Waterford City, Galway City, Limerick

[The Yank]

Non Irish friends heading home on Monday and asking for a heads up in the above cities for a pint and dinner. Any suggestions? Not familiar with those counties. Cheers.

[deiseach]

Non Irish friends heading home on Monday and asking for a heads up in the above cities for a pint and dinner. Any suggestions? Not familiar with those counties. Cheers.

Waterford City - soon to be Waterford Metropolitan District, not that I'm bitter.

Food. L'Atmosphere on Henrietta St (despite the French motif it's good for those who like their food 'native') is good value. Try Emiliano's on High Street if you like your food 'ethnic' - Italian, funnily enough. If you want to splash the cash, try La Boheme on Great Georges St. NB Friday and Saturday you will really have to splash the cash for the a la carte menu.

Pubs. If you like an old man's pub, you can't beat Downes on Thomas Street. Has a famous whiskey called the No 9, although I don't think it's all that. Philly Grimes in Johnstown is good too, if slightly off the beaten track. It sells real ales if that's what floats your boat and has an authentic GAA theme, the late Philly playing on the All-Ireland winning team in '59. If you want some music and other things, the Kazbar on John St is worth checking out and is open until past 2am. Ask a random person and they will tell you to try Geoff's on John St or T&H's on Georges St. Geoff's is okay I suppose but has a slightly studenty demographic and is hotter than Hades on a busy night. T&H's . . . I suppose a Yank might see some olde worlde charm in it, but I think it's over-rated and lazy.

[laoislad]

Is Club LA still opened in Waterford?

[deiseach]

Is Club LA still opened in Waterford?

It's called Masons these days. I've never experienced its charms.

[AZOffaly]

Limerick has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of places to eat and have a pint. There's a load of places for both depending on the mood.

Pubs - Tourists and locals both flock to Nancy Blakes on Denmark Street (I think) where the front bar frequently has a seisúin, and the big back 'Outback' is more of a disco bar type thing. There are about 5 bars called Flannery's in town as well, so when someone asks them to meet them in Flannery's make sure you know which one. There's a big modern superpub type one right beside Nancy's, whereas a smaller version is on Catherine Street, and is owned by the ex-Munster hooker Jerry.

South's on the top of O'Connell Street is nice for a quiet pint, and is a haunt of Willie O'Dea. Willy Sexton's is a good Rugby Pub, and of course Clohessy's pub and nightclub along the banks of the Shannon is a lively spot and you might get a pint off the Claw himself in there. My favourite pubs though are two small enough operations. Tom Collins on Cecil Street is a small, no apologies, Guinness pint drinker pub. Lovely pints in there, and nice for a chat. The Curragower then is a nice seafood restaurant that also serves nice pints. It's on Clancy's Strand, which is over the River, near the Treaty Stone.

Restaurants - Again there's a load of eateries in Limerick, from very casual to more serious. Some of the nicer ones I like to go to are Chocolat or The Hamptons, but there are loads of different choices really.

[laoislad]

Is Club LA still opened in Waterford?

It's called Masons these days. I've never experienced its charms.

Ah it wasn't a bad spot.
Muldoons? Was the name of another spot I think and some where called the Pulpit or something?
Had friends in WIT and use to go down often enough.

[ross4life]

Galway city - i would recommend Park house hotel on Forster St for dinner & Busker brownes for a pint.

[anglocelt39]

Will offer just a few updates to Deiseachs comments. Hell of a lot of investment has gone into the viking triangle down by Reginalds Tower/Tower hotel end of the Quays. Big money has been spent on the reopened Reg Bar and I understand its doing a fair bit of business along with the Munster bar which is 100 yards along. There are a number of really good restaurants across the street close to the Crystal Visitors Centre. Sabai is a very nice and reasonably priced Thai/Viet restaurant in a very nice building. Next door is an Italian restaurant which is the same crew as used to own La Palma, can't remember the name of it to save myself. Plenty of action over the pre and post christmas period with the Winterval festival which has brightened things up quite a bit. If you want top class, really good value indian food Cafe Ghoa is halfway down the Quays opposite the bus station. Cramped for space but I defy anybody to find me better Indian food in the country at the price level.

Deiseach-T and H's is for sale with the owner retiring from the game. Looking at the asking price I'd say he'd nearly give it away if pushed. City on it's uppers and that side of town really suffering.

[waterfordlad]

Muldoons is now called Sinnotts. The Pulpit not there anymore. 2 former haunts of mine too in my younger days but don't go out in town that much anymore.

[The Yank]

Thanks for the help!  Cheers!