The Claddaugh

So great, today is our special day！Their environment is good, service is good
Thank you so much

My husband and I stopped here on our way home from an adoption event in Elgin mostly because it was the least «chain» restaurant option we found — though I do think this is also a chain establishment too. My husband is real live Scottish (he’s lived in the us for 15 years but born/​raised in Glasgow) and so he was excited at the opportunity to have scotch eggs and boxties, so we stopped.
The interior is GORGEOUS. Dark, charming, full of character. Heavy wooden furniture, vintage signage, a huge patio… The appearance of this place is fantastic. It was almost completely empty when we arrived (3ish on a Sunday) and I worried our server would be kinda checked out because she didn’t have many tables, but she was actually great. We began with the scotch eggs and a cup of the Guinness onion soup. The soup looked super unappealing (I dunno what happened, but the cheesy was melted all weirdly into the soup. I think it may have sat too long prior to coming out) and wasn’t exactly hot, but the flavor was on point! The scotch eggs, while I’d always assumed would taste completely repulsive, were a delight. A soft boiled egg surrounded by tasty sausage and breaded and fried? It’s like a globular decadent breakfast delight! Four came to an order and it was a lovely starter. Husband got the fish and chips which was delicious — a HUGE slab of delicious flaky fried fish atop a mountain of fries. I got the paddy mac, which was a Reuben minus the sauerkraut, plus Cole slaw. Not a good swap… Too much creaminess with all the cheese and remoulade sauce, and super messy to try to eat. It was OK, but I wouldn’t get it again. The desserts all sounded delicious, but I was too full to try them. Next time!
All in all, for a taste of delicious Americanized Irish food with a few actual UK-​inspired options thrown in, check this place out. Top notch atmosphere and totally enjoyable food.

Service is a little slow, but wow food is great and they are able to accommodate a PEANUT ALLERGY which is great, and we are a family of six and kids eat free on Sunday

Sat for 15 minutes with no service. Walked out. 3 waitresses standing around yapping.

Not a great experience. We thought we would give it a try because we are Irish! Bad move. Burger was OK, but Veggie Burger was bad– it looked like scoops of spinach and garlic– not a burger. Service was not great with the place pretty empty. I would call this a skip.

We have been here a few times. The food is ok. And the beer selection is good. But I may not return. Today is Father’s Day and they have advertised a free meal when you buy 2 entrees. Ok. We are 3. Not a problem. What is a problem is that every time we have come here…, no napkin or silver wear at the table. Food comes and no napkin or silver wear. Until we ask for it. That is just ridiculous.
I ordered the chicken and leek because the menu said «like no other». I’m not sure who they are comps ringing it to but it’s not worth ordering. Flash fried leeks atop… Non existing. And that was kinda what sold me. The fish and chips that kept coming by would have been the better choice. Too bad the waitress did not try to sell us that!!! Service is mediocre. What has happened to customer service? Sad experience. Don’t think we will come back.

We went back here after a long hiatus (probably 3 years) and decided this place needed another shot. When they first opened, I fell in love with the décor and the food. The Bangers & Mash was awesome. but now, it’s no longer on the menu. Was pretty disappointed. What Irish restaurant doesn’t have Bangers & Mash? There’s was the best I had ever had and now I’m missing it.
So, I had the Monte Cristo, instead. It’s one of my favorite sandwiches. There’s is the kind where they batter and deep fry the whole sandwich. It was ok. Pretty greasy. I’ve appreciated other restaurants where the batter is more crispy. There wasn’t a lot of meat in it, either. So, it was tasty, but could be improved. I did think it was cute how they serve the fries in little buckets, off to the side.
I had the carrot cake for dessert. It was good, but I’m not used to there being pineapple in a «carrot» cake. The pineapple seemed to be the more predominant flavor. I give them credit for putting a twist on it. It was tasty, just a little different than what I was expecting.
The staff we encountered was friendly. Our server was was nice, cool and attentive. One of the reasons we stopped going there, 3 years ago, was due to the poor service. So our faith has been restored in that department. Yay!
The biggest drawback is that our table was super sticky. It almost seemed like it was a problem with the finish of the table and not necessarily a cleanliness issue… but it was a turn off.
I just may return here, sometime. :)

I had gone here a couple of years ago and had a horrible experience. But, I vowed to try again. I’m glad I did.
Now, I gave this place three stars because there were no issues and the food wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great either though. But I’m glad they shaped up a little so I could go back here if there was a band that I wanted to see play.
I got a burger (my third burger in 2 days). The server recommended the Jameson burger and I went with that. It has a BBQ sauce that is made with Jameson and you could smell the Jameson when I cut it open. But you couldn’t really taste it.
The server also suggested the Banoffee Pie, which was pretty good… Very sweet.
All and all, not bad.

One of our goto restaurants in the area. The staff is always friendly and engaging. While I am sure the food is not strictly «Irish» it is the closest you will get in this area.
The menu has something for everybody. Being on a paleo diet, I am always looking for protein heavy dishes and the Irish Breakfast (Served all day and pictured here) fit the bill. It is basically all I order when I go in now.
When I want to cheat a bit, the Scottish eggs, served with their mustard sauce, is always calling out to me and more often than not is my «cheat» for the day.
Do yourself a favor and order outside your comfort zone. You will not be disappointed. I highly recommend a visit here.

I had a good experience. All of our food was good. Wait staff was super helpful and kept us happy and entertained. Atmosphere of the place is really nice. Good music! Will definitely be back.

While the menu offers a good selection of standard Irish pub fare, the poor service and kitchen execution is a perfect example of poor management, I took my mother there on a Saturday afternoon, the restaurant was mostly empty. Even so, it took our waiter 15 minutes to come to our table to take our drink orders. We then waited about 25 minutes for our food. Meanwhile, after taking our food order, the waiter never came back to see if we needed anything else, and I had to flag down someone to find him so we could get some water. I ordered a Portobello sandwich with sauteed zucchini instead of fries, my mother ordered the corned beef dinner. When my sandwich finally came, the kitchen had put the watery zucchini on the same plate, so the bottom half of my sandwich was sitting in a couple of tablespoons of zucchini juice, and completely soaked. Inedible. I asked for the manager, and he had them prepare another sandwich, this time with the zucchini separated into a ramekin, so the bread remained crispy. The sandwich was good the 2^nd time around. My mother enjoyed her corned beef. We ordered a bread pudding for dessert, which they comped. Good effort, but it was burned on the bottom. The coffee we ordered was also burned. It is these details which can really ruin an experience. If the staff was trained properly to look at what they are doing, to take 5 seconds to look at something before they serve it, to take pride in what they are putting out there, our experience would have been totally different. The final straw was the ladies room. Garbage on the floor, cobwebs hanging off the ceiling and «you know what» on the toilet seat. On a slow afternoon. Again, I attribute this to poor management. So, even with food that is decent, I won’t be going back.