Fionn MacCool’s Irish Pub

Three of us came here for breakfast on a Sunday morning and the place was almost empty, with only 3 other diners in the restaurant. We seated ourselves and the server brought us menus very soon. I ordered eggs Benedict, and my companions ordered the breakfast sandwich and the pub breakfast. We got our drinks fairly quickly, I had a pot of tea; the tea was stale and old as the teabag was not individually wrapped. Don’t have tea at a bar, I guess that’s the learning experience here! I kept nursing my tea slowly drinking it, hoping to see some food soon whilst my tea was still warm; after maybe 20 or 25 minutes, the food finally arrived. The kitchen was very slow, which is odd because there were just the 3 other customers in the restaurant. My companion took a bite of her home-​fries that came with the breakfast sandwich and let out a cry of dismay; the home-​fries and slathered in Maple Syrup! I like Maple Syrup, love it in fact, but NOT on basic, potato home-​fries. I tried mine and sure enough, mine were also covered in syrup. Disgusting. The server came back with the third plate of food and I gave him the two orders of home-​fries and said they were covered in something sweet; he said that that’s the way the fries are and it is mentioned on the menu that the fries are covered in Maple Syrup. We checked the breakfast menu again and could find no mention of that fact so I don’t know where he got that from; maybe it was in the smallprint on the main menu. We ordered some ordinary fries to compensate. I cut into my eggs Benedict and the eggs were overcooked and hard. I waited for a bit for the server to come back but after a few minutes he was nowhere to be seen and as I had to get on the road back to Ottawa I just decided to eat them anyway. We could hear the server trying to expedite the kitchen and get our fries, and I hung on as long as I could to eat some fries with my Hollandaise (which was very good, actually, one of the better Hollandaises’ I have had recently) but to no avail, I had finished by the time the fries arrived. they were good too, hot, crispy, and nice and thick. My companions breakfasts were OK, nothing special and overpriced. The ‘Bratwurst’ sausage advertised on the Pub Breakfast is nothing of the kind; it is a basic English sausage, better than it’s North American cousin for sure but not a Bratty. The Pub Breakfast seems like a lot of food when you see it on the menu but when it comes, it is not that much food at all. You don’t even get home-​fries but, as the experience above describes, is a good thing. The server did apologize and said I should have told him the eggs were overcooked and I mentioned that I would have had he come back to check on our food. And I didn’t want to wait another 25 minutes for replacement eggs, so i just cut my losses and ate my food. He did comp our tea and coffee, so he was trying his best to accommodate us and I did tell him the sauce was great.
My companion, who has been there before, says the service really is bad and always slow, so I guess this is the norm for this place. Anyway, lunch and dinner are better apparently, so my advice is don’t go here for breakfast. There is a better place just a couple of doors down that does a real breakfast for about half of the price of this place.

For my first time here I was very impressed by the atmosphere. The place is without a doubt a pub. I think dart boards in the place would create a new night life atmosphere.
As for service, it was somewhat disappointing. After having to ask the front desk hostess twice to find our waitress I started to get quite frustrated. The place wasn’t packed, and our waitress didn’t even ask if we wanted another drink when she did actually stop by. To top it off, instead of getting the sweet potato fries as our side dude, we got a salad.
This place has some room for improvement on the server side of things. The manager of the place should make this an immediate high priority.
Has great a craft beers selection. No complaints there
Food choices were quite good and priced pretty decent.
I’ll be back, with hopes of better service. Putting the poor waitress service aside, the place was good, and I’d recommend checking it out.

Not bad at all. When it comes to ratings I think a lot of factors come in: the food, interior, service and also the company you are in. If you are not fond of the people around you then the food will taste bitter and the beer will feel flat. I haven’t had any of that. The beer was fine, the food was decent and everyone had fun. Our waitress seemed a bit cold at first, but that’s just her personality. She was great at doing her job and we appreciated that. It helps when you say «thank you» to someone who cleans up your dirty dishes. We had a company lunch today and we loved it. I will visit again with my friends soon.

