Good for the Soul

The food is fantastic. Great intention, artistry, balance. Top class. The staff is very nice, but they were increasingly stressed due to the influx of customers, which made the whole (small) restaurant feel stressed as our meal went on. I'm not blaming them, but it definitely impacted our experience. As we were eating, there was a queue forming by us of people coming in the front door. And we're on a small two-person table that genuinely feels like it's going to get knocked over by the throng of people. The location isn't built / designed for both people sitting down, at least how it's laid out, and a large queue. We were looking around to pay for a few minutes near the end of the meal and all the staff seemed preoccupied, so I asked the gentleman who had served us if I should pay at the counter, and he said yes. So I queued behind people coming in for takeaway coffees for a few minutes after the service had been to the table up to that point. I found this kind of messy, to be queuing twice for the same meal. The kicker as to why we're unfortunately not enthusiastic to go back, a lady came in with a dog under her arm whose butt was looming-cum-hovering over my wife's food. This seems to be okay with the management, as she was seated and all, but the mix of flying dog and artisan eggs is not a good breakfast vibe. Amazing food, real nice staff, but too stressy and weirdly laid out to be a relaxing experience for us. My wife didn't finish the end of her food after the dog arrived, which makes the wonderful quality of the food more of a taunt than a benefit in that moment. Ha.

Really nice cafe located in central Ballincollig, staff were super accommodating, as we had received a table outside but once a table was free inside they allowed us to move inside. Coffee was amazing and the food was just as good

Lovely service and foods amazing 🥰 overall great vibes, hidden gem✨

Disappointing Experience at “Good for the Soul” I had high hopes for this place given the name, but sadly, the experience was anything but comforting. One of the most frustrating aspects was the complete lack of flexibility with the menu—when I asked to make a simple adjustment to a dish, I was told it wasn’t possible, without any real explanation or effort to accommodate. Service was another major letdown. My coffee arrived 25 minutes before my food, which meant I had to drink it lukewarm or wait and enjoy it cold. Either way, not ideal. To make things worse, the general service attitude felt inattentive and inconsistent. There was a young woman with red hair working behind the till who was noticeably friendly and loud with regulars, laughing and chatting openly. But when it came to new customers like myself, she made no effort to be welcoming or even polite—just a quick, impersonal transaction that felt borderline dismissive. All in all, the vibe was cliquey and the service lacked basic hospitality. I won’t be returning, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re already part of the inner circle. This review is up over a week and still no reply or enquiry from the management team at good for the soul tells me all i need to know about the type of business you are conducting.

I had the French toast with maple and bacon, the bacon was extremely crispy which is each to their own I personally don't like extremely crispy bacon. It was fab. They were out of stock of the smoothies when I went which I wanted to try it was sold out so I presuming it most be good. The orange juice was nice.