The Clarence Hotel

The hotel is a great option for the visit. Situated near Temple Bar you have access to everything in the city via foot. The staff is great and the upgraded rooms are more
Than adequate. There is a nice reception room with an actual fire burning. If you are a lite sleeper, as for a room accordingly and if you want a view of the river room 404 is good (you can see the spire as well).
Worth a stay for US travelers.

We had lunch in the Tea Room at the Clarence Hotel. We arrived there close to 12 noon but learned that they do not open for lunch until 12:30. We sat at a table against the windows and found that the window had rows of meat cleavers as decorations. Lunch was available in a 2 or three course option. I went with the Salmon appetizer which came as a sushi presentation, which was a pleasant surprise. The Trout selection for the main course was very good.
They had a good selection of Irish IPAs.

Stay far away — horrible customer service and ridiculous cancellation policy! Instead, book with a hotel where they will not charge you 100% of the room charges should you need to cancel.

Needs renovation. Faucets not working, Electrical outlets faulty, Shabby to say the least. Overpriced for the standard presented. No parking or valet parking. Staff were friendly.

dear Paul Hewson and David Evans,
since leaving your role in this hotel in 2013 something fundamentally and horribly wrong has happened here.
breakfast buffet of $$$$ will get you stale bread, inexpensive plastic cups of yogurt, supermarket meats and a bowl of rotting fruit. the sad «main course» turned out to be eggs so overcooked it is likely to have been made from leftover tennis balls. vegetables were tasteless. juice was concentrate. milk is actually a water-​like liquid with white coloring. inexpensive bitter tea bags are tossed into a broken tea-​pot and left to rot on your table.
i complained when i couldn’t cut the bread with the fancy big bread knife. i was told «our bread is made right here yesterday» to which i replied «you’ve just brought out rock-​hard day old bread?» this led to a surprised look. i needed a hammer and sickle not a bread knife. it’s hard to imagine who honestly can run a restaurant of this odd quality; an absence of any pride in work or empathy for guests. you literally could break a tooth on their «made right here yesterday» breakfast bread, and yet they’ll expect you to pay a fortune to eat it.
second worst food i have stumbled upon in dublin, despite full fare prices. i mean any chip shop could beat this place for a fraction of cost.
everything reeks of post-​communist rushed commercialism to make money fast and carelessly without pride of ownership. shoddy fluff materials and non-​existent service is the norm. like paying top-​price for a t-​shirt because someone has printed a fancy brand name on it… backwards. are you happy with your purchase? they don’t really care because the next sucker is already booked and on their way.
the décor is bizarrely unfinished or broken as well. clearly a lot of money was spent to make things look like they cost nothing at all and therefore must cost a lot. shabby sheik? more like fake and devoid of heart. if you find yourself saying «hmmm that doesn’t look quite right» you’re probably looking at the gross bits in the shower, or the smudges on the door, or the SLS shampoo and petroleum soaps, or the harshly bleached sandpaper they substituted for sheets…
lack of heart or professionalism is palpable. every ten minutes in the evenings people would enter from the street and make their way towards the bar. «it’s closed» the front desk would say without interest. «special event» or a shrug of the shoulder or «there are other places to go.» they may as well have told people «you are not as important or valued as someone else. leave now». easy to see why the bar was usually empty even when open.
such icy behavior in the supposed capital of ireland. imagine how a real pub owner would react, saying «welcome» or «i’m glad you’re here» to guests and building a business. instead you can almost smell the frigid gray draft of failed communism driving away guests with a bureaucratic faceless machine of hopelessness.
despite being cold and heartless, internal sparks of passion do still bubble up in front of the guests. servers in the restaurant had an open discussion about a third person who must have been fired or quit. one of the servers was distraught over something and they had it out in the middle of the restaurant.
this server was clearly exhausted, malfunctioning and needed a break. perhaps what kept her going was affection from other staff. she wore what you might find in a night club as though unable to get home before coming for early duty. or maybe it was planned for that stream of male staff to flow in and distract her, including many of those supposedly on duty. why work when you can talk shop and flirt with each other in front of the guests?
it reached a level of being outright creepy. backroom style glances and posturing was like being on the inside, yet you also must admit you are just a guest unable to escape being from the outside. on a positive note these people actually care about something, even if it isn’t you.
perhaps nothing exemplifies the shallow nature more than the staff troubles with speaking english. they unfortunately miss words and throw a blank stare or «sorry» exception, requiring a reboot of conversation. ask the languages they speak to bridge the gap and you will be told «english». and so it goes. scratch a little past the basics and expect to hear «i have never heard that word before» because it will be your fault for stepping outside your allowed vocabulary: how dare you step outside the lines of what this system offers you.

