La Cave Winebar and Restaurant

A small well decorated cove, La Cave offers a selection of well prepared French classics. The two-​and three course early bird options with the wine of the month make the meal quite affordable. We started with goat cheese and quail salads. Both were quite tasty. The venison was well spiced. The bream was delicate and served in a light butter sauce. Both came with a sliced mushroom garnish and choice of mash or gratin. We finished off with excellent chocolate ice cream and a perfectly done crème brûlée.
I would say there are two issues with this restaurant: first, it suffers from overcrowding, and hence is also quite loud. We went there years ago and it was more enjoyable with fewer tables.
Second, and I find this with many similar restaurants, the meal would be better balanced with a bit more «legume». Mushrooms don’t quite cut it. Spinach or beans would be an excellent addition.
Except for the dessert, this restaurant is not well suited for children.

Don’t let the décor deter you! Yes… it’s dated in a sort of pillar box red 1960s wine bar kind of way, yet the food, service and ambiance are all quite good. I found it easy to find a gluten free option for nearly all courses on the menu and found the waiting staff very attentive.
The confit of duck a l’orange is sublime and the goats cheese is something to savour! With the right company, this little gem offers quite an intimate experience and might just win you over with substance over style!

You can eat here on a Saturday with no hassle. The first thing you notice is a comfortable vibe and actual French music. I love foreign themed restuarants that play linguistically matching music. Something about Christine Aguilera over Pad Thai… just gets me.
I was tired of looking for reasonably priced shoes when I thought I’d break protocol and eat alone. I caved at The Cave Winebar and Restaurant.
I did not drink wine (boring American alert), but the service was good, the décor is unique, parisian styled, and you can tell they made an effort. I don’t really go to restaurants to look at art or make an interior design judgement. Ever. Props for having real candles lit at early afternoon hours. Not electric ones.
I had the goat cheese honey and apples, and the gran spinach ravioli. I will not need to eat another meal today. The salad was superb. The ravioli was filling. I also ordered an Earl Grey. The total came to about $ 16. I am used to Brooklyn and Manhattan prices so this was great. With all things considered, this was as a «good as it gets». They need one of these in the Queen Anne’s Hotel San Francisco! (Review throwback)
I was served by a Christine McVie look-​a-​like and other nice lady who were great service. As they say on goodreads, would read again. I would go here if:
1. I were on a first date and wanting to keep that balance between classy and quirky
2. Tired of knocking into people on that shopping stretch in the City Centre
3. Hungry and agitated by all the people and buskers on that shopping stretch in the City Centre
4. Looking to talk to people who seem to know an awful lot about wine
5. French
6. French music enthusiast and wine lover

Well hello Paris! And all that without the hassle of flying. Me likey! An unassuming sign above the tiny entrance, narrow stairs leading to the first floor which reveals itself bathed in candlelight, dark red velvets, dark wood and just basically everything warm and dark.
At the small bar, a few ladies enjoy their first glass of red before continuing on downstairs for their wine tasting evening. No one wears feathers or fascinators but neither would be out of place here.
It is seriously cosy, not crowded, not too loud. I really like it.
We get handed 3 kinds of menus, plus wine list. The do an early bird for 17.50Euro for 2 courses, a 2 course set menu for 19Euro (which isn’t advertised on their website) and a la carte dining. They also do a fine dining a la francais for 55Euro for 5 courses.
We start with mussels and goats cheese salad, both very nice. Our mains were venison veneur with mash. Sooo nice. Seriously! The wines we had (Chilean Merlot and South African Pinotage) we both pleasant and our waiter was very attentive without being too ‘in-​your-​face’.
Overall, a surprisingly great little restaurant right in the heart of Dublin!

We’ve returned to La Cave a few times now and it has always been a lovely experience. Cozy atmosphere, nice wine list and wonderful food — especially the goat cheese salad with honey and apples — divine!

