Meal #2 - La Cucina, Smarmore Ardee

For tonight's evening out we ventured further afield to La Cucina, the restaurant in Smaremore Castle, a short distance outside Ardee town. The road to Ardee from Dundalk is quite windy and bumpy, and those who are prone to travel sickness might find it difficult. It was a very busy evening for the restaurant when we arrived with most of the tables occupied. The restaurant is situated in the old barn of the castle stable block and there isn't much room for tables to begin with. There are a few shallow steps that have to be negotiated to access the restaurant so it might be difficult for wheelchair users, but shouldn't be too difficult for those merely unsteady on their pins. Despite booking and arriving on time, we were made wait for our table. This was understandable, as they were busy, but we got no apology for having to wait and several groups who came into the restaurant after us were seated first, which set the evening off on a bad foot. Also, if we had been given the menu to look at while we waited or if we had been offered something to drink, it might have made the wait sweeter. However, instead we were left standing in the entrance to the restaurant, in view of all the diners and in the middle of the route to the kitchen with lots of waiters walking past us, which was not pleasant. The overall impression was that the establishment was stretched beyond capacity and no one could cope. I have been to La Cucina before and was pleased with it then, so I think this is an unusual situation rather than the norm. We were finally seated. The tables were very close together to make maximum advantage of the limited space. The barn had been nicely converted and the decor was pleasant, with bright colours and plenty of black and white prints and soft lighting. However, the chairs were not very comfortable, especially for long lingering meals, and there were spider webs around the edges of the rooms. The menu was typical Italian with a range of pasta, pizza and meat dishes. I shared a starter of garlic mushrooms with Broken Wing and sampled some of Gonzalez's garlic bread (vampires beware!). Both the bread and the mushrooms were delicious, although the presentation was non existent. For my main meal I chose steak, and once again there were no objections to serving it well done. The meat dishes came with a choice of potatoes, but I asked for a side order of vegetables instead and got more garlic mushrooms and extra onions. The meat, mushrooms and onions were really delicious - good, unpretentious food - however, the lack of presentation again let it down. The only home made dessert on the menu was Tiramisu, although there were a selection of packaged desserts which seem to be available in restaurants all over Europe (in my limited travel experience, anyway). I am not a fan of Tiramisu, but chose to sample it and shared it with Broken Wing. It was sweet, gooey and pleasant and my only criticism of it was that I don't like Tiramisu. I also had a cappuccino, which was pleasant, and helped myself to the basket of mints near the till on the way out (not the whole basket, of course).

Now, I cannot fault the food, and I liked the decor and the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of the other diners (at one point, nearly all the people at the tables around us were talking to the other people at the different tables around them) but the service was another matter entirely. The waiters were sullen, unfriendly and gave the impression of people called in on a favour to help with the crowd but would rather be anywhere else but there. When we ordered drinks, I ordered a jug of water for the table. The drinks came and I got a jug of water and a single glass. I had to ask the waiter twice for another glass before she brought one and even then she didn't bring extra for my other two fellow diners. We also had to wait a long time for our food. Well done steak always takes a while, but we were waiting for a lot longer than usual. I would have put up with this if we had at least got a smile or an apology from our waiters.

I liked La Cucina the last time I visited and I would certainly highly recommend its food, but on this performance I regretfully rate it 3/10 - OK, I suppose.