Galway Restaurants and Dining

(Galway, County Galway, Republic of Ireland)

Dining out, whether in pubs, local eateries or upscale restaurants in Galway is always enjoyable, due to the friendly people and excellent service on which the city prides itself. The choice and quality in Galway's restaurants is famous across Ireland, and both locals and visitors make a habit of dining out.

The selection of cuisine includes international favourites such as Thai, Indian and Chinese, as well as fast foods, but for the real Irish experience you can't beat local eateries serving fresh seafood and the Galway folks' all-time favourite - the oyster, fresh from the local beds.


Popping out for a pizza or other international convenience food fix when you're tired from a day's sightseeing in Galway may be the easy way, but unless you search out at least one eatery that serves genuine Irish food, you've missed a treat. Irish cuisine developed over hundreds of years of the country's chequered history and is famed for producing delicious, nourishing results from basic, cheap ingredients.

What to Eat, and Where

Of course, the great Irish pub is where you will find the best pub grub, and there are no shortage of those to choose from in central Galway.

Some of the most popular dining choices in the city include Oscars for contemporary cuisine, Builin Blasta and Lohan's for traditional grub, the White Gable Restaurant, and Sheridans on the Docks, as well as O'Grady's at the Pier.

Representative dishes at Galway restaurants and pub eateries, such as Irish stew or bacon and cabbage, may sound a little boring but, made with fresh ingredients and properly prepared, are truly delicious. The simple Irish potato pancake, boxty, is a great filler, exactly what it was intended to be. Coddle is a boiled pork sausage, often served with boxty, and other popular dining ingredients include carrageen and barmbrack seaweed, along with seafood in coastal regions and the ubiquitous oyster.

Irish butter, of course, is world-famous and a major export from the country, and Irish bread is something of a specialty, with soda and leavened breads a delicious alternative.

The iconic Irish stout, Guinness, may also be added to enrich various restaurant dishes. Galway, being a fishing town on a vast settled bay, is a great place to order oysters, which wash down surprisingly well with a pint of Guinness.