The Top 46 Restaurants Near Square

Marble-topped tables and a convivial room set the tone at this modern bistro in Dundalk, the sibling of The Courthouse in Carrickmacross. The menu name-checks Irish producers, then quietly pivots to Korean fried chicken, which tells you most of what you need to know. The format rewards sharing: a few snacks, a few larger plates, good company. It's the kind of place where no one is trying too hard, and the food is better for it.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Exposed brick walls and a vaulted ceiling do a lot of the decorating at this relaxed restaurant in Carrickmacross, where the room fills quickly and stays loud in the best way. The kitchen leans into unglamorous cuts, slow-cooked until they earn their place, with accompaniments that feel thought through rather than tacked on. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, and the service is the kind that makes you forget you had somewhere else to be.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Behind a Georgian façade on a quiet main street, this neighbourhood restaurant runs warmer than its exterior suggests, with an open kitchen giving the room its pulse. The cooking leans into Northern Irish produce, and game season draws particular attention. The menu is long enough to become a genuine problem for the indecisive. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Named after a secret society that once met in these same Cathedral Quarter lanes, this Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant in Belfast operates with the energy of a buzzy bistro rather than the hush you might expect. The open kitchen clatters, the team is visibly thrilled to be there, and the tasting menu reads almost deceptively spare, just two or three ingredients per dish, before the cooking makes its argument on the plate.

1. National Restaurant Awards 2026 · Best Restaurant in Northern Ireland · The National Restaurant Awards
2. Michelin Guide 1 Star
3. National Restaurant Awards 2026 · #90 · The National Restaurant Awards

Greek Corinthian columns and a curved plaster ceiling that belongs in a Georgian country house, because that is exactly where it is. This fine dining room inside Carton House carries a Michelin star, and the kitchen earns it through strong classical technique with the occasional unexpected flavour pairing that somehow lands. The crowd dresses for the occasion, and the occasion is the kind that calls for it.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star

The tableside Irish Coffee is the closing act at this fine dining room on Parnell Square, and it is prepared with the same precision as everything that came before it. Mickael Viljanen holds two Michelin stars, and his modern French cooking leans heavily on Irish and European luxury ingredients worked through classical technique. The room is elegant, the service immaculate, and the whole thing feels, for better or worse, exactly as serious as it sounds.

1. Michelin Guide 2 Stars

On the second floor of the Fitzwilliam Hotel, with St Stephen's Green spread out below, Glovers Alley is a Michelin-starred fine dining room done in soft pinks and greens with a quiet 1930s undercurrent. The cooking goes the other direction: bold flavors, confident technique, and just enough creative pressure on the classics to remind you someone in the kitchen has something to prove.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
2. Michelin Guide 1 Star

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A gilt barrel ceiling and hand-crafted marquetry set the scene in this Georgian townhouse, which has been Dublin's French fine dining institution for so long the silverware probably has feelings. The cooking is French at heart but carries a quiet, assured modernity, letting bold Irish ingredients do most of the talking. The baba flambé, finished tableside with your choice of rum, is a reminder that this kitchen holds two Michelin stars and knows exactly what it's doing.

1. Michelin Guide 2 Stars

A Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant on the Oxford Street strip, OX keeps things deliberately low-key while the kitchen quietly obsesses over sourcing, growing some of its own produce and tracking down the rest with the same energy other chefs spend on plating. The cooking is restrained in presentation but precise in balance, pairing luxury ingredients with accompaniments that know exactly when to stop. Belfast's best-kept open secret, if everyone didn't already know.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star

The original plasterwork and high ceilings of this restored landmark building make an unlikely backdrop for a tightly focused modern tasting-menu restaurant, but the contrast works. The chef, Australian-born and well-traveled, builds a surprise menu that pulls techniques and flavors from across the globe into dishes that are as considered as they are precise. Counter seats let you watch the plating up close. It holds a Michelin star.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star

The open fire does real work here, and the chef means it: no two dishes come out exactly alike, which is either thrilling or terrifying depending on your disposition. This Michelin-starred corner restaurant in the Liberties runs a sharing menu that changes constantly, with mostly organic wines chosen with evident obsession. Terracotta walls, exposed brick, and a genuinely relaxed room that doesn't feel like it's trying to be relaxed.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star

A brasserie tucked against the Queen's University campus, with a covered terrace that fills up fast on anything resembling a warm evening. The Mibrasa charcoal grill does a lot of the heavy lifting, turning out modern British plates at prices that feel almost suspicious for the quality. Michael Deane is a name locals say with reverence. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

A former bank in Phibsborough that now moves money in pasta and wood-fired fish instead, Borgo is a lively Italian osteria with a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a room that earns its noise. The menu runs from sourdough pizzette through homemade pastas to a wood-fired section for meat and fish, all of it straightforward and carefully cooked. Portions are generous, prices are honest, and the polenta cake with seasonal fruit is worth leaving room for.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Part of Michael Deane's sprawling Belfast operation, mrDeanes is a spacious modern brasserie where the menu bounces cheerfully between a Thai red curry and a classic pepper steak without any sense of an identity crisis. Grab a cocktail at the bar first, because the room has that kind of energy. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks: the food and wine both punch above what you'd expect to pay.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

