Aqua Restaurant

Aqua offers a wonderful atmosphere and very flexible service. We were a large group — ten adults and a baby squeezed at a round window table for eight — and when we told them another three people were joining, they managed to rearrange everything in less than three minutes. Very impressive! The food overall was excellent, and the staff attentive. They kept the tables spotless, replaced our utensils each time we changed plates, and ensured water was always refilled without us even asking. Clean staff, clean setting — everything well presented. However, there are some points for improvement. When we asked to replace French fries with mashed or oven potatoes for the baby, we were told it was possible, but fries still arrived instead. Also, while the main dishes were great, the desserts were a real disappointment. The mango/coconut panna cotta (€11.50 each) was tasteless, dry, and gelatin-like — nothing creamy or delicate as a panna cotta should be. Honestly, I would not recommend anyone to order it. Overall, a great dining experience with excellent service and atmosphere, but the sweets need serious improvement. Skip the panna cotta!

Came here for lunch, the service was great and the food was very nice too. We ordered the prawn and lobster linguine and fish and chips, both very palatable. I was worried about the stairs for those less able, but they have a stair lift, so very disabled friendly too!

Very good seafood restaurant. The oysters and mussels were amazing. Great views of the sea. Fine ambience good wine list and whiskey flight tasting.

Stopped in for lunch. Pretty view. Fantastic food! I had the seared scallops with saffron risotto. Maybe the best risotto I’ve ever had! The scallops were served with their roe intact. I’ve never seen them served that way. They were delicious!

We chose your restaurant to celebrate my Birthday and traveled 2.5 hours one way to get there. Unfortunately, the experience was mixed. The menu did not include the grilled seafood we had expected (prawns, calamari, octopus), and the linguine with lobster and prawns was disappointing: the pasta was overcooked, the flavor was overwhelmed by red pepper, the presentation was unappealing, and no parmesan was offered. The lobster was barely noticeable, as it had been cut into very small pieces. In the end, the €38 dish was returned, but still appeared on the bill. It was a pity that on such a special day the service did not meet expectations. I truly hope the restaurant will pay more attention to the quality of dishes and to its guests, so that the atmosphere can match the level it aspires to.

Pleasantly surprised I would never believe I was in Ireland. That is how amazing. The food was. An unexpected pop in fir shelter from. A storm and one of the best meals in all my trips to ireland Outstanding service beautiful pristine dining room and surprisingly well priced fir the outstanding experience thank you can not wait to return

Great seafood with a beautiful view. The staff were friendly and welcoming—overall a really nice experience.

The views are incredible! We ere able to see a seal while we are eating! The food is good. We have ordered fish and chips, hot seafood, whole (the best dish) and the starters squid, oysters and salmon. The desserts are good too. It’s so expensive but all its good.

The views are absolutely stunning and get a seat by the window if possible. The service was great but watch out when you order water, they might charge you, so ask for tap water. The food was excellent - from the appetizers, to main entrée, and dessert. I did not take any photos and bummed that I completely forgot. If you want find dining in this area, come here for sure!

Amazing view, service and ambiance. The food is to die for. Chowder that warms your soul. 10/10 I recommend this place. Buy a bottle of wine and watch the sunset. Also, finish with a sticky toffee pudding and coffee.

We made a reservation ahead of our visit to Howth for lunch. This restaurant is located right on the water with spectacular views of Ireland eye. Our morning was spent taking a ferry ride around the eye and then returning at noon for lunch. After a short climb up the stairs, you'll enter a beautiful dining room with soothing blues and gray Decour. We were appreciative to be seated near the window. Our lunch consisted of the seafood platter, seafood chowder and a green salad. All were ample and portion and a good value overall. The seafood stew was a little bit bland for our liking but still delicious nonetheless. We really enjoyed the seafood platter. Service was good overall although we did feel a little bit slighted after we only ordered appetizers for our lunch. We even enjoyed a Bailey's iced coffee from their walk up window at the sidewalk level. I would definitely return to aqua and try other items and recommend To others. I suggest making a reservation before your travels as it makes it much easier especially during these Covid times. Dress code seemed casual elegant to business casual. If you are visiting dublin, I highly recommend that you take the tram to Howth for a nice day trip either just for lunch or just for a couple hours walking around. It's nice to get to the coast line and water. The round-trip train from pierced station was I believe €6.25 and took maybe a half hour to get there.

Excellent food located near the very end of the pier in Howth! Not a pub restaurant, so it's more pricy (but it makes for a nice dinner).

