for those bottles of wine that they supposedly hadnt in stock! It took ages for the bill to get readjusted (by a fifth member of staff).

Did we complain? I would have but I was in a very mixed group, some of whom would not say anything no matter how unsatisfied they were so I wrote it off as one of those things.

I would not recommend the place whatsoever. The food is nice enough but they charge way too much for the portions they serve. I wasnt aware of the prices until I sat down and looked at the menu (it was only one of our group who had recommended the place and there was silence when we were perusing the menu and the prices, my salmon cutlet was 20e, the steak was something like 32e for a 10oz). And the serving staff were so fake, it was really annoying.


----------



## Erith (13 Dec 2006)

Sorry to hear about your experience, I quite like the place. There is one important caveat though: a lot of restaurants will sell their souls and reputations to rake it in for Christmas. 
If you didn't want to complain on the night, write them a letter now.


----------



## micheller (13 Dec 2006)

That's awful. I've been there for lunch on saturday twice and really enjoyed it. That said, the prices were better for the lunch menu and the service still wasn't 100% but pretty good.


----------



## Tarquin (13 Dec 2006)

Hi Erith, yeah, I know, you're right, I just got that feeling about the place last night, they were definitely trying to pack in as many people as possible. It was my first time there, so it probably wasnt a good tiime of the year to go. I would be curious to go back in the New Year, for lunch, see what its like. I found the service staff awful though, the fakeness and the over politeness and yet being quite rude when insisting that we had to move.


----------



## bumper21 (13 Dec 2006)

I think it's awful that you didn't complain to the manager there and then or give them a chance to make amends, instead you blast them online to everyone.

This is tyrpical of the Irish mentality. We never complain about the service or porduct we receive and then give out about them to anyone who will listen. How are these places supposed to get any better if we don't tell them when they go wrong?


----------



## DirtyH2O (13 Dec 2006)

I did have a waiter react very badly there when we asked for liquer coffees. He snapped "what do you expect, this is the Boulevard Cafe".
It struck me as little bit pretentious without any justification for the attitude. It's not exactly a gourmet restaurant.


----------



## muffin1973 (13 Dec 2006)

I've been quite a few times over the years - I've never had a horrendous experience but it's never been amazing either.  It's generally got a good atmosphere and I would think given you've gone the first time over the christmas period, you might give it another chance at a less busy time.

I'd still go back for a group dinner, not so much a dinner for two  

M


----------



## addob (13 Dec 2006)

I was thinking about having my birthday party there in the spring, Muffin for what you're saying you think it's a better place to go as a group? Hate to cross this one off my list of possibilities, it looks so fantastic and I've heard only good things up till now!

Thanks,
ad


----------



## ClubMan (13 Dec 2006)

bumper21 said:


> I think it's awful that you didn't complain to the manager there and then


I agree. If the food/service were not acceptable then the time to complain was there and then and not after the fact. By just paying up you have arguably implicitly accepted that things were OK even if this was not actually the case.


----------



## JohnnyBoy (13 Dec 2006)

Sorry for above,I was trying to quote a small proportion of message-haven't yet figured that out
"and we were paying for it ourselves"
who normally pays for your meals!!?


----------



## Leo (13 Dec 2006)

Hi JohhnyBoy, I removed that. After hitting the 'Quote' button, just edit out the bits you don't need from between the (quote) tags.
Leo


----------



## Brendan Burgess (13 Dec 2006)

I have eaten there a few times and I have always enjoyed it. It does seem to attract groups which would make it a bit unsuitable for very small parties or couples. 

Brendan


----------



## SlurrySlump (14 Dec 2006)

It reminds me of an incident in Powerscourt restaurant in Enniskerry where rather than walk the long way round to serve at a table the waitress passed over our table plates of food to the table beside us. Very annoying when they attempted to pass over an extra chair to the same table. When I protested the look I got.....


----------



## Cahir (14 Dec 2006)

I went there once for lunch a couple of years ago and wouldn't go back.  The staff were fairly rude and we were very squashed in.


----------



## ClubMan (14 Dec 2006)

SlurrySlump said:


> It reminds me of an incident in Powerscourt restaurant in Enniskerry where rather than walk the long way round to serve at a table the waitress passed over our table plates of food to the table beside us. Very annoying when they attempted to pass over an extra chair to the same table. When I protested the look I got.....


Did you complain further about this?


Cahir said:


> I went there once for lunch a couple of years ago and wouldn't go back. The staff were fairly rude and we were very squashed in.


