The County Cork Wine Pub — Restaurant in Maryland

Went here yesterday. Decided to give it a full day before leaving a review so I'd be sure to have more clarity of mind. I'm also now dealing with a terrible case of food poisoning from this visit.

Prices are definitely NOT worth the quality. First, the scallops were raw, and the server explained (upon asking if they could be cooked a bit more) that Country Cork always serves rare scallops. If that's the case, they should either clarify that in the menu or ask how the customer would like them done (same as steak). Rare scallops is hardly the standard.

On top of that, they took the raw scallops back, cooked them more, and brought out the SAME scallops. Granted, I don't know if they had a separate cooking surface, but I wouldn't want to chance eating anything off the same cooking surface as someone else's partially eaten food. There's no way to know without checking out the kitchen.

Second, another item listed 'slab house made bacon' as a primary ingredient. It was pork belly...nothing more than sliced chunks of raw fat. We didn't complain, but at the end, when asked how our meal was, we suggested that they may want to clarify the type of bacon on the menu. Server's response was "We'll take your feedback under consideration." Literally, word for word. No apology for the miscommunication.

The dishes were $14 and $10 (respectively), and the serving of scallops was 2...i.e. $7 per scallop. The second dish was roasted beets, so $10 for beets and about 3 ounces of pork belly chunks.

Finally, 2 of the 4 members of our party, including myself, have food poisoning. I have an iron stomach (grew up abroad), so for me to get food poisoning means it's bad.

As much as I wanted to like this place, I won't risk another visit.

Update: Day 2 of debilitating food poisoning. Definitely...

SEE UPDATE BELOW. Interesting new American menu. Very delicious and great service. I had the lunch sandwich and salad special. My turkey bacon was sandwich was delicious and the ceasar salad was too. Portions were good and our waitress was very good. We both said it would be a good place to return to with our wives.

UPDATE : Based on the wonderful experience we've had, we went tonight to celebrate our anniversary. Big mistake! Perhaps because it was a Sunday. Other local restaurants offer you incentives like free Champagne to celebrate with them. Although I let them know that it was our anniversary, they did nothing to acknowledge it. To add insult to injury, we were seated between a table with children and another couple (there were plenty of empty tables, they could have seated us so we could celebrate without being disturbed.) OK, I ordered a "spicy-sweet margarita". It had fresh, hot Chile peppers and was almost undrinkable. I gave my wife a taste and she made a face like🤢. We got the mussel appetizer which was good if a little skimpy on the mussels and generous on the sausage (which I thought was supposed to be a garnishment?) I got a Reuben Sandwich with frites which was very good. My wife however got the small plate scallops for $19. There were 4 nickle-sized way-overcooked scallops which were almost crunchy they were so well done. The kitchen should be ashamed of themselves. So it's a good thing we've been married long enough to not take these things personally. I said to my love, if I had taken you here on our first date, you probably would have not wanted to go on a second. C'mon Cork County, you can do better! Very disappointed.

One other positive note. The waiter/bartender was great. He seemed almost embarrassed to serve us some...

This restaurant has been my go-to favorite for a long time now. Not always A+, but close enough to keep me and family coming back. Our October 26 visit was disappointing. We were a party of six. I like to order oysters on the half shell but they were out.?? It's oyster season. Bummer.

I ordered fried oysters (which they had). They were fried in Panko breading but tasted a little burnt (very dark coffee color) and came with a TINY amount of Buffalo Ranch dipping sauce. Five indiscernible oysters stuck together. My entree was two crab cakes. I had them here once before and they were the best I ever had.This time they were just OK - no texture and little flavor. They were supposed to come with bell pepper couli, hash of potato, corn, bacon and kale. Except for under-cooked potato cubes that looked like they came from a frozen bag I saw little else. Definitely no kale (which I love). Not the "hash" I was looking forward to.

Three in our group ordered the filet mignon, which was supposed to served with crab mac 'n cheese. No one discerned any crab meat. Worse,they all agreed the mac & cheese tasted like it came out of a box. It looked dry and sticky to me.

My wife liked her Fish and Frites, although her cole slaw (which to me looked creamy and delicious) was chopped into such large pieces that she said it was difficult to eat. She didn't finish it.

My son was happy with the coffee crusted duck breast (which I almost ordered) but the portion looked small, so I'm glad I didn't.

Drinks were good. Our server was fantastic. Still, an expensive dining experience that I feel fell short. I guess the chef was having a bad night. My wife (who controls the purse strings) does not want to go back. But I want those raw oysters if I...