Thé location of Karl's place in the centre of Howth was great for our two day family trip to Dublin. Shops and the DART station were close by. However we all felt it was a bit of a pity, as it could be a nice place to stay but that some essential maintenance on the place was necessary, and the main problem for me was there was a strong smell of smoke in the living area.
The location above the restaurant was fine, we didn't meet the owner but the waiter who showed us to the apartment was nice and quickly provided us with the right bedding when we realized at night we hadn't been provided with the right sized bedding for the sofa bed. The wall between this flat and the other half of the house is very thin and though I think the people on the other side were really trying to be considerate it sometimes felt like they were in the room with us. Compared to some of the other places we stayed during our trip, it felt a bit unloved and expensive for what it was.