Cahir empties out in the evening. The castle shuts, the day trippers go, and what is left is a handful of kitchens around the Square and Castle Street. That is not a complaint, it is just the shape of the town: there are enough places for a good dinner and not enough that you can turn up anywhere at nine and expect to be fed.
The restaurants
Lava Rock on Castle Street is the one to book. Open since 2014, modern European and grill from an open kitchen, about fifty seats across two rooms, with outside tables in summer, its own parking and a bring your own wine policy. It has sat at the top of the Cahir listings for years and it is the safest bet for a good evening meal in the town.
The Butler Room at Cahir House Hotel is the other one. It is a Georgian townhouse on the Square, built for the Butler family who owned the castle, and the dining room comes into its own at night, candlelit, in a way it does not at lunchtime. It is the occasion option.
Italian
Genoa and Galileo cover pasta and pizza between them. Galileo, in the Mill Building on Church Street, has been family run since 2002, has an open kitchen and takes bring your own wine, and it also does takeaway if you would rather eat where you are staying.
Chinese and Thai
Dream Garden on Old Church Street runs a Chinese menu alongside a Thai one, and does a substantial collection and delivery trade in the evening as well as sit down tables. It is the most useful place in Cahir to know about after the restaurant kitchens have stopped taking orders.
Pub kitchens
The Galtee Inn on the Square is the pub to try first for an evening meal, plain and generous rather than ambitious. The Shamrock Lounge and The Hill Inn on Barrack Street also serve food, and the Hill Inn has the function room and beer garden if you are a group. Pubs in Cahir covers the drinking end of all of them, including where the live music is.
Worth the drive
The Old Convent at Clogheen, fifteen minutes south towards the Vee, is the serious cooking near Cahir and is a different night out entirely. It needs booking well in advance and it is the evening rather than part of one.
If you arrive late
The realistic answer is a takeaway. Takeaway food in Cahir has who delivers and who does not. The pubs will serve you a drink long after the kitchens have closed, but do not count on food.
Practical
Everything above except the Old Convent is within a few minutes of the Square on foot, so pick one place, park once and walk. If you are coming off the motorway, getting to Cahir has the approach.
Ring ahead, especially at a weekend and especially if you are a group. A small town has a small number of tables, and the good ones go.