Photo courtesy of Hunter's Hotel, Used with permission
Editorial Review
Hunter's Hotel Restaurant
The Atmosphere
“The dining room of Ireland's oldest coaching inn, held by one family since 1820, with a garden running down to the Vartry.”
Hunter's has been an inn at Newrath Bridge since the coaching era and in the same family since 1820, which makes the dining room less a restaurant than a continuity. Lunch runs from half twelve, afternoon tea from three, dinner from seven, every day, and the garden along the river is the reason to arrive early. The cooking is Irish country-house: soup, fish, lamb, a trolley of puddings, no attempt at reinvention. Some readers will find it old-fashioned. That is the point of it, and after a week of tasting menus it is a relief.
The long version
The dining room of Ireland's oldest coaching inn, in the same family since 1820, with a garden running to the Vartry.
Hunter's sits at Newrath Bridge outside Rathnew, and it has been an inn on this spot since travellers changed horses here. One family has held it since 1820. The dining room looks out over a garden that runs down to the river, and on a fine day lunch is served in it.
There is no attempt at modernity anywhere in the building, and that is the reason to go. After a fortnight of hotel restaurants with the same four dishes, a country house dining room that has not changed its mind in a century is a genuine pleasure.
“A dining room that has not changed its mind in a century is a pleasure, not a fault.”
The cooking
Irish country-house food: soup, fish of the day, Wicklow lamb, garden vegetables, a proper pudding. Lunch runs from half twelve and dinner from seven, every day, which is unusual dependability in rural Ireland.
Afternoon tea is served from three in the afternoon during the week and is the better booking on a fine day, taken in the garden with the river behind the hedge.
The setting
The garden is the whole thing. It is old, planted rather than landscaped, and full of the sort of shrubs that take fifty years. Arrive twenty minutes early and walk it before you sit down.
The Garden Room takes small parties, which makes this a practical choice for a family gathering in the middle of a trip.
Using it from Tinakilly
Tinakilly House is about five minutes away, and Mount Usher Gardens is ten. A day of gardens and a long lunch here is a complete and very Wicklow way to spend a fine afternoon.
Ring to book rather than emailing. The house still works that way, and it is faster.
Two centuries in one family produces a particular kind of service, and it is worth knowing what to expect. Nobody will recite the provenance of the butter. The vegetables will arrive in a dish to share. Lunch will take two hours because that is how long lunch takes here, and hurrying it is the one thing that will not work.
That pace is exactly why we use it in the middle of a trip rather than at either end. By day eight of an Irish itinerary most American visitors have driven too far and eaten too much, and an afternoon in a walled garden with soup, lamb and a pudding resets the week. Bring a book, take the garden table, and leave the afternoon after it empty on purpose.
What we would not pretend
It is deliberately old-fashioned in room, service and menu, and readers who want contemporary cooking will find it dated. That is the trade, and it is stated plainly.
How we would use it
Lunch or afternoon tea in the garden while staying at Tinakilly, paired with Mount Usher, with dinner kept light afterwards.
The Expat Perspective
One family has held this inn since 1820, and you can taste the consequence: soup, fish, lamb, a pudding trolley, no reinvention at all. After a week of tasting menus we book it deliberately. The garden along the Vartry is the real reason. Arrive an hour early and walk it before anyone shows you to a table.
Before you book the table
Telephone rather than book online. The house still works that way, and on a fine day ask about afternoon tea in the garden instead of dinner.
Where it is
- Address
- Newrath Bridge, Rathnew, County Wicklow
- Telephone
- +353 404 40106
- Published serving hours
- Lunch daily from 12.30pm. Dinner daily from 7pm.
Details read from the restaurant's own website and checked on 2026-09-17. Hours change with the season, so confirm when you book.
Insider Intelligence
How we would book Hunter's Hotel Restaurant
The table to ask for
Ask for a garden-view table, and book lunch rather than dinner for the light.
Paste this into the booking request
We would like a lunch table with a view of the garden, please.
Book direct with the restaurantGround truths
- It is an old coaching inn. The pleasure is continuity, not novelty.
- Afternoon in the garden is the memory. Leave time for it.
- It is an easy drive from Dublin, which makes it a strong first or last day.
Public guest perspective
What guests consistently notice
Guests return for old-fashioned hospitality, the riverside garden, and country-house cooking that refuses to chase fashion.
The honest caveat
The style is deliberately old-fashioned and will feel dated to diners looking for contemporary design or plating.
Guests return for
- A remarkable historic atmosphere
- The garden and river
- Traditional puddings and service
How to order
Lean into the house tradition. Soup, local fish or lamb, followed by pudding, is the right rhythm.
Before you book
Telephone ahead and arrive early enough to walk the garden before the meal.
Rooms Worth Requesting
What it actually feels like.
Afternoon tea in the garden is the better booking on a fine day. Ring rather than book online; the house still works that way.
Why we recommend it
A space that justifies the journey.
It is five minutes from Tinakilly and it does the one thing a coastal Wicklow evening wants, which is a long unhurried dinner in a garden that has looked the same for two centuries.