Cafe Kylemore

Popped in here this morning to escape the cold breeze while I wait for the phone shop on Henry Street to open.€2.20 for a pot of tea ain't half bad when most places charge the same or more for a little cup.
Being here reminds me of coming to Dublin as a child with my sister and my nan would take us here for tea and a bun on our trips into town. Feeling a bit emotional, the place has hardly changed in all those years.

When I was growing up in Galway, there was a big Café Kylemore in The Eyre Square Shopping Centre, and sometime we would go in and be allowed 'sausages and chips' or something like that, which we considered a 'treat', back in the day. It was always full of old grannies having 'tea and a bun' or men having great big lunches.

Well I recently had to meet someone on O Connell St, and for some reason we ended up meeting in the now 'cooler named' Kylemore. I have to say, it's changed a lot since my 'sausage and chips' days. Granted, my local one was in Galway, but they have them all over the country and they were always carbon copies of each other. This one on O Connell St was ultra modern with leather seats and plush décor. It just had a big refit in May of this year, and I have to say, it's pretty impressive.

Now you'll still find the old ladies and the same kind of food - dinners and all day breakfast etc - but it was actually quite nice. I would definitely go back, and maybe even treat myself to some 'sausages and chips!'

Ah cafe Kylemore, where the young and old, the rich and poor congregate to bond over beans, sausages and a cuppa cha. Wait, the rich don't really go here. Cafe Kylemore is somewhere your granny would go if she was meeting an old friend. It's simple food, moderately priced and tastes very average. It's perfect if you don't really have that many taste buds left but only alright if you do.
Go in maybe for a breakfast special, just get there early to avoid the zimmer frame queue.

The food was okay but not the traditional Irish breakfast I wanted. You order cafeteria style, going down the line and choosing what you want. I got the four item all day breakfast that comes with toast and tea/coffee. They forgot to give me my toast but that's okay. They also didn't tell my friends that there the tea/coffee came with the breakfast. The food was decent and the dessert was fairly bland except for the bit of jelly and powdered sugar on top. The soda bread was €1 extra. Overall I probably wouldn't come here again.

Good little spot to have some breakfast. It's buffet style. I came on a Thursday morning and it was pretty packed. Tons of traditional breakfast items like scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, etc. and a few Irish items that I wasn't familiar with. The service was fine. I'd definitely go back.

This is a review of the bathroom only.

First I would like to say that, as an American, I am usually pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and privacy of European bathrooms. This, however, was an exception.

So I walked into the toilet only to see a sign informing me that I was on CCTV. Now I know that Ireland is justly proud of its literary tradition, but borrowing Orwell from England for its bathrooms is in bad taste to say the least. The fun didn't stop there though; I entered the stall to find that it was lighted by nothing but an overhead black-light that cast a less than comforting glow over everything. I searched in vain for a good old fashioned incandescent or even a fluorescent, only to come to the realization that I must be stuck in a children's haunted house or a bad joke being played on me by whoever was monitoring the CCTV cameras. Resigned to my fate I sat on the toilet, only to discover that it was stuck on flush and was splashing my ass with droplets of cold water.
That was the last straw, I got up and braved the pouring rain to find a more traditional facility.

How have I not written a review for Kylemore yet?! It's probably my favourite spot in town for a cheap, cheerful and filling breakfast.

It's self serve, which I'm normally not a fan of, but it has one of the cheapest breakfasts in town! I usually only get the 4 piece for 6e. It includes tea and toast. If you order things like scrambled eggs and beans, they pretty much try to fill up all the space on your place. I have never needed anything bigger than the 4 piece. Staff are polite and efficient. They do have a student discount, although it is not advertised. A decent 10% off!

I've been coming here for about 5 years now and it's consistent. Food is good, atmosphere is good (Make sure you grab a window seat!), the price is super good.

All in all, a gem in the heart of Dublin's city center. Right by the spire, you can't miss it.

I've only been back once since the big renovation earlier this year and thankfully it didn't have an effect on the all-day breakfast in the cafe. It's still as decent as it was before and reasonably priced. But Kylemore is usually more of a place where older people meet up for a cuppa and some sort of danish. There is also always at least one teenage-mum with a bunch of screaming little kids in here, which is probably why I don't come here more often. Well, that and the fact that they're coffee isn't the best... there is really only the all-day breakfast.

Buffet style. I had an orribile Irish breakfast. Beacon was cold and eggs tastes of nothing. On saturday lunch time the place was full people having food on their own and leaving quickly space for another customer. Waitresses push you to leave quickly.
It's not cheep and the quality of the food is really low.
Never again. I rather go to a fast food.

This Cafe has been here as long as I remember going to Dublin. Its location on O'Connoll St is perfect for a shopping trip stop-off. It has changed in recent years.not as many local Dubliners working there but the facade is the same and they are still serving up hearty irish fare like traditional Irish breakfast which normally consists of eggs, sausage, bacon, soda bread, tomatoes, black pudding and white pudding. The have a set menu special for lunch which is also great. Cheap and Cheerful in a central location. The city's famous statue of James Joyce stands right outside its doors to welcome you in. Finally the tea was great. Best cuppa I had over there this time.