A Friday in Dublin..

On Friday last I was in meetings in Dublin and then got a call from a friend suggesting to have dinner, so I rang the other half and arranged for us all to have dinner in the Mespil hotel along by the banks of the grand canal. Opposite sits Patrick Kavanagh reminding me how County Monaghan “burgled the banks of his youth“. The famous Irish Poet is cast in bronze on the canal as a tribute to Irish Poetry as,  of course the Land of Saints and scholars!

What Recession, the bar was full..

We had arranged to meet in the bar at 7:30 and so we got to the hotel at around 7:15 and saw there was a buzz about the place, the reception was answering questions from americans tourists and running through a map the hotel provides it’s guests with things to do and attractions in Dublin. I took one and went into the bar.

After seeing the tourists, I decided to order a pint of guinness and sample a pint of the black stuff, It was good really good. In fact by the time our friends arrived I was ready for round two!

We met our friends and moved into the dinning room, the staff are friendly and welcoming. Being seated at the window wasn’t my first choice of places to sit, but after we were all seated I understood why we had been put there. We sat and chatted as Dublin twlight came across the canal and we started to people watch.

The restaurant was busy too, families and business men after a long day, a real mix of modern life. We were delighted to see the menu wasn’t a fussy D4 menu. It was straight forward with spuds and saugages, homemade burgers but all with a chef’s twist to them, We ordered one of each and were delighted with the results. The food and the service was great, it’s nice to see again how customers are important to a hotel.

Hmm Dessert!

You know the old expression “I didn’t know whether to eat it or get my camera” well that what I said when we got our desserts. I’m normally not a sweet tooth kinda guy, but there were all really good. Nice to see that a hotel can make a good expresso too.

We then went back into the bar for a last tipple before we went our seperate ways an again the subject of the buzz about the place came up, a family singling happy birthday over in one conor, Americans turning maps around wondering which way was North and I decided to call a taxi. My mobile phone was beeping at me letting me know the battery was nearly out so I headed to reception to see if any one could help.

Night Porters are great!

Having a Nokia 96 is great fun, but its battery life isn’t. The guy on reception was very helpful and said that they did have a charger for that particular phone and he would look atfer it for me. They also offered to call a cab from reception if we needed one.

It’s all about the details in Business and well done to the Mespil Hotel as they have got it right.

I took this photo the next morning from the banks of th canal. I waited so the bus would be in frame on purpose, that was you can see how close it is to the front door if you would like to have a trip on a coastal tour of County Wicklow. See more on the following link Dublin Tour Bus

For bookings go to http://www.mespilhotel.com/

(no payment was made for this blog post)