Chieftans Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Town of Cobleskill

I considered two stars, but had to be honest to myself and other Irishmen that may read this. I'll save the most egregious error for last. We honestly had great hopes, driving nearly an hour to get here. Alas, my disappointment is described as follows.

We were seated within 5 minutes, dining at 6:45PM on a weekday. I note the time as it is germane to the review. We also observed there were only 4 occupied tables; three were finished with dinner, the fourth, a couple, were just served. Three waitstaff.

Once seated, our waitress appeared within a minute, the wife ordered a Pinot Noir and I, of course, a Guinness. Both delivered in seconds. We immediately ordered dinner. Bangers and mash for her, cottage pie for me. The cottage pie was piping hot, but the bangers and mash were lukewarm. There were 5 sausages, but the size of little breakfast sausages. A first, but they tasted authentic, despite the tepidness. The cottage pie. Menu-described as "...stewed beef with peas, carrots and onions...". I found no carrots, but did find quite a bit of corn. While the corn threw me, it could not account for the odd flavor of the dish. It was, well, off-bland? I mean Irish food is notoriously bland, but this was just, well, off-flavor? I can't really describe it, but it did not at all taste like the ingredients portrayed or expected. I would be guessing, but I don't think it was fresh, evidenced by the lack of carrots, as they likely disintegrated. There was ample beef bits, but the absence of menu described "rich brown gravy" made it curiously dry. I did poke around more looking for carrots or onion bits, but found none. The peas and corn were all that I found. Along with a very peculiar woody stem that was about three inches long. I put the stem on a small, clean app plate which the waitress took away without mention. I expected her to see it and ask, but.... The mystery stem is what caused me to abandon all hope and share my wifes plate of bangers and mash.

Dinner was over in 45 minutes. We honestly felt like we were getting the "bums' rush", as the waitresses were hurriedly cleaning tables for the close of the evening dinners (I told you the dining time was pertinent). No one asked "how was everything". Had they, I'd have told them instead of telling Yelp.

Now the reason for the one-star and not two. As any Guinness purist knows, it takes two pours to properly present the perfect pint (or glass). The normal process involves a wait of 90 seconds for the second top-off, as the nitrogen cascade takes that long. Without exaggeration, my Guinness was before me well withi seconds: It was still cascading fresh from pour one. I suppose this can be excused in an Applebees, but in an authentic Irish pub that boasts Guinness inside and outside (look at the bars pictures), it's a fail. I was so very disappointed.

It would have been worth driving the extra hour to Colemans in Syracuse....

It was peak time on a Thursday evening for dinner & there was no one in there...that should have been enough to send me packing, but I decided to try it anyway. To start, on the back of the menu there are daily specials & I was excited to see the special for Thursday’s is corned beef & cabbage. Was HIGHLY disappointed to find out that those daily specials are no longer offered & they’ve just been too lazy to change the menus. So I went with the bangers & mash...it was ok, but definitely nothing worth raving about. Pretty sure nothing was fresh & everything was frozen. I thought maybe the sausages would be big juicy brats but were dinky microwaveable sausages from like Walmart or something. The brown gravy I’m also pretty sure was the kind from a packet that you just add water to. I ate it because I was hungry...was it terrible? No. Was it great? No. Would I go back? No. Also, the Guinness tasted old & not like Guinness at all. Why is this place claiming to be an Irish pub when it has like 2 Irish-related things on the menu that they execute terribly? Can...

Wish they had music. Waitress knew what she was doing. Coming from a fine food background, I could tell she'd been trained. She got sat 5 tables in a row, she was the only server. She addressed each table separately so the kitchen didn't get bogged down. Coodos to her. I got bangars and mash with Guinness gravy. Wasn't sure at first, but after the first bite I was hooked. My husband and son ate 1/2 my plate. All the food was good! Only negative was the bus girl. Please train her. She didn't wipe tables down with a sanitizer or anything. She just pushed crumbs off with her hand, then set the clean silverware down with her dirty hands. She also poured all the glasses liquid together and picked the glasses up by the lips of the glass. Very easy to spread germs!!!!! How can you do so much so good and leave the basics out? If I travel that way again, I'll eat there just at the bar...