Fiorentina

Where? Fiorentina, Dame Street, D2
Ordered? For starters, Arancini di riso, calamari alla brace. For main, Pollo alla Sorrentina

  One of my favourite Italian restaurants, Fiorentina is a classy quiet gem on the corner of Dame St and Parliament St, with a relaxed atmosphere and friendly knowledgeable staff, and run by the accomplished (and unquestionably witty) restauranteur Kristan Burness. The food is fresh and full of flavour and the menu changes seasonally, so the menu on offer today is the summer menu.

  I choose fried risotto balls with lamb and chargrilled calamari to start. The risotto balls come in a lovely tomato sauce, and they are delicious, I even scoop some of the sauce onto the calamari so as not to waste it! The calamari is lovely and crispy and cooked well, not too chewy but with a nice bite. Both dishes are tasty and the portion sizes make for a good starter.

  For main I choose the Pollo alla Sorrentina, chicken breast half on the bone served with cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, baby potatoes and I order a side of rocket and parmesan salad. Overall the dish is very tasty and I would say well balanced if it weren't for the slab of mozarella, it was nice and complemented the dish well but there was just a lot of it. I would order it again though. Everything was delicious and I stuffed myself to the brim.  

  Instead of a dessert, I was offered a complimentary sample of one of the treats from the upcoming new cocktail menu being launched this coming Monday (well worth checking out). The Signora Sofisticada (Sophisticated Lady, if I'm not mistaken) had a basis of Brockmans Gin, fresh basil, strawberry, lime juice, egg whites and some secret ingredients. A perfect summer cocktail, it was sweet and fresh with just a hint of spice from a sprinkling of black pepper on top. 

  Fiorentina is a perfect date spot, however, their lunch menu is also worth a look and very reasonably priced, with such dishes as Rose Veal meat balls and gluten free pasta options. I look forward to coming back and trying some more of Paddy's new cocktails, bellissima!

http://www.fiorentina.ie

M&S Rooftop Restaurant

Where? Marks and Spencer Rooftop Restaurant, Grafton Street, Dublin 2
Ordered? Haddock with cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes, green beans and pesto with parmesan

  I think I knew within five minutes of walking in the door that I'd made a mistake. I used the bathroom before waiting for a table, and I always judge a place by the bathroom, even peoples' homes! The bin was overflowing and the toilet roll dispenser was broken (luckily I had a packet of kleenex in my bag). So that was a bad start.

  I then waited to be seated. And waited. And waited a little more. Just as I was about to turn around to leave, a rather flustered looking waitress walked up and told me to sit anywhere. Having heard that there was a nice balcony overlooking Grafton Street, I headed outside onto the terrace. There was only one table where there would have been a nice view, and it had coffee cups on it from previous customers. I moved them to the adjacent table and sat down. I had expected someone to come and take the coffee cups away and maybe give my table a wipe but it didn't happen. The table behind me and two others on the other side of the terrace also had dirty plates on them and they remained that way while I was there.

  Anyway, I'd come this far, and it was too late to go somewhere else; I had to be in work in less than an hour. I placed my order and it was brought out without much delay. Perhaps I had a bit of a skewed opinion due to the first impressions, but it worried me that it was so quick, especially with fish. While I was eating I was also a bit distracted by one of the waitresses, who was running around in a bit of a tizzy, and every few minutes I could hear her say "sorry" to someone from a different corner of the terrace. You know when someone tells you about some small tick or feature about a film or a person, and all of a sudden it's all you can concentrate on? That was it. Take a bite. "Sorry." Sip of water. "Oh sorry." "Really sorry about that..." etc.

  The meal was tasty though, the pesto and parmesan was a nice touch; the fish was just bog standard haddock, not much flavour there. There really wasn't much else to it. I probably could have made the same thing at home for half the cost (I can't stand pedantic statements like that but in this case it was true).

  All in all, I was a little disappointed by the experience, I would have expected more given their reputation.

UPDATE 28/07/14

  I've since been told by a friend that he has lunch here quite often, and said I should give it a second chance. Maybe I caught them on a bad day, but I may give them another try for lunch...stay tuned!