We stayed at the Clarence for two nights over St Patrick’s Day Mar 16 – 17, 2015. We read that some rooms of the hotel are adjacent to a nightclub and can be quite noisy, we asked for a quiet room (well in advance). When I submited that request I said that if they could not guarantee a relatively quiet room I would need to cancel my resevation. We were given a 4^th floor king balcony that faced a side street. Inside the hotel it was very quiet, almost to the point of feeling like a monastery; but not so outside. Temple Bar has become party central and of course on March 17^th the area is full of inebriated revelers until the wee hours, with that said we were able to sleep, it was not too bad.
The room was lovely with a very comfortable bed and a well equipped bath (and free wifi). The staff was very helpful and friendly, from front desk to housekeeping. The restaurant was OK, food was average (only had breakfast). They had no brown bread the 2^nd morning and the server did not know if their oatmeal was flakes or pinhead (aka Steelcut). For 19 Euro I expected an above average breakfast, definitely not worth the price and wished now we had not bothered. Both mornings we had the cavernous dark restaurant to ourselves. The Octagon Bar (which we visited 2 or 3 times) was very quiet, bartenders were competent, pleasant but not overly friendly. The bar had no buzz, a little background music would help;. maybe an early evening happy hour with some nibbles and drink specials?
The Price was about $ 280 per night, (including the optional breakfast). At that price point there are many other choices in Dublin. Clearly we paid a premium for Saint Patrick’s Day, I just checked rates for late April, best rate for a similar room is 152 Euro. I highly recommend skipping the Clarence breakfast there are many coffee shops in the surrounding area.
On a side note; the Clarence is known as the U2 Hotel but according to this article they are no longer involved (as of 2013).
Room Tip: Ask for quiet room on an upper floor with balcony (as far away as possible from the Workmans nigtclub). We were in 409.

Visited Dublin this past December and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a drink at The Octagon Bar. It was surprising to see an almost empty bar. Being that the Clarence Hotel is a must see if one is an U2 fan. The Venezuelan bartender was pleasant and the bar’s décor was unique. The prices are a bit high but overall, worth being there!

I can only offer a review of the service and the room, as I was so busy enjoying the city I didn’t use anything else at the hotel. The staff from our arrival was helpful and accommodating. We arrived in the morning and asked if we could leave our luggage until check in, which was several hours later. Instead, the staff quickly found a room and allowed us to check in early. Very appreciated after a 6.5 hour flight.
The room was nice, but did not have a ‘5-​star’ feel to it. I realize the building is European and old and that limits size, but our room wasn’t overly large. Just not what I’m used to when spending that much money in the states. Small tv & old looking room heaters and fixtures didn’t give the luxury appearance I expected.
Those small issues aside, the staff was very nice and you can’t beat the location.