Did you complain?


----------



## SlurrySlump (14 Dec 2006)

ClubMan said:


> Did you complain further about this?
> 
> Did you complain?


 
Do you need to know?


----------



## ClubMan (14 Dec 2006)

Surely it's relevant to the discussion in hand? Feel free not to answer though.


----------



## gillarosa (14 Dec 2006)

Hi, up to this point I have never heard anything negative about this place. Have been twice for large Birthday celebrations and found the food lovely and not over-priced for Dublin, the wine was good and priced again about the average, but the main issue was the main celebrant be it B'day Girl / Boy or Hen were given a great night by the Staff, this was at the second sitting of the evening which is recommended.


----------



## Cahir (14 Dec 2006)

ClubMan said:


> Did you complain further about this?
> 
> Did you complain?



Yes.  The staff couldn't have cared less.


----------



## ClubMan (14 Dec 2006)

Cahir said:


> Yes.  The staff couldn't have cared less.


Even the manager?


----------



## gillarosa (14 Dec 2006)

SlurrySlump said:


> It reminds me of an incident in Powerscourt restaurant in Enniskerry where rather than walk the long way round to serve at a table the waitress passed over our table plates of food to the table beside us. Very annoying when they attempted to pass over an extra chair to the same table. When I protested the look I got.....


 
Hi, isn't that a self service Cafe? (Avoca)
If it was a function in the House I'd be amazed that happened.


----------



## Cahir (14 Dec 2006)

ClubMan said:


> Even the manager?



To quote the staff "There isn't a manager here today".


----------



## addob (14 Dec 2006)

gillarosa said:


> Hi, up to this point I have never heard anything negative about this place. Have been twice for large Birthday celebrations and found the food lovely and not over-priced for Dublin, the wine was good and priced again about the average, but the main issue was the main celebrant be it B'day Girl / Boy or Hen were given a great night by the Staff, this was at the second sitting of the evening which is recommended.


 
Gillarosa, You've helped me make a decision. I'll still book there for my birthday, nothing like feeling special on my big day! 
Although, I won't as others have reccomended go there as a small group or a dinner for two.

thanks,
ad


----------



## Tarquin (15 Dec 2006)

Only logged in today and noticed some of the comments to my original post. I should have said that why I said we were 'paying for it ourselves' is because it was a work outing, not being paid for by the boss. Secondly, I am VERY good at complaining when in a restaurant or in a shop etc. However, I was in a large mixed group (with my boss present) and noone else felt inclined to complain, yes, they did complain to each other and I actually did suggest that we say something but noone wanted to!! And I wasn't going to just speak for myself.

I was only interested in getting opinions on what the place is like as I do realise that Christmas is a bad time of the year. And I am going to try it for lunch in the New Year, regardless of the very bad staff attitude.


----------



## Morgause (15 Dec 2006)

I have a theory that sometimes waiting staff take advantage of the fact that if the table is a large group of people, they are less likely to get complaints than if the table is a couple or small group.

There have been a number of times that I wanted to complain about poor service (even non-verbally, by not paying the added on service charge) but there's always someone in the group who doesn't want to cause a fuss.  So one goes along with it, not to ruin the evening for everyone.


----------



## tiger (15 Dec 2006)

> There have been a number of times that I wanted to complain about poor service (even non-verbally, by not paying the added on service charge) but there's always someone in the group who doesn't want to cause a fuss.


  In this situation, I usually let the rest of the group leave the room first... :>


----------



## roland (16 Dec 2006)

Cafe Boulevard is one of those places which seems to cater mainly for large groups - work 'dos', stags, hens, tourists....  Eliza Blues is another place like that.  In both places, I don't think that the staff have much interest in attracting repeat business.  The food is so-so.  I was at both places with work events, and had poor experiences.  The staff were inexperienced and flustered.  Maybe it's not helped by the fact that a lot of the groups are not really interested in the food/service either.  I've no interest in returning.  

Most people going to such places don't complain because more often than not they are not paying.... or they don't want to 'spoil' the evening for the rest in the group.


----------



## BlueSpud (18 Dec 2006)

Tarquin said:


> .... And we were paying for it ourselves.



pure class.........


----------



## Newbie! (18 Dec 2006)

Just a quick tuppence worth. I have eaten here on many many occasions for work purposes as it is cheap, cheerful, convenient and overall the food is above average.

My feelings on the waiting staff (and it does tend to be the same guys each time) are that they are very pleasant and try hard but either through inexperience or pressures within the restuarant, mistakes and errors with orders have happened. I have never complained becauses each incident has been quite minor -the whole lot of them together though do reduce my overall feelings about this restuarant.

