Fishy Fishy Kinsale

Fuinseog

Has anyone experience of this place? would it be the best fish restaurant in Kinsale?
I read reviews of the place online on Trip Adviser and a lot of folks seemed to have had a similar experience to mine- excellent food but the staff lacked what one would call people skills.
Good fish will be expensive, but I would have thought they would have responded to the current economic climate, especially for lunch. The staff were rude, but they must be doing well as the queue was out the door and people were kept waiting for quite some time.

eastbono

I was in Kinsale Friday lunch time and no queue out the door. Went to the Lemon Leaf and had some lovely food and very nice and friendly staff.

curly from cork

+ 1 for the lemon leaf, had tea there last Sat night about 7 ish. lovely !

Fuinseog

is Fishy fishy the most established restaurant in Kinsale? the chef seems to have written a book of his recipes.

what kind of place is the Lemon Leaf?
I was with a group who wanted to eat more than just fish and chips. Does the lemon leaf offer lobster and mussels? if it does then there is no need to queue at Fishy fishy as people with reservations do.

manzana

I've eaten a few times at Fishy Fishy, and the food there was definitely delicious.

Other great places to try around co Cork: Cafe Paradiso in Cork city, and La Jolie Brise in Baltimore (so far the best tuna I've ever had in Ireland was at LJB).

John_Rambo

manzana wrote: »

I've eaten a few times at Fishy Fishy, and the food there was definitely delicious

Any time I sail in Cork we go here, one of the best fish restaurants in the country in my opinion, good prices, good service, excellent fresh food.

curly from cork

lemonleaf is a lovely cafe with a nice range of tasty food. fishy fishy is a wonderful all fish restaurant. very different but if i was choosing one for a meal, it would be fishy fishy.

Fuinseog

John_Rambo wrote: »

Any time I sail in Cork we go here, one of the best fish restaurants in the country in my opinion, good prices, good service, excellent fresh food.

how do you rate good service? the comments on Trip Advisor would say otherwise. some folks are saying the staff are very indifferent. I eat in a lot of good restaurants and the service there was not good.


I notice the dude who owns the place has a tv series Martin loves fish or something like that. if he put as much effort into his people skills as he did into his fish the place would be wonderful.

its definitely not suited for going there as a group. we were a group of ten and they brought us a single bill and wanted us to pay together although we told them at the start we would be paying separately. Then the waitress told us she was too busy to give separate bills. its almost as if our presence was a nuisance.

going out the door there were twenty people waiting to get in and were not being told how long the would have to wait, which is bad form.

Fuinseog

curly from cork wrote: »

lemonleaf is a lovely cafe with a nice range of tasty food. fishy fishy is a wonderful all fish restaurant. very different but if i was choosing one for a meal, it would be fishy fishy.

so the lemon leaf is not strictly a fish restaurant?

some interesting comments

http://www.menupages.ie/cork/west_cork/kinsale/fishy_fishy_restaurant.aspx
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g211878-d787801-Reviews-Fishy_Fishy_Restaurant-Kinsale_County_Cork.html


y husband and I recently visited Fishy Fishy when we were in Kinsale as we had been recommended it by others. We did not have a reservation but this did not seem to be a problem. However when you enter the restaurant you must walk by the Lobster tank. A Lobster had been taken out shortly before we arrived and there was water on the floor. As we were being shown to our table, I slipped on the wet floor and suffered a nasty fall. Nothing serious by way of injury but enough that my upper thigh was very bruised and some pride at such a 'grande' entrance!!
The waitress naturally came back to assist as my husband was helping me off the floor and admitted that the reason for the fall was that the lobster had been removed from the tank and wet the floor. We were subsequently shown to our table and enjoyed our meal. The food was good but the lack of customer service did leave a bad taste in our mouth. The waitress did not make any effort to apologise for the fall or make any recompense after admitting that it was entirely their fault! I would be the very first to admit that these things happen but when they do, I do expect a level of customer service to deal with it . There was no apology, no good will gesture, nor reflection in the bill for their admitted negligence. So overall Fishy Fishy had lots of potential with a nicely decorated restaurant and good food, but a laise faire approach to customer service will not serve them well in the long run. We would be reluctant to return.

