Fishy Fishy Kinsale — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Bandon-Kinsale

If you are looking for mediocre food with bad service and no COVID-19 measures then look no further. Myself and my partner were in Kinsale for 3 days and this was the only bad experience. From the get go, we arrived for our reservation at 9 p.m at 9.00 p.m when we arrived we were told to 'stand over there and make ourselves comfortable' where we were told to stand was a busy passage way from the kitchen (I assume) to the restaurant so we were completely in the way. We were then told to 'get a drink if you like' as if we were not awkward enough standing in a passage way squeezing into the wall for servers. We were also standing roughly half a meter away from a table of 3 couples, no masks no social distancing all enjoying drinks and not together. Eventually a couple vacated an area at the bar and we were told to move there. There was no sanitizing of the area before this. This table was also beside a large open window with another table just outside it so again no social distancing just the aroma of their cigarette smoke. After a total FORTY FIVE MINUTES we were brought to a table. We thought the food was going to make up for the wait and ordered two mains. The seafood pie was accompanied by a side of potatoes? Obviously they are aware of the tiny portion they serve for over 20 euro. This arrived down pressed against the body of the server who was carrying too much. The food was at best ok and made up for nothing. To top it off the drink I ordered before ordering food did not arrive until half way through the meal. At this point there was no saving this night so we asked for the bill. All told it was 20 minutes before someone came for us to pay. The cherry on top of the night was when the server asked if we wanted to leave a tip........we said no. After this she gave us the receipt and nearly took off with our credit card. At no point were we told how long the wait would be nor did anyone apologise. It is also worth noting that people who were moved off their table after their certain allotment of time were catered to at the bar for what seemed like as long as they wanted. So to reiterate no COVID measures. Like I said, If you are looking for mediocre food with bad service and no COVID-19 measures then look no further, its...

Something is VERY FishyFishy at this Kinsale eatery. You can do better elsewhere. Read on. Upon your arrival you are enticed by the charming restaurant. The decor is well executed, the patio inviting. The colors inside are serene and natural, echoing the sea, driftwood and old ships with a hip edge. My expectations were being mollified and I had high hopes. A nice wine list and an enticing menu were placed before us and we ordered as we enjoyed conversation about our day. Then the meal started and it was all downhill from there. Although the food was passable, it certainly does not deserve a Michelin Star recommendation, let alone an actual star. (I’ve dined at several). And to top it off, the service was lacking, not that they weren’t trying, they were very nice, but the staff has not been trained.

We shared the bottle of wine and an appetizer (the arancini which was nice) then waited a VERY long time for the next course. When it arrived, it was TWO courses served at once, dumping 8 large plates/bowls onto the small table for four. Who serves salad AND a main at the same time? 8 large plates/bowls at once was uncomfortable, unexpected and unacceptable.

I understand it’s a “local” restaurant in a small seaside town in Ireland, but its pretensions and apparent TV exposure have gotten in the way of it meeting its potential. What promised to be an entertaining and enjoyable evening was dashed by mediocrity playacting as upscale.

THE FOLLOWING DAY: Upon further reflection, a lot of the disappointment I experienced was due to lack of staff training. As I stated, they were wonderful, but lacked in the service department. The food was ok, I didn’t care for the bisque, or the Caesar salad, my linguine with prawns was ok (the prawns didn’t taste fresh) but the sauce was inspired (an alfredo with lemon and thyme) the Hake tasted good and was a nice presentation. All of that said, you can do better elsewhere.

But still just Two stars, and thats being generous, and those are definitely NOT...

My partner and I had dinner in Fishy Fishy last week, and overall I would absolutely not be recommending anyone to go, nor will we ever be returning.

To begin with we were served an incorrect starter - cold oysters instead of hot, even though the order was repeated back to us before going to the kitchen, so we know the correct order was written down. We had to wait for the new starter, which was absolutely fine, however the wait for our starter plates to be cleared was around 45 minutes. The two tables next to us, who were seated at the same time as us, had all finished their mains and these were cleared away long before anyone came near us.

When ordering, my partner asked if a side came with the tuna and he was told no, so he ordered mashed potatoes alongside, however the dish is served with rice so this was an unnecessary addition to our bill. When we finally had our main course served, the side of mash was also forgotten about until we prompted a waiter that it was missing who brought it a couple minutes later.

Our original server who took our order didn’t come back to the table at any point, other than when we had to ask for the bill. I’m not sure if she was instructed to not attend to us after she messed up our order, or if she was annoyed by the correction, but either way we did not feel well attended to in the slightest.

Generally speaking, we would usually just put this whole thing down to a funny/bad experience, however within a day after eating here my partner developed a rather severe case of food poisoning from the oysters he was given, and was incredibly unwell for 3 days.

So all-in-all we will certainly not be recommending this place based on our experience during dinner, the expense of the evening (because this was not cheap!), and the awful after-effects experienced from...