Mae Restaurant Dublin 53 Shelbourne Road, County Dublin D04 XC66

"Amazing local restaurant! Firstly, the setting is lovely - you go up through the wine shop and overlook it. The staff are all extremely polite, friendly and knowledgeable. Bonus points for most of them being French! Menu is varied and ingredients are top quality Irish produce. They have an extensive wine list, again mostly (if not all?) French and selected by the staff themselves. The food itself is great, a good balance of 'fancy' and down to earth cooking. Heavily influenced by French classics but nice modern twist on them all. Despite it being a set menu you do get a choice between the mains and desserts. We were all full after which isn't always the case with these 'tasting' menus. Overall, couldn't recommend this place more."

"This was an incredible dinner experience. From start to finish the ambience and staff were so welcoming and professional yet personable at the same time. This is fine dining and the intimate setting of this restaurant creates an even greater cushion for the food to come. We both drank the Sancerre wine which was mouth wateringly crisp and cool. The menu was sublime with every mouthful better than the next. Don't hesitate to come here and enjoy a sensory journey from beginning to end. I hope the staff could see our faces of pure joy and shock and silence as we took it all in with each plate. That was a truly special meal and I cannot wait to come back and see how this evolves with the seasons. Thank you for a beautiful evening!"

"Lovely concept with aspiring Michelin restaurant pairing their food with the wine from the shop downstairs. The food was portioned really well - we left full, but not heavily full. Overall good and flavorful food, good bang for your buck considering the fairly priced menu. The wine pairings were of course well thought out considering it was the brothers from French Paradox downstairs providing it. Fun gimmick was when my partner got to choose which knife to eat the lamb with (and got to hear about the design of it). The only real downside was inconsistency in serving; the wine pairings did not always come timed with the food (we were either sitting with two almost full glasses at some point and got the food before the wine meaning we were without wine at one point), and it was of course unacceptable to pour the wine in the bar and not in front of us. When the head chef came out to serve the sauce for the lamb there was no explanation of the dish, just a quick pour of the sauce without saying a word to us - it was an incredibly awkward and unnecessary moment she created (we saw the chef chat to other tables when pouring the sauce). All in all this restaurant is good value for price and highly recommend."

"Exceptional meal. Food was stunning. Focaccia was delicious. The 3 snacks were absolutely to die for, in particular the croquette, I'd eat one every single day if I could. Not really a mushroom lover generally but that cais na tire shitake agnolotti was a real standout dish, perfection. The pork was amazing with a great balance of flavours, the confit potato reminded me - maybe just because I wanted it to - of the hash brown fries from clanbrassil house. The tenderstem broccoli served alongside the mains could be a meal in itself, so good. Tried some of the cod as well, incredible too. Lastly finished with the tart tatin which was indeed legendary. The mousse was also great. The wine pairing was excellent. The most surprising, in my opinion, was the sweet wine served with the desert. Worked so well. Service was impeccable from the moment we entered as well, couldn't fault it. The description of each wine and dish were great. At one stage we queried what way a dish was done and the server didn't know but she quicky got over the manager who filled us in with great detail. Also dealt with allergy requirements really professionally which was brilliant. 10/10 for sure. I'll definitely be back.. if I can get a table! (Need to see that knife collection)"