Cedars Grill - Donegal

My husband and I celebrated his birthday at Cedars Grille while staying at Lough Eske Castle. The menu had many excellent options and we were not disappointed. The food was delicious, the wine selection was impressive, and the service was fantastic. I highly recommend Cedars Grille!

We chose this restaurant for our anniversary dinner while staying in Donegal recently. The menu was intriguing and the reviews were excellent. The restaurant itself has a charming old-world feel, with spacious interiors, comfortable seating, and bay windows offering views of the castle grounds where it is located. Our server, Anthony, took great care of us, even surprising us with a couple of glasses of Prosecco to celebrate our anniversary. We opted for the a la carte menu and were not disappointed. The dishes were perfectly balanced in terms of flavor and texture, and were both delicious and beautifully presented. We left Cedars feeling very pleased with our choice of dining spot. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to treat their taste buds to a special evening.

We were very disappointed with our dining experience at this restaurant. We had to wait at the entrance to be seated, and it took a long time for someone to finally come over and inform us that another staff member would escort us to our table. This process also took quite a while. There was confusion regarding my wife's gluten-free requirements, which had to be explained multiple times. The service was inconsistent, ranging from slow to extremely slow. We had to wait 20 minutes for our main courses after finishing our appetizers. While one dish (duck) was enjoyable, the others were either mediocre or too small. I won't even mention the high prices, as this is expected at a hotel restaurant. Overall, we were not satisfied with our experience here. Unfortunately, the options are limited at this hotel unless you have access to a car. We will be trying our luck at the pub for our next meal. A very begrudging three-star rating.

We were really excited to find a fine dining restaurant in a 5 star hotel that had a vegan menu We were in Donegal for a special occasion so booked and were really looking forward to the evening. The whole experience was a disappointment. The restaurant itself is ok but not fine dining at all and has a view of the car park, we had expected a lake view. Our waiter was lovely and the bread delicious to start but then the food that followed was not up to scratch at all. To start we had beetroot salad and a potato rosti and quiche. For E12 a starter you would expect some kind of culinary experience and at least a bit of finesse but unfortunately they had neither the salad was literally just a few slices of beetroot orange and watercress on a plate. For main course we had aubergine steak and butternut squash tagliatelle. I would be generous to say that these looked and tasted like student food. Bearing in mind that they were E30 a plate it really was a disgrace. The meat eater in our group had the beef which she enjoyed, but it came with a small bowl of vegetables that were cold and hard and that meal cost E49. We had 2 glasses of malbec that were perfectly palatable. I would not normally mention the cost but overall this meal was shockingly bad and the price extortionate. I complained to the manager and he halved the bill but even at E105 for the food we had it was still overpriced. We were so looking forward to a special occasion at this restaurant and it was very disappointing I would not recommend at all.

Food: very good, but not exceptional Appetizers: excellent scallops. Amazing potato soup Entrée/main dishes: the beef filet is beyond amazing, perfect in all aspects. The monkfish (catch of the day) was a disaster. ….. a fresh fish that is overcooked… rubbery and tasteless!!!! Deserts: the white chocolate pistachio cake is a masterpiece… truly an edible piece of art Drinks: I am a sommelier so I know what is good and what is not, they have an excellent wine by the glass… the Sauv blanc and Pinot noir are excellent choices Service: OK, this is NOT a fine dinning restaurant. Do not expect much Ambience/atmosphere: we sat in a booth in the back, perfect for nice romantic dinner Value: excellent food (mostly) fresh that match the high price Overall rating! 4 out of 5 Recommendations: I highly recommend it if you are staying at the hotel and relax for the night