Fionn MacCool’s

The chowder is a must try. Best I’ve ever had. Good selection of beers and decent pricing. The atmosphere is very pub like. I actually felt like I could be in a pub in Ireland. Next time I’m going when the live band is playing. Good service. Great food. I recommend Fionn MacCool’s.

Went on a Sunday and it’s clear this was a mistake. A promising menu was rendered yuck by what I can only imagine is the B-​Team in the kitchen.
The host and wait staff were super nice and genuine as my date and I were seated and had our orders taken. We chose the french onion soup to share, I ordered the salmon-​leek pie and she, the steak and mushroom pie. A few minutes later, I was told there were out of the salmon-​leek. No big deal, I switched to the lamb pie. In retrospect, I should have picked something else.
I’ve had their french onion soup before in another city so knew it was good. But this particular bowl must have had a crazy amount of dry herbs (thyme and oregano?) added prior to baking, so much so that they kept getting caught in my throat. I guess the herbs weren’t in there long enough to soften in the broth.
The crust on the pie was pretty good but the dish was 50% crust. The filling tasted of flour and overwhelmingly of rosemary, with 3 small pieces of lamb and a couple of carrots. It was a really unappetizing grey colour to boot. It was supposed to be served on a bet of wilted spinach and mushrooms. In the picture, it really qualified as a bed and looked delicious. What I was served was about 12 leaves of raw baby spinach and some mushrooms, none of which were seasoned at all. Zero salt. Maybe the first time ever in a restaurant I had to add table salt. My date’s steak and mushroom filling was better but still too much crust.
The beer was delicious. Decent selection.

I was here on a very busy Saturday evening. There was a wait for our table, but we were told we could go to the bar to wait so we did. There were 3 of us and only 2 seats left at the bar. The place was packed. This wasn’t much of an issue though as it was still nice to hang out and have a drink while waiting to be seated. The host seemed very organized and polite despite the chaos of all of the people.
The building is brand new and quite nice inside. It has lots of wood and a pubby feel. It does seem small like the other reviewer said, but there sure can pack a lot of people inside
Two of us in our party tried a couple different kinds of filled boxties, an Irish potato pancake, and the other had the fish and chips. The food came out surprisingly quick considering how many people where there. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but the food was delicious.
I will definitely go back here. It’s something different and close-​by for me and there were quite a few other menu items I’d like to try. The daily drink specials are pretty decent too.

Another chain in London means great excitement for the city who loves a franchise. Fionn’s is part of the Cara chain which includes neighbour Kelsey’s. I’ve been to a few Fionn’s in other cities and I’ve always found them ok. I met a colleague for lunch.
This Fionn’s was built from the ground up so it is clean and new. You can still smell the wood. It seems a little smaller than some of the others I’ve been to.
The waitress was quite perky. She was definitely trained to upsell but did it properly. She went through the drink specials. I settled for coffee which she made sure wasn’t empty was entire time I was there.
I ordered a mushroom salad with salmon, It was decent. The salmon was seasoned properly although a bit overcooked. The wait time was not long. I did see two rather decent looking burgers came out for an adjacent table which would go really nice with a pint which range from standard domestics, a few craft brews (although most are owned by the big boys) and typical imports.
Not the most exhilarating review but neither was Fionn’s. I’ll likely go back when I’m less corporate and more social. Maybe it will be a little more exciting.