The Clink — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Carlow

Been there many times, the food is good and the staff is usually nice but I had the worst customer service today. At the end of a meal there this morning my friend and I asked for a take-away pack to take the rest of my meal home. The waitress said yes begrudgingly while looking us up and down in a tone that implied we were inconveniencing her with our request. She took the food away and brought it in the pack barely closed, which could easily have spilled out so we sealed it ourselves but we’ll assume she hadn’t noticed it was clearly not closed. ( the food was cold at this point so it wasn’t left open die to heat) . When leaving I asked her colleague if something was wrong because the rude demeanour was uncalled for as our only interaction with her was on asking for the pack to take the food away with. (Another person had been serving us prior to that.) She then joined in the complaint and apologized to us while rolling her eyes! I left and called the manager of the hotel/restaurant who kept cutting me off defending the staff without actually hearing even half of the story out. She only decided to listened when I called out for not actually hearing me out. Poor! Turns out the very rude waitress is also a manager...

A triumph of style over substance. The sizzling dishes are a bit of theatre, but twice I've eaten here, and both times the actual food that was sizzling ended up dry, tough, and generally hard work to eat as a result. On the good side, I think I was burning more calories chewing than was taking in!!! Plus, eating around the black bits means you don't over-indulge. The accompaniments are a bit of a let down too, roasted vegetables that were barely shown any heat at all ( I think they were possibly blanched then just thrown on the griddle the food was served on to finish cooking - here's a tip, they didn't!). "Sautéed" onions and mushrooms that clearly had been no where near a sauté pan, no caramalisation, just hot, wet onions tbh.

Starters were fine (chicken wings with Frank's hot sauce) and desserts were okay too, although my wife did nearly choke on the super fine powder in the bottom of the Baileys cheesecake!!

It's a nice place to sit, but there are much better...

We have been to this establishment on numerous occasions either as a couple or group for dining and drinks. We dined this evening as a couple, the restaurant was quiet, not many tables occupied , music was not appropriate and too loud in the restaurant . Staff were friendly as always . So any criticism hereafter is not a reflection on them. The starter was delicious, the main course not so much and dessert was sub standard for the price . The wine was lovely, though expensive so opted for a bottle as opposed to glass which was more cost effective. The most annoying aspect was the rush through courses, like we had barely finished one course when the the next one arrived. I travell all over Europe , when dining, time is allowed between courses but here it was like they wanted you finished and gone as quickly as possible . With so many options for dining out , this place was always on our list of places to go, but after tonight, sadly it wouldn't be a place I would...