Fionn MacCool’s

Great pub with great pub food and a great drink menu. Yes, it’s busy — that’s a sign of a good pub! I’ve never had an issue with the food or service and have been to that location many times. Great casual place to hang out and enjoy some delicious pub food!!! …try their Devils cut bourbon lemonade! Sooooo good!

Stopped in for drinks on a Saturday night. Service was awful. We asked for a water after several rounds of drinks, 40 minutes later I had to get up and search for our server because we just wanted to leave. I’ve served before and tend to be pretty easy going on service, but this was bad! It serves me right for cheating on my favorite pub, Ye Old Squire.

Popped around for a pint on Sunday. Still busy but not as crowded as Saturday. Great pint of Goose Island IPA as part of the seasonal beer campaign.

Our Friday lunch crew decided to give Fionn McCools a try. This is a brand new location opening up in Burlington. I have had good experiences at previous locations (restaurant chain). Our lunch crew entered in at 12:05 and were greeted quickly by the staff. The restaurant was gearing up for a busy lunch as the restaurant was quickly filling up.
After we were seated our server came by within 2 minutes. I understood that the restaurant was on its first week of opening and you could tell by the hustle and bustle of the service staff and the front of the house staff. After we were greeted by our server we were asked if we would like something to drink. Our group had just sat down an we haven’t even took off our jackets (this over anxious attentiveness is part inexperience and part opening week issues) We told our server to give us a couple of minutes and come back. The menu was a good size and the choices of beverages was excellent. Our server came back took our drink order and we figured out choices for lunch.
The time was about 12:15 when our drinks arrived and we ordered. Our tables order consisted of.1 fish and chips, 1 burger with fries, 1 shepherds pie appetizer. She put our order in and we had our drinks. Upon finishing our drinks, we looked at the time and it was almost 12:45. I asked our server if it was going to be much longer and she told us she was going to rush it out (as our lunch ended at 1pm). A manager arrived at our table 2 minutes later and informed us that she was going to expedite our food and was told «You should inform your server when you order that you have time limit and we can suggest quicker items to cook» I was a little perturbed by her comments as I have worked in the industry for a number of years and to cook 3 orders. Burger and fries 7 – 10 minutes max. Fish and chips.7−10 min. Appetizer 5−7min.that is if you have to cook them all one after another.
We finally got our food at 12:55 in which time we couldn’t really enjoy or eat it. Our group grabbed take out containers and paid the bill and left. I can understand the opening of a new restaurant and the uncertain nature of new staff. I was totally accepting of that and what problems might arrise, but the comment made by the manager put me off…2 stars.

Seeing as how they just opened on the Tuesday past this day (Friday 20^th of Feb) is technically the first Friday they’ve ever had. As usual we go out for lunch on Friday and we ended up going to Fionn MacCool’s as it was Ryan’s turn to pick a lunch spot.
This place is a chain and I’ve only seen them and never been to one yet. This was my first Fionn MacCool’s experience. The first thing I noticed is it felt as if I was in my old Catholic high school again because all the servers wear kilts… yes even the guys!
The interior is a nice warm and friendly pub feel to it and being as this was my first Fionn MacCool’s chain experience I had nothing to really compare it to.
We had a look at both the drink menu and food menu. I had went with a Boneshaker by Amsterdam Brewery (65 IBU) which had a slight bitter taste and was a medium hoppy taste to it.
For lunch I had ordered the avocado bacon burger with Irish chips upgrade from regular fries.
One thing that was sort of evident was that the place seemed overwhelmed with their first Friday service it seemed. The place was sort of full but not 100% capacity and bustling. We had to ask our server for our food because it was about 20 to 1pm and we had to be back by 1pm. That is basically a stipulation of ours, that we be back to work on time. Many a place has never been visited again by our group if that condition was not met.
Unfortunately our food arrived at 10 minutes to 1pm. Automatically are going to be late between getting the bill, paying and packing our food. If there’s one thing I would prefer not to do as much as possible is packing my lunch and eating it back at the office because realistically there’s no real enjoyment in that and the food can get cold or soggy by the time you get back as well.
Somebody came over that I can only assume was the manager and had mentioned that she was aware of the situation and that she had escalated the priority for our food to be cooked in the kitchen. She also mentioned that next time we should mention that we have to be out at a certain time would also expedite the situation. That’s fair. I mean this is their first week, their first Friday service and if any reasonable person can understand that there are going to be kinks sometimes. It’s what they do with those kinks is what is important in my books.
I explained to our server that we would come back and try them again. I believe the consensus among the group was that this is part of the learning curve and while first impressions mean a lot to me there is in this case at least room for a second chance.
My food… I ate it back at the office. It was really good. I mean as far as burgers go they are fresh handmade patties, very fresh veggies as well as melted non processed cheese and bacon cooked well. The bun though… ACE BAKERY and fresh. The bun makes all the difference in the world. The quality of the burger overall is a 4 of 5. The Irish chips which are basically fries but cut like potato chips are good but I don’t see how or why they should be an additional 3 dollars on top of the fries I would have received. Don’t get me wrong they are really good and I’m not sure if you actually get more potato or not but IMO it should just be an option, not an upgrade.
The service was decent. Our server seemed new just like the place but she was welcoming and willing to please. It seemed as if she was inundated and perhaps that’s just part of the first Friday service. Experience will eventually come but overall I was happy with the service it just seemed they weren’t 100% prepared but we’ll give it some time and give them another shot.
I’m going to give it a 3 for now with room to improve for next time.