Restaurant Review: Ramore Wine Bar, Portrush

This one doesn’t really need an introduction, but for the uninitiated, the Ramore family of restaurants in Portrush is a series of six unique eating establishments situated close to one another, each serving delicious and varied meals. There’s the Harbour Bistro, Harbour Bar, Coast (a pizzeria), The Mermaid, the newly opened Neptune & Prawn across the street and finally, the Ramore Wine Bar. Anyone who is at all familiar with the North Coast knows that there are few places better to go for such delicious food at such reasonable prices!

As a previous student of the University of Ulster in Coleraine, the Wine Bar is the Ramore restaurant that I frequent most often and where most of my student loan went. I think that it’s hands-down my favourite place to eat in the entire world. I love the wine bar system, where you go in, get seated and order at the bar. It’s quick, easy and there’s no waiting around after your meal. If you want to get a meal at the Wine Bar on a holiday or weekend, go early and expect to queue, but don’t worry, it’ll all be worth it.

The decor is relatively simple – a mixture of thick wooden tables and taller breakfast bar style seats with low hanging crab claw light fixtures and amazing views over Portrush harbour itself. The waiting staff are dressed all in black and buzz around constantly seating new tables and clearing up, creating a nice busy, but not rushed atmosphere.

I’d love to be able to review various dishes on the Wine Bar menu, but I only ever get the same thing: peppered rump steak with tobacco onions and pepper cream sauce for £12.95. For a rump steak, the meat comes out tender, juicy and flavoursome and I’ve never come across a pick of fat. The tobacco onions are just the right balance of crispy and soft, and if I could drink the pepper cream sauce I would. This may look like serious hyperbole, but it couldn’t be more true. I love steak, and this is the best I’ve had. If, unlike me, you want to be a bit more adventurous, check out the full menu here.

If you’re still a little peckish (you won’t be) after your meal, you can queue up at the sprawling dessert bar for a slab of cheesecake, meringue or some other sweet treat to take home (you can eat it in the restaurant too, but let’s face it, there might not be much room left).

The Ramore ‘complex’ is a real gem in Northern Ireland’s North Coast, it does what it does with simplicity and charm and it does it exceedingly well. At the rate it’s expanding, most of Portrush might be taken over soon and if I’m being honest, I don’t think that would be a bad thing at all. Viva la Ramore!