Old Ground Hotel, Ennis

Jameson Good Food Guide 2006

The Town Hall

Adjacent to (and part of) The Old Ground Hotel, the Town Hall Café has a separate street entrance and this contemporary space in no way feels like a 'hotel restaurant'.

The old town hall has been well restored and the restaurant is in an impressive high-ceilinged room with sensitively spare decor - large art works which will be loved or loathed, big pots and simple table settings allow the room to speak for itself.

Daytime menus are concise but varied, a mixture of modern bistro-style dishes and tea-room fare - just what people need to re-charge during a day's shopping it seems, as the cooking is good, service swift and value excellent.

In the evening it all moves up a notch or two, when a shortish à la carte menu comes on stream, offering about half a dozen choice per course. Baked Inagh goat’s cheese, beer-battered monkfish with organic leaves and prime 10oz sirloin steak with a grain mustard & Irish whiskey sauce are all typical. Desserts from a daily selection. Not fine dining, but stylish and great value.

Georgina Campbell, Jameson Good Food Guide