The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Balloo House
We assessed Balloo House in October 2026 and this review is based on the food menu and wine list at the time of the review. As menus and wine lists change, we name styles in order for the information to remain more useful as menus change. If things have slipped you can use the Vinealto Dining app including accessing an up to date reading using 'At the Table' from the wine list in front of you in the restaurant. How we assess
Balloo House is a busy country inn near Strangford Lough serving local seafood and dry aged steaks. Its wine list is broad and dependable, with real value in the better bottles, but it does little to match the food and offers nothing for dessert. It suits groups and families who want a good steak or fish supper with a reliable bottle.
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The Great Room
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Fine-dining modern European
The Great Room is the fine-dining restaurant of the Merchant Hotel in Belfast, serving luxurious modern European cooking built on Northern Irish produce. The wine programme is among the deepest in the guide (a vintage-aware Bordeaux and benchmark-Italy cellar with prestige and grower Champagne, a curious Rare Finds page and a well-judged by-the-glass) and it answers the menu's genuinely awkward plates as fluently as it pours its first growths. It will most reward the wine lover marking an occasion, who wants a great cellar to lead the evening and a sommelier to open it up.
Read the assessmentNoble
Holywood, Northern Ireland
Modern European
Noble is a lively neighbourhood restaurant in Holywood with a short seasonal menu of rich, confident cooking. Its wine list is far more ambitious than its size suggests, with fair prices, mature bottles and a strong range by the glass and by Coravin. It suits wine lovers who want serious bottles in a relaxed local setting, and anyone happy to trade up a glass at a time.
Read the assessmentWaterman House
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Modern European bistro
Waterman House is a Cathedral Quarter bistro cooking a short, seasonal menu built on house made pasta and Irish produce. Its wine list goes well beyond the format, with fifteen wines by the glass, unusual grapes, a serious cellar of aged fine wine and a full after dinner page. It will suit anyone who wants to drink well and adventurously by the glass, or to open something old and special with a steak.
Read the assessmentOra
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Wine bar and tapas
Ora is a wine-and-tapas restaurant in central Belfast where the list is a genuine equal to the global-fusion small plates. The wine programme is properly curated and wine-led (a broad glass-and-carafe range, grower Champagne, benchmark Burgundy and a marked organic and vegan thread), and it carries exactly the off-dry, aromatic and low-tannin styles the kitchen's ferments and chilli demand. It will most reward the curious wine lover who likes to drink a different glass with every plate and to be led by a list that has thought about the food.
Read the assessmentDeanes Meat Locker
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Steak / Asador grill
Deanes Meat Locker is a Belfast steak house built around an asador grill and aged beef. Its list of about 130 wines is far deeper than most steak houses offer, with fine Burgundy, mature Bordeaux and a strong range of Champagne, sweet wine and Port. It will suit anyone who wants a serious red with a serious steak, especially those happy to spend on an older bottle.
Read the assessmentHome Restaurant
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Modern European bistro
Home is a busy Belfast bistro that cooks Northern Irish produce with care and sells it at fair prices. Its wine list is broad and well noted, with fifteen wines by the glass and a run of half bottles that make it easy to match wine to each course. It will suit couples and small groups who want a good bottle without a lecture, though anyone hoping for a dessert wine will be disappointed.
Read the assessmentmrDeanes
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Modern brasserie
mrDeanes is a Belfast city centre bistro serving brasserie classics alongside spiced Asian dishes. Its broad list offers sixteen wines by the glass, most also by the carafe, and fair value through the middle of the range. It suits groups and casual diners who want a reliable glass more than a list to explore.
Read the assessmentShu
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Modern European
Shu is a bistro on Belfast's Lisburn Road with a menu that mixes French, Mediterranean and Asian cooking. Its one page list pours 19 of its 39 wines by the glass, plus four dessert wines, with crisp whites for the fish and a run of Burgundy at the top. It suits a relaxed dinner for anyone who wants plenty of choice by the glass.
Read the assessment