I wasnt sold on this place when they first opened but they have done A LOT over the past year to win me over and now I am a regular. Let me tell you why:
Amazing patio! Yes spring is in the air and its time to drink outside. Its the Canadian way — we have winter and we have patio season. Although its next to an incredibly busy intersection, they have designed this area to be cozy using nature to insulate you from the traffic. Generous number of tables considering this is a mall area and plenty of umbrellas for those like me that are sun sensitive.
Fantastic tap selection! I love craft beer. I admit it — I am a @hoppybitch so when they introduced IPA Wendesdays and Craft Beer Thursdays… I had to test this out and see if it was worth it. Although their house IPA is watery and weak (great starter beer if your new to IPAs) the overall selection is pretty decent. Lots of rotating/​seasonal offerings as well (both Canadian and abroad).
Not a beer fan? No problem! They have a selection of ciders (and a house cider that was fantastic! not too sweet, not too dry that is now a favorite), some really intriguing mixed beverages, adult popsicles (you have got to try these) and a mighty fine selection of scotch! I mean really — how did you not expect that?
The food: Plenty of unique dishes as well as twists on traditional favorites. I highly recommend trying out the irish/​scottish fare — as that is what they specialize in — the «pies» (not really pie — meat or fish in sauce inside puff pastry) or the boxty. Ill be back to try the corned beef and cabbage before it goes! This time around we hit the appies and flatbreads (think gourmet pizza toppings on a thin crust pizza that is shaped like a submarine instead of a pizza) — great for sharing. Blarney chips were a huge hit too (nacho like toppings on top of waffle fries instead of corn chips).
Special events/​theme nights: We went to celebrate Robbie Burns and they went all out! Bagpipers, free scotch tasting (did I mention free?) and Haggis! Poetry reading (you have to like Burns) and other entertainment to last all night long. Also got two amazing Innis & Gunn beer glasses to take home. They have live music and games nights almost every night of the week and a full calendar of specialty nights like this one. Join their FB group and you will always be up to date on whats coming up.
I could say so much more about this particular location but you really should go experience it for yourself. Chances are you will find me in a booth at the bar or on the patio. Lets have a pint together!

I wish I could give 0 stars. But I have to give one. I can’t think of any place I hate worse than this Fionn Macools in Clarkson. I’ve been blessed with friends who are what one can only call ‘stupid’, and they enjoy drinking here, which means I still occasionally have to stop in (kill me).
The food sucks. It’s not even really decent, it’s just not good. I haven’t tried too much of the menu, but from what I have tried, I know it’ll never happen again. The burger is a dried out piece of shoe leather on a non remarkable bun. Typical frozen fries. Thick black disgusting gravy. Don’t get the poutine, you might hurt yourself (I’m not even kidding).
The service is brutal too. I had an issue with one of my meals, and the server didn’t come by for 20 minutes… I had to go get the manager myself, he was nice and corrected the mistake. When she came back around she was snotty and appeared annoyed with me. My first ever 0 tip.
Apparently now they have a ‘club night’ with a dj and… you won’t believe it… a 5 dollar cover. I’d rather be killed by means of firing squad than acknowledge Fionn’s with a cover.
Terrible place, do yourself a favor and stay away.

I absolutely love this bar. No matter the location. Their beer and food specials are unheard of (2 pints for 10 dollars??? more than 5 beers to choose from for the special? SOLD!)
Just an example, I got a pint of barking squirrel at Jack astors for 10 dollars. I then met my friends at Fionn’s and got the same pint of Squirrel for 5 dollars. AND they have way better food than Jack Astors.
Go try the Blarney chips. It’s nachos with all the toppings, but with waffle fries instead of hard stale nachos.

I visited Fionn MacCool’s last night for an event. From the outside, the place looks like a big pub but when you enter it is quite cozy. Our group was tucked away in a corner. The server was prompt and quick to serve. Food was average pub food, nothing I ate really stood out.
They do have live music on busier nights, (Thursday to Saturday) which makes it a true pubby feel.
If you are in the Clarkson area and up for a pint, stop in at Fionn MacCool’s!

For a chain-​pub/​restaurant, the food is pretty good quality. Great selection on the menu.
Live music periodically. Kilts on the staff — females = Yaaay!
males = if you drop something, keep walking.