It’s nice enough and clean. So if your not picky and not looking for a higher end hotel than this is the place for you. It’s a good location, easy walking distance to most tourist and local attractions. The staff are friendly enough, they weren’t super friendly but they at least said hello when they saw us. the room appeared as if it was clean. We did order drinks in the lounge area and we were only served once, no one ever came back to check on us or to even get the bill from us, we had to leave cash!
There are little weird things that I would change such as the key entry, most hotels have cards and this one you have to carry a key on a large key chain around. You have to use your key to get in the elevator or use the stairs. The hotel is worn down a bit– stains on the carpets, stains in the tub, and mattress is visibly worn (has indentations in it) and whenever you move it makes noise. The tub is narrow and the curtain blows in which makes showering interesting, you either put it outside of the tub and flood the bathroom or have it stuck to you half of the time which isn’t a huge deal but I doubt that they change it between guests! The wifi was spotty. There were No robes, though I don’t know if I would have used it I expected better quality accommodation; given the cost and all of the «hype» I would have thought that it would be less visibly worn. There is no AC (which we knew ahead of time) and in order to have air flow you have to leave the windows open (which we don’t mind, there aren’t any screens so you will get some bugs but it was a better alternative to the heat and stuffy room) which prevents you from shutting the curtains– a bit of a problem when your dealing with jet lag!
I liked all of the wood throughout the hotel… but décor wise that would be about it. The furniture in the room was visibly worn and there wasn’t any artwork other than a picture that a child drew. there is this great little bar with outdoor seating that was directly behind our room, so part of leaving the windows open for air flow meant it got louder by ten fold! The peoples conversation carries up so that we could make out their conversations and it’s as if we were seated inside a very bustling pub. Which is fine if that’s the atmosphere that we were going for, but as we are trying to sleep or relax it’s was a bit much. I imagine the weekends will be terrible… and at night we shut both sets of windows and you can still hear music playing and people yelling and talking at 3 am on a Tuesday morning. We stayed here Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night and it was VERY LOUD each night and we had to shut both sets of windows and just deal with the room being stuffy. I don’t think I would return to this hotel and if I did I would certainly not stay in a room in the back. I did not complain to the staff as I felt that there wasn’t anything that they could do to prevent the noise… and I didn’t have a lot of faith that the front of the building was going to be that much quieter. Had we been staying longer I would have demanded another room…

I stayed at the Clarence for St. Patrick’s holiday this year. Given the popular holiday, I got a good rate for the week in one of their standard king rooms with no view. The room was comfy and modern. The bathroom and shower/​tub were great and well-​maintained. The bed and bedding were my favorite because they were comfortable and crisp. My room didn’t have a stand to put my suitcase on so it ended up on a table. I had to ask for a robe which I thought should be in the room. The staff were all extremely nice and accommodating. I dealt with Lucas, Mario and Pablo often and were always friendly, nice and helpful. The hotel location is great as you are near everything including Temple Bar, great restaurants, bars and lots of historic sights. The Cleaver East restaurant is nice, but I only had drinks there. The Octagon Bar always seemed a little quiet but also nice. The Liquor Room next door is fun and a little crazy. I will return to Ireland without a doubt and I will stay at the Clarence again. Slainte!

Sehr zentral. Das ist auch der wesentliche Pluspunkt. Wir hatten ein Zimmer mit Blick auf den Fluß. Nach meinen Maßstäben rechtfertigt das den Preis nicht im geringsten. Die Zimmer sind zwar sauber, aber doch sehr in die Jahre gekommen und zudem klein. Eine Dusche mit Vorhang ist nicht mehr akzeptabel bei einem Preis von 135 EUR die Nacht. Hölzerne Klodeckel sind auch nicht mehr ein Stilelement. Das Frühstück ist lecker und auch die Räumlichkeit dafür sehr ansprechend, aber vom Angebot überschaubar. Also wer ohne Bono und U2 leben kann findet mehr Luxus und ähnlich zentrale Lage auch woanders.

