Kate Kearney's Cottage at the Gap of Dunloe Ireland

I visited Kate Kearney's cottage at the start of the Gap of Dunloe in July 2010, not in the school holidays but still quite busy with a couple of coaches. The car park isn't very big and we didn't find a disabled parking spot , not that we could see anyway. The restaurant and pub  is entered via the shop and we ate in the pub as the restaurant wasn't open at that time. The restaurant looked very nice and a stark contrast in decor to the pub, which was quite dark in decor. There is alot of dark wood and the floor was dark wood too which was a little sticky. There was a large open fire that was lit, July was quite cold and wet , and you could smell this throughout the pub. It was quite hard to maneuver through to somewhere to sit in my wheelchair and to find somewhere that could accommodate all 5 in our party. We sat in a corner with 2 tables. The chairs weren't particularly comfy so the rest of my party told me and the table wasn't a comfortable height to eat from, too high for the sofa seat and too low for me in my chair.


To order you went to the bar with a table number and paid. There were packet condiments on the table along with beer mats for drinks, well it is a pub.


The meals didn't take too long to arrive and our party had a variety from the menu.

Two had bacon and cabbage which came with mash and parsley sauce. The meat was very tender but for those without a huge appetite there was too much potato, though it was nice and one said it needed more sauce.

One of our party had the salmon which it is reported was cooked perfectly, a good portion and not dry at all. This party member asked for salad rather than vegetables and the salad was again a substantial portion with a good mix of salad ingredients.

Our 4th party member had sirloin steak 10oz and requested it to be cooked medium to well done which was exactly as it came and he said it was still tasty and tender.This came with pepper sauce which was definitely in need of seeing a bit more pepper.

Our final member of the party opted for roast lamb.Again the portion size was not for the faint hearted and it came with 'some of the nicest  carrots I've had in a long time' to quote that person. That's quite something as they are not a vegetable person.


Desserts, well only 2 of our party were up to that challenge, one had apple pie which was nice and not too sweet. It was served with a garnish of physallis though which would have been better on the other dessert sampled the chocolate fudge cake.

The fudge cake was very, very chocolaty and the chocolate sauce it was served with made it quite cloggy to eat. The cake on its own was light. I felt it would have been better served with some ice cream or cream to lighten the overall very rich dessert.


Some of our other party members finished their meal with a cup of tea which was served with generous helpings of milk.




The toilets.


At the time of our visit as I said it was raining alot and the gents toilets were accessed by going outside from the pub restaurant. Both the ladies and gents were ok but appearance was run down though they weren't smelly. The disabled toilet was fairly easy to get to though I required help to get through the access door. The toilet itself was quite small and once the wheelchair was in I had to transfer to the toilet on an angle and come out of the toilet backwards. Not easy as the ladies toilets were in close proximity and I couldn't see if I would hit anyone with the door.


All in all, a very friendly place, staff not overly helpful and toilets clean but a definite challenge. Good place for local cultural atmosphere providing there are no coach loads of have to say mostly Americans .

Food if you are hungry and want some good comfort food a good place to eat, but don't wear your best shoes.