Pampered pooches are being offered everything from “doggy beer” to “canine sundaes” as some restaurants and hotels across the country now have a dedicated dinner menu for dogs that owners can avail of while dining themselves.
360 Cookhouse, a restaurant in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, has a “canine menu” that features meat sticks for €1.50, pig ears for €3 and “doggy beer” for €3.
Michael Pettit, owner of 360 Cookhouse, said his restaurant decided to cater for dogs as part of its Mediterranean-style offering when it opened in 2017.
“To do that, it was all about incorporating the entire family, and in the Mediterranean pets are enormously a part of everybody’s family and that was becoming more and more recognised here in Ireland,” he said.
“There was nobody doing it and we saw that there was a big opening there for the facilitation of pets, particularly dogs. As part of our sequence of service, the first thing our staff must do is put a bowl of water down in front of the dog before you even put water or a menu in front of the customer. Most people aren’t interested in ordering a full dinner for their dogs, just snacks, but we have vegan options too.”
Pettit said he had received just one complaint from a customer about the dogs being in the restaurant in his more than seven years in business.
“Everybody is usually ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ and there’s been overall very little resistance,” he said.
“We have dog-friendly areas which we call the pergola and the snug, and they’re usually booked out first. It wouldn’t be unusual to have a dozen dogs out there during the summer — we’ve even had Ricky Gervais’ dog in before. Some people even just come in to take photographs of all the dogs.”
The Pins GastroBar, which is part of The Twelve Hotel, a four-star hotel in Co Galway, offers a three-course “pet menu” that costs up to €15. Its contents include beef meatballs, bacon strips and ice-cream topped with crumbled dog bones.
Siobhan Doyle, revenue and reservations manager at The Twelve Hotel, said the restaurant had designated tables for guests dining with their dogs.
“Dogs are allowed into the restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We felt that because the dog is a guest in the hotel as well they were entitled to their own unique menu,” she said.
“They’re usually very well behaved and they sit at their [owner’s] feet. They get a dog bone when they’re seated and then their owner can place the order for their food.”
Doyle said that for some people dogs are like their children so it was important that hospitality venues reflected this. “We’ve regular couples who stay here who have never been able to have a family and their dog is their life,” she said.
“They don’t go anywhere without their dog and it’s important for them to have this facility. Occasionally, we might have to ask a guest to bring their dog to their room if it’s being a little bit disruptive, but they’re usually extremely well behaved — they’re like a child when they come with their owners.”
The Morgan Hotel, a four-star hotel in Temple Bar, Dublin, offers a three-course in-room “doggy dining menu” that includes beef bones for €3, chicken breast for €8 and “canine sundaes” for €5.
Sean Sinclair, general manager, said: “We allow our canine friends to dine with their owners in our courtyard garden only. Our canine sundae is the best seller on the menu followed closely by bedtime biscuits served to the room.”
Meanwhile, Aniar in Co Galway is the only known Michelin-starred restaurant in Ireland that allows dogs in with their owners for their 24-course experience.
JP McMahon, owner of Aniar, said the idea came to him while dining at a three-starred Michelin restaurant in Paris that was dog-friendly.
“There was a big Saint Bernard in the dining room and it just got me thinking about why aren’t we dog-friendly and what stops us?” he said.
“We’re kids-friendly in Aniar and have a kids’ menu so I suppose it’s trying to make the restaurant more accessible. We don’t have room for loads of dogs and you have to book in, but we have one or two tables that we can fit a dog on. It’s a three-hour meal so I usually trust the owners if they say their dog is well behaved.”
McMahon said he once had a dog in that was treated to some courses from their Michelin-starred menu.
“There was one table in quite early one day and there was no one else around so we said we’d give him a few little treats and he had a few of the courses with the meat in it,” he said.
“The dogs will generally stay at their feet, and if we have a little bowl in the kitchen we send it down to the dog. Most of the customers are OK, we’ve never had a complaint about a dog in the restaurant, but I still think we’re still a bit behind in Ireland because a lot of places are not dog-friendly.”
A number of five-star hotels including Dromoland Castle Hotel in Co Clare have also become dog-friendly in recent years. Dromoland provides “canine accommodation” with a doggy bed, poop scoop bags and a dog sitter if required.
