Great food. Great service. Great vibe. We stopped here based on the recommendation from a shop worker after visiting the Cliffs of Moher. While there were some Americans in here, you can tell it's more of a local haunt. The food was absolutely delicious. We had the pil pil prawns as a starter. The garlic butter was so good we asked for more bread. We both had fish and chips which were phenomenal. To finish it out, I ordered the apple crumble. Not a single negative thing to say. So happy we stopped here on our drive back to Galway. read more

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Went to Monks with a tour group. I'm allergic to seafood, so can't comment on the main food except to say the folks on the trip loved what they got! I uploaded photos of some of their dishes. For my part, I had a steak, which was delicious -- with a side of potatoes that were cooked perfectly. So even if you're not a seafood person, you'll be able to find something at Monks. read more

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My friend Mary took me to this place because she liked their food. They also had a hotel behind the the restaurant. We picked a window seat to look out to the Atlantic. I ordered the fish pie and Mary ordered the beef stew. I loved my fish pie which looked delicious and tasted delectable! I also tried Mary's beef stew was also good, but I wasn't very satisfied with my fish pie. I ordered the apple crumbles with ice cream, equally delightful. It was an unforgettable lunch with food and scenery! The service was good and quick. All the wait personnel was professional. read more

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Stopped in while driving the Atlantic causeway for lunch. I had wonderful mussels and chowder! Ny husband loved his stew.

Monk's is a local gem. The food is really good and the staff are very friendly and attentive. We stayed in Ballyvaughan for a week and ate at Monk's three times (lunch and dinner). Since there aren't a lot of restaurants in Ballyvaughan I recommend reservations for dinner, as the place is popular and gets crowded. We met the manager, Shawna and she was a delight. She even helped us with the local bus schedule for our trip into Galway, which we took without a problem. read more

Well located restaurant with. I e views depending on your seating. Casual vibe with very amicable service. Food- EXCELLENT. Order the mussels and clams! We had to order the mussels a second time...they were THAT good. The brown bread for dipping in the delicious broths of the clams and the mussels was phenomenal. The most moist brown bread of our trip! The fish and chips was made with Hake and was PHENOMENAL! So moist and flaky!!! The grilled oysters....were good but I would not order again...order more mussels!!! read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

Stopped in to Monks as we wound our way through the Burren.Friendly staff great location.These folks have been doing this a long time and it shows! Food was excellent and fairly priced. Seafood plate was fantastic. Lovely location also ticks all the boxes! read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Seafood plate at Monks. - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

My wife and I had a great lunch here. She had the fish pie and I had the mussels and prawn linguine, with the seafood chowder to start. All were delicious and seemed to have fresh ingredients. The brown bread was good, not great. Service from Angela was excellent, and the hostess friendly and welcoming. Definitely worth the drive. read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Fish pie and seafood linguine - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

Food is outstanding.make sure you make a reservation as this is a very busy restaurant.Service was attentive and very welcoming..We love the decor.A must if you are in this area. read more

Contemporary relaxing ambience. Loved the music they played. Our waiter was charming He helped me choose a gluten-free meal of sea bass fillets over risotto, which was fabulous. He also helped my husband choose just the right fish and chips, another great dish. read more

Definitely a great stop for food. They specialize in seafood and boy do they do it well. The chowder was described as phenomenal. I personally had the fish burger which was delicious! Others had the salmon/hake and everything received compliments and there were clean plates all around. The view out the window was gorgeous and so peaceful looking out the oceanside. The staff were very friendly and made a great effort to seat our party of 13! I highly recommend this place to anyone read more

We found this restaurant as we were driving from Galway to cliff Moher. The food were delicious and the view was spectacular! We definitely return in the future. read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Seafood salad and seafood platter - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

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One of the best meals I've had in Ireland in a long time. As of August 2021 seating is only outside under a large tent, but there's plenty of room. We waited 25-30 minutes to be seated at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon. This place knows what it's doing. Service is professional and efficient, food is served quickly, everything is delicious. We had the mussel, clam, and prawn linguine, prawn open-faced sandwich, fish and chips, and seafood chowder. Everything was excellent, portions were huge, we left full and happy. read more

Excellent pasta and prawn dish. The prawns were very fresh and tasty. One of the best seafood dishes I have had!

