Restaurant in Galway, Ireland
Galway's most serious tasting menu. Book ahead.
Aniar is Galway's most serious tasting menu restaurant: a 20-plus course experience built around micro-seasonal west of Ireland produce, a theatrically redesigned room, and La Liste and Opinionated About Dining rankings to match. At €€€€, it's the right booking for a dedicated food trip or special occasion, and booking difficulty is rated easy for the price tier.
If you've already eaten at Aniar once, the question on a return visit isn't whether the food has changed — it's how much. The micro-seasonal format means the menu at 53 Dominick Street Lower shifts with what's available that day, so a second booking in a different month delivers a genuinely different meal. That's a real reason to return, not a marketing talking point. For first-timers: this is a 20-plus course tasting menu restaurant in the West End of Galway that holds a La Liste ranking (80 points in 2025, 77 in 2026) and an Opinionated About Dining placement at #347 in Europe in 2024, rising to #486 in 2025. Book it for a special occasion or a dedicated food trip. Don't book it for a casual Tuesday dinner.
Aniar was rebuilt in 2024 and the redesign is worth understanding before you arrive. Chef JP McMahon and architect Aidan Conway set out to create what they called a "cabinet of curiosities" — and the result is closer to an immersive theatrical space than a conventional dining room. Downlighters spotlight each table, making diners feel less like guests and more like exhibits in the room. It's a strong design statement, and it divides opinion: if you want a relaxed, neutral backdrop for conversation, this isn't it. If you want the environment to be part of the experience, it delivers.
The cooking follows the same logic. McMahon's stated project is putting the flavours of the west of Ireland on the plate, and the approach is genuinely process-led: menus are finalised based on the day's sourced produce, not printed weeks in advance. La Liste's tasting notes reference raw beef dressed with nasturtium oil as a representative dish , delicate, high-contrast work that balances acidity and texture rather than leaning on richness or volume. Courses are served by the chefs themselves, some accompanied by poems, which either lands as meaningful ceremony or tips into self-conscious performance depending on your tolerance. Either way, it's a deliberate choice, not an accident of service style.
Aniar's wine and drinks program is built around the same local-and-seasonal logic as the food, which means the pairing options should reflect the west of Ireland's producers and natural wine sensibility rather than a conventional Franco-centric list. For a tasting menu of this length and ambition, the drinks pairing is worth taking seriously , a 20-plus course progression needs either a full pairing or a carefully chosen bottle to work at its leading. If you're a wine-focused traveller comparing this against other Irish fine dining destinations, Aniar sits in a small group alongside Liath in Blackrock and Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen in Dublin as rooms where the drinks program is designed to match the food's ambition rather than simply support it. The bar at Aniar is not a standalone destination , this is a tasting menu restaurant first , but the drinks side is not an afterthought.
Aniar is closed Sunday and Monday. Service runs Tuesday through Thursday from 5 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 4:30 PM. Given the format , a lengthy tasting menu , the earlier sittings on Friday and Saturday make the most sense logistically, giving you the full evening without time pressure. Booking difficulty is rated easy for this venue, which is notable at this price tier and ranking level: it suggests you don't need to plan months ahead, but a few weeks' notice on weekends is still sensible. The €€€€ price range positions this at the leading of Galway's dining options. If you're travelling specifically for the meal, pairing it with a Friday or Saturday early sitting allows you to extend the evening in Galway's West End afterwards.
For context on the Irish fine dining circuit: if you're planning a broader Ireland food trip and weighing where to allocate your high-spend evenings, Aniar competes directly with dede in Baltimore, Terre in Castlemartyr, Bastion in Kinsale, Campagne in Kilkenny, and Bastible in Dublin for the same budget and appetite. Aniar's specific argument is the west of Ireland sourcing and the theatricality of the rebuilt room , if those two things matter to you, it justifies the journey from Dublin or Cork rather than staying in either city.
Aniar is the right booking for food-focused travellers who want a tasting menu built around a specific regional identity rather than a generic "modern European" progression. It's also the right call if you're in Galway for more than one night and want one serious meal alongside more casual options from Ard Bia or Dela. It's the wrong booking if you want a relaxed, unhurried conversation dinner , the room and the format are both too theatrical and too structured for that. It's also not the venue for groups who aren't fully committed to the tasting menu experience: everyone at the table is on the same menu, same pace, same progression.
For a broader picture of what to eat and drink in Galway, see our full Galway restaurants guide, our full Galway bars guide, and our full Galway hotels guide. If you're exploring further around the west of Ireland, our Galway experiences guide and wineries guide cover the wider region.
Quick reference: 53 Dominick St Lower, Galway | €€€€ | Tue–Thu 5–9 PM, Fri–Sat 4:30–9 PM | Closed Sun–Mon | Booking difficulty: easy | Google rating: 4.7 (393 reviews) | La Liste 2026: 77pts | OAD Europe 2025: #486
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aniar | Modern Irish, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Easy |
| daróg | Modern Cuisine | €€ | Unknown |
| Ard Bia | Unknown | ||
| Blackrock Cottage | Unknown | ||
| Dela | Unknown | ||
| The Kings Head | Unknown |
How Aniar stacks up against the competition.
Yes — it's one of the stronger cases for a special occasion dinner in the west of Ireland. The 20-plus course tasting menu, the theatrical 2024 redesign, and the fact that chefs serve many courses themselves all add up to something that feels deliberately eventful. At €€€€, it's priced like a special occasion restaurant and delivers accordingly. Book a weekday if you want a slightly quieter room.
If micro-seasonal Irish cooking built around west of Ireland produce is your interest, yes. Chef JP McMahon's menu changes based on the day's sourcing, and the format — long, multi-course, ingredient-led — is the whole point. Aniar ranked #486 in Opinionated About Dining's Europe list in 2025 and earned 80 points in La Liste the same year, which puts it in credible company. If you want flexibility or à la carte, this isn't your restaurant.
The 2024 redesign puts each table in its own spotlight as a kind of tableau, which makes solo dining feel considered rather than awkward. The format — chefs delivering courses, sometimes with poems — gives the meal natural rhythm without requiring a dining companion to sustain it. Worth requesting counter or bar seating if available, though the venue data doesn't confirm specific solo seating arrangements.
No specific dietary policy is listed in the available data, but given the micro-seasonal, produce-led format, dietary requirements are best flagged at the time of booking rather than on arrival. A 20-plus course menu built around daily sourcing leaves less room for last-minute adjustments, so contact Aniar directly on booking to confirm what's workable.
At €€€€ for a lengthy tasting menu in Galway, Aniar is priced at the top end of Irish regional dining — and it earns that position. La Liste scored it 80 points in 2025, and Opinionated About Dining placed it in Europe's top 500. The comparison to make is against Dublin's serious tasting menu restaurants: Aniar delivers comparable ambition at a price that tends to be lower than the capital's top tier, with a distinct regional identity those places can't replicate.
The venue data describes the interior as chic and moody, and the overall format is a serious multi-course tasting menu in a redesigned space intended to feel avant-garde. Smart dress is a reasonable baseline — think dinner-out rather than formal. Nothing in the available data suggests a strict dress code, but the atmosphere is closer to a focused fine dining room than a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant.
Aniar doesn't serve lunch. The restaurant opens at 5 PM Tuesday through Thursday and at 4:30 PM Friday and Saturday, with Sunday and Monday closed. Early Friday and Saturday sittings are the most practical option if you want a longer evening or are travelling to Galway specifically for dinner.
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