Tricia K.
Yelp
Woollen Mills looks perfect from the outside. A nice location, right across Ha'Penny Bridge (from which you have a lovely view from any of their windows), a rotating and interesting menu. Like an Irish hipster friend who graces you with their presence on vacation.
My first visit, I had a really nice banana and nut bun with cream and a latte. Messy latte art, tsk! But the bun was honestly one of the best buns I've had in Dublin so far. The problem was it was so small that I could have eaten it in three bites. When I went to ring, the guy had charged me for them separately so I nearly paid double instead of the 'special' price. Luckily the person (manager?) ringing me up caught it.
Today I came in for a proper breakfast and ordered a plate - sausages, poached eggs, fried tomato and brown toast. The sausages were fatty and nicely fried on the outside but were lukewarm inside, which made all the fat congeal in a short time. The tomato was nicely flavoured. Eggs were great. Half the toast was burnt. I also had a fresh-pressed orange juice and in total it was about 16Euro. Was it worth it? I don't think so. I must have paid for the view.
Here's the thing, I do feel as though the quality of the food is good. It's the execution that is not so good. And today the service was just terrible. When I came in there were three total tables. After we got our food the guy (manager?) quickly looked at my table to see if I was eating, then asked the other two tables how their food was and if they needed anything. When I flagged him down, he put a finger up and said "Hold on" then proceeded to do something at the register computer. Really? I finally had to flag someone else. After I was done eating, the guy started clearing my table... But he was in mid-conversation with two other servers. So he came for a plate, talk talk, put plate away, talk talk, came back for the butter cup, talk, came back for ketchup, talk talk. Then he randomly came back for the salt and pepper mills (what is that about), spilling salt and pepper on the table - talk talk. He didn't even talk to me once while clearing, so I doubt he noticed the burnt toast or congealed sausage on my plate. I did not see him do this to any other table. As I paid, he still did not ask how everything was, he seemed distracted on his phone. Very rude and unprofessional. I'm still in Dublin another month and have two more people coming to visit for two weeks... I will not be taking them here.
So. TL;DR: Nice view, food is good quality but not executed well or expensive for portions and customer service is terrible. Unfortunately, I can't recommend.