Like the reviewers below, we had a very pleasant stay at the Davenport. Very friendly staff, great location and the most powerful shower we have had for a long time!

Big gripe was the restaurant. A true candidate for a Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares episode. Paper napkins and a dreadful wine list should have provided enough of a clue to get up and leave. Food was truely dreadful. An example--smoked salmon on millefeuille with grapefruit. This arrived with the plate covered in limp lettuce with a huge millefeuille pastry in the middle. This was in two halves with the salmon sitting on a slice of grapefruit in between the two pieces. The whole plate was then drizzled with some obnoxious brown sauce. How to kill a piece of smoked salmon! The main courses were overcooked and amateurish, with the vegetables suitable for an old people's home. And this was when the restaurant wasn't busy....

Not sure about breakfast--we went to local cafes. We also went to a nearby restaurant called Tank for dinner. This was a great contrast to the hotel and one we can highly recommend for an excellent meal.

All the previous reviews reflect quite accurately my own experience: Location is great, not too close and not too far from Grafton St. and Temple Bar. The staff was very friendly and helpful. All facilities (rooms, dining areas, bar, corridors, etc.) were impeccably clean.

Some renovations are overdue, particularly in the bathroom plumbing department. Old-fashioned dual faucet sinks and tubs are quaint but impractical, especially when a constant bad odour emanates from the drains which obliges you to keep the bathroom door shut at all times.

But for as much as the carpeting needed replacement and the room’s door needed sound-proofing (it thumped every time the hallway door leading to the elevator was opened or closed), the king-sized bed was firm and the furniture in good condition.

The full traditional Irish breakfast was unbeatable, and the President’s bar was the perfect place to wind down after an exhausting day of walking, eating and drinking.

I am looking forward to staying there again when I return to hit all the spots I missed.

The location of the hotel was great! Far enough away from Grafton Street so that it was quite at night but close enough to walk to and from in the evening.
The hotel itself could use some improvements:
* The carpeting is dingy and worn.
* Parts of the wall paper were torn and marked up
* The blanket that was on the bed was stained but the one in the closet was fine so we switched them.
* There were separate faucets for hot and cold water in the bathroom sink. This made shaving, washing ones face/hands, brushing teeth very annoying because the water was either extremely hot or extremely cold.
* The toilet flushed very loudly and we could hear others flush their toilets.
* There was not a mini-bar/mini-fridge in the room.
* You could hear some noise in the hallway at night and in the mornings.
* The only clock was on the TV and didn't show if the TV was on.
* We could smell cigarette smoke from the hallway or outside (not sure which) creep into the room at times (we are non-smokers).
On the flipside...
* The stay was nice. * 24 hours of internet access in the room was 15 euro which seemed cheaper than most hotels in Europe.
* The room was a good size so 2 people weren't tripping over each other. There was a desk with a chair and also another table with 2 sitting chairs plus a tea pot, etc.
All we really did was sleep and shower in the room so the negative things mentioned aboved were not that big of a deal. I would recommend this hotel to friends staying in Dublin, I just don't think I would recommend it to my parents!

** On a separate note, we did have issues with Aircoach. Coming from the airport, the Air Coach drops you around the corner from the hotel (and you pick it up just outside the terminal). It is perfect! However, the morning we were leaving the Hotel staff told us where to pick up the coach and that it would come every 15 minutes (they did not look up times for us). We went to the spot they told us and waited... After 30 minutes we called aircoach and were told the coach was at the stop 1 before us... 10 minutes later the coach still wasn't there, we were getting a little impatient and more and more people were at the stop waiting for the coach. Luckily, a Taxi pulled up and offered to take us to the airport for the same price (7 Euro each way) so we split the Cab with 2 other people to get us to the airport in 15 minutes. Who knows if the aircoach ever arrived at the stop we were at! Either give yourself plenty of time or have a backup plan! (We left dublin on a Monday morning. We were on a 11:30 AM flight to give you an idea for timing.)

I have just returned from a two night stay in this Dublin hotel. We had a lovely weekend in the city and the hotel contributed to that. The room was a good size, with a nice sitting area. We were provided with a kettle and items to make tea or coffee, which we thought was great. Better than the usual coffee percolators. The tv had a good range of channels. The bathroom had a fantastic shower with plenty of fluffy white towels but one downside was that they did not provide face cloths. The room itself was clean enough but there were lots of grubby marks on the walls and carpet which let it down a bit. There was a bit of noise on Saturday night from the pub across the road but nothing too unbearable. Just background hum really. We had breakfast in the hotel one morning and we felt that it was overpriced, although it was all-you-can-eat. The fry didn't even include any potato bread or soda bread! Disappointing. I definitely think you can get better breakfasts (particularly fries) for a better price lots of other places outside the hotel. The pub was quiet but ok, lots of seating which was good, particularly for the Six Nations match we watched. The staff were ok, nothing special but pleasant enough and able to answer any questions we had. The area, Merrion Square, was lovely. Very quiet and picturesque with the old Georgian houses. Grafton Street is a 10 minute walk. We found the hotel difficult to find. The front door is on the corner where 2 streets meet and so we missed it several times driving past before ditching the car and venturing out on foot. The driving instructions provided by the hotel on their booking form were abysmal. The big drawback was the car parking. The hotel used a car park about 200 yards from the hotel. It was secure enough but very expensive. When we rang to enquire about price they sneakily told us 8 euro/night so we thought it would be 16 all in for the two nights. Unfortunately it was pushing 50 euro because there was an additional hourly charge during the day which they had neglected to tell us about. So really it was like paying for a third person!!