The Old Spot
Address: 14 Bath Avenue, Dublin 4
Telephone: 01 660 5599
Cuisine: Irish
Website: https://theoldspot.ie/Opens in new window
Cost: €€€
I get a polite phone call asking whether we’re still coming to The Old Spot. Our booking was for 12.30pm; my diary, in its infinite wisdom, insisted it was 2pm. There’s a brief scramble on my end, a reassuring pause on theirs, and then the offer of a high table in the bar. The diningroom is long gone, but they can squeeze us in.
It turns out to be a far better outcome than anything I could have planned. The bar side of The Old Spot feels like the older, slightly unrulier sibling of the diningroom. It’s got that comfortable, low-key intimacy pubs get right by accident rather than design, with polished wood, a bank of taps, and a back bar stacked high enough to glow. It’s busy but not frantic, and very clearly the part of the building where regulars sit first and visitors quickly wish they had. Perched on stools at a high table, we get the sweep of the room: the steady drift of familiar faces, the D4 and South County Dublin sets arriving for their meet-ups.
The Old Spot’s Sunday menu is the picture of a confident, well-fed afternoon; a solid, quietly assured spread. Starters include oysters, house-smoked organic salmon, a country terrine, mussels pil pil and a ham hock croquette. For mains, the roasts are the centrepiece: chicken or dry-aged beef with all the trimmings, but there’s also a ribeye with beef-dripping fries, beer-battered fish, a Jerusalem artichoke risotto, and a Wagyu burger stacked with cheese. Two mentions of “truffle” (surely, actually truffle oil) – deep-fried truffle mac ’n’ cheese and truffle and Parmesan fries – introduce a faint note of worry, but aside from that, it reads like a fine Sunday lunch.
The cocktail and wine list is impressive, with a good no- and low-alcohol section, but we’re in a bar sort of mood, so it’s a pint of Guinness (€7.50) and a Valentia Island Vermouth and tonic (€11) for us.
The mussels pil pil (€18) arrive in a deep, patterned bowl, the shells piled high, the whole thing smelling faintly of heat and butter and whatever’s been bubbling away in the pan before it hit the table. They’re cooked beautifully – open shells with plump mussels in a brick-coloured sauce that is spicy, a little smoky, and seasoned with the mussels’ brine. Generous enough for two, it’s a must-order dish.
The terrine (€16) is more modest in size than I expected. It’s a proper country-style mix: chicken, ham hock, duck, little pockets of foie gras, and bright cubes of carrot and herbs giving it that mosaic effect. On the side there’s a dab of piccalilli and a glossy spoon of spiced plum.
The roast beef (€32) arrives as a full, unapologetic Sunday plate. Two large slices of dry-aged beef are served rare – a clear, shimmering red pushing all the way to the charred edges. Alongside sit a giant Yorkshire pudding, golden-edged roast potatoes, a creamy cauliflower cheese, a mix of green beans and peas, and a walnut–apricot stuffing with a small pot of gravy.
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It’s a plate built on abundance as much as flavour, although the beef, from a joint with no seam of internal fat, is inevitably a little tough. The cauliflower cheese is particularly good, but the roast potatoes could be hotter.
The Old Spot on Bath Avenue 
The Old Spot on Bath Avenue 
On the menu at The Old Spot on Bath Avenue 
The Old Spot on Bath Avenue 
Chefs Mark Ahessy (left) and Lukasz Maslowski at work in The Old Spot 
Chef Mark Ahessy at The Old Spot 
On the menu at The Old Spot
The fish and chips (€24) are excellent: the fish perfectly cooked inside a shattering batter, the chips clearly hand-cut, though, again, not quite hot enough, as if they’d been waiting for the fish.
The sticky toffee pudding (€12) is delicious, a dark cylinder of sponge sitting in a wide bowl, already half-drowned in glossy toffee sauce. On top, a scoop of roast-banana ice-cream is softening at the edges where it meets the warm pudding. The combination works: the heat lifting the banana aroma, the cold cutting through the sugar. It tastes almost like posh banana bread.
The service is notably good, even though general manager, the legendary Denise McBrien, is on an uncustomary day off. The place runs smoothly in her absence, with well-informed staff who get the pace of service just right.
The Old Spot has that wonderful, cosy neighbourhood feel; the sense of a place that knows its crowd and has been keeping them happy for over a decade. There are the odd niggles – a tougher slice of beef here, chips that could be hotter there – but nothing that unsettles the rhythm. Overall, it runs well and delivers a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday lunch.
Lunch for two with two drinks was €120.50
The verdict: A cosy corner of Dublin 4 doing Sunday lunch right.
Food provenance: Pat McLoughlin Butchers, La Rousse, Wrights of Marino, Kish Fish, Ridgeway Wagyu Farm.
Vegetarian options: Deep fried truffle mac ‘n’ cheese, soup, Jerusalem artichoke risotto, and pumpkin agnolotti.
Wheelchair access: Fully accessible with an accessible toilet.
Music: Ray Charles, blues and classics.