More than 60 restaurants in Ireland shortlisted for a 2025 Deliveroo Restaurant Award

Wednesday, April 16, 2025. 12:27pm

The Deliveroo awards celebrate the most loved restaurants and food across Ireland, from popular pizza and banging burgers to scrumptious sushi and sizzling spice bags.

This year, the neighbourhood delivery app has recruited a guest judge with arguably one of the most discerning palates on the planet – Celebrity Masterchef finalist, TV personality, Cork’s Ballymaloe Cookery School graduate, and the daughter of multi-Michelin star restaurant royalty, Tilly Ramsay.

From today until 9th May at 23.59, local Irish food lovers can cast their votes to back their favourite local restaurants. Irish foodies who vote will be automatically entered into a draw to win €150 in-app credit.*

With 65 award categories in total, the prizes that Ireland’s neighbourhood restaurants are battling for at the 2025 Deliveroo Restaurant Awards include 10 local cuisine-led awards like Best Chicken, Best Pizza, Best Chinese, as well as Ireland’s Regional Restaurant of the Year Award – with Deliveroo customers voting to decide the winner. There has also been an introduction of several new award categories for 2025, including Lifetime Achievement, Changing the Game, Role Model and Rising Star.

The nominated Irish restaurants will also face off UK restaurants in a bid to be named Independent Restaurant of the Year, which will be judged by a dedicated panel of foodie experts. In 2024, Ireland boasted the Independent Restaurant of the Year for the UK and Ireland when Dublin’s Yeeros scooped the top prize.

Independent Restaurant of the Year

Celebrating the local restaurants that have had the very opposite of a ‘Kitchen Nightmare’ thanks to their rave reviews on the app, Tilly Ramsay will help judge and crown the coveted 2025 Deliveroo Independent Restaurant of the Year title.

She’ll sit alongside a panel of experts that include Deliveroo’s CEO and Founder Will Shu and esteemed food critic and returning judge and food critic Jimi Famurewa – making her the awards’ youngest ever judge.

Five restaurants in Ireland are in the running to be named Deliveroo’s Independent Restaurant of the Year as voted by customers. The winner of the public vote will be crowned Regional Restaurant of the Year and progress to a showdown against other Regional winners from across the UK to win the top prize.

The Irish restaurants competing against eateries from the UK are:

Koto, Cork

An award-winning, family-run and owner-operated Asian restaurant on Cork’s Carey’s Lane. Koto’s natural and additive-free cooking creates gluten-free and vegan dishes for diners in Cork and has been a mainstay in the city since opening its doors in 2017.

Seed, Belfast

Known for its salad bowls, burritos and smoothies, Seed is a health food restaurant that has taken Northern Ireland by storm since first opening its doors in 2022. The restaurant opened its third location in Belfast in 2024.

Fired Up Pizza, Dublin

Fired Up Wood Fired Pizza was born during the pandemic and began serving authentic wood fire pizzas out of two repurposed shipping containers placed outside the front of the Goat bar in Goatstown, Dublin. Fired Up Pizza now has three locations, serving the true Italian classic with the best ingredients Ireland has to offer.

Pi, Dublin

The restaurant is led by Laois native Reggie White and his business partner, John Savage. Located on South Great Georges Street in Dublin City centre, Pi uses only the very finest 00 flour from Naples, Italy.

Sprout & Co, Dublin

After training at Ballymaloe Cookery School, Jack Kirwan began making and selling fresh juices out of Avoca in 2013. The concept evolved, leading to the founding – with his brother Theo – of Sprout & Co, a chain of quick-serve lunch spots with a focus on local, seasonal food. Sprout & Co now has restaurants across Dublin and Kildare.

Tilly Ramsay as judge

Tilly Ramsay, Judge, Deliveroo Restaurant Awards 2025

Having seen her star rise in the culinary world from just 12 years old, and now a recent graduate from the prestigious Ballymaloe Cookery School, Tilly Ramsay is also perfectly placed to judge Deliveroo’s ‘Rising Star’ title – a new for 2025 category – one which will see her celebrating the next generation of chef talent.

Tilly Ramsay said: “I can’t wait to take my taste buds on a tour as I rate some of the most loved local eats from around Ireland and the UK as part of the Deliveroo Restaurant Awards. The shortlist of restaurants looks epic and I’m excited to get stuck into deliberating the dishes for the top title, Independent Restaurant of the Year, with my co-judges.

“It’s also a huge honour to be supporting the next generation of restaurateur talent as part of the Rising Star award – as a recent culinary school graduate and someone still early in my career, it feels very special to celebrate new and exceptional talent in the food industry!”

On recruiting Tilly Ramsay as the newest Deliveroo Restaurant Awards judge, Will Shu, CEO & Founder at Deliveroo, said: “The Deliveroo Restaurant Awards is about championing the Irish restaurants who provide incredible selection and quality food in their communities. These restaurants are the beating heart of our towns and cities, and they obsess over making sure every food delivery is a special moment for our customers – that’s something worth celebrating.

“We’re excited to have Tilly Ramsay join our judging panel this year – whilst her family history has no doubt helped hone her tastes, it’s great to be working with the next generation of food talent. Make sure you vote for your favourite restaurants if you want to see them take home a title.”