The Schoolhouse Hotel

Stayed here one night and loved my room! Very clean and large bathroom. There’s a lot of history about this hotel and they use it for the décor. This place is walking distance to Merrion Square (where you can find Oscar Wilde Statue), National Museum of Ireland and Samuel Beckett Bridge. We ate dinner in the bar which had a full menu and you know the food is good if the locals come to hang out and watch the game. Breakfast was delicious and included with our stay.

This review covers both the hotel, restaurant and bar, as our wedding incorporated all three parts of The Schoolhouse. I’m not sure why they have two separate listings on Unilocal,one for the hotel and one for the restaurant & bar. I guess the place is popular with locals for food and drink, more than the hotel. Anyway I digress.
Starting off a couple of years ago we had a great dining experience at The Schoolhouse Hotel. Even back then I looked around and thought the dining room would make a lovely wedding venue.
Back to the relative present (February) and we were shortlisting venues for our wedding celebration. We had a few options on the list and the first we visit is The Schoolhouse. Impressed with the wedding package and the hotel’s general manager we put down the deposit for our date there and then. A bit impulsive, but it felt right.
Closer to the day we met with Therese who went over all the queries she had about what we wanted and when we wanted it to happen etc. She was in no way pushy and accommodated us with some changes to the menu. There were a few subsequent emails confirm one or two things after that. It was all very straight forward.
On the day everything went wonderfully. The pre-​dinner bubbly was setup for us in the bar. Moving to the restaurant for the dinner, the room was setup and decorated wonderfully. The staff played a blinder with serving us. You could tell they were well used to having weddings here. All of the food was fantastic. I had the beef, which was excellent.
We moved to the bar for the afters, where we had an area reserved for our party. I suspect if you had enough money you could probably reserve the dining room for the whole night and stay there for the afters. But the bar suited us, our family and friends just fine. The live music the hotel had in the bar for the evening was great. A guy on a guitar and he was brilliant. He played so many great covers, the floor was full all night with dancing and sing-​a-​longs. It was a memorable afters, for me anyway.
The rooms we had were nice, the first one being more spacious. I’m not really sure why we had to move for the second night, something about it being the Canopy room. I preferred the first room if I’m honest. But it was only a small issue and it didn’t take away from the whole experience.
The next morning I had a lovely breakfast and then mingled with all our guests as they checked out and went their separate ways.
Thanks Therese and The Schoolhouse Hotel. For our wedding you played a blinder.

The hotel was very very good, my original room had some maintenance issues and was in the «basement». Although I would never rate this 4 stars because of the «basement» aspect alone, my shower did not work properly in the first room (would not turn 4x for hot water as instructed). I switched room the next day and the second room was perfect, they give you free movies to watch, everything is very clean, and the staff is super friendly!

Fantastic value for money– really energetic and welcoming reception staff, a beautiful building and HUGE beds that you could get lost in (or have a lot of fun in). I
Coming here for a night away from life’s stresses, you could be anywhere. A walk along the canal, a drink in the bar and the excitement of getting back to that ridiculously comfortable bed– perfect.
Very beautiful and well worth a try. Just stick to the bar and not the restaurant for food.

There’s something particularly pleasant about dining out with people with whom you share a common interest but do not know intimately, or sometimes at all.
Maybe this is the secret to the success of the Foodie Club outings.
On this particular outing we headed to the School House in Ballsbridge for some classic cuisine and speaking for myself I was not disappointed.
I have dined here before and often frequent the bar (where you can order oysters at 2.50 a pop, as few or as many as you like, and some excellent chicken wings) and enjoyed the food it on previous occasions although the last time I was here the service was lacking.
This time around, our server was excellent and even took the time to sit down at the end of the meal to split the bill for each person.
First the deal: a recession friendly 2 courses for 22.50 or 3 course for 24.95, plus a free drink in the bar afterwards. Some dishes do carry a small supplement but nothing bank breaking.
Being a warm evening I started with the Dick Liver Parfait, which came well presented in a white ramekin with some small ciabata toasts on the side. My one complaint here, and a common one, is that you never seem to get quite enough toast. The parfait had a nice smooth texture although I found it a little bland; I prefer the liver to come through stronger.
For the main I had a 10 oz Rib Eye steak with Pepper sauce, ordered very rare.
The steak came as ordered (+3 supplement), and it was a nice grainy textured hunk of beef with a good slightly hot pepper sauce. It’s a small thing but a 10 oz steak needs a decent amount of sauce, a small pot is not quite enough, try going for a sauce boat instead and you’ll have perfected the dish. The fries were not as crispy as I remember them from previous visits, although still had a good taste.
For desert I had a summer soup, a simple dish of strawberries and a scoop of strawberry sorbet swimming in melon juice. Given the warm night that was in it, it was quite refreshing and light after a heavy meal.
Being a Unilocal Foodie Club night out, the company was great as always, and the noise level was quite low in the restaurant making conversation amongst 7 people easy.
For drinks we stayed on our won, I had a couple of glasses of a decent Pinot Grigio (with steak!!!) which went down quite well.
All in all, the Schoolhouse is a good place to eat serving good quality food at a reasonable price. I’d like to give it a 5 * as I do like the place a lot, but there are just a few niggly things that need to be improved before I can go there.

This was our first time to visit this beautiful restaurant and it certainly won’t be our last. The steak which my husband ordered was cooked to perfection and my order of traditional fish and chips with mushy peas and tartar sauce was delicious. After our meal, we sat outside to have drinks because one of our party wished to smoke but due to the fact that there was no heating, we left early to return to our hotel where there was ouside seating with heaters.

Great atmosphere. Service was not great but would go back to try food.

Without getting into the long story, this hotel provided me and my colleagues the best service any of us have ever received. They were flexible and accomodating, and when our flight got cancelled due to the volcano they allowed us to stay on past check-​out time at no extra charge until we got our travel affairs in order.
I hope to come back to Dublin soon so I can stay here again. Outstanding.

Last year I decided to treat my mom to a long weekend vacation in Dublin, since she had never been. I chose the Schoolhouse because it was located in a quiet neighborhood, yet was close to public transportation and some tourist attractions.
The hotel itself is quite nice. Our room was very large, comfortable and clean. Oh, and quiet — we never heard a peep from any other guests. The staff were great, as well. Always friendly and super accommodating.
But for us, the location was the best aspect. A 10 minute walk to Merrion Square and the hop-​on/​hop-​off bus and a 5 minute walk to the DART station, which we took out to Howth one morning. (Highly recommended, btw!) The Aircoach also stops right outside of the hotel so getting to Dublin Airport is a breeze.
We enjoyed the Schoolhouse so much, that next time I visit Dublin, I wouldn’t hesitate to book here again.

The Old Schoolhouse is also a very nice pub/​restaurant. I’ve been walking past this place for the last 2 years or so but always assumed it was a bit too posh for me… turns out it’s actually a really nice pub, and not too posh ;)
Their food is quite nice as well, if you’re hungry I’d recommend their cheeseburger! Staff are nice and it’s actually quite inexpensive for Ballsbridge.

Adorable little boutique hotel, stuck in an old brick schoolhouse, and refitted with gorgeous textiles. Beds are huge and have canopies (!); the bathrooms have nice fixtures and amazing showers, complete with nice detail on the tiling.
The room is 10 € less than the B&B rate. Breakfast is quite nice, so if you’re going to eat there, you’ll get great value; if you just want cornflakes, though, it’s not worth it.
No free wifi (or other internet in the rooms), unfortunately. At those prices, there should be.
Still, though: perfect little hotel in a great location. Very friendly; great value. I didn’t want to leave!