Lidl

I love Lidl and while they are not the most fancy supermarket out there they have a lot of products from my home country, Denmark, which makes it hard for me to stay away. They always have a good selection of weekly offers on everything from blankets to wellies to food processors!
Service is super good and the store is easy to navigate, one of the brilliant things about Lidl that they pretty much have the same layout, creating an easy, breezy shopping experience.

It’s the second time I’ve been there, the staff is rude, I said hello twice no answer and to be honest it’s not as cheap as it used to be. Will be going to Aldi next time.

Lidl is not a new fixture in Rathmines, in fact it’s rather a staple of Rathmines at this stage (along with it’s slightly estranged cousin Aldi, quite literally across the road) but what ~is~ new is Lidl’s big fresh bakery. They have redesigned and extended their already fairly lovely fresh bakery section to now include many delicious and *cheap* fresh breads! The .49c crossaints remain the toast of Rathmines, kicking any cuisine de france crossaints out of the water with their crisp flaky outsides and soft chewy centres. Also, a must try is their giant doughy pretzels, guaranteed to salt-​explode any hangover you might have thought you had. Definately worth a looksee next time you’re passing.

Not the biggest nor indeed the best Lidl around but all is forgiven as they have a small but regularly refreshed bakery — plus it is straight across the road from Aldi, between the two of them you can get pretty much anything you need… and a Dunnes and Tesco within a stones throw for good measure

Lidl is one of those shops you like to think you should avoid as it has the reputation of being cheap and nasty.
I personally never really shopped there for a long time until I was persuaded to by my girlfriend.
Basically Lidl is not Marks and Spencers, its not a high end food store. But its not bad quality nowadays. There are some things I would avoid I’ll admit, perhaps I wouldn’t get all my shopping from there.
HOWEVER, the place is so cheap. Its ridiculous.
Today I brought, two bags of grated mozzarella, two chunks of mozzarella, two big bags of pasta, a packet of bacon, a joint of bacon and a baton of bread.
If I had got that from a more upper class supermarket, you have got to be talking 15 – 20 euro.
The whole lot come to under a tenner. The stuff is nice as well. I cant complain at all.
The Bad points really are the supermarkets, they look a bit crap. You generally do queue a bit longer than normal and you cant always get good quality brand names.
But seriously for your day to day stuff you cannot go wrong. Add to this the occasional bargain in the central isles (got a heart monitor for 17 euro the other day) and its a great place to shop!
One last tip, I don’t think they take credit cards (laser and cash only)

I like the Lidl in Rathmines and I also like the Aldi in Rathmines too, they both have their own special qualities. I flit between them both and usually on the same shopping trip. Everyone knows what these two shops offer. Buts these are some of Lidl’s pros for me:
They have baskets that you don’t need a euro /​two euro for
It’s bigger, brighter and more spacious
Nice facial tissues
Pocket tissue rock as well
Vegetable range (although some people agree that Aldi is better at the veg)
Their soluble vitamin range, cheap as chips
They always seem to have a plant/​gardening section
What I don’t like:
Their Silvercrest electrical goods — I bought the handheld vacuum and it was rubbish. When I mentioned it to my Mum she said the whole Silvercrest range was generally a let down
I can’t really think of anything else, enough said

First time customer, it was pretty good.
They only had one registrar open hence why I first only wanted to give three stars. They have a good bread selection, croissants, and individual meat freezers which is more energy efficient. So I went ahead and gave them star # four.
I’ll go back there, it was a nice little store, and didn’t feel as clusters as the Dunnes one.

I love Lidl in general (cheap, weird products still make me feel like I’m shopping on holidays) and this is quite a nice one! They bake fresh bread! The aroma gets them an extra star. It’s not the absolutely best stocked one I’ve ever seen but it’s definitely one of my preferred branches. No queue when I visited either which is pretty great for Lidl. Even when there are queues I think Lidl stores in general tend to be quite quick-​my sister worked in a branch part time in college-​apparently their scan speed is monitored!

I remember the day when Aldi opened up in Rathmines and it was nearly impossible to get around the place. Now it stands there cowering under the lights of its bigger, brighter neighbour Lidl.
I went in the other day looking for a pair of scissors, I had second thoughts when I saw the two huge queues, literally 10 – 15 people deep. But I figured hey I’ll give it a shot. Unfortunately, after walking up and down all the maddeningly organised aisles and thinking I might have found a section where such items belonged I didn’t find any scissors! So then I had to embarrassingly shove my way past all those people in the queue. Why? Because these lovely discount shops have a maddening system that tries to prevent you from leaving without purchasing something!
That said it definitely had a lot more variety and a bit more freshness and cleanliness to it than Aldi across the street, but overall I’m still not totally convinced about these shops (I think it has to do with the fact that they don’t actually take the food out of the cardboard boxes they come in — like Hello! rat feces from the factories!), but if you’re on a tight budget and you want a bit of a choice then you can’t really go wrong here. The only thing that I have no qualms about buying here is the cheap booze, nothing says classy party like a couple of boxes of wine!

Before venturing to Lidl in Rathmines I was mindful that it’s renowned low prices may compromise the quality, which I obviously wasn’t happy about but during these testy economic times I could not afford to shop in another place more distinguished. To my surprise (if I am honest I will admit to pre-​judging this store to be insufficient on account of its notability in stocking cheap goods) and exhilaration the stockpile was wide-​ranging and of authentic and respectable quality. The vegetables were ripe, fresh and rich in colour — markedly, the tomatoes were all a profound red and the carrots a concentrated orange — all in all looking as healthy as can be.
I am as guilty as anyone else for presuming that Lidl was inadequate on account of it’s famed cut-​rate prices. It is unfairly labeled as insufficient on account that it’s low prices appeal to the lower class’ finances and so dubbed as something unworthy by many condescending Dubliners. The range of goods on offer is more expansive, the variety of items more multipurpose as they really do try and stock every necessity you could possibly hanker after and more staff are on hand to help than many other so-​called distinguished stores. Superquinn for example can be seen as a bit of supercilious store — a bit pompous and in existence to provide for the more haughty Dublin residents, but this certainly does not reflect in its attention to customer service nor variety of stock and I can confidently say that it is Lidl who provide a much more ample and wide-​ranging shopping experience and for a significantly cheaper price.
This Lidl is double the size of its rival Aldi also in Rathmines Village, and whilst I like Aldi too for its recession busting, fair prices and ample product range and hence would not say anything to deter you from going in there, Lidl do offer a much more comprehensive shopping experience. If your shopping list is long you are much more likely to pick up more things within the larger Lidl than the smaller Aldi across the road. The prices in both are near on identical but for the sake of convenience and saving time one visit to Lidl will meet your requirements.

Of course it’s great to have a number of different choices when it comes to grocery-​shopping. A competition between food-​suppliers, who offers the lowest prices, is usually good for shoppers. Rathmines residents therefore understandably welcomed the newest supermarket on Rathmines road: Lidl. On the opening weekend it was almost impossible to step inside the shop, the crazyness looked like no-​one had seen pasta or milk for weeks.
When witnessing the madness, I felt bad for the smaller and emptier Aldi, located just across the street. Aldi has been my saviour when the wallet is tight, and I’m worried they will have a hard time surviving the competition, with Lidl, twice its size and offering lots more variety. But I hope both businesses will thrive, competing for our money with special offers every week. Then everyone wins, especially the consumers!