Beautiful view!! Would go back on the view alone. Especially if it's a clear evening for a sunset. Good food and friendly service too.

We asked a local resident where he would go for lunch and he recommended this restaurant. We're glad we trusted his opinion: we had a wonderful dining experience and will definitely come here again next time we're in the northern Dublin area. The chowder we ordered was light and flavorful, with a nice assortment of fish and fresh herbs. The venison was cooked to perfection and the roasted seasonal vegetables that came with our entrees were some of the best we've ever had at a restaurant. My wife had the pan-cooked hake and she loved it. We also enjoyed being able to chat in Italian with the staff.

Great restaurant with superb food and amazing views throughly recommend it one of howths finest restaurants

I had lunch at Aqua in Howth. Ireland. I had the Seafood Chowder and the Pan Fried Trout. . OMG was that wonderful! A couple of glasses of wine, the Pinot Noir from France to finish it off. The server was excellent, she made it all worthwhile. The downside was the Greeter that was wearing the black suit was very unfriendly and rude! He acted like... what's a person like you dining in a restaurant of this caliber... I almost walked out!!! He needs to get a personality or do something different for a living... outside of that, I will go back and dine there again.

I love this restaurant! The view on the sea is amazing and so relaxing. The staff friendly and kind. Is the perfect place if you are looking for fish dishes not in town. I had an amazing lunch here, definitely will come back.

This is the Best seafood Restaurant in Dublin , just make sure you book in advance , I can't say enough about this fabulous place except , you must try it out if you love GREAT FOOD !!!

There is SO MUCH choice for food in Howth... everywhere you look there's another gorgeous little place to tempt you in. I may be like a parrot repeating myself here but if you are a pizza fan you have GOT to try Il Panorama Cafe... the best pizza I've had in Dublin. But for years I had seen Aqua at the end of the West Pier and wanted to try it... so this was our chosen spot. Given that it was lunchtime, we probably should have thought to make a reservation but luckily enough got a seat anyway. With views right out over the water, you can see why it's a popular choice. We took our seats and started off with some bread and a glass of Sauvignon ... the sea air must have made me hungry :-) The lunchtime deal offers two courses for €23.95 and had a pretty decent choice of meat, fish and a veg option. We went for a starter, mains each and shared a dessert. The Ceaser salad was fresh and light, and with my chilled white wine it went down a treat! Mains were both excellent... the chicken requested with chips instead of wedges was soft and juicy with some gorgeous chunky chips. And my Aubergine Parmigiana was absolutely delicious. Dessert choices were Chocolate Raspberry Tart, Crème Brûlée or Irish Strawberries with cream.... the Crème Brûlée won out and we weren't disappointed. Nice and crisp on the top with perfectly smooth set custard beneath and a zingy raspberry sorbet served alongside. It was the perfect finish to the meal. After a really good lunch we left, unsurprisingly walking out through a full to the brim restaurant. Aqua is the perfect spot in Howth if you fancy something just that bit more special to round off your visit - just gorgeous!

We went into Aqua for a late lunch with a group of 11 after we hiked around the area. We were a little underdressed, but no one seemed to care too much. The view is very nice - glass windows look out over the water where boats and such are hanging out. Service was good and so was the food. They had a lunch special where you could pick 2-3 things for a set price. A bit pricey, but a lovely experience.

If you have a craving for seafood, you can't really go wrong heading out to Howth with the vast array of seafood restaurants to choose from. Aqua grabbed our attention however as they had a two-course lunch menu for under €25 and there was a fairly decent selection to choose from. We shared the mussels to start (served in a white wine, garlic and cream sauce which was so good you could almost drink it). The portion size was really decent and more than enough for two people. We then had the fish and chips and chicken for mains. Both were really tasty but I was a little disappointed with the portion size. The chicken and fish portions were fine but the sides were disappointing (two large wedges and some veg with the chicken and a small handfull of chips and pea puree with the fish). Saying that we really enjoyed what we had so I can't complain too much, it's just something to be aware of if you are planning on sharing a starter. We shared a creme brulee then for dessert which was so delicious we were almost fighting over it! It was served with mini meringues and raspberry sorbet which complimented it really well and finished off the meal nicely! The service was a bit slow at the beginning, the restaurant was busy but not packed so I would wonder how fast the service would be during really busy periods. As our food started to come out though the staff were really attentive. The main draw for me, however, was the amazing view, looking right out onto the water through the floor to ceiling windows...it really is beautiful and well worth a visit for this alone!

