Knox's Pub & The Storehouse Restaurant — Restaurant in County Clare

I came here with my family, four people in total to celebrate my father's birthday with a midweek dinner. I reserved in advance and showed up a few minutes late. The first girl that welcomed us did not know anything about the reservation, did not welcome us or communicate very well. Eventually she showed us upstairs, provided us with two separate tables, for a four person booking and excused herself, explaining that she does not normally work in Knox's and got called at the last minute to help them. I would not fault her for her lack of knowledge, or training. I would fault the manager on duty for that.

We ordered drinks with no problem, and decided what we would like to eat. I shared the goats cheese start with my mother and we got a very big portion and a second plate to share the dish. My father ordered the soup, I tried a spoonful and I would say the herbs overpowered the dish completely.

For main course, I ordered the fish of the day, at €18, I would expect something more flavourful. The fish was slightly dry, the vegetables on the plat were completely tasteless and I relied on the sauce to add any flavour to the dish. The other dishes looked big and the roast of the day looked less dry than the fish.

Finally, we ordered some desserts. I got the selection of ice cream, presented nicely with strawberry coli, cream and fresh fruit garnishes.the ice cream itself, at €7 would leave a lot to be desired. It lacked flavour and I would suspect it would be a cheaper ice cream brand.

The servers chatted with us about holidays and gave us some good tips, the guy that served was top notch and I would love to know his name!

Overall, the experience was good and the food was big standard.

I wouldn't say I would return in a hurry.

The total bill for starts, mains, desserts and two drinks each was €160. Make of that...

AVOID!!! So disappointed. Probably the worst pub experience I’ve had. Was really looking forward to visiting Knox bar as i had googled previously and it was even recommended by the hotel I was staying in. Prices were completely wrong from the printed menu by the way so be prepared! Nice interior but I’m afraid that’s when it ends. From the moment I sat down it was a downward spiral. I asked was the game being played before I ordered and I was reassured that it was. I then proceeded to order my starter and it was such a disappointment. Nothing shy of cheap tomato sauce with about 4 small prawns and 2 tiny slices of cracker. Then I was told that the tv I was facing wasn’t going to be showing the game so I had to move to a worse seat where my partner couldn’t see the tv. Why have a wall of antiques over the bar why not a projector or a big tv to show some games if that’s what you advertise?? The little nook seats are nice but no use if you can’t see the tvs on match day.. steak sandwich was the definition of pub grub on musgraves excellence frozen ciabatta. Even the people beside us said the same about their steak sandwich! Would it have killed the chef to even butter the ciabatta?

The short bar manager was very stand offish with no interaction with the customers. Staff customer service was below bare minimum and would rather sit around mid match chatting on their phones rather than check on customers. I wasn’t approached once throughout the entire meal if everything was ok or if I wanted another drink despite about 10 staff on. I was there for over 2 hours!! An absolute awful shame as I’d like to return but overall extremely disappointed. Not to mention the blonde girl taking for the bill didn’t make eye contact with me once or even ask was everything ok considering I spent over 120 euro....

The wIting staff and food was excellent. What was not was the number of customers walking around the bar area without a mask. Two customers walked into the bar from the front door, all the way to the rear of the bar with out a mask. Another group repeatedly used the fire exit to the lane way to ho for a smoke, again without wearing a mask. My wife and I did not feel safe so we finished out meal and left. Prior to leaving I ised the gents toilet on the middle floor where I witnessed several people just standing around, drinks in hand and talking. I had to ask three particular individuals to move so I could get to the gents. At no time did we observe any member staff and in particular, management, ask any of the customers to wear their mask when not at their table.

We ate in the restaurant, located at the top of the building during the last easing of restrictions and found it very pleasant, well run and covid compliant. And have it a very good review.

I am fully aware that there is no legal requirement for patrons to wear a mask when not seated in a restaurant, only entering the establishment.

If the restaurant/gastropub trade want to promote their buisness as a safe place to visit then they will have to up their game and implement strict H&S guidelines for customers and staff alike, until this pandemic is brought...