Visited June 2011



I have been a regular and have never been disappointed with the food and the ambiance has been good until recently. Our last visit we had to wait, standing, for 55 minutes. After a while we got fairly fed up. There was no offer of a drink or desert on the house by way of apology. My two children refuse to go back.



I booked this resturant 2 months in advance and was really looking forward to it as I had not been there before. We booked a table for 8 oclock. We arrived on time and were told to wait for our table which was fine but only after 45 mins my wife asked was our table nearly ready and then we were shown to our table. We were not too put out by the wait as we were looking forward to the food. After 10 mins i received one starter which we ordered which was nice but unfortunately we waited another 50 mins and the mains had not arrived. I asked the waitress was there a problem with the food and she told us they were very busy and we shouldnt be waiting much longer. We waited anthrr ten mins and By this time it was nearly 10 o'clock. We decided not too wait any longer and leave. The staff were very apologetic and said that there was only 2 chefs on and the resturant was full. It was such a let down. Surely if you have 2 chefs on you don't over book your restaurant!


I visited Fishy Fishy for the first time, with my sister. We didn't have a reservation and we wish they had told us from the start that they wouldn't be able to serve us.

We were told to sit down and they would see what they could do. A drinks order was taken, menus were given to us and we took this as a good sign that they were going to take our order. A half an hour later, nobody had come near us to take a food order, when we asked if they would be able to serve us, a very defensive waitress told us we would be served. She took the order a few minutes later, we both ordered chowder for starter and I ordered crab claws platter (which is a cold dish) and my sister ordered fish for main course.

It took another 20-25 minutes before the chowder arrived!!! Our dishes were cleared about ten minutes after we had fininshed and about another 25 minutes later some poor waiter who we hadn't seen all night was obviously sent out to aplogise to us because the waitress who had cleared our starter dishes had not informed the kitchen that we were fiinished our starter, so the main courses were only being started now. We were told they would be another 15 minutes. We said to the waiter that we would assume that the price would be reflected in the bill when it arrived. Needles to say, the appalling treatment we received was not reflected in the bill. When my sister questioned this, they took the drinks off the bill, I had a glass of coke,my sister had a brandly.

The food was lovely, I could not fault it, however, our evening was completely ruined by the long waits and lack of an apology by staff at the end of the night.

Fuinseog

an interesting entry from Trip Advisor.


"5 of us visited the restaurant last May, prior to booking we were told there was at least 4 other choices on the menu as 3 of the group didn't eat fish. That was not the case, there was fish and chicken salad on starters, fish and steak on main courses.

It is extremely pricey, michelin star prices and cafe service.

We had to continuously ask for water, don't know if this due to lack of staff. Side dishes were not consistent.

We had reservation for 18.00 and we were told we had to finish at 20.30, at these prices this should not be a condition.

On the owners T.V. show he promoted hake as a cheap cut of fish but he charged €25 in the restaurant"

this Martin dude should practice what he preaches on his show.
its interesting that the owner wishes to promote fish, yet charges exorbitant prices. I saw a bit of the TV show and he shows your average Joe soap how to cook fish, but will the average Joe want to eat fish at such prices? now for certain fish you will pay, yet cod there was 18 euro. I am sure it came with hand carved chunky chips, but still.
the chowder was eight euro, again there is nothing special about chowder, but maybe his is special.

people will still pay for good food but indifferent or even rude staff is another matter.

Fuinseog

curly from cork wrote: »

lemonleaf is a lovely cafe with a nice range of tasty food. fishy fishy is a wonderful all fish restaurant. very different but if i was choosing one for a meal, it would be fishy fishy.

I think lemon leaf is the cafe beside Fishy fishy on the other side of the fairground. I was there and the food was good, staff friendly and reasonably priced.

finisklin

Is there a conspiracy agin fishy fishy?

I always found it fine....busy but staff were always accomodating.

I love Martin's approach to fish - no bones, no bother (I think!).

thelungs

I stay in Kinsale a good bit and was there for the long weekend.
Fishy fishy is the best seafood restraunt I have ever been to and that is why I return time after time. I have never had service problems and have eaten there over 10 times.
Lemon leaf is good but I found the service shocking on all 3 of my visits. I even walked out this Saturday after sitting for over 15 mins with no service at all.
I must also mention Jim Edwards where even the bar food is excellent.
Hope this helps.

reprazant

So, you have a, what you thought, bad experience so you are now just going a posting all the bad reviews you can find?

