Sinners, Dublin

Sinners Lebanese restaurant on Parliament Street in Dublin doesn't seem to have a website. We were in town on the Saturday evening, after our day in the Botanic Gardens, looking for somewhere nice for dinner, and ended up at Sinners, the very existence of which was news to me.

The restaurant was relatively busy, it being late dinner time on a Saturday, but we managed to get a table without a booking. The staff were very friendly and cheerful, but, it quickly became evident, not very professional at all, or in any case quite inexperienced and, as is the case in many restaurants in Dublin, their use of English wasn't as strong as it could have been.

Nevertheless, we managed to get our order understood: For a starter, we shared an omnivorous mezze, as it came with enough vegan items to satisfy my starter needs: hummus and tabbouleh, with flatbread. The hummus was quite nice, if a little sharp, and the olive oil drizzled over it was very nice. The tabbouleh was lovely and fresh, and very tasty indeed.

For a main course, husband had more of the mezze (it was divided to a starter set of things and a main set of other things), and I went for the main course version of the falafel. They were ok, with plenty of fresh coriander in them, but they also had rather more cumin than I'm used to in falafel, so it took a while for me get used to the flavor. They came on a bed of fresh iceberg lettuce with some olives and slices of pepper, and I devoured the salad rather more quickly than the main item.

The carnivorous mezze, I gather, was good indeed, if a tad large; there wasn't even a mention of dessert afterwards.

The restaurant makes a big deal of their live belly-dance shows, and one was inflicted on us in the course of our meal. The belly-dancing was ok, though she wasn't particularly good - what really put us off was the backing tape, which was played at a club-level volume. I wasn't able to finish my food, and as soon as the floor was free of shimmying womanhood, we asked for the bill.

Twice. In the end, we went and paid at the till, as neither of the waitresses we talked to managed to remember to actually bring us the bill. The proprietor, who spent most of the time we were there either standing outside his restaurant, smoking and talking to acquaintances passing by, or checking in with his patrons, came and spoke to us, as well, and had my leftover falafel packed up for me. They made a very nice lunch the next day.

Sinners gets a full six falafels for its interesting name, two and a half for service, minus three for the entertainment, and four for food. Go there for lunch, an a very early dinner, and you may be saved the bellydancing. Unless that's your sort of thing, of course.