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    Rotana Café

    3.9 (59 reviews)
    ModerateLebanese, Irish, Hookah Bars
    Open 11:30 am - 11:30 pm

    Rotana Café Photos

    ROTANA CAFÉ ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Outdoor seating
    Good for kids

    Recommended Reviews - Rotana Café

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    William M.

    Lovely chicken kofta for lunch, nice crunchy vegetables, flat bread was feast and soft. Very tasty mint tea, and service with a smile. Great value lunch at 11Euro

    M7mad S.

    I used to order from this place a lot. Used to be good and authentic. However the last 2 times, i have noticed how quality seems to be not a concern. I ordered a kunafa which i have received pale with bad smelling cheese felling. Last time i ordered lamb manakeesh got the manakeesh with a very non-appetizing smell. The humous was very extremely salty. I am disappointed with the food.

    Mary C.

    A friend of mine recently told me an anecdote about how she took a friend to a café in New York City that specializes in hummus. The friend had recently returned from a year in Lebanon and proceeded to complain the entire time that the food "wasn't the way they do it in Lebanon." I know, what a jerk right? I have a feeling if I brought that same girl to Rotana Café, she'd have nothing to complain about. The food is really delicious. I really, really love Middle Eastern food, and while I am not an expert I am fairly certain it is authentic, given that it is owned by two Palestinians who lived in Lebanon. And even if it weren't, I wouldn't care, because it is that good. The portions are generous, even for cheaper items like falafel and hommus. Mains are also reasonably priced and come with pita. My friend and I split the mazza, two veg - a platter of various different items - and the variety of flavors and textures was really nice. The atmosphere leaves something to be desired. While the tables with rattan chairs are really nice and comfortable, I feel like it needs a big of decoration or something. Not that much of a drawback, but prevents the place from creating really memorable experiences. Nothing's worse than coming home and craving the hommus late at night and not being able to satisfy that yen. One great thing about it is that they have a refrigerated case where you can buy hommus and other items to take home with you, which we obviously always do when we go there.

    Chicken shawarma

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    13 years ago

    Great food, friendly service and BYOB... Not to mention really affordable. Try the sharing mix grill #1.

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    Rotana Café Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - Rotana Café

    Meanwhile, the mezze is fabulous because it's a Greatest Hits of Middle Eastern food in tapas-sized bits.

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    Shouk - Chicken shawarma

    Shouk

    4.7(10 reviews)
    3.7 kmDrumcondra

    Spotted Shouk on Dublin's The Eater Essentials and we booked this dinner res as our first night…read more Overall, the food was fantastic, great price point. and portion sizes were fantastic. Shouk's interior is very cute, with high ceilings and an open set up allowing you to dine outside, in a room connected to the outdoor space, or a darker, "indoor" area. food: Fantastic. As someone who is GF and was worried about this when traveling abroad, the GF options where fabulous and the restaurant is very accommodating. The food was fresh and served warm right as it was finished - huge plus service: Servers were kind and lovely :) Every table reservation gives you 1hr and 45 minutes to dine. if you're running late, you won't lose your table but you'll just be seated for a shorter amount of time - keep that in mind :) ambiance: The only reason I'd give Shouk 4 stars is because of the distance of the tables. In the room connected to the outdoor space where we were seated, things did feel a bit cramped. The restaurant has an "open kitchen" where you can see your food being cooked and come out which is great, but we did sit right next to the kitchen and things got a bit stuffy, despite the doors being open outside. Not sure if this was ventilation or the fact that there were many tables and folks dining that night, but that's the only thing i'd change about our experience.

    We schlepped across to the north side in search of a special midweek late lunch. Very handy parking…read morearound the corner. The restaurant is right beside Drumcondra railway station, tucked into a corner of the Old St Vincent's Centre for the Deaf. Inside a cosy but buzzy dining room greets you with an impressive number of hungry diners tucking in to the Middle Eastern/Lebanese fare. We ordered a large mezze to share together with a Batta which is mostly roast sweet potatoes stuffed with lamb mince, yoghurt and spices. Absolutely fantastic. The mezze came with plentiful flatbreads which we hungrily filled with deliciousness and devoured. As it was lunchtime, we decided not to have any wine but I'd be pretty confident it would only be better with a crisp Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. As it was, we had some sparkling water instead and agreed it was a standout meal that was filing but also vaguely healthy. Service was speedy and attentive and we emerged into the sunshine to begin, once again, the odyssey across the Liffey. We will be back.