It was one excellent dinner!! The best swordfish I ever had. Everything is nursed to the detail, even the salad was delicious. Like anything I've ever had before! Compliments to the chef! Service is also great, menu might seem expensive but you get complimentary bread with oil and all mains come with complimentary salad and potatoes. Highly recommended if you ever happen to be around Howth

I called in by chance to get in at the last minute...the person who answered invited me to come and she would get us in asap. From the moment we walked in I was more than glad we can came. My sister had a hard time with the stairs luckily they had a chair lift. We were down each side room to enjoy drinks before we were seated. Excellent service there. Then we were seated, food was amazing desserts same. This was the best starters, meals and desserts I've had in a long while. Kudos to the staff and chefs... Wished I lived closer.

I had my birthday dinner here with my boyfriend. The food is really five star - we had seafood platter and fillet steak as main courses, they were both pretty and delicious. The whether was not great but it's still a nice view through the big window. The only thing we were not happy with, is that we asked for a table beside the view while booking but unfortunately they were all taken when we got there. This is ok but later when there is one available, they ignored us and got somebody else who arrived later than us moved to that table.

I thought this place was very very tasty. I had the surf and turn and the seafood chowder. The seafood chowder was very tasty and I cl recommend it. It has quite a bit of fish in there but I wish it had some shellfish as well. I also liked the surf and turf. It was plenty of food. Everyone said their fish dishes were great and the ones I tried were. It is a great place for a birthday or special dinner. They have a great selection of fish. I wish they had oysters or clams or mussels however.

Scenery was lovely. Disappointed that despite requesting a window table with the view, we were initially placed away and were only given a window table when the host heard me say that next time we would go somewhere else. The starter was a bit misleading. Waiter was a bit cheeky, two blondes came in and suddenly our waitor lost all bodily function and started swarming around them like a dog in heat.... it took 15 minutes to get his attention to get the bill. I couldn't believe how cheeky he was to actually "ask" me if I wanted my change back. I gave him a small tip, would have been more if he had been more professional.

Had a recommendation from a friend that the seafood here is lovely, and so I decided to bring my girlfriend here on her birthday, and what a good decision this was! The staff was really welcoming and very polite and genuine from start to finish. The patrons all seem like regulars too which is another great sign. We got here a little early so we went to the pre-dinner lounge that was warm and cosy - much appreciated as it was freezing that night! The seafood was indeed fabulous here and we had some tasty fresh oysters for starters (ended up ordering another portion!) and then went for a massive, massive lobster to share which the waiter kindly recommended us off-menu (its larger than the large lobster they have on the menu, was lucky they had caught this that day). This was done to perfection and it's so delicious I can still taste it on my lips just thinking about it! I would highly recommend this restaurant for any seafood lovers, this place is a gem and I'll definitely be back soon!

Fantastick restaurant in beautiful Howth. A nice place to have a dinner with your friends or partner and its the perfect place for sea food lovers. We ordered many dishes and dont remember the names of them but all were delicious.

Great smart urban-chic restaurant overlooking the Irish Sea. You can guess by the name that it serves a lot of seafood, and you would be right. The views are stunning, try to get a table by the windows, and the food is just as good. My wife loved it. Heartily recommend.

Aqua Restaurant is near to the howth harbour, while you dine in the restaurant you can enjoy excellent views of the howth harbour. The cuisine they cook in the restaurant is seafood and game. The dishes in there are very fresh and very tasty too. The staff is very friendly and the service is very good too. Also the atmosphere in there is nice and very welcoming. I would recommend Aqua Restaurant if you are a seafood lover just like myself.

I find that fantastic views tend to mean unexceptional food and/or service. Such was the case at Aqua. In general the food is so ambitious that you end up with stuff that doesn't really work, like the brill dish, in which broccoli and basil pesto is thrown together with some odd variety of gnocchi in an elaborate plate presentation. It just leaves you wondering why you couldn't just have something straightforward and simple, and that actually merits €25-30 per person. Similar reactions were made to the calamari appetizer. But again, the views around Howth were great, so perhaps it's worth stopping by after a meal elsewhere for a cocktail or dessert.

My partner and I ate at Aqua tonight for our four year anniversary. The food was delicious -- we enjoyed the fried calamari and wild mushroom tortellini. The view of the Irish Sea from our table was equally as amazing. At the end of the meal we were so full that we opted to skip dessert. However, the Aqua staff surprised us with ice cream and plates that read (in chocolate sauce) "Happy Anniversary". What an amazing night -- thank you Aqua!