Yelp keeps reminding me "My Next Review Awaits" with constant reference to this little roadside pub by Galway Bay, even though I visited way back in October. I was one of those tourists on a mid-morning bus tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher, and this was the first extended pit stop. I am speculating Monks has cut a deal with the tour companies because another tour company followed right behind us thus assuring the establishment a constant flow of indiscriminate Americans, Chinese and Germans looking to snack and tinkle during our half-hour break. It's a cozy cottage in a village with the coy name of Ballyvaughan in lovely County Clare. I helped myself to a pint of Guinness and then strolled on the old pier that extends out to the bay. Lovely, mist-shrouded views await with swans swimming nearby (see photos). I didn't have the time or motivation to order their house special, the Seafood Chowder, since we were having lunch an hour later in Doolin near the cliffs. However, the bracing sea air certainly convinced me that it would be worthwhile to try if I were ever to return. Hopefully I will be in a rented car in the early evening when the tour buses are all on their way back to Dublin. read more

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We arrived at this restaurant on a busy Sunday afternoon. Despite this, the staff were friendly and very attentive. Like almost everyone else in the place, we ate fish and chips. The fish was very well fried and not greasy.The chips were also extremely well cooked. A great place. read more

We ate dinner at this modern Irish gastropub. My wife had the shrimp curry with turmeric rice. I had the fish pie with mashed potatoes. We shared a bottle of Australian chablis. We thought the wine was very mediocre. However, the food was excellent. Even though the wine was not good, we thought the quality of the food deserves a five-star rating. Service was excellent. At the end of the meal, you pay at the till. read more

Delicious fish and chips, polite staff, great location. If this place disappoints you, your standards are unattainable so stay home and cook your own dinner read more

Oops, I have forgotten what we had here and the bill has disappeared from my files. So, I can't tell you what we had and need to rely on my scant notes to tell of our experience. I wrote: "Nice place, cosy, noisy, old but wonderful. Service fair, seating good, food remarkably good". We spent $65 here, so we had a decent feed, and I don't know what it was. We were overseas for 5 weeks and ate out for every meal, so I can be forgiven for my lack of memory on this one. However, I awarded it 4 stars in my notebook for the reasons above and with that I offer my complete recommendation. So there! read more

Best chowder soup I have had, rich taste, lots of seafood, great salads too. Others had other dishes that all tasted great. Kids soup was delicious. The place gets very crowded during the peak season. read more

Our group of 15 or so was staying in Ballyvaughan for about a week, exploring the west coast. We made a reservation via email for one of our party's birthday, and it ended up being the best meal we had on our trip. My wife and I split the massive seafood platter, which acts as a sort of sampler for all that the west coast has to offer: crab; salmon; oysters, etc. Our group couldn't help ourselves from ordering a few rounds of oysters, and a few from our party came back multiple times later in the week for lunch. If you're looking for the freshest seafood and top class service in a cozy setting, this is the place. read more

Loved our off season visit! The staff were so lovely and the food was delish. Best fish n chips in all of Ireland. Such a great spot. read more

Went here after our hotel concierge at the G Hotel in Galway recommended we give it a try on our way home from the Cliffs of Moher. About an hour before we arrived, my (now) fiance had proposed to me, so we were on cloud 9 the entire time..but unfortunately our server/host didn't really speak to us at ALL so we couldn't share our excitement with anyone. We walked in around 6pm, and the two of us were seated at a large table set for 6. Odd, but fine. Our waiter came to us and didn't introduce himself, just briskly asked if he could get us a drink. We both ordered Guinness. After waiting some time, eventually we got our Guinness, but the glasses were sticky. We ordered the Goat Cheese Bruschetta and two orders of the Fish n Chips. The Goat cheese bruschetta is the only reason why I'm giving this place 3 stars rather than 1 star. This bruschetta is AMAZING. My mouth is watering just typing about it! The fish n chips were extremely undesirable. The fish was MASSIVE, pretty soggy, and mine had a few stray bones in it, so that wasn't pleasant. After a while of sitting with our plates in front of us, we had also noticed a couple across from us who had been waiting for a LONG time to get some attention too..They didn't speak English, but we sort of bonded because we were all searching for our waiter to come to us. I really didn't think it was busy, as there were maybe two other tables on the other side of the restaurant that were there. So I'm not sure why our waiter was being so incredibly inattentive. Finally, we were able to see him in passing and asked for our check. Without even looking at the bill we immediately gave our cash so we could just leave. Kind of unfortunate that our first place as an engaged couple was rather disappointing. Either way, the drive there was quaint and the pier was beautiful. read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Goat Cheese Bruschetta at Monks Seafood Restaurant...to die for! - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

Great spot for Guinness and Oysters in a charming little town in the Burren. Get the native oysters! They cost a little more, but you can't get them everywhere and they are great! read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Classic! - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

I hesitate to use the word "tourist trap" because the food's actually pretty good, but when not one, but TWO coaches in a span of 15 minutes pull up and unload a gaggle of geriatric Americans, that label is pretty much laser-etched into the facade. Reviews on TripAdvisor rave about the seafood chowder, so I got it. And you know what? It's not bad. But it's not great. And it's not worth the 7.50 euros it costs. I'd skip Monks and drive an extra 30 minutes to Doolin, where you can experience the magic that is McGann's - a proper Irish pub! read more

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Monk's was recommended to us earlier in the day and we were so happy we made the stop! We sampled the oysters and shared the fish and chips. All were delicious! The restaurant is clean and bright with beautiful views of the water. Great service! Would definitely recommend if you're in the area read more