    Photos
    Shouk - Pita

    Pita

    Shouk - Areyas

    Areyas

    Shouk - Large Mezze

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    Large Mezze

    Zaytoon

    Zaytoon

    4.0(106 reviews)
    0.4 kmHarcourt
    €€

    I made a work trip to Ireland earlier this month staying at the Camden Court Hotel. Zaytoon is…read moreacross the street from the hotel and it's open late. They have a good selection of Mediterranean cuisine (shish kabobs, falafels). I've eaten there most at the end of the night of hanging out at different pubs and their food really hit the spot. I remember their beef shish or falafel meals. Their meat and falafel balls seem fresh and their stuff includes fresh veggies. They turn their orders around very quickly at late night, either for dine-in or take-away. They have plenty of dine-in seating. Zaytoon and its staff were very helpful at the late night rush, I'm assuming they're just as good during the day.

    Zaytoon is a Persian restaurant offering a fast-casual menu of Mediterranean-influenced kebabs and…read moreother dishes. I tried the Beef Kebab, the Koobideh (spiced ground lamb and beef), and the Falafel (herbaceous chickpea fritters). The kebabs were juicy and flavorful, but the falafels were too soft, wet, and crumbly for my liking. The family-style menu also came with hummus, tzatziki, a spicy chili sauce, salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, red onion, pickled red cabbage), and freshly-baked rounds of taftoon flatbread. Overall, everything we tried was flavorful, healthy, and came at a reasonable price for the quality of food!

    Photos
    Zaytoon
    Zaytoon - Hummus, tzatziki, falafel, beef kebab, koobideh, taftoon flatbread

    Hummus, tzatziki, falafel, beef kebab, koobideh, taftoon flatbread

    Zaytoon

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    Brother Hubbard - Scone

    Brother Hubbard

    4.4(363 reviews)
    1.9 kmNorth Inner City
    €€

    Visiting Ireland for the first time, I did my best to read up on good places to grab breakfast,…read morebaked goods in Dublin and Brother Hubbard popped up on a few lists, Reddit posts, so I put it on my list to try and I'm glad I did! I walked in on a Wednesday morning, right as they opened at 9am, and was seated immediately. The sit-in part of Brother Hubbard is bright, relaxing, spacious with plenty of tables inside and there's a patio outside with plenty of tables as well. The waitress came over with a menu and gave me plenty of time to look it over. She was very courteous and pleasant, checking in throughout my time there, never hovering. For breakfast, I ordered an Americano, a ginger scone, and their Irish Oat Porridge - Classic. Their porridge is organic oats made with milk and with ordering it as "Classic", it was served with cream and honey. Starting with the ginger scone, this was another case of a perfectly baked scone - Crispy, golden exterior with a moist, buttery interior. The flavor of ginger was perfectly balanced and the raisins inside were a nice supplement to the scone. The porridge was really good, I loved the creaminess of it! Both did a nice job of filling me up and setting me up for the day of walking to come. Funny enough, around 3:30pm, I stopped here again to grab a mid-afternoon treat and ordered the chocolate and hazelnut Babka, their soft bun filled with chocolate and toasted hazelnuts. This pastry was crazy tasty! A slightly crispy exterior with a croissant-like inside chocked full of chocolate and those toasted hazelnuts. This was so rich and truly decadent. Brother Hubbard is a gem of a breakfast and pastry spot! I appreciate the relaxing café environment with friendly staff and high-quality food. I know if I come back to Dublin, I'd come back to grab breakfast, or perhaps another Babka.

    I do not want to leave a review. I cannot find a way to get back to the page I was looking atread more

    Photos
    Brother Hubbard
    Brother Hubbard - Chocolate and Hazelnut Babka

    Chocolate and Hazelnut Babka

    Brother Hubbard - Chocolate and Hazelnut Babka

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    Chocolate and Hazelnut Babka

    Little Jerusalem - again with the cars in shot, Oi vey!

    Little Jerusalem

    3.3(41 reviews)
    0.9 kmRathmines
    €€

    Thoroughly enjoyed my meal here. The ingredients were mouth wateringly fresh…read more I went for the vegetarian platter which consisted of humus, falafel, salad, olives, feta cheese and naan bread. So satisfying. We brought our own wine, corkage is €3. Lovely and bright in warm inside. Service was very friendly and attentive. Constant stream of people getting take out which had me excited that they do take out. Without doubt my favourite type of food.