The view and ambiance alone are worth dining here for. It's located at the end of West Pier and has gorgeous views through the huge windows in the dining room. The food is good and fresh. The portions are a little on the smaller side. The service is very attentive without being intrusive. I like this spot more for a special occasion.

Really great, fresh seafood and vegetarian options with awesome view of the Howth shoreline. Highly recommend the lunch special where you get two courses for 25 euros (or 3 courses for 30 euros) - I had the seafood chowder which was perhaps the best seafood chowder I have had in my life. Fish in every bite and creamy / full of flavor. The main was chicken with root vegetables which were prepared very well- loved the mushroom sauce. My friend's warm goat cheese and vegetarian patties looked great as well. Definitely recommend coming here !

We had lunch at Aqua. The view was incredible. While the fish was very fresh, everything was really bland. Someone should tell the chef that there's nothing wrong with a little seasoning. Additionally, my husband and I each got the two course lunch. The waitress told us about the special appetizer but never mentioned that there would be an 8.5 euro up charge for it. I would recommend Aqua for the view but I imagine there is better food in Howth.

Very great restaurant ! The deep fried calamari and salmon penne are just perfect. The staff is very professional and skilled ! A spectacular view of the sea from the dinning room ! I recommand this place for good !!

Alright a restaurant of this caliber and type should really know how to cook a lobster. It needed to be said. Why is there nobody left in the non-3 star Michelin world that knows how to cook a lobster?! Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't know how, but I absolutely know that that lobster was overcooked. However. Great view, fantastic ambience, and pretty decent service. The rest of the food was also not terrible, the chicken liver pate was delicious (but liver is always delicious) and the tomato salad we got was quite refreshing. The fish seemed well cooked, though that wasnt what I ordered; I got the seafood platter and I felt that it didn't live up to my excitement for it. A couple rolls of overly salty smoked salmon, the overcooked lobster, and a couple other bits and pieces of seafood which were really not that memorable. We went for my sister's graduation-into-a-life-saver dinner and I was just so unimpressed. Sadness. It was supposed to be such a good meal for celebratory reasons.

Fabulous location at the end of the West Pier in Howth. Sea views, as long as you have a window table. Get there before 7PM, Mid week and avail of a great value "Early Bird Menu" Fish is always excellent. I can also recommend the Duck and Fillet Steak. Staff well trained and friendly.

Great food with a view. Absolutely. impeccable cooking, fresh seafood and friendly charming staff. The booking went perfectly and we enjoyed dinner at the Aqua very much today. I'm sure, I'll be back

A disappointment. Fish over cooked and what was called Dover sole was the most unusual sole I ever saw -- no head, no tail , no backbone but a lot of small ribs There are better places in Dublin

The fantastic view, if nothing else, is something this restaurant can uniquely offer. Your dining experience here will be memorable, as no matter where you sit you get an incredible look upon the sea! It's lovely. My favourites here are the tiger prawns, which are gorgeous, and the risotto. They have a delicious selection of deserts as well and I can't choose a favourite there!! Basically, you could easily spend a fortune here, but the quality of the food is divine. Not everything is bashfully expensive but if you're going here you should probably prepare to make a trip to the ATM beforehand. It's a great place to impress some visitors to Ireland - whenever my friends visit from Canada I bring them to this restaurant. It's a nice way to show off Howth's beautiful seaside.

This restaurant was recommended to us by the concierge at our hotel. The location was great. Romantic village/small town just a few miles from the center of Dublin. The food was very good and the seafood selection was extensive but the quality was ordinary. The wine list was just adequate. Prices were above average.

There are several excellent seafood restaurants in Howth however Aqua is not one of them. Spectacular view and excellence staff service but it stops there . The food was disappointing, Fish was bland, re heated and rubbery. If you are looking for great seafood stop at one of the many restaurants along the way out to Aqua.

What can I say?! Aqua is a beautiful restaurant with a setting to match. For the entrée, I had the fillet steak which was cooked to perfection, and was presented beautifully. My partner had the calamari which she also said was gorgeous. For dessert, I tried the creme brûlée. It is often difficult to find a good creme brûlée, but Aqua hit the nail on the head!

Usually if a view is that good the food is sub par. Not here. Had seafood chowder filled to the brim with fish and flavor. Companion had mussles, they were fantastic. Tender and not gritty. Coupled with a nice bottle of cold Pino and a table by the window, you can't beat it.

