La Cascade - Killarney

During our short stay at the Sheen Hotel as it was late we decided to eat here. The restaurant is part of the lovely hotel. The menu is either a 3 or 2 course menu for either €55 or €42.50. The description of the menu looked extraordinary. Unfortunately my lamb was substandard. The menu description did not match the plate. Presentation was excellent but the lamb was parts of different cuts and most was hard and unremarkable. I was highly disappointed. It appears they say they care about the experience but they don't. They gave my wife a €10 after dinner drink for the trouble and that was all. A dinner for two costing €140 should be better. Needless to say I will not come back and will eat tomorrow in town.

The restaurant at Sheen Falls Hotel is a must-visit destination, known for its impeccable service and professional staff. The menu offers a wide selection of dishes, with the flexibility to accommodate special requests even on short notice. My wife and I enjoyed perfectly cooked sea trout and soles for our main course, along with delicious starters and desserts. Despite a slightly disappointing wine list, the meal was still a real gastronomic delight. Though on the pricier side, the experience is worth every penny. Treat yourself to a meal at this restaurant and take in the beautiful view of the Falls.

When you are going somewhere and have great expectations, that it becomes what else considered as not so bad you taking as a big disappointment. And that was our case with today’s La Cascade. We remember it 15 years ago when it was one of the three best restaurants in the country, where the chef managed to conjure up the desire tasting menu, regardless of what was on the menu and enthusiastic sommelier Alain to be able to find the best wine from winemakers about which we have not even heard of. Incidentally waitress walked clad in grey robes, looked like nuns. Today we were pleasantly but rather cool seated at the table, the food available only from the menu and the wines had already their better years in a row. The food was downright bad, but a good average. Pity, we rather went for eating to the town.

We had a pretty good meal here... eventually. My wife and I used to be vegetarian but started to eat fish when we moved to Ireland, in part because of the lack of interesting veggie options on almost any restaurant menu here. It 's been 8 years since we moved, and things haven 't changed much. The restaurant at Sheen Falls Lodge is a perfect example... On the main menu there were no veggie options so we enquired. Our hopes were briefly lifted when we were presented with a separate vegetarian menu and the collapsed as we realised it consisted of three mains two of which were fish and meat dishes that had the fish or meat removed and either a piece of tofu or a poached egg inserted instead. The third option was baked pumpkin pilaf obviously designed to use the baked pumpkin that was being served as a side with the meat dishes. And the starters were the same ... whatever was left of the meat and fish dishes once the meat and fish had been removed was put on the plate. In other words the veggie menu had been constructed to suit the kitchen, not the customer. The poached egg really made me laugh though. Seriously. For a €55 meal and the highlight is a poached egg. What a joke. It reminded me of staying at friends ' houses when I was younger ... and that inevitable point when their mum would say Oh you are vegetarian are you dear? And the carbonara sauce definitely has meat in it. Never mind... will I do you an egg to go with your pasta or do you want it plain? Hysterical. The staff were very helpful and offered to let us talk to the chef ... who hadn 't arrived yet. So we asked the sous chef for a few veggie alternatives. He had some good ideas for fish but nothing for vegetarians, so we left it with him. Surely, we though, any proper head chef should be able to come up with a decent vegetarian dish that is actually constructed from scratch, rather than a fish dish with a bit of tofu or an egg plonked on top? But ... no. When we came down for dinner we were offered more fish dishes. Either the message didn 't get through or the chef just didn 't give a damn about the awkward veggie customers. So we ended up ordering a predominantly fish based meal. The meal itself was pretty good the setting is lovely, the service friendly and attentive and the food met, if never really exceeded, expectations. A bitter orange and leek sauce served with black sole goujons was probably the highlight, and the natural yoghurt with liquorice salt went well with the squid. Thinking of eating here? Go for it if you love your meat and fish. If there 's a veggie in the party, stay here but eat elsewhere.

Really top class food, both breakfasts and evening meals. Excellent service. The dining room overlooks the lovely gardens and the River Sheen, and is very relaxing.