Description: On our last evening in Dublin, we set off from our hotel on O'Connell Street, on a stroll to find somewhere for dinner. After turning off O'Connell Street, some way down Parnell Street we found Cucina, a cute little Italian restaurant complete with checked tablecloths.
The menu of Cucina features pretty much everything you would expect from an Italian restaurant - pizza, pasta, meat dishes. We were seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant, however as it is a small place we were still within reach of the evening sunshine streaming through the windows. It took us a while to decide on our order; well, to be fair, it took me a while - faced with a selection of pizzas I got a bit stuck. I eventually chose a three cheese pizza, oddly called a "three formajo" on the menu instead of a "tre formaggi". My partner went for lasagne, and his mother chose a margherita pizza.
Service time was about average - I always think it feels like you're waiting forever when you're particularly hungry, but I know that it wasn't very long at all. The three cheeses on my pizza were goats cheese, blue cheese and mozzarella. When it arrived, the goats cheese and mozzarella were clear to see, but I saw no sign of blue cheese. I couldn't taste it either, but I wasn't particularly heartbroken about that. The pizza was very good, the goats cheese nice and strong, and both it and the mozzarella generous in quantity. It was a thin crust base, but it wasn't quite like I would have expected. My partner's mother thought it was reminiscent of naan bread, but I'm not convinced that's the right description. It was different to normal anyway. My partner enjoyed his lasagne, which was a sensible sized portion and very tasty apparently.
We were all quite full after that, so we didn't have dessert. We had had soft drinks with our meal, and the total bill was around €45. Pizzas and main courses started from about €10.
Service at Cucina was pleasant and efficient, the staff friendly but not getting in the way of our meal and conversation.
Cucina was a good choice for our dinner - Italian is usually a good choice, but sometimes the food can be mediocre. Fortunately Cucina was not mediocre, although it wasn't exceptional, and I would be happy to recommend it and return myself if I'm in Dublin again.
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