Tavern - Dublin Road, Ratoath

We got a voucher to go to this restaurant which included two 3 course dinners and a bottle of house wine. The decor was amazing I loved the boutique feel to the place. The staff were attentive but not in your face. They were extremely polite dealt with everyone with the utmost professionalism. Gluten free not a problem basically most the menu was gluten free or gluten adaptable. I was given a basket of homemade tomato bread with a selection of dips while I waited on my starter. My partner got his own basket of gluten free bread. Like all gluten free bread it was toasted but he said it wasn't the worst he's had. We were then treated to a canapé of goats cheese and pancetta. Scrumptious!! We opted for a bottle of house red, a French merlot and it was a lovely accompaniment to the meal. My starter was summer root vegetable soup. It was tasty and creamy and not too big a portion to fill you up. My partner opted for the beef carpaccio, a first for him and he found it light with subtle flavours. For the main he opted for the trio of Irish lamb which was adapted for gluten free option. This looked amazing on the plate and while I'm not a fan of lamb I tasted some and it literally melted in my mouth. I opted for the rib eye steak and I was left with food envy. I asked for it to be medium but when it came out there was no pink at all and it was somewhat tough. I sent it back and the waiter came back to advise that while they were cooking me a new steak that due to the meat being cut on muscle it cooked differently and I should opt for medium rare. The new steak appeared out with not much more pink than before and still a little tough. I was not the only one to complain and send back their steak. The steak looked bland on the plate, it was served with onion rings and a side of fires both tasty but the fries were cold When my new steak came and I wasn't offers fresh ones. The lamb looked amazing with plenty of colourful veg with it. My regret is not opting for the chicken or the cod as both looked very very good in the plates that passed me by. Desert was well worth the wait. My partner has only 1 gluten free option lemon and berries. Luckily lemon deserts is his favourite. It was light and very tasty. I think my desert won for the best desert though. I was getting nothing else other than the sphere. Never was I more excited about food!! The hot caramel sauce melted the chocolate slowly over my raspberry sorbet with summer fruits. Very indulgent but extremely tasty and surprisingly lighter than expected. Overall I had a lovely evening, the only thing I would do is recommend you don't get the steak!!!

The Dylan restaurant has rebranded as the Tavern and along with it came a makeover. Or makeunder, depending on which ever way you look at it...ie they removed the white table cloths and made it a little less stuffy. I will cut to the chase here and say I didn't love it. We had the 5 course tasting menu and not a lot appealed. The dishes were all very heavy, portions too large and the pork mixture plate which is supposed to be the star was greasy and verging on stale,. As the other half so eloquently put it... it smells of chipper in here (he probably would have preferred a chipper at that stage in fairness) I have heard people raving about the exact same menu so not sure how it all went so wrong. We were there on a fairly empty Wednesday so maybe it was the head chef's night off? Saving grace though was the Fairground for two. Ok so it's candyfloss on a cart and wasn't the best dessert I have ever had, but it's a novelty and I still think I'm 10 so it was right up my street. Not sure however what the 5 star hotel goers or business men would make of it. They might just have to loosen their ties and get stuck in.