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I will say, this restaurant was quite a pleasant surprise! We had planned a long day of sightseeing and driving. We originally went over to the Cliffs of Moher and had plans to drive over to Galway. There is a lot of country and quiet towns to drive through in between these two locations with very small towns and very few restaurants. We did, however, get lucky enough to find Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub on the way. Personally we were all starving so we were going to go into and eat regardless of ratings and reviews. Thankfully, that wasn't a concern at all. We traveled through the southern half of Ireland, over 10 days and I can honestly say it was one of the best meals we had. We ordered various things, including the seafood pasta (tons of clams and mussels included), in a cream sauce. Seafood chowder and I have a friend that is a big fan of fish and chips. He said it was the best fish and chips he had in his life. Service was great as well! Overall, go here if in the area! read more

We stopped here for a quick snack. We had 1/2 dozen natural oysters & 1/2 dozen grilled oysters. Both were incredible. The natural were raw, tasty! They don't serve cocktail sauce, but it wasn't needed. The grilled oysters had light breadcrumbs & were seasoned with garlic & herbs. Delicious!! We eat a lot of oysters, many places, & these were some of the best. Tired from our day we enjoyed a cup of coffee, which was very tasty . Excellent, friendly service. We finished with a warm apple crumble with vanilla ice cream. The apple crumble was tart & very tasty. Ice cream was creamy & delicious. A nice combo. read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

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The salmon was some of the best I've ever had. All in all the BnB and Ballyvaughan was mine and my boyfriend's favorite stop during our trip. This restaurant is not to be missed! read more

We had a wonderful experience at Monks while visiting Ballyvaughn. They accommodated our group of 11 after we called earlier in the day for a reservation. The table was ready when we arrived and the service was good. The food was delicious, especially the crab/avocado starter. Can't go wrong with anything on Monk's menu. Outside patio has a great view of the water, good drink selection, and atmosphere is good. Would definitely go back if in the area. read more

Came her for dinner. Service was cranky and then inattentive. The mussels were splendid. The chowder was a nondescript mess that was neither liquid nor solid nor chowder. We then tried the cold seafood platter which was a disaster. My wife seemed to think that the shrimp were canned and I spat out a very smelly piece of crab claw. The whole plate was smothered in a thousand-island-esque sauce...this sauce dominated the plate and effectively drowned the seafood (no pun intended). We will not be back. read more

Seafood chowder to end the debate about seafood chowder. Great people, great atmosphere, great outdoor views on the porch in front. Really solid dinner as well. Sad that I live in the United States and can't go back weekly. Enjoy every minute. read more

Monks Seafood Restaurant & Pub - Pubs Near Me - Ballyvaughan, CE

This place was PERFECT! People were wonderful, food was outstanding, location excellent. GO HERE!

GOOD NEWS!!! New management have just taken over Monks and it's reclaiming its former glory as a North Clare culinary institution No more dirty turf fires and thrice-fried onion rings Back are the days of fresh steaming bowls of seafood chowder and rare cuts of seasonal fish The staff are great, the menu is select, the paintings are suitably postmodern, the view is superb Long live the Monks! read more

Such a pleasant surprise! We were driving from Galway to the Cliffs of Moher and it started POURING as we drove into Ballyvaughan. We were about to make a left turn toward the cliffs, but saw a sign for Monks requiring a turn to the right. We thought it would be a good time to stop for lunch and let the rain pass. We had crab cakes, fish and chips, clams and seafood chowder. Everything was amazing and the waitress was simply wonderful. She gave us directions for a more scenic drive to the cliffs than the one we were planning to take, and it was breathtaking. read more

Wonderful stop along the way back to Dublin from visiting the Cliffs of Moher. The staff was friendly and food was great our waitress took our group picture in front of their warm fireplace. It was was raining hard so can't comment on the the pier view. read more

We made it a point to stop here for food during our road trip through the countryside. As a seafood junky from Maryland, I was surprised that this place steamed up some of the best mussels I've ever had! They delivered them to the table in the steamer pot with the lid on! Of course, they had warm bread to dip into the broth. Perfection! Our server, Shauna, was so pleasant, very attentive, and entertaining with her witty sarcasm/sense of humor. I wish this place were closer to my house! read more

This restaurant is so charming and delightful. The food is top notch. We had the fish and chips, seafood chowder and Cesar salad. So wonderful. Great service. Very fresh seafood and an amazing view of the Bay!! read more

Recommended by our tour driver... the salmon both baked and smoked were terrific as were the crab claws... my bother in law raved about the fish and chips... my other brother in law had the seafood sampler but I don't remember the name of the dish. ... very glad we stopped here and ate on the patio.. read more

Monks was wonderful! The absolute best fish and chips and Beef and Guinness stew we had our entire trip to Ireland, we even came back for more. I would highly recommend. Huge meals and very filling, the staff did a good job - not overall friendly like a lot of places we've been but definitely no issues with them. read more