I had not expected Chubbys in Clontarf to be quite so difficult to book. After all, it’s been open since June 2025. But every time I’ve tried to get a reservation, it’s been booked out, to the point that I actually believed there was a glitch in the software. I was added to the standby list for a date in January, with a promise of an email when there was availability, but that was the end of our glorious correspondence.
Interrogation of a local, my editor, puts me straight. If you’re serious – eek, that’s me told – you need to be on the Chubbys Instagram account at the exact moment reservations go live, deploying all the tactics usually reserved for Taylor Swift tickets. She, of course, is an expert – there have been many Chubbys outings for her family – so, in the interest of fairness, I suggest hijacking the booking she has just secured. The man she married is immediately ousted (sorry to him), and so I find myself settling into a comfortably upholstered seat at a shared table with my beleaguered editor as part hostage, part company on her Friday night off.
Chubbys is the bricks-and-mortar iteration of the Just Chubbys Mexican-inspired food truck, which Barry Stephens of 147 Deli in the city centre opened during lockdown. It is quite different. A former warehouse, it has had a serious makeover by Jen Stephens, Barry’s wife, who has a background in branding and design. Painted Jaipur pink, the open kitchen, with its Clay Oven robata grill and Ole Hickory smoker, runs in a long sweep, reflected in the 18-foot mirror on the opposite wall. A suspended ceiling, crafted from 432 individually cut timber slats, adds warmth.
A cocktail arriving soon after you sit down always bodes well. The classic margarita (€13) is textbook, the rim of the glass encrusted with flakes of sea salt, while the frozen hibiscus margarita (€14), a raspberry coloured frozen slushie with El Jimador tequila, lime, agave and hibiscus, provides almost an hour of happiness. The nachos (€13.50) are an editor favourite, and I can see why as I tuck into the tortilla chips which have been doused with house-made cheese sauce, an eye watering jalapeño relish and pickled red onions.
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Chubbys uses notably high quality produce, which means both the chicken and pork are free range, presenting me with a bit of a quandary. I am tempted by the Buffalo chicken burger, which has achieved legendary status in my editor’s household, but decide instead to take a trawl through the global dishes on the fire-led menu which draw on the influence of London favourites Smoking Goat, Kiln and Brat.
I may be on a lucky run of vegetarian dishes at the moment, as the charred cauliflower tacos (€13 for two) are not your usual doused-in-Buffalo-sauce variety. Cheese melted on to the tortilla provides the perfect surface to be filled with an earthy layering of flavours – charred cauliflower, caramelised until it’s nutty, salsa roja, and an assertive salsa macha full of peanuts toasted in their skins.
Not many dishes stop me in my tracks, but the spiced Comeragh Mountain lamb on flat bread (€18.50) does exactly that. Mountain lamb is something special, sweeter and more intense, and here it is steamed slowly and finished on charcoal, leaving the edges singed and smoky, topped with curried mango, pickled fennel, nubbles of feta, and frazzled curry leaves, all resting on a pale green yoghurt. Pomegranate seeds bring bursts of sweetness and crunch. The courgette salad (€13), recommended to us by our waiter, has robust ribbons of mixed courgettes, tossed with almonds and Parmesan in an olive oil, garlic and chilli dressing.
The fries are another dish worth getting, so we opt for queso carnita fries (€13), a huge pile of double-cooked chips, rippling with crispy bits, the slow-cooked pork sitting in the middle. It is topped with red onion and cheese sauce. They could sell that cheese sauce by the bottle. In fact, I’d buy every one of their sauces.
We finish with a lemon posset (€11), a perfectly made specimen, zinging with lemon and embellished with crumbled amaretto biscuits on top.
Excellent service, superb food, serious produce, house-made sauces and delicious cocktails put Chubbys right up there with the top restaurants in the country, leaving me with just two wishes: that fish would feature daily on the menu – it’s Clontarf, after all – and that they open a Chubbys closer to me.
I have since learned that bookings open every two months and, yes, you do need to be on Insta to find out release days.
Dinner for two with two cocktails was €109.
The Verdict: A global-influenced menu cooked in a live-fire kitchen.
Food provenance: Free-range chicken, Sean Rings Farm; free-range pork, Salters Farm; Comeragh mountain lamb and beef, Pat McLoughlin and Peter Hannan.
Vegetarian options: Corn ribs, chargrilled tender-stem broccoli and charred cauliflower taco.
Wheelchair access: Fully accessible, with an accessible toilet.
Music: Loud. Soul, Motown, house and hip-hop.