I wouldn't not recommend a place....for me the food is most important so I could, to an extent, put up with other (small) problems.


----------



## Wexfordguy (4 Jan 2007)

Newbie! said:


> Just a quick tuppence worth. I have eaten here on many many occasions for work purposes as it is cheap, cheerful, convenient and overall the food is above average.
> 
> My feelings on the waiting staff (and it does tend to be the same guys each time) are that they are very pleasant and try hard but either through inexperience or pressures within the restuarant, mistakes and errors with orders have happened. I have never complained becauses each incident has been quite minor -the whole lot of them together though do reduce my overall feelings about this restuarant.
> 
> I wouldn't not recommend a place....for me the food is most important so I could, to an extent, put up with other (small) problems.


 

Mistakes and errors,bad food,rude staff,overcharging,incompetence..these are ALL traits that ad up to making dining in Dublin amongst the worst value for money anywhere.The main reason that places get away with it time and again is because a)customers dont know any better(as anation we're new to being waited on),but and mostly b)WE DONT COMPLAIN!!The amount of times i've heardpeople grizzling about apalling meals they've endured or nights out ruined by problems with staff and when you say "So,you complained then?" and they reply "well,no,but..".Complain.And if the food is of a poor standard dont pay for it.Places will soon get the message.


----------



## GreatDane (4 Jan 2007)

Hi

Like others, I've also been there a couple of times (not over Christmas just gone mind you), had mixed experiences but nothing to prevent me from ever going back.

I would comment that my main concern about the place is the quality of staff, having had both very positive and negative experiences - I appreciate good staff are hard to find these days (in any business), but there seems to be an "anything goes" policy with regards to what the staff there can say to customers etc. A little more coaching by the management, before letting the staff lose on customers might be the way to solve this problem.

On a more general basis, I think Irish people are not good at complaining (I'm starting to get better now, but from my own friends & family I suspect I'm still in the majority), but ultimately most of us bitch & moan later in a pub etc rather than try and address the problem(s) head on.

Equally, if in company & particularly if your a guest on the occassion (be it of your employer, friends etc), you are reluctant to embarris them etc by complaining, I think.

Also, I think it fair to say a lot of us would have been drinking (particularly if it's an evening meal) & after a couple of drinks, it is probably not the best time to complain for fear of how you express yourself or communicate the problem. Sadly, the result here is that if you don't complain at the time of the problem, it goes unnoticed or unaddressed .....

Service charges should be avoided at all costs ... tip well for good service & tip zero / pay zero service charge, if the service is bad. Places with automatic service charges / gratuitites should be avoided, as it's not best practice from a customers perspective, imho.

Cheers

G>


----------



## Noor77 (5 Jan 2007)

Hi All

I have come out of hibernation to add my tuppence to this thread!
I have been to Café Boulevard twice and was unimpressed both times. I don't understand why so many people rave about it. I found it pretentious, overcrowded and a bit "synthetic". Also, the food didn't really do much for me and I would agree with anyone that finds it bad value for money. 

The only reason I went back a second time was that I have a friend who happens to really like the place and it was her turn to choose where we were to eat!

Irish people in general are very reluctant to complain. I didn't complain the first time as it was more a case of my disliking the place than anything "nasty" that happened. And of course I didn't complain on visit number two because it was my own fault for going there!

Overall, in my personal opinion, it struggles to reach a rating of even "average" in the things I appreciate in an eatery.

Noor


----------



## chico_d (11 Apr 2007)

I would not reccomend this restaurant to anyone!!!! I was there with a group of 12 friends on saturday night for a birthday. My friend had booked for us and when we arrived there were set menus already out on the table. as they had not told her over the phone that there would be set menus we told the waiter we didnt want the set menu and could we order off the normal menu. the waiter then said he had to consult with the manager. Around 5 minutes later he came back and said we could order off the normal menu but we werent 'allowed' to have any pizza's or pasta's and could only order off the other small selection of main courses!!!! 

I could not believe they said this, i would have complained to the manager but it was the manager who told him to tell us this!!!! Does anyone know are restauants in their rights to do this? Can i complain to the consumers association? 

The best part of the night was when they turned the lights off to sing happy birthday to everyone who's birthday it was in the restuarant and brought out all of the birthday people a slice of cake, but then made sure they charged for it!!!