I don't think I have ever heard of a place giving separate bills for a group of ten. Why didn't you just find out what you owed from the bill and put in the kitty. If there were queues out the door, I would imagine that she probably was too busy to deal with each person separately. Its a restaurant, not a pub.

Fuinseog

finisklin wrote: »

Is there a conspiracy agin fishy fishy?

I always found it fine....busy but staff were always accomodating.

I love Martin's approach to fish - no bones, no bother (I think!).

there is a lot of speak of Martin, but does the celebrity chef and tv star actually cook there and mingel with the customers?

finisklin

Fuinseog wrote: »

there is a lot of speak of Martin, but does the celebrity chef and tv star actually cook there and mingel with the customers?

Is he spreading himself too thin?

Fuinseog

reprazant wrote: »

So, you have a, what you thought, bad experience so you are now just going a posting all the bad reviews you can find?

I don't think I have ever heard of a place giving separate bills for a group of ten. Why didn't you just find out what you owed from the bill and put in the kitty. If there were queues out the door, I would imagine that she probably was too busy to deal with each person separately. Its a restaurant, not a pub.

The problem is that we had a reservation and they said they would be able to deal with a group, although the tone over the phone was a 'could not care less' one.

if you ask for a separate bill at the start and they agree to it and then do not do it, its bad. this business of who had what and trying to calculate it separately by yourselves, which we had to do, takes an eternity.

there was also no apparent manager or waitress around to deal with customer complaints. there was an elderly waitress there who claimed that it was nothing to do with her, fled and left a young teenage girl deal to sort out the mess.

Fuinseog

finisklin wrote: »

Is he spreading himself too thin?

the dude has placed himself in the limelight with his tv show so certain standards are expected. Before my recent culinary experience there I knew little or nothing about him.
I can see he has his allies here and the quality of the food cannot be called into question. Maybe he is operating beyond his ability. If he had a slightly smaller restaurant he might be able to deal more efficiently with people.

finisklin

I think that's what happened to those other celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey in Powerscourt he was never there and the guy in La Stampa whose name escapes me. Difficult to get the formula right consistently when your not there ll the time.

Double edged sword as you need marketing & PR to get the punters in. Only thing is if the grub is not up to snuff it leaves a bad taste, in your case.

I have eaten there and found it great. Simple and delicious. Not sure about the best fish restaurant bit though.......Hard to beat Cavistons though it is a tight call between the two.

curly from cork

Fuinseog wrote: »

I think lemon leaf is the cafe beside Fishy fishy on the other side of the fairground. I was there and the food was good, staff friendly and reasonably priced.

Not sure what that one is called but its not the lemon leaf. the lemon leaf is on the street behind the merries.

Unshelved

I've eaten there twice - once two years ago and once again last year. While the food both times was delicious, we thought that there was a serious fall-off in service last year. The waitress was abrupt to the point of rudeness - we felt like the food was thrown at us and were rushed through our meal so that the table could be freed up for customers after us.

Perhaps the restaurant is a victim of its own success - the demand for tables means that the staff don't have to provide the service that the prices they charge should demand. In all honesty, there are equally good restaurants in Kinsale, where the food is just as nice, but where you are made to feel a lot more welcome.

John_Rambo

Fuinseog wrote: »

how do you rate good service?

When the person serving me is pleasant and professional, when my food is served with a smile and is promptly brought from the trawler to the pan/grill/oven to the plate and then to my table, when the server isn't hampered by a gang of ten people demanding individual bills for each person!

You were being unreasonable Fuinseog, there are restaurants that are excellent at what they do that would suit your billing needs.

Supermummy

ive eaten here and food is fab its not as busy as before i dont think.

trotter_inc

Ate here a few times, food has quite a high standard, prices are a little above the norm but it's worth it as the food is quite good.

On previous comments about the service above, I also thought the staff could have been a little more welcoming and friendly.

mikep

Fishy fishy is a rip off, here is my review:
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g211878-d787801-r116436095-Fishy_Fishy_Restaurant-Kinsale_County_Cork.html#REVIEWS

Fuinseog

The joke is if you watched his programme you would think fish on an island nation such as ours would be more affordable.

fish and chips are fish and chips and 18 euro is hard to justify, even if the fries are hand cut, hardly that labour intensive.