Joshua R.
Yelp
We found this place while day tripping to Howth from Dublin-it was a great chance to get out of the city and get some fresh sea air. The Oar House is a 5 minute walk from the DART station, with a good local menu of, what else, fish and other seafood. It's located along the working pier, with fishing boats right alongside and the awesome smells (seriously) of a truly active fishing industry all around. Salt, fresh air, a little bit of diesel for sharpness, and the aroma of cooking/smoking/baking seafood all around.
The menu drew us in-a good range of eats and a variety of prices. Most of the menu items can be had in either tapas (small) or regular portions, and the tapas size is enough for two people each to get a good taste of everything.
Once inside, the decor is typical seaside-fantasy. There are fish nets (on the walls, NOT the waitresses), various fishing-related things I can't identify, and upstairs a mini-collection of old "high tech" fishing tools like sonar and radio devices. There's a open kitchen (my favorite, since I used to work in one) and you can watch the cooks go about doing what they do best-looking casual while making some awesome food.
I had the Fish and Chips, which changes depending on the catch of the day (extra star just for that). Mine was Haddock, and fried in a very light house-made batter with the skin still on. It's rare to get F&C and have both the batter and the fish itself be really tasty, but in this case it worked. Served with chips (um...fries...) and a little bowl of decent split pea soup, I felt it was a good value and a tasty experience.
My dining companion had the tapas-size crab cakes and the tapas-sized shrimp skewer. The shrimp was just OK, but the crab cakes were fantastic, being both flavorful and light. Good portions for tapas size, and those two items plus one more would make a nice light lunch for two people.
The service was excellent, and the waitress, figuring out quickly we were American, brought out ketchup for the fries...er...CHIPS...without being asked.
The only thing we could have done without was the wine. We had a carafe of the Muscadet. I'm not sure the quantity was worth the almost 12 Euro, and the quality certainly wasn't. It tasted as if it had been open a bit too long in the fridge, and as it breathed it didn't really get any better.
The final bill came to just over 50 Euro, which was a fair price. We enjoyed ourselves and the food, so what the hell.
Bottom line:we'll go back and bring our friends.