6 October 2007
Review: Dunne and Crescenzi
Imagine an awful of of dramatic handwaving for the following paragraph.
Ah, Dunne & Crescenzi. How you are truly my amore! But why, why must you be so disorganised? You know I adore your smoothest coffee and most delicious antipasti, but let me be honest with you: even on the best of days, you leave me waiting! There is only so long that I can covet your delights at my lonely table, and longingly gaze at the wonders of your fabulous homeland on the shelves.
Let me put it this way: today was not one of the best days. We stopped over for coffee and lunch, pleased that the rare sunny weather in Dublin actually for once allowed us to sit outside. The location of the establishment is such that you cannot avoid the odd passing beggar, but they rarely stick after being told off. I sent Drew to inform the waiting staff that we would be outside, and he returned with the information that they would be along soon with the menus, so we sat to wait.
And we waited. And waited. Without going into detail, we had to go back inside to ask for the menus again, to bring them to our table ourselves, then again to put in the order when nobody came out to take our order, and then forty minutes later to enquire where our food might be, although our coffees had admittedly arrived relatively swiftly. At the end I didn’t even bother asking for the bill, I merely went back inside again.
The very hassled looking waiting staff let slip that they had a very troublesome party in the other room, who had sent perfectly good dishes back three times. Now, I can understand demand for quality, especially if you have a special occasion, if you have allergies or whatever, if you have difficulty getting the staff understand you. But 1) there is such a thing as over-demanding and being difficult simply for the sake of being difficult and 2) just how far can you upset the workings of a professional restaurant that way?
It is a pity that such things cloud the glory of Dunne & Crescenzi for me, for both the physical aspect of the restaurant(s) and the food are phenomenal. I had the antipasti misto, which is a selection of cold cooked vegetables, mushrooms, some rocket, cold meats and slices of bread, and Drew had the crostini, sliced lightly toasted bread with various Italian spreads on them. One of the spreads was D & C’s own pesto sauce, which to me remains the best pesto I have ever tasted. This time, we did not sample the wines, but simply sated ourselves respectively with an espresso and a latte. The coffee, too, ranks among the best in the city.
The overall bill came a little over 20 euro, and while further apologies for delays certainly mollified me somewhat, I was left to wonder whether D & C is best enjoyed on weekday afternoons around 3 pm, when most of the rest of the populus of the city are firmly in their offices and the staff have time for the customers.