Vaughans Anchor Inn — Restaurant in County Clare

A very disapointing meal. The descriptions on the menus of the items we chose, and the general presentation looked exciting. The flavour execution though was clunky at best ...

I had the oysters with the Vietnamese dressing. i was expecting an asian twist on the traditional minuette dressing akin to a version of the slightly spicy pickled veg one gets on a Bahn MI sandwich. Instead I got tiny oysters drowned in a sweet syrupy sauce like one might get out of a bottle/packet with a Chinese take away to dip your spring rolls in. The sauce completely drowned out the oysters floating in it. I tried to eat the rest of the tiny oysters without it but there was really no getting away from the sickly sweet taste. To add insult to injury two of the oysters had bits of shell in them and the final one was off creating a foul taste. I should have spat it out. Fortunately I had lots of the sweet sauce left and used some to attempt to wash away the taste.

My wife had the scallops with pork belly. The pork belly flavour in the jus was great and nearly strong enough to mask the fact that the scallops weren't the freshest. This was actually my favourite dish as I liked the pork belly flavour.

For main I had the monkfish with hazelnut crust, curried buerre blanc and mussels and a foamon top. A very nice piece of fish although a little small which is probably why it was a little over cooked. Some tiny but very, very tasty mussels were in the overly buttery broth. The Hazelnut crust was very flavoursome but there was too much of it even if it was the 2nd best thing on the plate.

My wife had the Cod with a tomatoe sauce and a tomato and truffle ravioli. The fish was again in a little overcooked but the sauce was nice and fresh tasting. The truffle shavings unfortunately ately were tasteless, the ravioli pasta too thick and its filling tasted as if it was pure tomato paste. A veg mix of boiled potatoes, broccoli and carrots that we didn't order arrived with the food. Why? The long stemmed broccoli we actually did order arrived after I had already finished my main course. Why? This didnt really matter as It was swimming in oil and salt and thus inedible anyway. We didn't bother trying desert. Some very nice ideas but woeful execution for a restaurent with such a reputation.

Strange that the waitress didn't ask us how...

Lovely food but...

Service is to be desired.

The Maître d' (if you could call so) was awful.

Let's start at the start. We arrived 5 minute early for a booking. We were sat at 15 min after our booking time. We were served our starters and main course (with a little wait after our starters) as expected. So far so good you might say.

Here things take a turn for the worse.

After our mains our plates our cleared we ask for a desert menu.

We wait 20 mins for the desert menu. Yes that's correct.

We receive our menu and are told we can't have the 2 of the deserts as it will take too long as our table is needed b the other party. Only one part of our table is told this scenario.

We ask is desert possible and told ok.

We proceed.

When the waiter comes to take our desert order the other end of our table orders one of the aforementioned deserts. They are then told they are out of the desert for the evening.

Lie, since the other end of the table was told something different earlier.

We are then waiting for the rest of our party to be served the rest of the 'available' deserts.

The 'lovely' maître d' exclaims, with a scowl that would kill 500 spartans, at us that we need to expedite out departure. We reply we are waiting for our deserts. We ask for the bill to expedite our departure.

15 min later no bill, while the other party still waits for their table.

We pay.

And leave. Unsatisfied, not by the food but by the clinically inefficient service.

Otherwise, numbers in the front bar is a fire hazard. Clare county council fore service should...

Arrived in West Clare to spend a few nights just for a little rewind, recharge, rest and relaxation. A friend had recommended Vaughan's to eat, so we booked in for 2 nights B&B for handiness. The room was perfect for us - the bed was super-comfy and separate from the bar/restaurant with its own entrance up a flight of stairs. Both days we had a basket of coffee pods, biscuits, crisps and replacement shower toiletries. The restaurant food was delicious with an obvious focus on locally sourced fish. The starters were preceded by a complimentary cup of soup with bread. All in all, first class and reasonable prices for the quality and standard. Had we wanted anything other than fish [we didn’t], there was beef and, I think, lamb. The beef was expensive [had we chosen that], but then beef prices are through the roof everywhere at the moment. The creme brulee we shared was divine! Breakfast on both mornings [included in the B&B price] was superb. A wide selection of cereals, granola, freshly squeezed juices, local cheeses, smoked salmon, cured meats, yoghurts etc to self-serve and also a wide choice of cooked breakfast options served by a really friendly waitress. We had the full Irish cooked breakfast one morning [served with loads of toast and Guiness brown bread] and hash browns with poached eggs and sausages the next -- basically, they'll pretty much cook to order. Tea and coffee was very good too. Overall, a very easy-going, pleasant stay in a friendly, high-quality establishment! We'll return and would...