The best restaurants in Gilnahirk Castlereagh South Eastern NI

Love visiting here for sit in or take away high quality tasty food never had a bad meal, also fab for take away same quality great prices. Must try their sea food chowder

Very good fish and chips Decent price

The BBQ pulled pork and cheese toastie was beautiful omg. Great service and loved seeing Lauren there hehe #workingwoman 😏

Found myself with an hour to kill so stopped in for lunch. Really friendly staff and my food was delicious. Icing on the cake was the lovely coffee afterwards and the most delicious homemade traybakes! A hidden gem!

Had Sunday lunch with my family, we ordered 2 lunches from the carvery menu and one nut roast. Staff were polite and friendly as always. My Goats cheese starter was delicious. I wasn't overly impressed with the nut roast, it had the consistency of undercooked stuffing. The roast potatoes I feel could also have been better, they weren't crispy and not enough gravy was served with all 3 meals. I asked if I could have a Yorkshire pudding with my meal which isn't included, however, the staff very kindly spoke to the kitchen who sorted this out, so thank you very much. When we were offered the desert menu we weren't told until it was time to order that the kitchen didn't have desert my parents were going to order which is a shame. Overall I feel improvements to the nut roast, the roasties, more gravy and perhaps an option like cauliflower cheese for vegetarians would be great.

The food was poor and the choice of mains was limited, with only one vegetarian option being the mandatory vegetarian’s nemesis ‘Risotto’ not so much a cliche, more of a lazy joke. I was charged £5.00 for a CAN of Guinness 00 ! There are pubs in the area serving Guinness 00 on draft for £5.00 so the Poet is simply overcharging in my opinion and the opinion of EVERYONE I’ve spoken to since. For my main I had their scampi, which was OK, but ‘Chunky Chips’ should not be served in those little miniature deep fat fryer baskets. Everyone on our table laughed at this, especially when I counted out the Six chips I received. My wife had the chicken pieces, which claims to be served with salad but I could have scooped more salad from a salad bowl using a safety pin whilst blindfolded. It was simply beyond a joke. So overpriced alcohol free CANS of Guinness and poor food. Surroundings…. The Poet inside is still quite attractive. It was quite well designed as The Lonely Poet back in the day and the design has stood the test of time. So I will say that inside, it is still an attractive bar and it’s way better than it looks from outside, as it’s stuck on the edge of King’s Square beside a disused Bank and a Co-op. We all know that you judge a bar by the cleanliness of its toilets and I can say that the toilets in the Poet are amongst the filthiest, most disgusting toilets I’ve ever had the misfortune to visit. The gents had one broken urinal, two broken hand dryers and floors which didn’t look like they’d been mopped for a week. The stupid plastic (assuming white) pull bar on the inside of the cubicle had black grime caked along its entire length…the lighting was so bad I almost touched it, but luckily I noticed the filth before doing so. My wife and family members said the Ladies toilets were of a similar shocking state. We are not hygiene freaks, I expect a pub’s toilets to be a bit rough and I almost expect one of the dryers to be broken, after all, that’s why Levi’s are so absorbent, but this was months of accumulated grime. The staff seemed friendly enough and I know they must struggle to stay motivated in a bar which apart from our party, was virtually empty by 9.30 on a Saturday Night! We got the feeling the place was being allowed to slowly die. Neither the menu nor the standard of the food is going to attract customers to return and word is spreading, so new repeat customers are an unlikely prospect. I wouldn’t recommend The Poet to anyone. We will not return and I would rather drive a bit further to a decent bar rather than waste money on an establishment stuck in the past and living on the reputation of the Lonely Poet.

Ordered for the first time and was impressed. Food was great, service and price both excellent. Definitely order directly as its cheaper than using one of the apps

I love the fishbowl. It is very entertaining while I wait for my food, The salt and chilli chips and curry is amazing and service was good