McKibbin's Irish Pub — Restaurant in Pointe-Claire

Saturday March 29th, 16:30.I haven't been to this location before, but I have been to the downtown one a number of times, based on my experience from downtown some friends and I stopped by yesterday afternoon. I'm going to be quick in this review compared to some I have done in the past. I'll just focus on my fish and chips. Not really my go-to meal, I generally only eat fish that I have cooked myself because most places overcook fish. Nevertheless I ordered it. First impressions were favourable, nice crispy exterior batter, nice colour. Flipping it over, it was nothing but oil on the bottom, it was dripping onto the plate and even into the tartar sauce. I tore into it, the biggest issue eas the ratio of batter to fish, it wasn't a particularly good sized piece of fish even if from the outside that's how it presented as a generous portion. The fish while not overcooked wasn't a thing of beauty, under seasoned and the fish was just very meh. My past forays into fish and chips the flakey white interior fish has a sweetish subtle fish flavour. This was kind of none of that. The tartar sauce was okay, though possibly a little thin, nothing spectacular. The chips were decent, possibly the best part of the meal, but they got cold kind of quickly and cold chips aren't nice to eat. The staff were fine, though somewhat difficult to get their attention, many of the things that should be offered upon serving were offered I had to get up myself to look for malt vinegar. The pub, us your standard run of the mill Irish pub interiors, but clean. There was a live band, not to my liking, found the singing really off key compounding the fact that it was loud even from a table in a back room. This suffice to day isn't my new third place. Came up a bit too mediocre for spending $80 between...

I ordered the homemade Irish stew. I really hated it. Maybe it's just not to my tastes, but it was not what I was expecting at all. I've had the Irish stew at Ye Olde Orchard and it's amazing, I've even posted about it before. Theirs was creamy and had a rich savory flavor of Guinness. By contrast this Irish stew at McKibbins was very tangy and sour, almost like there was vinegar in it. It made it taste like the soup was rotten or spoiled. I tried tasting individual pieces (carrot, potato, meat) to see if there was something I could avoid, but everything was saturated with it, especially the meat. The only thing that tasted good to me was the dollop of mashed potatoes on top and the bun that came with it. The bun was very moist and delicious with a subtle sweet flavor.

It was a shame because it was pretty expensive, $23 before tip and I had to throw out the rest because I just couldn't finish it.

Perhaps this type of Irish stew is more authentic and I just made a regrettable decision for my taste buds. I just wanted to warn others if they were similarly expecting something akin to Ye Olde Orchard.

I will say that the pub had a nice atmosphere and the staff seemed very friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. Maybe they have other things that would appeal to my palate. The decor was charming, with a little matching door for...

For some reason McKibbin's is one of the go-to's of my friends so I gave it a go about a year ago. I understood why very quickly! The atmosphere is nice, surprisingly not noisy even though the bar is big (probably due to the very good placements of heavy duty wooden walls that diminish the sound), good quality furniture and appropriate spacial management for seating, very welcoming bar and a friendly staff.

The food is also decent. It's at McKibbin's where I fell in love with sweet potato fries! There is also a stage for the occasional bands. I've heard two play which were mediocre at best. Surprisingly a lot of security but I understood the need after I've seen a bad drunk threatening to get the Russian mafia to shoot the pub up after getting thrown out of a bar.

I've never tried The Rim Reaper Challenge as I already passed 20 minutes under a sink with tears rolling down my cheeks after trying Cage Aux Sports' 9-1-1 hot wings and didn't wish to permanently damage my taste buds but it seems quite fun if you think you're up to it!

+1 for deep fried pickles! (I liked them and I usually hate pickles 0.o!)

The one thing that killed it for me is the price of the beer. 19.95$ FOR A PITCHER OF MOOSEHEAD?!? WHAT THE F**! McKibbin's has without a doubt the most expensive pitchers of piss-tier beer...