Hooked Seafood Restaurant

Hidden gem in town. We were looking for a fish and chips in town, we passed by chance and give it à try. Not too oily and 8 € only!
They only had wine bottle for drinks, why not some Galway craftbeer?

Meh…
We came here for my birthday the other night …
I guess I’m just not that jazzed on soggy stuff…
I really don’t wanna be like this… but the food was just not very good. first the tables are so close together I basically have someone’s butt in my face when they get up… or someone’s breathing down my neck… not very intimate… which wouldn’t matter if the food was amazing…
The waitress was fine and all just not that interested… which is fine. a bit of a bummer.
I ordered the salmon and my hubs ordered the fish and chips (which they are known for)
Both came out drippy and sorta soggy …
I just wasn’t into that it .
Neither was my husband …
We just didn’t want to be the Americans that complain …
Maybe it was a bad night… who knows …
It was just a let down because it was the one day of the year that I wanted a great meal…
Oh well … We won’t be back… we live on the other side of the world…

This charming nook of a restaurant represents the very best of Irish food and service. We first walked by about 8 PM and were charmed by the décor and wowed by the menu, but every table was packed, with more people waiting — on a Thursday! Another good sign. Further tantalized by glimpses of an enormous seafood platter, we went out for a pint and came back about an hour later.
The interior is really sweet — rough wood and a blue and white color scheme give it a nautical feel that’s not too kitchy, and it manages to feel cozy and not cramped even though the footprint is quite small. Silverware arrives in a caddy (an Irish practice I think Americans would do well to imitate!)
The kitchen had run out of oysters that evening, so our server offered to substitute something else so we could still have the seafood platter. We suggested fried cod, which she thought might be strange with the cold dishes, but cheerfully agreed and soon everything had arrived.
The food was outstanding. Delicately flavored crab claws and meat, richly smoked salmon and huge sweet prawns, all chilled to perfection and served with a tangle of greens, lemon slices and fresh brown bread with butter. The fried fish portion was enormous, hot and crispy outside and flaky and tender within, and the tartar sauce alongside was even better than the marie rose sauce that came with the cold seafood.
Service was fantastic as well. The young woman who waited on us was funny, personable and as charming as the restaurant itself, which she called «her baby» — her father owns the seafood wholesaler next door, which explains the high quality and staggeringly low prices (I think our platter was 20 euros, and we struggled to finish everything.) We were the last diners there, but she didn’t pressure or rush us, just stayed to chat even after we paid the bill. That level of service is extremely rare in Ireland, so we were all the more impressed.
Bonus: they are of Middle Eastern descent and offer falafel as an option for those who don’t eat seafood. As much as I love falafel, it would be pretty difficult to turn down that unbelievable platter if I were to visit again. .. though when I retire to Galway and come here a few times a week, I’ll probably give it a shot eventually! Hopefully by then they will have acquired a liquor license, as a cold beer with my fish was the only possible improvement they could make.