It was a cool, dry 5c this morning in this Irish border town. It was St Patrick's day eve…read more We were in the town's 'legal quarter' near their courts where people receive the law rather than 'justice'. The two are rarely seen together and when they are often it's unintended. Unlike my Yelp friend Grey, who seems rarely to slow or stop, I arose early reluctantly on this morning, as I normally only do so to go on holiday, but I had agreed to assist someone negotiate a complex matter that once done with the dotted line signed (it was a dotted line) a human life saw a familiar world change utterly completely in a few seconds and I believe very likely for the better. We'll see. As we left the official task which took a whole 25 minutes we enquired about good coffee from our host, who pointed us to 23 Seats just a short walk away from our Roden place venue. We were assured it was wonderful. It was. The wall sign above the door reads 23 eats until you get close enough to see the S wedged into the front wall. They've done well if they have 23 seats. I doubt they could host 23 folks simultaneously. I didn't count them but it sure is a compact and bijou coffee place. It's within Dundalk town centre, with character and a soul; quirky music tastes, environmentally focussed, and vegans cheerfully catered for oh and I smile to confirm its pet friendly too. We only needed good coffee and that's what we got: we opted for one cappuccino and one flat white - €6 for both. We paid up front by card so we could just go when we were done. We had a table near the rear entrance and, as they were receiving a delivery, it wasn't pleasant as a chilly damp breeze came through the door left open. This is one of those places that are now rare to me as I really want to go back to explore their food selections as it's not a typical coffee stop - they think about the environment and they focus on meeting diverse customer needs. So five green stars. I'm not a vegan but if the ingredients are to my taste I couldn't care less about the label. Who wants chemical filled food of food coloured by derivatives from the crude oil and petroleum industry; I'd rather not. The staff too were charming despite the huge pressures small independent businesses and poorer families must faces for at least the next five years. We in the West are in a war economy between Wu flu and a lunatic white supremacist admired maybe emboldened by a (now thankfully) former US president; an autocrat with unfettered power, who has accumulated personal wealth and with his mongrel side-kick seems to think they can control 45 million people against their will with in humane force. I do not wish him well.

I have discovered the chai latte and an amazing pizza : CHEESE LOVER…read more I remember one waiter soooooo cool. An institution in dundalk !!!

The perfect place for a light meal or cofee and cake. I…read moredrpped the mids at tennis practice and was driven to this place by a friend. Nice atmosphere for all ages, good cofee and a vey nice cheese cake.

Great place we came across by chance as we were on the road from Dublin to Belfast. We had been in…read morethe overnight flight and by the time we rolled into town we were ready for a meal. I got my full Irish of the trip and my wife got a breakfast wrap. The full Irish didn't disappoint, I was immediately brought back to the breakfast I learned to love on our last trip. My wife raved about her wrap.

This was the most expensive coffee we drank on our trip, but by no means the tastiest. They need…read moreto lower prices or increase quality. We didn't try the food as we were stopping at The Home Bakery afterwards.

I have noticed a problem with some of my Yelp reviews disappearing, particularly but not…read moreexclusively those places based in the Irish Republic. I'd swear I've reviewed this Costa place before, but in the off chance I'm mistaken here goes. There are three Costa coffee places around Dundalk. I reviewed another one that's situated a few miles out of town on the southern side and I'm not sure if that review still exists. This Costa is on the concourse of a Tesco supermarket and is just on the southern edge of this border town. The Tesco itself is beside the towns only Mc Donald's with copious amounts of free parking - you pay to park in most parts of Dundalk. I've been s few times now, only in the mornings, and it's always busy and the staff are always friendly. It's s great idea to put a good coffee bar inside a supermarket and certainly it offers darn good coffee but at over 3 euro it's a hefty price of a cup of Joe. I had a flat white which tasted good and was a fair portion. I also had an ok pastel de nata at €2.75. These pastels are meant to have a light crispy shell base but these didn't. It certainly tasted ok but it's still pretty far from what it should be. If I was in Madeira and paid the same price I paid here I'd have 6 espressos and 6 pastels. It's as well I'll be in Madeira very soon. If you don't want to pay Costa coffee prices there's the Mc Donald's next door with mediocre coffee for around two euro.

Great coffee, so much better than Starbucks. Staff could be a little friendlier but I suppose it…read moreis what it is.

There's no two ways about it, for me, a review must reflect the price paid. Here we had a 4 course…read moreSunday lunch for €15 each so it's five star. It's not a haute cuisine place, not close nor French bistro style, rather it's more cafe style and big portions, but to call it a greasy spoon would do it a disservice and unfair. There are foodie refinements that should be easy to add at little extra cost. To begin, I had a tasty vegetable soup with brown bread and Irish butter. For mains, it was haddock with a lemon & dill sauce, mashed and garlic potatoes, a roast potato, cabbage, carrots and swede. The haddock was the two things it had to be to be very good; fresh and not overcooked. It had a lemon & dill sauce. For my dessert it was a light bread and butter pudding, with really plump raisins, whipped cream and custard. We each finished off with a darn good chocolate topped cappuccino. My wife had mini vegetable spring rolls with a tasty mini Caesar salad on the side, a turkey & ham main course (with pretty good pepper sauce on the side - gravy was also available) and the same mashed etc potatoes and vegetables, and dessert was lemon meringue pie with fresh cream. The service was ace with every plate and bowl piping hot, so not chance of the food being cold. All of the floor staff were genuinely uber friendly and attentive. The seating was cafe style, and all tables are now screened off from each other. Staff wore face masks and each table was disinfected between guests. There's well-placed disinfection dispensers at the front door and before going to the upstairs toilets. Now let me be picky with no slight intended here, bearing in mind the price and what we had was quite good. The vegetable soup could be better seasoned; we could not determine if the mini spring rolls were bought in and deep fried or made in-house but we felt the former. A sweet chilli dipping sauce would be good. The lemon & dill sauce on the haddock was good but should be reduced to concentrate flavour. The fish skin should have been crisped. Fresh dill and the addition of fresh lemon juice with brave seasoning would make the sauce great and a little lemon and dill will fo a long way. The lemon meringue lemon filling should be a tart lighter mousse, again zinged with fresh lemon juice and grated lemon flesh for concentrated but less sweet flavour. The custard here is that vivid yellow and starchy factory product, either tinned or made from starch based powder, food colour and milk. Either way it's a mainstay and throwback to the desserts of the 1950's and 1960's. The fact it's still going is all you need to know. There's not much can be done to really improve custard without spending money say creme anglaise with vanilla pod - which would really increase the price - but I imagine the locals are more than happy with it, judging by the numbers dining, and we are very occasional, albeit pretentious upstart passers by. Would I go back? Certainly even without the refinements.

