Oysters · County Dublin
The Dublin Oyster Rooms
Dublin does not have its own oyster, but it has the rooms that shuck other people's properly.
Our position
Klaw for the counter and the shucking, Matt the Thresher for a proper sit-down dozen, and ask which bay before you order.
Dublin's oysters travel. The city has no meaningful bed of its own, so what you eat came off a truck from Carlingford, Galway or Donegal that morning. The good rooms know exactly which, and will tell you. The bad ones say 'Irish' and change the subject.
Klaw in Temple Bar is a counter rather than a restaurant: you sit at the bar, watch them shuck, and eat a half dozen with a glass of white in twenty minutes. It is the best value seafood in the centre of Dublin, and the least ceremonial.
For a sit-down dozen with a tablecloth, Matt the Thresher on Pembroke Street is the reliable one, and it is five minutes from the Merrion and the Shelbourne. Neither is a substitute for eating at the bay, which is why this page exists mainly to get you out of Dublin.
- The bay
- Carlingford, Galway and Donegal, trucked in daily
- The oyster
- Mostly Pacific rock, native flat in season at the better rooms
- Season
- All year. Ask what came in that morning.
Book the table
What to book at Dublin
A half dozen at the Klaw counter
About 30 minutes · from €16 for six
Walk in, off peak. No booking, and it is better at four in the afternoon than at eight.
Reserve directDinner at Matt the Thresher
About 2 hours · from €22 for six
Book direct. The Georgian-square location makes it the easy first night if you are staying on Merrion Row.
Reserve directHowth coastal seafood and craft beer trail
About 3 hours · from €89
Thirty minutes out on the DART to the working fishing harbour, with the seafood and the beer to match. The best half day in Dublin for anybody who came for the sea.
Check dates and book
Every oyster room in one place: the oyster booking page. Or plan the week around this table.
What we order
- Whatever bay came in that morning, half dozen
- Dublin Bay prawns, when they are on
- Brown bread, always
- A glass of Chablis rather than a pint, in these rooms
Finish here after
The Long Hall
Dublin
Victorian, unchanged, and a five minute walk from Klaw.
Kehoe's
Dublin
The snug, if you can get it, after dinner on Pembroke Street.
Where we would sleep
Practical
- Where
- Temple Bar for the counter, Pembroke Street for the table
- Book ahead
- Only for the sit-down rooms, a few days out
- Ask
- Which bay, and what morning it landed
- Better still
- Take the hour north to Carlingford instead
Last checked September 2026. Source: the venue.
Questions we get
- Where are the best oysters in Dublin?
- Klaw in Temple Bar for a counter half dozen shucked in front of you, and Matt the Thresher on Pembroke Street for a full sit-down dozen. Both source from Carlingford, Galway or Donegal, and both will tell you which if you ask.
- Are there oyster beds in Dublin Bay?
- Not commercially worth eating from. Dublin's oysters come from Carlingford Lough, Galway Bay and Donegal. If oysters matter to you, spend one of your days driving an hour north to Carlingford and eat them where they were lifted.