I feel like I’m entering the 1970’s or strolling into the Moulin Rouge — Still love it though!
This cosy little place (very little) is located just off Grafton Street. Although it’s located centrally, it may not be the easiest to find for the first timer (It’s just opposite GBK and Gotham Café). Typically they’ll have a menu outside displaying their early bird and a la carte menus — that’s how we found it! You have to walk down a stairs to reach the restaurant which is quite cosy, coloured red and has a collection of France-​inspired items hung on the walls. Okay I have to say it’s a little tacky and is quite dated, but the food and wine are very good.
As far as I can recall, they offer a 3 course early bird for 25 euro, which is not too bad! We both had the quail for starters, venison for main and crème brûlée for desert. The staff are also very nice and welcoming, which is always a good thing.

Adorable !
Couleurs chaudes et ambiance agréable
De bons vins
Un poil cher mais nous y retournerons

You are now entering the Twilight Zone. Expect the unexpected…
I want to love Le Cave. I want it to be a great wine bar. It is the oddest place in the city. Without exception every time I go there something bizarre happens. So I only go there when in need of a late night bottle. From getting into a full on bar brawl with some drunk prick who decided to harass and abuse one of the girls in our party to being served positively warm red wine, to very lightly chilled white, to dance music so loud we sat staring at each other, to arguing with the waiter about oxidised wine, to being asked to pay before we even taste the wine, to overhearing the strangest old wino pervert types mumbling into their glasses, to randomers belly dancing or dancing on the tables to blaring middle eastern music… They are only a few nights of the nights that I can recall. This place is whack. We got kicked out for the fight and for knocking over the stools that time but it was a great night all the same. Yes I have been loads of times, coz we could get late wine and cheese after work and because it is seedy and fun. But don’t expect class. Wine is overpriced also! And the glassware is lousy but I have a soft spot for it all the same.

Wow, where do i begin… To start with, coming in the door of this place is like stepping into the 1970 and the menu is about the same. Very old school, very overcrowded & a little cramped. All that said i would have formerly enjoyed an occasional glass of wine in the place with friends. Until my last visit…
My fiancé got the idea to try to book us a wine tasting experience followed by a meal in the place as a birthday present for me, something that should have been relatively easy considering their website claims they have 37 wines by the glass available! He emailed to see if it was possible to book this for me & the reply he received from Rosie stated that a wine tasting was not possible for such a small group.
My Fiancé responded explaining that all we required was a somewhat knowledgable member of staff who could sell us a few glasses of wine & provide a little information on each glass, to which we got a reply from Margaret saying that it WOULD be possible & to let them know when we wanted to do this wine info event. So he booked it in the next email & even got a follow up email from a third person to confirm the wine tasting & meal.
We arrived in to the cellar restaurant, were shown to our seats between a coat-​rack at the bar & a stairway & handed a food menu. When my fiancé explained we were there for the tasting the server said «oh i remember your email, i told you we couldn’t do that». My fiancé tried to explain numerous times what conversation had occurred between him & the other staff members & the server (who i believe was Rosie) proceeded to interrupt my fiancé each time he spoke & was overall quite rude & unapologetic. She told us we could still have our meal & she would recommend a wine to suit each course but to be honest as a result of her poor attitude & the evidently awful communication by staff in the place i was no longer interested in spending our money in the establishment!
I can safely say i will not darken the door of La Cave again! If i could give them a lower rating than 1 star i would!

Decent 14 euro 2 course lunch. Good bistro food

I am a fan of this place. It’s my second time in just over a month and I have not been disappointed yet. In fact, there is such a great selection of fantastic wines at all prices that I felt that I could experiment with wines from different regions.
The atmosphere is also very cozy. I love the French posters and postcards, red walls, dining area and the great smell of French cuisine coming from the kitchen. The only issue I had was the cheese plate. We were given quite a small portion for nearly 13 euro. I’ve had better cheese plates in other wine bars/​cellars in this city.
I had waited a long time to go to this place and I haven’t been disappointed yet. Looking forward to returning again.