The name translates as "I eat," which sets expectations correctly. This buzzing Belfast tapas brasserie earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand on the strength of shareable plates built around a Bertha oven, with traditional Spanish touches running alongside them. Counter seats overlook the kitchen if you like that kind of theatre. The room skews rustic-industrial, the crowd leans into it, and the standing advice is to leave room for the orange and almond sponge.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Local art and trailing greenery soften the semi-industrial bones of this roomy, upbeat restaurant near the city centre. The menu leans Mediterranean with a British accent, turning out punchy, rustic-leaning plates at prices that feel almost suspicious for the address. The Michelin Guide flagged it with a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. The team are warm without being performative, and the room fills with people who look genuinely pleased to be there.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

A converted warehouse space with an open kitchen and a contemporary bistro feel, Beau is the younger sibling of EDŌ, doing produce-led small plates at prices that won't require a sit-down conversation afterward. The concise sharing menu leans into bold flavours without fuss, and the portions are generous enough that "small plates" isn't code for "still hungry." It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Wine on tap and a counter overlooking an open kitchen set the scene at this buzzy small-plates spot tucked into a Drury Street carpark. The cooking is globally influenced and precise without taking itself too seriously, the kind of food where the details land quietly rather than being announced. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Friendly enough that you'll probably stay for one more cocktail than you planned.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Counter seats overlooking the kitchen fill first at this buzzy Spanish restaurant on Aungier Street, and you can see why. The menu moves from snacky nibbles through unfussy mains that carry more depth than they let on, and the drinks list is quietly serious, with a dedicated sherry section and an all-Spanish wine selection covering the whole country. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the bill stays friendly enough that ordering another round feels reasonable.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

The parquet floors and panelled ceiling upstairs could pass for an old Dublin drawing room, which sets the tone for this traditional Irish pub and kitchen near Merchants Quay. Most people come to eat, and the Michelin Bib Gourmand crowd is rewarded with cooking that moves comfortably between cock-a-leekie pie and lighter modern plates. Grab a ground-floor table near the open kitchen if you want to feel the room; upstairs is quieter and considerably more wood.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Bright lights, loud music, and a menu you tick off at the table set the tone at this lively small-plates spot on Aungier Street. The kitchen pulls from China and Taiwan, turning out dumplings, bao buns, and xiao chi with a freshness that keeps the room moving fast. The Michelin Bib Gourmand says something about what you're getting for the price. Come hungry, come in a group, and tick generously.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

