Emmet Hotel - Clonakilty — Hotel in West Cork

Search for the best Steak Sandwich in Co Cork part 1:

So here we are. We've ordered our first Steak Sandwiches in our bid to find the best, most memorable, Steak Sandwiches in the County of Cork. On purpose we start somewhere where we've never had a Steak Sandwich before.

We place the order with a lovely young lady and settle in for a bit of a wait.

When the sandwiches arrive mine is as ordered (blue) and I'm happy to eat the lot but the Gardener isn't as satisfied. In fact for the first time ever I watch him send back his plate. I'm sure it was all a big misunderstanding and it did get rectified straight away. A new sandwich arrived after another wait and he happily ate the lot.

Misunderstandings aside we have decided this sandwich can and will serve as the average of what we can expect.

1 being the lowest and 5 the highest this is what we made of it.

Service : 3

Service was friendly and when the problem was identified and brought to the staff's attention it was dealt with immediately. However I've never seen the Gardener send back a plate so that has to be taken into consideration. And the 3 (not 4) is for the not checking it was all in order before the unlucky plate hit the table.

Bread: 3

A point of discussion for me. Is Ciabatta 'the' bread for a Steak Sandwich? The Gardener says yes. Me... I'm not so sure but I'm willing to accept that many will agree with the Gardener and so the Ciabatta is ok. Nothing extraordinary, acceptable and maybe even not to be improved on. My Ciabatta had no crunchy crust. So for me it was ok.

Steak : 4

My steak was just as I wanted it and I got all 4 ounces off it. So I was happy. The Gardener was happy with the steak on the second plate and it was done the way he wanted it. I think he or the chef was just unlucky today. The meat was good quality... No complaints...

Sauces : 2

There was supposed to be a mustard sauce on the bread and we both got the peppercorn sauce. I couldn't taste the mustard. I could see the sauce but couldn't taste it. The Gardener said it was responsible for the saltiness of the dish. I thought the saltiness came from the peppercorn sauce. I would have enjoyed a mustard kick... As for the peppercorn sauce Bisto with peppercorns. I'm sure this is fine but unfortunately in order to make it to the top of our list we'd be looking for a little more love for the accompanying sauces, a dash of something (brandy maybe?) or a little cream would have given the impression of a little more love for the steak and its needs. Overall the sauces were disappointing.

Slides : 3

The salad was well dressed but a little sparce and the chips were nothing special and came to the table unseasoned. The onions were nice and sweet but got overpowered by either the mustard sauce or the peppercorn sauce (depending on who you ask). With a bit more attention to detail it would have been good.

Price: 3

€14. 95 a sandwich

Overall Score and Final Verdict : 3

Not a bad beginning. Unfortunate about the sauces. But a good average beginning. A little bit more love and this Steak Sandwich could be memorable. This time however it did not blow...

Unbelievably bad customer service from Bar staff. Called in Wednesday evening just before 8pm for food. (last orders 9pm). I knew almost immediately that the waitress did not want us there. Was probably hoping to knock off early - haha. She was so cross and only that I was with 3 other very hungry diners, I'd have walked out. She scanned our Covid Certs and made a HUGE drama about it when two of them didn't immediately scan. Her fault - not ours. Luckily we had the cop on to know how to resolve it. Hilariously, when our fourth came in a few minutes later she didn't check his cert. (Let's hope he didn't have Covid to pass on, on the night). Makes a complete joke of the whole Covid Cert thing.

Anyway her customer services skills were APPALLING. When we politely asked if we could push two of the small bar tables together (as another group had already done behind us) she nearly lost her ninnies, and snapped at me, and I wasn't sure if she'd allow this impudence to take place at all. I did helpfully offer to push them together ourselves. No answer from her on that one. Her colleague did come over a few minutes later and shoved the two tables together, his customer service skills also need major updating from grumpy to 'a little bit nicer. We decided that we'd share two starters, if she threw them at us, it wouldn't have surprised me. She brought one plate of bruschetta and one plate of mushrooms, no offer of separate side plates, or extra cheap serviettes each, so we pigged in regardless. Every decent restaurant offers sharers separate plates, just FYI Emmet Hotel. Three of us then had fish and chips, one had fish pie and we had drinks to accompany. Still - Zero customer service from this lady who needs to be sent on a training course immediately, or at very least enjoy a few stern words from the manager.

I left the food til last. It was very good, but it's irrelevant, as I'll never visit there again.

Note to manager: Please stay a night in the West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen, and the Celtic Ross - Rosscarbery for some tips on how great staff operate.

One of my dining partners told me that the guy behind the bar has been there for years. It's quite shocking to me that he has been.

To summarise - Chef-5/5 Bar Staff - ZERO.

One of our four asked me to leave a tip, I very grudgingly left a fiver, and I...

The best experience ever. Starting with accommodating late booking for communion dinner (2 days before). When arrived Robert, the owner made us feel very welcomed and allowed for our photographer to take pictures in stunning garden at the back of the hotel. Staff was extremely helpful and could not do more for us. Dinner was amazing, tasty and decent portions. We were allowed to bring our own cake for dessert without extra charge as most of the local hotels would charge you for dessert regardless. During the dinner our kids were allowed to play in the garden and were super safe as they could not leave the place without being noticed. We have changed the dresses in the bathrooms as the toilets were spotless clean so we had no worries that the dress would get dirty. My daughter received a beautiful card from Rebecca, Robert and the Emmet Hotel staff for her communion which was extremely nice touch and very unexpected. It was the first time I have eaten in the Emmet Hotel since the renovation and must say the place looks stunning. It is probably the most calm and welcoming hotel in Clonakilty with amazing food and amazing staff. Rebecca and Robert are doing amazing job running the hotel and we already look forward to eating there again. I have also got privilege to take a sneak peak at the rooms and was blown away with what I saw. Unique, welcoming , kids and pet friendly rooms are far from boring standard hotel rooms. Each room is different but kept in same style. I would highly recommend the Emmet Hotel to anyone for any occasion (or no occasion) !! Thank you again...