    "For two? Do you have reservations?" - that was the first thing we heard when we got into this…read moreempty restaurant at 7 pm. Now that surprised me, I didn't expect a "formal" place in this way where reservations would be the norm rather than the exception - not used to that from Middle Eastern places which are often much more used by people for extended visits over food/tea and Shisha. I was glad we got a seat anyway, as the place did fill up during our visit. I looked on the menu for an item to combine as many flavours as possible and ended up with the first "house specialty" which had different kinds of lamb and chicken, hummus and tabouleh. My girlfriend ordered some crispy kind of veggie pancake, and we wanted the ful medames as a starter, as I haven't seen this around for a while. When we ordered this, the next surprise: "So what's for you for a starter than" as we only had one ordered - I thought it's all about sharing and caring... I also heard a similar "So you're not having any starters?" when the woman took the order at the next table. Felt again quite like a formal dinner rather than chosing the amount of food based on hungriness and yumminess. Then when the food arrived, I realized again that I'm not really the target audience of this restaurant, but they're probably looking for fancy Rathminers trying to go "exotic". All the food was arranged on the dinner-plate in a way which made it look like a typical Irish dish "here's your meat, on the other side there's your veg, and there's your potato mash -- or in this case - hummus". My girlfriends plate was arranged exactly the same way. The naan-bread was actually better than in many Indian places and the meat was good but in general I was missing all the flavours I'm used to - nothing very lemony, nothing very garlicy either. The baklavas we had for dessert looked delicious when we came in, however they were underbaked, and lacked a bit in flavour as well. Also all three types were exactly the same - nothing like pistachio, cashew, etc. the competition offers. The people there behind the counters were very very nice though. The bill in total came to about 40 Euro which is nothing to complain about and I guess low for Rathmines standard - but on par with my favourite Middle Eastern in Dublin. This might be a good option for a dinner for people who want to try something new, didn't have much Middle Eastern food before, but don't want to derive much from their comfort flavours. I'm not sure if I'll come back - I might, as I haven't found the ful anywhere else and they might deserve a second chance.

    Photos
    Little Jerusalem
    Little Jerusalem - The first sign!!!

    The first sign!!!

    Little Jerusalem - A very proud owner 2 days after opening!

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    A very proud owner 2 days after opening!

    Jerusalem Restaurant - dajaj musahab . de-boned chicken served with salads

    Jerusalem Restaurant

    3.7(29 reviews)
    0.6 kmHarcourt
    €€

    This is my first visit to Jerusalem Restaurant…read more I went for a very long walk and ended up here. It's a little off the beaten track, but it appears to be a diamond hidden amongst the side roads. I order the mezza meat plate which came with hummus, kofta, lamb, salad, and spicy potatoes. I skipped the spicy potatoes and opted for extra salad. I also asked if I could get a small ad on of shawarma for an added fee. I'm not going to lie. I am totally blown away by the service, quality of the food, and the overall flavour. This is probably one of the best, if not best dishes that I have been served at any price! The pricing for a lunch was quite good. Even with the loaded plate, it was 12.95 Euro. They had smaller plates and vegetarian plates for around 9.95 to 10.95 Euro. The extra shawarma was an additional 3 Euro - once again very fair. I walked by a lot of restaurants and they offered Gluten Free as well, but this place really stuck out and looked like a place that I really needed to give a go. The place is immaculately clean, the staff are very knowledgeable and friendly, and accommodating. 5 stars.

    Another new eatery on Camden Street, a Lebanese restaurant called Jerusalem. We really are spoiled…read morefor choice in this area for places to eat out in. And Jerusalem is a BYOB, which we did. Always a bonus BYOB. Wine seems to taste better to me you bring it along... I'm not sure why. A couple of things I've started to notice when we go to Lebanese restaurants in Dublin: 1 the starter is usually better than the main course 2 the amount of bread provided with main courses never seems enough Here at Jerusalem is was no different. The starter I had was the lamb mince on bread, which was delicious, very tasty. The main course was just ok, I went for the Falafels with salad and naan. I asked for chili sauce with my main course and that was really good. Our table was beside a large noisy group, this also took away from our experience. They arrived after we were seated. There is not a lot the restaurant could do about it to be fair. Overall we left a little disappointed, the food is a little overpriced for what we got. We will be slow to go back as there is so much to offer in the area for food.

    Photos
    Jerusalem Restaurant - Open kitchen

    Open kitchen

    Jerusalem Restaurant - Falafel

    Falafel

    Jerusalem Restaurant - Lots of table space.  Very friendly staff.

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    Lots of table space. Very friendly staff.

    Rotana Café - lebanese - Updated September 2026

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