A bistro on the first floor of a building just off the main drag, with a low-key retro look that matches its no-fuss approach. The kitchen leans on quality local produce and solid technique rather than novelty, running a short à la carte alongside a well-priced midweek set menu and a blackboard of specials. Beef gets top billing, but the fish dishes hold their own. The kind of neighbourhood restaurant a city always needs more of.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Pork from Wicklow, cheese from the Boyne Valley, and seafood from the harbour you can see through the window: the sourcing at this friendly Howth bistro is almost comically local. Have a drink downstairs at the bar first, then head up to the dining room, where an experienced couple run things with quiet care. The desserts tend to outshine everything else, which is a useful thing to know going in.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The Scotch egg arrives in lamb and harissa form here, which tells you everything about HERA's approach: pub cooking with a passport. Tucked inside the larger JUNO red-brick, it's a gastropub with wood panelling, soft lighting, and Irish ingredients doing serious work, Carlingford oysters, Achill lamb, that kind of larder. The brown butter and miso tart finishes things on a quietly strange and satisfying note.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Exposed brick, warehouse windows, and a Josper grill doing serious work on steaks served on boards with a choice of sauces: this long-standing modern bistro on James Street South has a formula and sticks to it. The menu runs classic brasserie, unfussy and generous, and the room has a genuine buzz that a cheery team keeps moving along. The tomahawk and Chateaubriand are built for sharing, and the set menu is easy to love.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The music hits before the menu does at this buzzy, industrial-style Asian fusion restaurant on Wellington Street. Dishes come out as they're ready, sharing-style, moving from tuna sashimi to Panang curry to cured cod with Iberian chorizo and truffled ponzu, which is either a contradiction or a good idea, and it keeps turning out to be the latter. The cocktail list leans Asian-influenced and the team is the kind of friendly that doesn't feel performed.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The ornately patterned floor tiles and soft furnishings of this Georgian basement set a mood that's a little cosy, a little considered. Mr Fox is a modern Irish restaurant running both à la carte and chef's choice menus, with Irish produce doing the heavy lifting alongside global technique. Wild venison and tempura langoustine share the menu without any apparent identity crisis, and the team carries it all off with genuine warmth.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Dried flowers and dark green walls set the mood at this Stoneybatter spot, which runs as a casual café by day, coffee and viennoiserie included, then quietly shifts gears into a dinner restaurant come evening. The kitchen leans heavily on seasonal produce and a low-waste approach, pulling influences from across the globe into dishes that tend to look as good as they taste. A neighborhood place that knows exactly what it's doing.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A basement Filipino restaurant tucked inside a shopping centre on King St South, easy to walk past and apparently designed that way. Seats near the open kitchen are the ones to aim for, where the chefs' energy fills the room. The menu runs on sharing plates with bold, punchy flavors rooted in Filipino cooking with an Irish sensibility woven in. Come with enough people to order widely, and don't skip anything described as dynamite.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Down a quiet city-centre alley off St Stephen's Green, One Pico has been around forever and has the loyal regulars to prove it. It's a modern French restaurant where the kitchen leans on classical technique, and the sauces in particular do a lot of heavy lifting. The wine list is extensive and runs across budgets, with a sommelier who seems to genuinely enjoy the work. Dress smart; this is not a casual Tuesday.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Homemade pasta is the whole point at this small Italian restaurant tucked into Stoneybatter, northwest of the city center. The chef and owner are from Calabria and import produce from home, so the cooking has a genuine regional pull rather than the generic red-sauce repertoire. The all-Italian wine list leans into organic and biodynamic bottles. Locals fill the room quickly on weekends, so book ahead.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The neon red signs and striped canopies on Trinity Street are hard to walk past without stopping, which is probably the point. Inside this French brasserie, checkerboard floors and the low roar of two busy rooms set the tone. The cooking leans classic and full-flavoured, French in spirit but built on Irish produce. The wine list runs well past France's borders, and ordering by the pichet feels less like a gimmick than the obvious move.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A tall, narrow townhouse overlooking Trinity College Park, The Pig's Ear is a sit-down Irish restaurant where the menu reads like someone raided a grandmother's recipe tin and a history archive on the same afternoon. The chef digs into old-school Irish cooking without playing it safe, so boxty pancakes and suet puddings show up alongside lobster omelette. Comfort food, but with a raised eyebrow.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Library Street is a buzzy contemporary sharing-plates spot tucked into Dublin 2, where the vibe does as much work as the food. Think communal high tops and beautifully worn old ash tables surrounded by a crowd that's genuinely happy to be there. The menu shifts regularly and leans into bold local flavours, swinging between bright, fresh plates and something more hearty and Irish. Order a few things, grab a drink, and settle in.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

You ring a plain black doorbell on a nondescript Harry Street entrance, then ride up to a first-floor dining room where foliage hangs from the ceiling and a favela mural covers the wall. It's a tasting menu restaurant fusing Irish produce with Brazilian flavours, and the chef's story is woven into every corner, including the name itself. A genuinely different night out in a city that can feel samey.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A wine bar turned bistro on Fenian Street, Note has a subtle retro feel and a menu that changes daily, pulling from the Mediterranean for its flavors. The cooking is unfussy, the wines skew natural and organic, and the team at the long counter will happily talk you through both. The kind of place where the room is relaxed enough that you don't feel rushed into a decision, which is fortunate given how good the wine list sounds.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Wood panelling and a compact room on a quiet lane in the city centre, Comet is a small, intimate restaurant pulling from the Mediterranean and whatever's good closer to home. The kitchen leans into restraint, letting things like a bowl of ripe baby tomatoes in their own juices carry the evening. Liver parfait with fermented blood orange is a strong opening move. It fills up, so the room has a proper hum to it most nights.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Red leather banquettes and large murals fill what used to be a bank vault, giving this cellar restaurant a warm, members-club feel that the original architects certainly didn't intend. The cooking draws on Irish produce but wanders freely around the continent, landing somewhere between a French bistro and an Italian trattoria without committing to either, which turns out to suit it fine.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Jean-Georges Vongerichten planted his flag in Dublin with this top-floor fine dining restaurant inside The Leinster hotel, where two terrace bars frame a panoramic city skyline before you even sit down. The menu roams broadly, from his signature egg toast with caviar to crab spring rolls, with Irish produce threading through all of it. The kind of room where the view competes with the food, and the room usually wins the first round.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A snack and a glass of sherry to open is the kind of move that tells you exactly what this small, charming restaurant near the National Gallery is about. The chef's training is classical French, but the cooking has a quiet modern edge running through it. The room is compact enough that the attentive service never feels impersonal, and the menu changes with the seasons rather than the trends.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Squid ink rice that needs a long head start arrives at the table dark, fragrant, and worth the wait. La Gordita is a snug Spanish tapas spot on Montague Street, with a narrow room, wooden floors, and leather banquettes that soften into a genuinely lively evening. The menu runs long enough that coming alone feels like a tactical error, and the friendly service makes ordering round after round feel like someone else's idea.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant