TRIBECA, Ranelagh – Like Honestly?
Fetch the Mont Blanc, I feel a letter to the Times coming on!
Readers of Ross O’Carroll Kelly
will hopefully appreciate the reference and hence the urgent need to inform the
public of the sham that is Tribeca.
Tribeca is an institution in
SoCoDu, nestled in lovely Ranelagh, easily accessible via the nice LUAS and has
24hr pay & display on street parking available.
We walked in (without a
reservation- as it’s Wednesday night) to a fully-booked ground floor dining
room. The waitress/Maitre'd with clipboard in hand escorted us upstairs to the
bar/dining area B where there were several tables neatly arranged with nice
lighting and comfortable seats.
The problem with Tribeca is
simple, the food is bad and cheap. Cheap in terms of quality-where the
ingredients are sub-prime. This is the type of place that will give you
re-constituted chicken and pasta and charge you €16 for the privilege.
The WINGS
The wings are good, firstly
because you get a large portion and secondly because they’re wings and everyone
loves wings. At €12.95 you are entitled to a good sized portion and we split it
between 2! The hot sauce was nice and the blue cheese dip was good- neither
were overpowering. The wings were on the small side, there was lots of them but
they are not very meaty and you spend most of your time nibbling the bits of
the end of the bones.
After we finished the wings we
bathed our fingers in the lemon-water cleanser and then dried our hands in the
napkins provided. Point of note, the napkins came apart when you dry your hands
which compounds the belief that the place is cheap. You can get a large 650g
box of wings in Tesco for €2.50, so don’t tell me they’re not.
Matt ordered the Rigatoni with Slow
Braised Lamb, Tomato and Wild Mushroom Ragu & Parmesan Cheese. On the face
of it I was excited. Not too often have I had lamb with pasta and combined with
the ragu and pine nuts spelled winner in my book.
Thoughts: Lamb looked like Tuna
Flakes (that is the cheap tuna, below tuna chunks). It was really bitty and
stringy and could have come from anything. I expected pieces of Lamb not a
minced-paste of the dregs.
Ev ordered from the “Specials
Menu” which detailed her dish as “smoked chicken with cherry tomatoes, chilli, extra
virgin olive-and-garlic-oil, baby spinach and mushrooms with a Parmesan crust.
Thoughts: Not enough Pasta,
Chicken came from a packet (as in the sambo-ready M&S pack) tomatoes were
not ripe, Parmesan crust was only breadcrumbs and the balance of ingredients/quantity
did not justify the €16 price tag.
We finished quickly, got the bill (below) and left, slightly shell-shocked at what was Tribeca. As we walked back
to the car we past a host of other eateries such as the Butchers Grill, Cinnamon and Eatery 120. The latter having a 2-courses for €22 menu- which in
hindsight would have been a better choice.
Other Recommendations
Main courses at MAO in Dundrum are of a
similar price and better quality.
Mario’s in Ranelagh does good
grub too!
JD’s Steakhouse in Terenure- A
true Dublin gem.
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