Patrick Guilbaud, Dublin

Because of our love for great food, when we were in Dublin last November, we made reservations at purportedly the best restaurant in the city, Patrick Guilbaud�s. We arrived on time, and were promptly seated at a table near and partially blocking the ingress/egress of the kitchen door, while there were empty tables in better locations near us and unoccupied for most of our meal. To make matters worse there must be a mandate that all guests at a table be served simultaneously. This required one waiter per person, rather than one waiter per table. Hence, a table of 2, required 2 waiters, a table for 4, 4 waiters and so on. This meant our food waited until there was enough wait staff to serve. Our hot dishes were cold by the time the staff pulled off the plate covers and to accelerate the cooling of the food, our hot dishes were served on cold plates. You have never had HOT seared foie gras until you have had COLD seared foie gras. And, in the same way food waited to be served, so went the removal of our dirty dishes. We waited so long for our table to be cleaned, we pushed our plates to the unused portion of our table so we could enjoy ourselves without having our dirty dishes in the way. Frankly, I would rather have one good waiter, food served at the proper temperature, and dirty dishes removed promptly, rather than have a grand display of service. Since we were next to the kitchen door, they were having trouble getting trays in and out. This became painfully obvious when I was bumped in the head with a serving tray, not once, but twice! We cannot comment on the food because it was not served at the proper temperature. The wine list was extensive and also VERY expensive. The sommelier was a PRETENTIOUS ASS and once we ordered, never returned to our table, probably because we did not order an over-priced bottle of wine. Our wine was not served promptly and at one point our glasses were empty so long, we served ourselves. Finally, we had enough. We did not want coffee. We did not want dessert. We wanted to get out of this place! When we asked for the check, refusing the dessert menu, the waiter said something to the matre�d, who asked �is something wrong?� We told him, �The food was cold. The service was terrible. And, I have a headache from getting hit in the head with a tray, twice. At which point he offered a complimentary glass of champagne in the lounge. We declined and left as quickly as possible. Of all the dinners in fine restaurants (even in not-so-fine restaurants), we have had, we can honestly say, THIS WAS THE WORST! MY RECOMMENDATION: DO NOT GO TO PATRICK GUILBAUD'S