Nominations open for the Irish Restaurant Awards 2017

The Restaurants Association of Ireland are delighted to announce that the nominations for the Irish Restaurant Awards 2017 are now open.

The public are able to choose their favourites across 20 categories including Best Restaurant, Best Casual Dining, Best Chef, Best Seafood Experience, Best World Cuisine and more.

Nominations can be made via www.irishtimes.com/ irishrestaurantawards until 12 noon, Wednesday 25th of January.

The Irish Restaurant Awards showcase the true talent that Ireland’s hospitality industry has to offer by acknowledging outstanding performers in the sector. Growing steadily from its humble beginnings back in 2009, the awards are now a five-month long process consisting of online public nominations, judging panels, mystery guest inspections and regional and national events.

This year, there are 20 categories in which the general public can nominate. These categories are made up of 15 Main award categories, including an exciting new category ‘Pub of the Year’, and five National award categories.

Main categories are as follows:

   Best Restaurant
   Best Chef
   Best Restaurant Manager
   Best Hotel Restaurant
   Best Casual Dining
   Best Gastro Pub
   Best Newcomer
   Best Customer Service
   Best Wine Experience
   Best Emerging Irish Cuisine
   Best World Cuisine
   Best Cafe
   Best Kids Size Me
   Local Food Hero
   Pub of the Year (NEW!)

National Categories

   Best Cocktail Experience
   Best Private Dining & Club Restaurant
   Best Cookery School
   Best Seafood Experience
   Best Digital Marketing

In the first stage of the judging process, online nominations are given a weighting of 30%, while the remaining 70% is made up from a regional judging panel assessment. Both of these results are combined and reviewed by an independent auditor (BDO) to give an overall county winner per category. These winners will be announced at a number of regional events held in March.

Each county winner then goes forward to the Regional and All-Ireland stage whereby they will then each receive a mystery guest inspection.  They will be assessed on their menu, customer service, and the overall dining experience from the moment the booking is made until the customer receives the bill.

National Categories will not receive a mystery guest inspection. They will be judged by the National Academy with the exception of Best Cocktail Experience which will be judged by the Bartenders Association of Ireland at a live competition.

The All-Ireland final of the Irish Restaurant Awards 2017 takes place on Monday, 8th of May 2017 in the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin.

Start nominating now!