I’m not usually one to give 3 star reviews but the Clarence is, in short, merely adequate.
Major Points Consider
Good
The staff are quite friendly.
Centrally located in Temple Bar
It’s not a fleabag spot, it is well maintained.
Won’t break the bank
The Liquor Rooms are (is?) quite a fine cocktail bar. in the same building as, and part of the hotel, but you can’t charge to your room, which isn’t bad, but a little odd.
The Less Good (Food)
The food is less than convenient. The a la carte menu is only available in the Study and Octagon from noon till five. It’s the same as the room service menu.
The Cleaver East is open later I think but it’s a tasting menu of somewhat dubiously small portions at 21EUR for 3 courses during lunch for reasons I cannot quite fathom before reverting to an a la carte menu for dinner.
The (Potentially) Bad
It’s Temple Bar so it’s boisterous in the neighborhood at night. I’m a bit dissapointed by the lack of sound insulation for the windows, especially considering that most of the bustle seems to be coming from The Liquor Rooms downstairs.
The hotel, despite being well kept, just feels sort of careworn.
The Wifi, while free, is slow and surprisingly spotty.
So in all I don’t know if I see 4 stars here. Maybe 3.25?

I have stayed in many fine Hotels in Dublin and I have to say that this was not one of them. The only thing that saves this hotel is the location and friendly staff.
There are better hotels to stay at that represent much better value for money.

What a study in contrasts. The area and location of the hotel are first rate, world class. But the hotel itself needs a serious overhaul. The rooms are dated and worn and dark. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every fixture and finish material needs to be removed, refinished or cleaned. They need to realize that guests will not be so seduced by the celebrity of the owners to overlook a truly crummy hotel.
There is noise from the local bars but that is somewhat to be expected given the location, I can overlook that. What seems sad and unreasonable is any spin on this place describing it as elegant or above average. It’s a sad place in a masquerade.
On the upside, the hotel staff was very accommodating and helpful.
Except…, I forgot the absolutely ridiculous service in the Cleaver East restaurant at breakfast. Despite being only among 2 – 4 guests in the entire restaurant both mornings, the two young guys «working» there couldn’t seem to remember that there were customers sitting first without menus, then without ordered coffee, generally ignored while they yucked it up with each other. It was like having three year olds for waiters. Neither of them had pens to take orders and borrowed the one we offered from my husband’s shirt pocket. They seemed, what’s the word? immature? hungover? still drunk? Who knows.
Not a great value considering how little one can enjoy staying there.

O Clarence hotel how you’ve disappointed me. What a nightmare no ac and noisy. The fitness center was shut down no robes in the room. Really overpriced for what it is.

Die Lage des Hotels ist ideal wenn man abends ins Vergnügungsviertel TempleBar fallen möchte. Ansonsten ist es vom Preis her ganz schön happig; wir hatten ein Zimmer zur Hofseite, hier konnten wir auf eine Open Air Bar herunterschauen, wo es erst ab 22 Uhr richtig lebhaft wurde. Dies wäre bei geschlossenem Fenster gut zu ertragen gewesen, wäre es im Zimmer nicht durch unübliches irisches Wetter unerträglich heiß gewesen und man das Fenster auflassen musste, da es keine Klimaanlage gab. Das Personal ist sehr freundlich und das Frühstück ist auch gut, man kann aber in der Umgebung besser und preiswerter frühstücken.

Worn carpet in so many places. The main front desk staff is helpful.
Terrific central location for the Temple Bar scene. We walked to quite a few terrific restaurants. Just not at the Clarence.
A very disappointing breakfast in the Study Café. The croissant I had was chewy, almost soggy. I had to scrape off 10% of my smoked salmon because i dont want to eat that grey fatty goo next to the skin. Uggh. But no extra charge for the fish scale I had to spit out. The waiters brought the food but were hard to flag down as my water glass ran dry 3 times while I waited and waited for some more. Only one other table was occupied. I expect far better quality and service when the full English breakfast is 18.75 pounds.
A very worn & tired place.
My recommendation is to walk through or have a single drink if you really need to see it. Then go elsewhere for everything.