Guy from the cigar shop around the corner recommended this place to us and we are grateful. The duck pâté was delicious. My lamb was outstanding and my husbands chicken in a wonderful mushroom sauce was also great. My french pino gris was crisp. We enjoyed its odd location and funky stairwell.

Well — this place reminds me of a cave. Dont get me wrong. It is a cozy little place.
I like the simple dishes here like the bread and cheese platter with a glass of red wine or 2. I am not sure what it is. But it just hit the spot after a long day at the Dublin office.
I come to this place every time I am in Dublin.

I returned here for a meal on New Year ‘s Day — seeing as all other restaurants were closed. Myself and two friends wanted a girly catch up and no-​where else would oblige. Thank goodness1 this turned out to be a great choice.
It was snug. The decorations were cute, the atmosphere festive and they even let us move because we caught a bit of a draft from the kitchen at our table.
The wine list was excellent. I was going to buy champagne but the girl behind the bar recommended a pink cava instead. It was a perfect choice.
The food was delicious. I cannot get a blue steak in Dublin — I love my steak as rare as you can get. I’m used to Argentinian steak, succulent and inviting. Guess what? They cooked it rare and it was really good. Just the right size, texture and heat. My friend loved her generous swordfish steak and the lamb was extremely tender. Even the mash was lovely — I don’t normally like mash!
Service was lovely. The girl behind the bar is really helpful and sweet. The waiters were speedy. They couldn’t remember which order was which, but in the scheme of things — that didn’t matter because they were so efficient and friendly.

I always thought that La Cave was a very fancy place and that it had old school charm. We booked dinner here to take an agency over from the UK and it wasn’t at all what I expected.
Down the dark stairs into the dark restaurant, we found our table. It was a few tables put together around a couch and some chairs so we were all on different heights. A little bit funny. The atmosphere was pretty intimate too, so probably not the right choice for our work dinner.
We had a mixture of meals. Mine was nice, I had lamb which was lovely. My colleague had the vegetarian pasta and it was dripping in oil. Not so good. We basically all had mixed feelings about it. The other problem was that it’s pretty expensive. My lamb was € 20. For this price, you’d expect something better.
It’s a funny spot, maybe good for couples, but a little bit hit and miss for me.

Le Cavé is a great late night spot and if you haven’t had the pleasure of falling down its well trodden steps in the early hours of the morning its also opening during the day and is a pretty good wine bar.
Although I’ve never had a meal there the menu looks pretty authentically French. But your probably going to come here for the wine more then anything else, they offer 350 wines, 30 by the glass, you don’t have to drink them all at one time either.
They also do a late night menu (after 11) and is open till 2ish, so was always a bit of a last chance saloon. No lunch on Sunday as they don’t open till 5.

First things first: La Cave looks like a brothel inside. It does. It’s hidden away in a basement and it’s all red plush and dim lighting.
Half the little room is taken up with dining tables, and there’s space for drinkers around the bar. You shouldn’t come here if you’re not serious about your wine. It would just be rude. Their wine list’s a book, and choice is excellent and reasonably varied in price. Go mid-​range, and don’t be afraid to go by the glass and have everyone in your group test something different.
The food’s really good, too.

Pese a que La Cave es un local acogedor, bonito e íntimo, y pese a que está muy bien localizado en el centro de Dublín pegado a Grafton Street (el corazón del distrito Dublín 2), tiene bastantes fallos.
Primero es el precio, bastante elevado. Se aprovechan de que como en Irlanda no hay vinos y todos son de importación, pues a inflar el precio.
Otro fallo es la música, está excesivamente alta y apenas se puede hablar tranquilamente en la mesa, ya que no es una discoteca sino un lugar para gustar vinos.
Digamos que es un local que intenta tener un poco de clase pero a medida que avanza la noche la va perdiendo a saltos