Where to Eat in Limerick — A Local Guide by Category

Limerick's dining splits into two clusters. The first is the city centre, running along O'Connell Street and the streets either side of it, where the bars, late venues and most of the city's restaurants sit within a few minutes' walk of each other. The second is the Castletroy and Annacotty cluster on the eastern edge of the city, beside the University of Limerick, where restaurants sit in retail and neighbourhood centres with parking at the door.

The two clusters are roughly 5 km apart, about 7 minutes by car outside peak traffic. Which one suits an evening depends less on the food than on the shape of the night: the city centre is walkable between venues and stays open latest, while Castletroy and Annacotty are easier to drive to, quieter earlier in the evening, and closer to the University.

Within those two areas, Limerick covers tapas and small plates, Italian, Euro-Asian, formal fine dining, traditional bars and multi-floor cocktail venues. The sections below are organised by what you are in the mood for rather than by ranking, and each one names a venue, where it is, and what kind of evening it suits.

ACES Limerick, at Castletroy Retail Park, Castletroy, V94 TKD3, serves tapas and small plates built for sharing. The menu draws on worldwide flavours rather than one country's tradition, and runs alongside Neapolitan pizza from a stone oven, charcoal grill dishes and a full cocktail list. There is an outdoor terrace.

Small plates are ordered for the table rather than as individual courses, and two to three dishes per person is the recommendation. That makes it a format that suits a long table and a slow evening more than a quick sit-down.

ACES is open Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 PM, with Saturday opening from 1 PM — there is no separate lunch-specific menu, but the full menu is available from 1 PM — and is closed Monday and Tuesday. Reservations are taken through OpenTable.

Tuscany Bistro serves family-run Italian and Mediterranean food, and has two locations in Limerick. The Annacotty branch is at 9 Newtown Centre, Annacotty, Castletroy, close to the University with free parking, and there is a city centre branch on Michael Street.

The two branches mean the same kitchen is reachable from either side of the city — the Annacotty room for an evening where you would rather park than walk, and Michael Street for one that starts or ends in town.

tuscanybistro.ie

Marco Polo, at 38 O'Connell Street in Limerick city centre, cooks Euro-Asian food. Established in 2011, it runs an "East meets West" menu that spans Asian dishes and European classics on the same list.

Its position on O'Connell Street puts it in the middle of the city centre cluster, within walking distance of the bars and late venues at the same end of town.

marcopolo.ie

The East Room at Plassey House, on the University of Limerick campus, is Limerick's formal fine dining room. It serves set and tasting menus rather than an open à la carte list.

The format — a fixed sequence of courses in a formal room on the university grounds — suits special occasions, anniversaries and celebration dinners more than a spontaneous evening out.

The White House Bar, at 52 O'Connell Street, is Limerick's oldest bar, established in 1812 and housed in a Georgian building in the city centre.

It has a long association with the city's literary and poetry scene, which gives the room a different character from a standard city-centre pub: it is a place people go to sit and talk rather than to move through.

thewhitehousebar.ie

101, at 101 O'Connell Street, is a multi-level cocktail bar and restaurant spread across four floors in the city centre. The floors include a piano bar, an outdoor bar called The Secret Garden, and the Opium nightclub.

Because the dining room, the bars and the club share one address, an evening can move from a table to a dance floor without leaving the building — which is the practical reason it tends to be the last stop of a night rather than the first.

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A full night out in Limerick usually runs in three parts: an early dinner, drinks somewhere with room to talk, then a late venue. Deciding which cluster you start in — the city centre or Castletroy and Annacotty — settles most of the rest, because the two areas are roughly 5 km apart, about 7 minutes by car outside peak traffic, and a taxi between them costs time in the middle of an evening.

Starting in Castletroy or Annacotty suits an earlier and more relaxed evening. A table of small plates at ACES Limerick in Castletroy Retail Park, or Italian at Tuscany Bistro in Newtown Centre, Annacotty, both come with parking at the door. The East Room at Plassey House sits in the same cluster when the evening is a celebration and a set or tasting menu is the point of it.

Starting in the city centre suits a later night, because the venues sit within a walk of each other. Dinner at Marco Polo on O'Connell Street, drinks at The White House Bar at number 52, and a late finish at 101 at number 101 keeps the whole evening on one street.

Mixing the two is a matter of direction of travel: an early dinner east of the city followed by a taxi into the centre works, while the reverse leaves you heading away from the late venues at the point in the night when you would rather be walking.

Castletroy sits on the eastern edge of Limerick, roughly 5 km from the city centre and about 7 minutes by car outside peak traffic.

The area sits beside the University of Limerick, which is why a cluster of restaurants has settled there. Tuscany Bistro's Annacotty branch at 9 Newtown Centre, The East Room at Plassey House on the university campus, and ACES Limerick at Castletroy Retail Park are all within that cluster rather than in the city centre.

The practical difference for a visitor is parking and pace. Castletroy venues sit in retail and neighbourhood centres with parking beside them, and the city centre venues along O'Connell Street sit within walking distance of each other and stay open later.