It’s happy days going out and about in Dublin city at the moment with lots of new places opening up. There are so many new restaurants that seem to be popping up almost on a weekly basis right now and recently there’s been a few lovely new bars opening too. A couple of weeks back I reviewed the latest spot to open on Leeson Street, House, over here . There is still a huge interest in this blog post at the moment and this week I’ve another new drinks & food venue to add to the mix.
The Liquor Rooms opened up a few weeks ago underneath The Clarence Hotel on Wellington Quay…. You know the one those guys from U2 own, yep that’s the one. There’s been lots of positive feedback on Twitter about the place so this weekend I decided I had to see it for myself!
The first thing that I thought on walking in was that it was a similar style to Vintage Cocktail Club in Temple Bar. The carpet, old fashioned wallpaper, dim lighting and if I’m honest, a brothel-esque vibe!
We arrived about 8.30pm on a Saturday night and it was getting pretty busy already. We walked straight through the dark hallway and into the main section. It was surprisingly big, a lot bigger than I expected. The funky decor carries through here with a shiney tin like ceiling, walls with paint peeling from them and lots of random items dotted around.
We could see that there were other seating sections but by this time there was little to no hope of us getting a table so we stayed put.
Straight to the bar we went and got busy with the cocktail menu. They were pretty reasonably priced, from €9.50 upwards…. Which isn’t all that bad considering we’d just been elsewhere paying €12 and upwards for cocktails.
We went for the Docs Gigglewater – made from Cognac, Rosemary & Lemon Cordial, Grapefruit Bitter & Soda Water – and the Ramos Gin Fizz – made from Gin, Cream, Blossom water and soda.
The Docs Gigglewater was great, really refreshing and light. I wasn’t crazy about my Ramos Gin Fizz… nothing wrong with how it was made or anything, it was just toooooo creamy for me. The barman spotted (or possibly heard, embarrassing!) that I wasn’t loving it and offered to make me something different. I’ve no idea exactly what it was he gave me but it was creamy and had cinnamon on top and tasted like Christmas in a glass – Yum!!
Again, no idea what I was drinking as I’d just put my trust in the barman but whatever it was I loved. I also loved the presentation of this one, in a freezing cold tin mug and topped with a blackberry and raspberry and the cutest little dried rosebuds.
I have to say that we found the staff great, there was no waiting for 15 mins for your cocktail to be made and our guy was really friendly too.
By this point we had been out most of the day and were knackered, plus the place had really filled up so we called it a night. I’m so pleased to have discovered 2 great new places to head for drinks in town as I’d recently got stuck in a major rut of going to the same places over and over again. It’s great to see so many new places opening and being so busy. The Liquor Rooms is a fab professional cocktail venue and I’ve no doubt it’ll only get more and more popular. They also serve food but I didn’t get to see anyone eating and didn’t spot the menu so I am sure I will return to try that out!
Great review Kate, good to see that this place is thriving. I was there for opening night but you can never really tell if a place is going to work from that. Good to hear it’s popular! I was wondering what the music was like? Was it loud? They claim to be for 25+ y/o’s but I did spy a dj booth with decks so I wonder … no way I am going to go out for cocktails and listen to pounding music! Not my thing at all!
Yeah it was really busy! We managed to get a ledge to stand at but tables were all gone by then. Music wise it wasn’t crazy loud but wasn’t just background music either. I’m not sure if maybe Sunday – Thursday nights it may be a bit quieter? Some of the crowd were older than you’d find in lots of the pubs though so that was good but there was still some groups of girls that seemed a bit younger than 25 to me. Cocktails were super and not as expensive as VCC. Am loving these new places to try out!
That all sounds promising! 🙂 I must give it turn soon. I’ve a table booked in VCC for Friday night after my Culture Night capers! 🙂 Woohoo! Dirty Wizard here I come lol!