Note

Note, Dublin — Pearl Verdict

At the €€€ price point, Note on Fenian Street delivers some of the most convincing value in Dublin's modern dining scene. You're getting Michelin Plate cooking, a thoughtful natural wine list, and a room that genuinely works — counter seating included, in a neighbourhood close enough to Merrion Square to make it a logical anchor for an evening. If you're in Dublin and care about what's in your glass as much as what's on the plate, Note belongs on your shortlist. If you're chasing maximum formality or a longer tasting format, Glovers Alley or Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen will serve you better. But for a bistro-and-wine-bar format that punches well above its category, Note is the call.

Portrait

Note arrived in Dublin in 2022 and quickly found its footing. The premise, a wine bar crossed with a bistro, built around natural and organic bottles and cooking that leans on Irish produce without announcing it, was clear from the start, and the execution has been consistent enough to earn a Michelin Plate in 2025. That recognition matters here because it tells you the kitchen is being watched and taken seriously, not just by locals who've caught on, but by the guide.

The room at 26 Fenian Street is described by those who know it as light-filled and lean, a clean, unfussy space where the design works with the cooking rather than competing with it. The counter is the detail worth noting: it runs through the room in a way that makes solo dining feel like a feature rather than an afterthought. The energy reads as bustling without tipping into noise, which puts Note in a different register from some of the louder wine bars in the city centre. If you're planning a conversation-heavy evening, earlier sittings will serve you better than later ones, when the room tends to fill and the ambient energy rises.

The cooking is described consistently as modern and unfussy. Dishes like pork chops and date and toffee pudding sit alongside more technically driven plates, cucumber with taramasalata and nori, wild sea bass with grapefruit, turbot with vin jaune sauce, which suggests a kitchen that knows how to read the room and doesn't feel the need to perform. The Observer called it "both bold and satisfying," which is a useful shorthand: this is food with a point of view, not food trying to impress through complexity alone. Irish influences surface in the sourcing and in the flavour instincts of the kitchen, but Note doesn't position itself as an Irish restaurant in any programmatic way. The identity comes through in how the food is cooked, not in how it's labelled.

Wine list is the other half of the argument for booking here. Natural and organic is the orientation, and the team are reported to be genuinely engaged when it comes to recommendations, not in a performative way, but in the way that matters when you're unsure what to order alongside a particular dish. For anyone building an evening around the glass as much as the plate, that kind of floor knowledge is worth as much as the list itself. If you're exploring Ireland's broader food and wine scene, the same instinct for produce-led cooking and considered pours runs through places like Aniar in Galway, Liath in Blackrock, and dede in Baltimore, each worth knowing if Note lands well for you.

On the tasting menu question: Note describes itself as a bistro and wine bar rather than a destination tasting-menu restaurant, which means the experience is closer to a well-executed à la carte progression than a fixed narrative arc. That's a distinction worth making before you book. The dishes are precise and well-considered, but you're choosing your own path through the menu rather than being guided through a single composed story. If structured tasting formats are what you want, Variety Jones or allta in Dublin, or further afield Bastion in Kinsale or Campagne in Kilkenny, offer formats closer to that model. What Note gives you instead is freedom, quality, and a floor team that makes the whole thing feel genuinely considered.

Timing matters here. A weekday evening, particularly earlier in service, gives you the room at its finest: staff are unhurried, the noise sits at a comfortable register, and the counter seats are easier to come by. Friday and Saturday evenings bring a fuller room and more energy, which suits some diners but can compromise the conversational quality of the experience. Google reviews sit at 4.2 across 373 ratings, solid for a Michelin-recognised room in this price tier, and consistent with a venue that performs reliably rather than spectacularly on any given night.

For food and wine travellers building an itinerary around Dublin's current dining scene, Note sits comfortably in the middle ground between the more casual end of the natural wine bar world and the formal end of the Michelin bracket. It's the kind of place that rewards going twice: once to find your bearings, once to make deliberate choices. Check out our full Dublin restaurants guide for a fuller picture of the city's options, or pair Note with stops from our Dublin bars guide and our Dublin hotels guide for a complete evening.

Also worth knowing: the brand identity at Note extends to hand-embroidered shirts and T-shirts sold from the restaurant, which tells you something about the level of intentionality behind the whole project. This is a venue with a considered point of view, and that coherence shows in the experience. If you want international reference points for this style of precise, unfussy modern cooking in a convivial format, Frantzén in Stockholm sits at the top of that register, and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai shows how the format travels. Note is operating at a different scale and price point, but the commitment to coherence is recognisable.

Explore more of Ireland's ambitious kitchens through Terre in Castlemartyr, or browse our Dublin experiences guide and our Dublin wineries guide to build a fuller trip around the city. For a different view from the same neighbourhood, D'Olier Street is worth keeping in mind as a comparison.

Quick reference: Note, 26 Fenian St, Dublin D02 FX09 | €€€ | Michelin Plate 2025 | Google 4.2 (373 reviews) | Booking: easy, no long lead time required | Leading timing: weekday evening, early sitting.