Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in County Down
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best County Down restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 12 restaurants in County Down and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing County Down restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured County Down Restaurants
1. Ox
Irish restaurant in Belfast
1 Oxford St - BT1
2023 Review: “A great vibe makes up for the ordinary-looking space” at Stephen Toman’s waterside venue, whose “fun” style is fueled by “lots of staff milling about to help you have a good time”; and the “exciting wine list from his attached wine bar” (OxCave). But it’s far more than just a good-time place – renowned as one of the island of Ireland’s top kitchens – and it serves an “exceptional”, “well thought-out” and “good value” tasting menu (10 courses for £75).
2. House of Zen
Chinese restaurant in Belfast
3 St Anne's Sq - BT1
Cocooned in the Heart of the Cathedral Quarter is the newest addition to the Zen Restaurant Group, the Cool and Elegant House of Zen.Now open since April 2012, The House of Zen blends a little bit of The Orient into the Traditional cobbled streets and cosy bars of the C...
3. Mourne Seafood Bar
Fish & seafood restaurant in Newcastle
10 Main St - BT33
2023 Review: In an attractive coastal town, this breezily themed offshoot from the Belfast original has been a local feature for over ten years. Though decently rated, it’s said that “the food is not as good as in the city branch”, but its “lively” atmosphere is sometimes cited as compensation.
4. Wine and Brine
British, Modern restaurant in Moira
59 Main St - BT67
2021 Review: “The ingredients are fresh, local and put together with verve” at Chris McGowan’s five-year-old venue. The Great British Menu star, who worked for Richard Corrigan and Pierre Koffmann, brought newfound contemporary techniques such as brining and fermenting to small-town Co Down – executed with “exceptional dedication” and “warm and professional service”.
5. James St
Steaks & grills restaurant in Belfast
19-21 James Street South - BT2
2021 Review: Solidly good marks last year for Niall and Joanne McKenna’s “understated and classy” venue, which last year incorporated its neighbouring ‘bar and grill’ and fine dining operations into a single more brasserie-style set-up, complete with cocktail bar: many of the dishes, including steaks, come from the charcoal grill.
6. Howard Street
British, Modern restaurant in Belfast
56 Howard Street - BT1
2021 Review: Marty Murphy’s well-liked, industrially styled brasserie (est 2013, and recently revamped, adding to its appeal) may not gain any particular raves, but is a decidedly “decent” spot by all accounts – and, even on a “very busy Saturday night, it still produces good solid cooking”.
7. mrDeanes
Irish restaurant in Belfast
36-40 Howard St - BT1
In the city centre’s Howard Street, the latest venture from pioneering Belfast chef Michael Deane, who has had restaurants on this site since 1997 and closed his flagship Eipic in late 2023. He says it combines the best from the former Brasserie, Deli and Love Fish at the same address.
8. Edo
Spanish restaurant in Belfast
3 Capital House, Unit 2 Upper Queen Street - BT1
Jonny Elliott’s “buzzing restaurant a short walk from Belfast City Hall” is set around “an open kitchen where you can sit and watch the busy chefs prepare your food” – “Spanish (and more)-style plates with fresh local produce (the scallops were fabulous), a good wine list and friendly, attentive staff” make it an attractive option. Linguistic note: ‘edo’ is Latin for ‘I eat’.
9. Five Guys Belfast
Burgers, etc restaurant in Belfast
Victoria Square Shopping Centre, 1 Victoria Square - BT1
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
10. Fish City
Fish & seafood restaurant in Belfast
33 Ann Street - BT1
2022 Review: “Fabulous fishy food” is “freshly cooked and served by very friendly staff” at this straightforward but jolly three-storey spot – Belfast’s first sustainable seafood restaurant, whose menu ranges beyond chippie staples to local Carlingford oysters and other Irish seafood. “All in all a wonderful experience and well worth a visit”.
11. Mourne Seafood Bar
Fish & seafood restaurant in Belfast
34 - 36 Bank Street - BT1
“Very atmospheric, rustic and friendly, and with exceptional seafood” – this cosy venue is one of the best-known in the city (and also has a sister establishment in Dundrum) – “have eaten here several times and would certainly recommend it”. Last year we commented on its excellent newly extended beer garden with gazebos, which in July 2023 was the victim of an arson attack – here’s hoping it’s soon restored to its former glory.
12. Six by Nico
International restaurant in Belfast
23-31 Waring Street - BT1
Glasgow chef Nico Simeone’s distinctive concept has grown into a national chain with 11 restaurants (including Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) in just six years, offering a quick-changing succession of themed six-course menus for under £50 a head. It’s widely seen as “fantastic value” and has a sizeable fanbase amongst reporters (“every six weeks, the menu renews and for me, it is something to look forward to…”; “we simply love it and we’ve yet to miss a menu!” – “the Tokyo menu was so good we went back a second time”). Only a tiny few say, “you can feel you’re on a conveyor belt with lots of upsells”; or that the whole thing is “a dystopia of where restaurants will evolve”.
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