We've been here twice now and I think the value for money plus the service and quality of food are…read moreall top notch. It's what we'd call "a greasy spoon" in the USA, which is a good thing, just a certain type of comfort food cooking! The desserts are lovely as well. I'd definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a quick, hearty, reasonably priced meal in busy downtown Dundalk.

I like the music and the Panama decor. The menu is very limited for brunch. The service is…read morefriendly. This place lost a couple stars from me for being over the top overpriced. Yes we are on vacation and this is a touristy place. But for what I got? A piece of multigrain toast with seasoned smashed avocado and ONE egg. $14 euro. I only drank ice water. Outrageous. Just felt a bit ripped off and I'm still hungry. My husband got a cappuccino and the avocado toast with jamon. He didn't mind it but he said the same thing about the prices. There were not that many places open at that time to serve breakfast so perhaps that's why they are pricey.

I absolutely love Panama! The coffee is of exceptional quality at a reasonable price. The staff is…read morealways so friendly and will do anything to help, and the ambience is amazing as the cafe overlooks the main town square.

The menu is on the wall although almost everything listed wasn't available. After watching another…read morein my group get shot down I didn't even bother to order food. Much to my surprise they did have coffee so I had coffee for breakfast. This is a smaller town but there has to be much better options as going hungry was the better option for me. I should add the coffee was good.

We were three. We enjoyed all the food very much but there are niggles that are easily overcome…read more The coffees (cappuccino & flat white) were 5 star ace and the seating comfy. The tea drinker among us got a big pot of tea and fresh milk in a little pot. He can't stand the smell or taste of coffee. We got two brown sub sandwiches - one with chicken - which I avoided and one cheese and ham. Both were a good portion size of fresh, soft, seeded brown bread. The ham and cheese were good quality and thankfully not the cheapest rubbish that's all too common these days. We got two portions of delicious, proper, apple pie and cream. The staff were friendly and very attentive to us. Now to the annoyances - there's no toilet. This bugs me as every sit - in cafe selling drinks and food should have a toilet or have one nearby as you'd find in a shopping mall. The filled rolls weren't filled to the end again this shouldn't ever happen as it mars enjoyment but is easily remedied. Lastly the lush apple pie had soggy bottoms. Euch. Again this mars enjoyment. About €35 for one tea, two espresso based coffees, 2 good filled rolls that could be better filled and two soggy bottom apple pies.

This place is open now about two weeks. For us it's very welcome. Up to now the choices here were…read moremostly junk food: KFC, Subway, Burger King who all sell completely rubbish coffee and industrially made over priced, processed junk food. There's pretty good coffee from Starbucks & Costa who each sell over-priced pre packed factory made food, but this new place provides freshly made good food in comfy surroundings and there's darn good Italian coffee too. The key idea here is to pick or build your own sandwich or salad from various breads, greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, rocket, then proteins which I recognise as chicken, pork, salmon; oddly there's cheeses like halloumi and feta listed on the menu under protein when these contain more fat than protein. Then dozens of choices of vegetables from avocado to olives, edamame to pineapple and a selection of fresh dressings. We had mushroom soup (€4) with crusty bread and butter added (95c) which was delicious and an artic wrap (like a soft tortilla) at €5.95 with roast chicken, lettuce, tomato and some Parmesan dressing. Again very tasty indeed. Then a cappuccino and a flat white (about €3 each). The coffees tasted great too. So all in all the bill for two was €16.65. The wifi didn't work and it seems this is a teething problem. The service was friendly too. There's an environmental aspect here as the serviettes are recycled, and soups are served in eco friendly cardboard bowl.

Great wee coffee shop,beautiful breakfast baps/sodas brilliant staff and in the good weather a…read morewonderful little outside sitting area where all the craic of the day is discussed about the local Dundalk FC,and all at affordable prices in this day and age

I think we have a new winner for coffee in "da town". That was nice experience. Sitting in on the…read moreMain Street in Dundalk having a coffee and a lovely cookie while outside you see the hustle of the night goers go from one pub to the next. There was something nice about been out in town but not actually going out out to drink alcohol. It's a small cafe but that adds to its uniqueness and charm. They have a few gift items for sale if you want to treat yourself. Range of food to go with your coffee but at the moment it's not a full range. Staff were friendly and chatty.

Delicious food at great prices!…read more I've had the sandwiches/wraps with a side salad and chips. Can never finish my food as the portion sizes are quite big. Not that that's a negative. I've tried Jackie's burger and its to die for! Would highly recommend it to any burger lovers out there. The decor is lovely and quaint. I just wish they would move to a bigger building as they are so popular and if you don't get there at the right time there are no tables left empty :)

Lovely place. Worth a visit. Homely vibe. Nice stag. Relaxed and clean. Would I return? Hell…read moreyes.