MJ Finnegan's — Restaurant in Limerick

We have eaten here many times but not in the last few months. We decided to have lunch today as we were in the area. We had main courses only, we ordered a child's curry, a chicken burger and the fish filo pastry. The child's curry was a good portion but the rice was over cooked and the chips were not only greasy but had burst for the most part throughout the dish. Out daughter is not a lover of chips so given that they had burst all over the rice meant she left most of her lunch behind. For the chicken burger rather than being a single piece of chicken it was two small goujons and the portion of chips that were with it was particularly small and looked similarly greasy to those in the curry dish.The fish dish then contained what felt like over microwaved potatoes, a combination of greasy yet raw pastry with a small piece of fish, the food was swimming in the sauce which was starting to split of the plate and the vegetables were no where to be found. When ordering drinks before the meal came, my husband ordered Coke but was given Pepsi, if at the time of placing the order we had been informed that Coke was not served he could have ordered something else. In June my parents had visited the restaurant and my dad is a very sensitive coeliac, they were assured that the food was gluten free and proceeded to order, my parents would not have been there since the early 2000s so once they were assured the food was gluten free they were happy. Unfortunately they were no sooner back as far as the car park when my father became very unwell, and a journey home which should have taken an hour and forty-five minutes took three to four hours. Needless to say they are not...

We had lunch last Monday. I’ve eaten there twice now under new management - same owners as the Curragower opposite King John’s castle. Starter was Chowder - this tasted like it was out of a can. Bloated mussels and small rubber squid rings with some cubed hard carrot floating around. Having had the finest of fresh chowder in West Clare previous day this was a real disappointment. €8 for a tinned soup. My son wanted the kids portion of Turkey and ham from The special roast of the day. We were told that the lunches are pre carved and put on plates. As there were no kids portions “on a kids plate” he would have to have an adult portion. I know right?!!!! 😂 We declined. So the kids had Goujons (non specified just called goujons) these were over cooked chicken (precooked and then shown the fryer again) great for a kid who wants to to lose and loosen their milk teeth for financial gain. They had a few bites but found it too hard to eat. Mounds of chips on each plate. My husband had the fish and chips which was just very ordinary but that’s why I gave 2 stars. Chicken wings are hot very hot with a strong vinegary back note. You’re eating them for the sake of eating them. Manager was friendly but it was hard to tell if he was actually the manager. Guys a few inexpensive tweaks and you would be winning. Fresh chowder and homemade brown bread. Change your wing sauce. Don’t pre plate your roast of the day. Carve it fresh. Chips are too big and tasteless from a freezer. Hand cut them and fry them fresh....

0930 Saturday morning. Party of 5 for breakfast. Entered and queued behind another party of 3 at the "please wait to be seated" sign. After 10 minutes of standing waiting, A lady from the first party went to look for a staff member. She told us that the sign shouldn't have been left where it was and then she seated us. I ordered the steak and eggs. Kids got pancakes. Steak and eggs was literally four €1 coin sized bits of meat, not "strips of fillet beef" as described, one lonely egg, and one piece of bread. I literally mean that the kids meals were larger. Table service was non-existent. The restaurant was nowhere near full, it's not as if the staff were too busy as I could hear them chatting. A small bit of attention to us as customers would definitely have sold you another round of teas coffees and beverages, and quite possibly more food. The waiting staff looked young, and inexperienced. That's not necessarily an issue, but it is obvious that there is a lack of training. These are your sales staff, you should incentivise them to sell. Breakfast out for us as a family is a rarity, and a treat, given the high cost of hospitality these days. I came prepared to spend money, And you could have got more of it out of me, if we had been attended to more promptly and regularly. By the time we were seated, I was already a little bit cheesed off by having to wait so long to be seated in an almost empty restaurant. The bottom line is that I got poor value for money, not just on food, but on...