----------



## addob (11 Apr 2007)

Cafe Boulevard is an experience, and you have to pay for that experience. After much discussion on this board regarding whether or not Cafe Boulevard is worth it I decided to have my birthday there in May and decide for myself. We were a large group (25) and I think overall we all enjoyed the night. Speaking from my own experience, I thought our waiter was excellent, he was lively and kind and how he managed to get ever one of our orders right was fantastic. The food itself was excellent, when youordered a medium steak it was bang on.
As the birthday girl I felt well taken care of and have never had a happy birthday quite like the one I experienced it there.
If you are considering going to Cafe Boulevard you shoudl know that there is a set menu for groups, that being said, this menu was varied and as a group of 30 we were all eating at the same time which was nice. It's not cheep, it came out to around 50 euro a head with dinner, wine and drinks/fancy coffees. However a good night out anywhere will cost you that much.
There are two sittings, I chose the earlier one at 7 so that I could go out and enjoy the night however if I was to plan it again I would have chosen the later sitting as then we could have really sat back and enjoyed ourselves rather than having to leave at the end of the meal, however this was clearly explained to us when booking the reservation and confirming it.
Cafe Boulevard is aplace to go to celebrate an occation, I would NEVER go here for a quiet meal for two or a long evening of catch-up with the girls. There are plenty of restaurants in the city for that, Cafe Boulevard just isn't one of them.
I loved it and wouldn't hesitate to go back!


----------



## brodiebabe (12 Apr 2007)

addob said:


> Speaking from my own experience, I thought our waiter was excellent, he was lively and kind and how he managed to get ever one of our orders right was fantastic.


 
Well it is his job to get all the orders right, I wouldn't be that concerned how he did it!!!!!  

I wouldn't expect anything less, would you?!


----------



## mdebets (12 Apr 2007)

addob said:


> I thought our waiter was excellent, he was lively and kind and how he managed to get ever one of our orders right was fantastic. The food itself was excellent, when you ordered a medium steak it was bang on.


 Tell me you are joking. You rave about a waiter who can remember the orders and a chef who can actually cook what you ordered. That's the bear minimum I expect from a restaurant and nothing to sing and dance about.


----------



## addob (12 Apr 2007)

I think your getting me wrong. I mentioned something I was impressed with, if you read the earlier negative comments I was elaborating on my comment in order to show how I disagreed with the other negative ones.
Of course I expect my waiter to be good, that's his job and what he's being paid for, however to disagree with someones statement and not back it up with an example makes a statement just about useless.


----------



## tonino (12 Apr 2007)

Having read through  all of this thread with great amusement i have come to the conclusion that neither the public nor the restauranteurs in this country have a clue what they are up to lets face it most people here would not have an idea what a good quality meal or service is and  i can speak from experiance as through work i  use restaurants on a regular basis to entertain clients and have found on many an occasion customers antics and restaurants  inability to deliver what they have  on thier menus a very very sad norm.Lets face the facts most irish women cannot cook and havent a clue how to prepare basic dishes [ men are worse] , in addition most peoples idea of a good dinining experiance is normally based on alcohol consumption a bit of the auld pigs in the parlour syndrome. If the punters havent a clue why should the restaurants care what  swill they serve up Bon Appetit


----------



## addob (13 Apr 2007)

tontino,
that's quite the statement to make, but you're the one with 'experiance' so I suppose I should spend my money on booze and forget about service, food and the experience.
Hell, from what you've said I can't cook, neither can my OH and what's the point of going out to dinner? I'll starve in no time but won't feel a think cause I'll be drunk.
Nice.


----------



## tonino (13 Apr 2007)

addab go to any supermarket and see all  our expert home cooks  / microwave technicians lining up to buy processed tv dinners  , just like the program that used to be on tv the irish motto should be  "cant cook wont cook "  home economics  should be made a compulsory subject in  all schools nowadays  to show  people the basics required also  etiquette classes  would not go amiss either to teach adults how to behave when they go out to eat,most people  here think its accptable to  go to the restaurant  drink  like fish whinge about food and service and expect to be taken seriously .I think its time people here woke up and learnt anyway how to enjoy themseves in a responsible manner and leave out these playground antics anyway what more should the public expect its only fair that if you act like a clown that you should be treated like one. Need i say more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Jimmy Mook (13 Apr 2007)

Tonino, very entertaining stuff! Keep it up! Are you Eamon Dunphy in disguise?


----------



## ClubMan (13 Apr 2007)

This thread seems to have run its course and is diverting into tangential rants so I am closing it.


----------

