Horatio Todds Ballyhackamore
Posted on February 27, 2010 by Stephen
Horatio Todds
- Ballyhackamore’s latest Bar/restaurant, opened its doors on Friday 26th Feb. Previously known as cafe Rouge, this large establishment has now been taken over by Botanic Inns and added to their considerable portfolio of bars. The old cafe Rouge has been overhauled and refurbished to a very high standard by Botanic Inns .
Why the name ‘Horatio Todd’s‘? Stephen Morrigan, Botanic Inns managing director says - “We wanted a bar and restaurant that would mean something to the local community so naming it after such an esteemed local personality gave us the perfect fit we were looking for,” continued Stephen, “Horatio was the first president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, he received an OBE and was also assigned a Justice of Peace accolade. Within his Holywood Road pharmacy he prepared and dispensed many of his own products and he was an expert perfume maker. We were also able to get in touch with one of Horatio’s old colleagues, Harold Porter who has kindly supplied us with a range of original fliers and bottles from the pharmacy which will all be on display in our new bar.
Horatio Todds
Horatio Todds is a spacious bar, consisting of a large bar area, complete with luxurious leather sofas and the restaurant residing at the back of the bar.
The opening night attracted a fair crowd - the usual mix of curious locals who all wanted to sample the latest addition to Ballyhackamore’s growing entertainment scene. The bar has a very nice ambience and certainly looks like it is on track to becoming a popular local bar and eating establishment .
What are your views on Horatio Todd’s? All comments welcome below.
Comments (16)
yeah, it looks a like a decent bar alright. Lets hope they keep a tight rein on it and keep out the lowlife. Once they get in and make it their watering hole, the decent clientele all leave. ie the Point bar in Ballyhackamore!
is it a family friendly place ? looks lovely , shame about the gimmicky “Victoriana” name and theme-pub feel. Still, bound to be an improvement on the overpriced and stuck up cafe Rouge
Too bright
This bar/ restaurant has a really inviting atmosphere, the lay out is spacious and modern, noting too in your face, just relaxed, which I personally I appreciated
We only had the small plates as the restaurant was fully booked, even so the food was served quickly, with tapas style amounts, it was great for sharing & tasty!
I found the staff to be friendly and polite, which is always a plus, they were also (along with the other diners) tolerate of my two year old son, with nappy changing facilities available in the disabled toilets it caters for everyone!
worst cosmo i have ever tasted!! staff need to realise
that only 25ml of vodka and 25ml of ciontreau and 10ml
of lime cordial and 15ml of fresh lime is in drink, not
35ml measures and overflowing making almost 50ml.
Shame this happened as all other cocktails in past wks
were perfect.
not overly impressed with the meal at Hotartio’s. It was average to be honest. Much nicer at benedicts I have to say. I had the salmon, which was a very small fillet on a small bed of mash. No veg, which of course came as a side order. It was very basic carrots and brochiili which was bland.
Nice bar and good ambience, but as far as food goes, certianly nothing to write home about.
When it’s busy some of the bar staff think they’re Tom Cruise in the film cocktail, messing about instead of making the service more efficient. Much style yet no substance
I was in Horatio’s last Sat night. Have to say I got the impression it had got a bit rougher. Surrounded by loud boisterous drunks, bumping into people. Nothing wrong with being a bit noisey, but there is limits. This just looked lke a rough crowd. The kind that eventually took over the Point bar.
I thought jeeze, hope Horatios, doesnt descend into another lowlife bar Remember when Benedicts actually used to be a nice bar? Then it was taken over by chavs -the gold chains and no brains type.
Please don’t tell this local bar go down that route. Otherwise you will lose the decent people who go elsewhere to find a bar with a good atmosphere
I had my Christmas Lunch here and it was great, I love the food, been a few times. I just love their Lavender and Honey Ice Cream!
Cocktails are rocket fuel
The beer is ok. The Guinness is terrible. Every time I have been there I have got a bad Guinness. The last time I got one there the head was massive and overflowing.
So, I think the bar staff need to be retrained in how to pour properly and something needs to be done about the awful taste.
Tell the bar staff to stop looking at themselves in the mirrors and try looking at the customers who are desparately trying to arract their attention to order drinks.
They should set up an area for cocktail orders only as the time spent preparing these is roughly 5 times longer that the pint/short order.
Listen to the customers………………..
Luigi,
I couldn’t agree with you more. It is so frustrating when you just want a glass of wine and the staff are prancing about posing and making an array of time-consuming cocktails. It is the same set-up as the Apartment. Surely it isn’t rocket-science to have a Cocktail Only area. I also agree that the crowd has become increasingly rough.
It is hardly the barstaffs fault if people keep ordering cocktails, they have to be made and they take time. That place is completely rammed every weekend, and everyone knows that, so if you don’t want to wait at the bar, go somewhere else.
Having seen the bar when it wasnt very busy, space is extremely limited there, so having a cocktail only area would be a terrible idea and would just further congest the bar.
Nice bar, but for frigs sake do something about the waiting times at the bar. Should have a cocktail area, the waiting time is frankly ridiculous!
agree with last poster. Great place on a weekend night, but the quues at the bar…..argh! Bar staff spending 5 mins making one cocktail for women. PLEASE, ring off a cocktail area of the bar and let them queue there for their exotic drinks. Then the rest of us can get served a bit quicker.
Without exagerration its probably the slowest bar in Belfast for getting served.
Nice food, but the steaks in The Point are nicer