Choice of eateries on the Cork to Cavan route that are handy to stop at for myself and the 5 darlings, when I’m travelling alone with them, are few and far between. I need somewhere where I can park near the door of the restaurant, where service is efficient, and that has a large bathroom so that we can all go in together. 

The choice is usually McDs, Roscrea or McDs, Athlone. Roscrea is near enough halfway on our journey so its usually the option taken and I have stopped there on a few occasions this year as we make the journey every couple of months.

Last Tuesday I noticed that it has been refurbished. The new layout and seating is great. More bench style seats with extra stools that can be moved, excellent. Plenty of baby highchairs. All looked clean. We arrived around 12 midday so there were only a few other customers there. Service was ok. We received the beverages immediately even though they had run out of milk so juice was the option for the children. We had to wait for the kid’s happy meals and my burger. The happy meals were fine, but the burger wasn’t too good. The onions were still fairly raw and bun was  undertoasted.

Unfortunately the bathroom was also dirty which was awful. To be fair when I brought this to the attention of the staff, they dealt with it immediately and a cleaner went in. But I think this typifies the problem here. When there’s a good manager on duty, this is a great McDonald’s outlet with fast, attentive service, reasonable food and a clean environment. Otherwise, everything tends to be a bit lax. Its very hit and miss.

I would love to find more options for restaurants that are handy and child friendly when it comes to travelling this route, anywhere around Templemore, Roscrea or Birr would be ideal. For the time being this seems to be our best option.