Finnbar’s Pub

1 Reviews on “Finnbar’s Pub”

• Roger K

  Truly friendly staff, decent draft beers, and OK food.. With about two dozen beers on tap, we started with a Troegs Perpetual IPA and a Magic Hat Smoked Porter ($6/ 16 oz. each; less $2 each during Happy Hour) since the Goose Island Nut Brown Ale had just kicked. A large party of 6 children and 7 adults sitting across from us, celebrating an eight years old’s birthday, had just placed their order so we expected a delay in the kitchen. Fortunately, staff must have arranged for our apps to come out before the large party was served, so we didn’t have to wait an unreasonable amount time.We shared an order of Whisky Wings ($10) – about 9 wings, tossed with honey, garlic confit, butter and herbs, flambed with Irish whisky (apparently in the kitchen) and served with Cashel blue dressing. The wings were broiled, had nice char marks and plenty of meat. The honey added a nice touch of sweetness with the herbs. Definitely worth ordering again. Even the Cashel dressing was excellent with the carrots and celery on the side.For her main course my wife ordered the Cottage Pie ($10) – slow roasted pulled beef and peas, topped with a potato champ cap and soda bread. The dish is described as similar to a shepherd’s pie, but with beef instead of lamb. Potato champ is explained as mashed potatoes with butter and green onions. While my wife finished her meal she did not find the dish exciting. The meat was tender, but she would have liked more of the gravy and more flavor. The soda bread was dry, but had a good baking soda flavor.I ended up eating the soda bread with my cup of Pumpkin soup ($5/$10) that was on the Specials Menu. The soup was very thick, had pumpkin flavor without being spiced up to taste like a liquid pie filling, and seemed like it was missing something. I also ordered an Irish Pizza ($8) from the Lite Fare menu – a twice-fried boxti with melted cheese and seasonal toppings (sliced grape tomatoes). A boxti is a cross between a potato pancake and a tortilla. Usually wrapped around a filling such as seasonal greens and some meat, the pizza version is simply the potato pancake fried on both sides to give it sufficient structure to allow you to pick up a slice with its topping. Other than the slice of cheese on the top, there was not much flavor to the grilled mashed potatoes.In spite of our disappointment with some of the food we sampled, we did see some other items that looked like they would be worth coming back to try… since the beer is good. And since the beer was good, we finished with one more pint each – a Southern Tier ChoKlat and a Magic Hat Ravell Vanilla Porter. Deserts consist of a selection of cheesecakes from Machismo in Albany. I enjoyed a slice of Carmel Brownie cheesecake ($7).

  January 8, 2013, 4:48 am

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