I found out about this place via Food and Wine Magazine's new openings posts - as some pubs turn up there - and the "Bar & Grill" element of the name suggested it might have a pub licence. The website went even deeper here, emphasising that they "do pints". The premises is a former hardware store, not the only one in Dublin and the reverse of the two Press Up pubs that are fake hardware store.
However, when I walked past it on the way to my previous two pubs; it was very clear it was set up as a conventional restaurant. I could probably have gone and asked to sit at the bar, but it'd have seemed a bit odd.
Anyway, we did need to eat so we came back and got what was probably the last table. There is a larger draught list here than most restaurants would have, which included my personal favourite (Rustbucket by Kinnegar); which is what I had with a relatively fancy burger.
I was still unsure if this was actually a pub until the January licence register update came out - and as you can see from the post title having a number, it was there with a standard pub licence. Many restaurants have pub licences as it allows them to sell drinks before and after the meal without any risk of breaching the relatively strict restrictions that a Special Restaurant Licence carries.
The owners of Fallon & Byrne run this restaurant, which may have contributed to why they closed their cafe across the road in early January; as it retains them a sit down food outlet in Rathmines albeit outside the F&B structure.
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