Bull and Castle

Thanks to the staff for letting us host the @DublinWordPress meetup last night.

We were upstairs in the beer hall. Nice big tables and lots of room for people to mix and mingle.

Great range of beers, music quiet enough for people to chat and free WIFI.

This is a hard one to write...

I've frequented this establishment in the region of 40+ times in the past 2-3 years. I love idea of the german beer hall upstairs and the food downstairs and when we first started going there, it really lived up to it's niche marketing...

Unfortunately the management seem to have lost the essence of what made this place good.

1) Playing loud "dance" music in a german beer hall is wrong. This use to be kept to 1-2 nights a week but I've witnessed it during the week in recent months. One of the reasons we started going here was that we were fed up with loud (and mostly crap) musicians in the Porterhouse.

2) The food is pretty good value (try the burgers, steaks, fish and chips) but there are better deals out there for the same quality food. However, another bug bear for this place is that while multiple vegetarian options are presented, we have never seen more than one dish actually be available. Over the course of 25+ visits, this is unacceptable.

3) The service levels have deteriorated dramatically in the past year. So much, that we've been left over an hour waiting for plates to be taken and desert orders taken - after 2-3 incidences of this, we start going up and getting the bill because the staff would just not provide service.

4) The price of drinks here is above average and while there is an excellent choice, people are no longer willing to pay €6+ for a pint of german beer that costs less than €2 in Germany.

I refuse to frequent this place for food or drink any more on the basis that they do NOT value their repeat customers and have found alternatives instead...

Sad days because the concept is good. :(

Great to see a good selection of Irish craft beers on draught and an excellent selection of bottled Irish and international beers.
@DungarvanBrewCo Black Rock stout on hand-pump was an added bonus, however, short-measures stop this place getting 5 stars.

Love going there with a small group. My favorite is the ribs!

Had a very nice meal here on our recent trip to Dublin and not too badly priced. There are some decent beers upstairs and it's excellently placed for those staying at the nearby Jury's Inn.

The staff were lovely. We met some mates upstairs in the beer hall and the lad behind the bar rang downstairs to get us a table sorted so we didn't have to wait around.

I'd definitely recommend the fish pie and my other half's steak pie also looked nice.

Yes it’s an, ahem, gastropub, but the Bull and Castle is actually not too pretensious. There’s lots of nice beers to choose from and inoffensive music. At the weekends there’s a late license and the craic is moves to the 'beer hall’ upstairs. So the downstairs is empty but the upstairs is packed and a queue forms outside. Passersby think, 'wow they must be queueing to get into some cool night club’ and join the queue and the whole thing mushrooms out of all sense and proportion: it’s a nice pub - but don’t bother queueing to get in.