My husband and I took a side-trip to Howth that coincided with dinnertime. We checked out all the restaurants along the pier but settled on this place for its obviously stellar views and a menu that sounded higher-end. You have to buzz up when you get to the door before they let you in, and as we were the first ones there when it opened at 5.30 they gave us a table even though we didn't have a reservation as long as we were out in an hour because they were booked with large parties for the night. We gladly agreed, were let upstairs, and led to a beautiful little corner table with great views. My husband had a duck liver mousse, which was tasty, but I opted for an all-seafood dinner and went with the oysters as my appetizer. They were the best oysters I'd ever had...big and juicy with the briniest, liveliest liquor. Both of our fish entrees were great. The fish was cooked perfectly and everything was well-seasoned. I also enjoyed 2 lovely vodka martinis...they got the vermouth just right. It was definitely an expensive meal but I guess you pay for the view as well. All-in-all, and enjoyable dinner!

We had some friends in town from London last month so took them up to Howth for some hiking and seafood. As luck would have it - we picked one of the worst weather days for outdoor fun so our hike quickly turned rainy, muddy, and miserable. Determined to show them a good time - we decided not to let our damp appearances keep us from some quality Howth seafood and made our way toward the pier. We had previously tried Beshoff's so kept walking with the hopes of trying something new. When we ended up at Aqua we thought it might be too fancy for our hiking clothes but an exiting patron assured us that it was lunchtime so we would be fine. The hostess buzzed us inside and upon entering we quickly realised two things: 1) Aqua has one of the most spectacular dining views in Dublin and 2) we were extremely under-dressed. It was too late to turn back at this point though so we added our name to the waiting list and took a seat in the bar area to enjoy some wine while we waited. The service in the bar was pretty terrible but in their defence, the hostess was doing double duty between seating people and pouring drinks for waiting guests. After a decent wait we were taken to our table. We had a clear view of the ocean and some of the "cliffs" nearby - just beautiful. Now for the food...we started with a variety of dishes from seafood chowder to goats cheese salad. Everything was pretty tasty. For mains two of us got the sustainably caught cod with the roast garlic potatoes and white grape black olive relish and the other two split some huge seafood platter with everything from lobster to oysters to salmon. Every dish had nice presentation and the cod was cooked perfectly. I also really enjoyed the grape/olive combo - it really added to the dish. This was the most expensive lunch we have had in Dublin (or maybe ever) but the view is a must see and the food was very nice.

Have been frequenting Aqua since it opened, I can honestly say 'never had a bad meal' staff are very efficient and extremely helpful. Hard to beat the exquisite view- keep doing what you are doing Aqua well done looking forward to our next visit!

There are so many seafood places to choose from in Howth, I'm looking forward to trying others as well. I picked this place based on the ratings on Yelp and I was surprised it rated a 5. Not a bad restaurant, but not a 5. I had the pan fried cod. It was adequately cooked, under seasoned. When I say under seasoned, I would have guessed it was steamed, not fried. The chowder was excellent. My wife had the tomato soup, again, under seasoned, it seemed like puréed tomatoes only. Everything was fresh so no complaints about quality. The bread basket was fantastically fresh artisanal breads, a real plus after a week of Irish soda bread on the side of every meal. I realize others may love soda bread, but a nice crusty French bread for me (they also served a savory bread with raisins, and what I'm guessing was one with sun dried tomatoes..... Both very good) The decor and ambiance are modern and beautifully appointed. The view was the best of any restaurant we've eaten in in a weeks time. Another notable difference here, is the restaurant was bright with huge picture windows overlooking the bay. Beautiful view as the clouds and sun traded places throughout lunch. Don't avoid this place, my review isn't a knock on the place, but it's not a 5.

Our concierge from the North Star hotel recommended making a trip out to Howth. We loved the charming village and the choices for restaurants made it hard to select one. The concierge had mentioned Aqua by name, so we chose to dine there after walking around a bit. We had drinks in the bar while waiting for a window-side table. The view was amazing and we were glad that we waited. The seafood was freshly caught that day, and it was amazing. My husband's favorite is Dover Sole and he was not disappointed with his entree. I shared the seafood platter on the recommendation of our server and it was fabulous. Everyone was very nice and all of the food just fabulous. We watched the sunset over the water while enjoying our food and wine. I would heartily recommend the restaurant and village to anyone who has the opportunity to visit. It is just a 20 minute DART ride from Connelly Station.