The Claddagh Restaurant & Pub

 

Located at 130 East Parris Avenue in High Point (with a sister location in Asheveille), The Claddagh serves Irish pub fare for lunch and dinner seven days a week. There is a full bar, food specials change daily, and a brunch is offered on Sundays.

 

Named for a traditional Irish ring and boasting an equally traditional (for the most part) menu, the Claddagh has the Gaelic pub look down cold, an image solidified by the tricolours displayed amid the wood-and-brick interior. Whatever its bonafides, however, the Claddagh offers a fairly underwhelming experience.

 

My first visit here was to place and pick up a takeout order. The hostess who greeted me was amiable, but none of the front-of-house staff seemed to be wearing masks. The food also took a few minutes longer than estimated though it wasn’t an unreasonable wait by any means.

 

I went with fried green tomatoes, a half-order of fish and chips, and a half-order of shepherd’s pie to feed two. Though the half-orders were billed as enough food for anyone who wasn’t starving, portion sizes skewed small. Prices also seemed inflated for the restaurant’s concept. Our half orders were $10 apiece with full orders starting in the mid-teens. The fried green tomatoes, an app, ran $11.49. A good value this is not, but it would be pardonable for top-notch food.

 

On that account, The Claddagh is a mixed bag. The fried green tomatoes, thickly battered and accompanied by a deliciously zesty smoked gouda pimento, were very good and well worth it. The fish, a beer battered cod, was likewise battered well and nicely crisped without being dry inside. The shepherd’s pie was heartily satisfying though the flavors were a bit understated. On the other hand, the sides ranged from forgettable (slaw) to bad (flavorless, freezer fry-grade chips).

 

The Claddagh’s menu appeal and the meal’s high notes were enough for me to not write this place off completely, but if I return, it will be with lowered expectations.

Finnigan's Wake Irish Pub

Located at 620 North Trade Street in Winston-Salem’s Downtown Arts District, Finnigan’s Wake serves Irish pub food from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. There is a full bar, daily food and drink specials, outdoor seating, and a brunch on weekends as well as occasional live music. Vegetarian options are also available.

With a handsome wood interior and a menu full of Irish pub staples (fish and chips, corned beef, shepherd’s pie, bangers, and more), Finnigan’s Wake certainly looks the part. However, while there are certainly a few bright spots, the uneven execution leaves considerable room for improvement.

As mentioned, the menu has no shortage of appealing options. Scotch eggs, Guinness stew, mac and cheese and the plowman’s lunch all seemed like worthy contenders, but my fiancée and I opted to split a Reuben with a side of Granny Smith coleslaw and an order of shepherd’s pie nachos. The Reuben featured some quality corned beef and a nice spicy mustard, but it could have benefitted from a thicker bread: ours was rather limp. The shepherd’s pie nachos were a great concept but definitely needed more seasoning, more gravy, and fresher chips. The Granny Smith slaw did not contain any apple chunks but was instead infused with apple flavor. It was easily the best thing on the plate: slightly sweet, creamy, and delicious.

The rest of the Finnigan’s Wake experience proved to be similarly inconsistent. Servers were genuinely friendly, but the kitchen seemed slow given that it was not especially crowded at the time of our lunch visit. The $9.50 charged for a heaping platter of nachos was fair considering the quantity; however, the $10.50 charged for an average-sized sandwich and side seemed a stretch. M’Coul’s in Greensboro, a similarly-themed establishment, does it for $1.50 less.

Given its menu, service, location, and décor, I wanted to like Finnigan’s Wake a lot more than I actually did. Had the kitchen upped its game, this would have likely become a regular stop during visits to downtown Winston. Instead, it’s a place I would consider again albeit with significantly reduced expectations.

7.25/10

M'Coul's Public House

NOTE: Provided you get there early enough (they open at 11 on Sundays), M'Couls has proven to be a great weekend brunch option.


Located at 110 W. McGee Street in downtown Greensboro, M’Coul’s specializes in Irish fare and pub food. It offers a full-service bar with an extensive selection of drinks, patio seating, late-night dining, and a Sunday brunch.

Restaurants with Irish-sounding names are a dime a dozen, but ones that offer authentic Irish dishes without any semblance of kitsch are fairly rare. That alone makes M’Coul’s a curiosity. The food, however, elevates it to something more.

M’Coul’s menu is an intriguing combination of traditional and experimental. You’ll find the requisite corned beef and lamb stew, but you’ll also find Irish “nachos” (potato wedges topped with chili) and dishes that incorporate tabouli. A gouda-topped shepherd’s pie was hot, savory, and delicious while the emerald isle chicken (with tomatoes, mozzarella, goat cheese, spinach, and more) was moist, well-seasoned, and nicely presented. While the dinner menu includes all of the above (plus breakfast foods, if you’re so inclined), lunch selections are a little more limited.

If you come seeking mere bar fare, M’Coul’s will seem pricey, but for the quality of the food, the prices are about where they should be. Factor out steak and seafood, and dinner entrees run between $9 and $14 while the lunch sandwiches (side included) go for about $9. Servers are reasonably quick, friendly, and willing to offer recommendations.

The atmosphere at M’Coul’s is both a blessing and a curse. It sits in sturdy, multilevel brick building, which you enter by passing the iron gates and traversing the patio. Depending on the weather and the number of patrons present, you’ll either be eating inside or outside, downstairs or up. On a good day, you can take in some sunshine on the patios or admire the classic wood-and-brick interior. On a bad day, you may find yourself faced with a wait (due to limited indoor seating), a headache (due to the noise), and a growling stomach.

The popularity of the downtown location makes it a bit of a gamble, but if you are able to hit it at the right time, M’Coul’s makes for a memorable meal.

8/10