So I have a weekend to spare on a working trip to Ireland, and I decide to visit Dublin. I book at The Clarence because it is owned by Bono & The Edge. The hotel is perfectly situated for a tourist weekend. The rooms are charming and comfortable, the staff are wonderfully cheerful and obliging. The full Irish breakfast (included with the room) is delicious but the culinary equivalent of climbing Everest. I did not make it to the summit but I did achieved the higher elevations. (I should have brought my dog called Tensing.) Tomorrow I will go for the yogurt and the wheat germ.
The Clarence is over-​priced for what you get. I was expecting posh rather than charming. But — as I am somewhat an expert on value-​based pricing — I recognize the value of celebrity. If I come to Dublin again, I will certainly stay here. Great place. Great people. In the right place.

Bono’s restaurant
Ridiculously expensive, I had a cheap soup there as a curiousity as to the good life we provided for Bono’s band.
He is paying us back in kind with an overpriced menu that only the very rich can afford

This is the famous hotel owned by Bono and The Edge of Irish band U2. This world famous hotel in based in tourist mecca Temple Bar and over looks the scummy River Liffey.
There is a really lovely Tea Room Restaurant with a reasonable price lunch menu for such posh surroundings. 27euro for two sumptuous courses!
They also have a very cool, trendy but too small Octagon bar, named after the shape of the bar, which serves, in my humble opinion, the best Cosmopolitan cocktail in Dublin.
The rooms are individually designed and have Shaker style furniture and are painted lovely colours of crimson, royal blue, amethyst, gold and chocolate. The penthouse has its own outdoor hot tube on the terrace with great views of Dublin city and the Liffey by night! How do I know? Because I was in there with some very well known rock and roll stars, so yes there is another tip for you, if you are into celeb spotting, lots and lots of bands stay here!
There are 49 rooms here, so it is not a very big hotel but it is pricey, so if you can’t slip in with the band, start saving!

This hotel has the Octagon Bar (owned by Bono) and we had a wonderful time here. Nice, pricey and elegant — yet stiff — drinks.
No — we never saw Bono.

In meinen Flitterwochen war die erste Station im Clarence, das übrigens Bono von U2 gehört. Ich habe noch nie ein so freundliches, zuvorkommendes und einfach perfektes Personal erlebt.
Auch das ‘full irish breakfast’war ein Traum, über Black Pudding lässt sich ja bekanntlich streiten, aber das muss jeder selbst wissen. Jeder erdenkliche Extrawunsch wurde ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken erfüllt.
Wir hatten ein Zimmer zum Liffey– River, der Blick war großartig, besser geht es nicht.
Warum ich einen Punkt abziehen muss
Das Zimmer war sehr klein, mein Nachttisch hat irgendwie merkwürdig geklebt, bis ich ihn abgewischt habe und auch sonst war alles ein wenig alt. Prinzipiell stört mich sowas nicht, aber dafür war der Preis wirklich gesalzen.
Aber unterm Strich würde ich dort wieder einkehren, die Lage ist super und der Service unschlagbar.

So when we planned our big trip to Ireland, a stop at U2/Bono’s hotel was a must. We were expecting a super swanky rock star hotel, and were quite shocked to find such an understated hotel. Extremely simple, almost boring!
We went straight in to the octagon bar, and we were the only people there, on a Thursday night 5 pm – do the Irish not do happy hour? Ok so we reviewed menu and I opted for a specialty martini. I forget the name, but it had rum and champagne — my 2 favorites– and some passion fruit or something! When the drink got there I didn’t even want to try it bc it looked so gross. Everyone in my group stared at me until I worked up the courage to take a sip. Wow super unexpected, looks are deceiving, it was delicious. No one wanted to try it; they decided to take my word for it! :)
I definitely recommended passing by just to say you went to Bono’s hotel, but be warned you may be disappointed.