Monday, August 31, 2026

The Top 39 Restaurants in Dublin

The best restaurants in Dublin, by the professional record: Forbes Travel Guide and Michelin Guide have both weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Glovers Alley comes out on top.

Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen and Patrick Guilbaud hold the next two places. Michelin Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Forbes Travel Guide next.

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  1. 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.


  2. 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.


  3. Rank 2. Patrick Guilbaud

    Modern French

    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.


  4. The open kitchen runs the show at this Michelin-starred modern Irish restaurant on the South Circular Road, where a set menu pivots around whatever Irish produce is at its seasonal peak. The cooking is stripped back in the best sense, a few sharp accompaniments and nothing extra. Aperitifs and snacks arrive first, which is exactly how things should start when the room has this kind of quiet, purposeful energy.


  5. 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.


  6. A glass-fronted, Michelin-starred restaurant near the canal in the Dublin suburbs, where the tables closest to the open kitchen fill up first for good reason. The cooking is restrained in the best sense: fine ingredients handled with confidence and left largely alone. A tasting menu is the way to go, and the room has a quiet, unhurried elegance that makes a long dinner feel like the obvious choice.


  7. 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.


  8. 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.


  9. Rank 8. BIGFAN

    Chinese

    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.


  10. Rank 8. Borgo

    Italian

    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.


  11. Rank 8. Forêt

    French

    The menu reads like a French bistro flashcard, with pâté, rillettes, and au poivre doing the work before you've even ordered. Forêt is a French restaurant sitting, somewhat absurdly, above an Irish pub on Leeson Street, and the team from Forest Avenue next door runs it with enough conviction that the whole thing holds together. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the cooking earns that quiet confidence.


  12. A red neon sign is the only thing giving this discreet Portobello neighbourhood restaurant away from the street. Inside, exposed brick walls and red leather banquettes sit in soft light with smooth jazz running underneath, and the mood is genuinely cosy without trying too hard. The seasonally changing menu leans into bold combinations, wild sea bass with prawn Bourguignon being the kind of thing that sounds unlikely and then makes complete sense. A Michelin Bib Gourmand.


  13. Rank 8. Spitalfields

    Irish British

    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.


  14. Rank 8. Uno Mas

    Spanish

    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.


  15. 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.


  16. Rank 15. Comet

    Mediterranean

    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.


  17. Rank 15. Dax

    Modern French


  18. What was once a Victorian grocer's clerk's snug is now a glass-enclosed private dining room, which tells you everything about this place's bones. Delahunt is a modern Irish restaurant on Camden Street with genuine atmosphere and cooking that leans hard on Irish produce. James Joyce namechecked the building in Ulysses, so the ghosts are literary ones. The Sitting Room upstairs handles drinks before or after.


  19. Rank 15. Etto

    Modern French

    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.


  20. Rank 15. Grano

    Italian

    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.


  21. 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.


  22. Rank 15. Host

    Modern Italian


  23. Rank 15. Jean-Georges at The Leinster

    Contemporary French

    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.


  24. Rank 15. Kaldero

    Filipino

    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.


  25. Rank 15. Kicky's

    Mediterranean


  26. Rank 15. La Gordita

    Spanish

    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.


  27. Rank 15. Lena

    Italian

    A canalside table at this Portobello neighbourhood Italian is a hard thing to give up, which explains why the room stays loud and full most nights. The menu reads like a tour of Italian classics, the wine list leans entirely Italian, and the team keeps the whole busy operation moving without seeming like they're trying. A comfort-food Italian in the best, most unfussy sense.


  28. 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.


  29. Rank 15. Mae

    Modern New American

    A tasting menu restaurant tucked above a wine shop on Shelbourne Road, which means the wine list is less of an afterthought and more of a plot twist. The room feels pleasantly conspiratorial, the kind of place you'd describe to friends as "you have to know it's there." Snacks and housemade sourdough open the menu before it narrows to a choice of mains and dessert, and in game season, the sika deer is the reason people rebook.


  30. 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.


  31. Rank 15. Note

    Modern Mediterranean

    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.


  32. Rank 15. One Pico

    Modern French

    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.


  33. A snug neighborhood restaurant in the quiet southern suburbs, the kind of place that fills up fast and turns tables without anyone feeling rushed. The menu leans on Irish ingredients cooked with a light, modern touch, and the wine list takes a few pleasantly odd turns. Service is chatty and quick in a way that makes the whole operation feel effortless, which it almost certainly isn't.


  34. Rank 15. Peploe's

    Mediterranean

    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.


  35. Rank 15. Pichet

    French

    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.


  36. Rank 15. Pickle

    Northern Indian


  37. Exposed brickwork, old engravings, and worn wooden furniture set the scene at this long-standing Dublin pub that also does a serious sit-down meal. Two spacious dining rooms sit alongside a cosy bar, and the cooking runs to the sort of thing a pub should do well: rib-eye and chips, bread and butter pudding. The service is the kind that makes you feel remembered, even on a first visit.


  38. Rank 15. The Pig’s Ear

    Irish British

    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.


  39. 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.


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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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      Stay Score

      The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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