Finn McCool’s

101 Riverhead Road
Westhampton, NY
631-998-3271

by Sabrina C. Mashburn

Last Thursday, my colleagues and I were asked to review Finn McCool’s in Westhampton Beach, during the taping of a reality TV show. We arrived at 7 p.m., as per the producer’s instructions and although she told us that we would be seated immediately, when we finally found the restaurant manager, he told us that it would be a two-hour wait. Then the cameras appeared and the producer asked us to “act upset” and “talk about how the long wait will affect your review.” Like good reality TV actors, we did as we were told, playing the part of irate food critics. Because this is a restaurant review, not a critique of inept producers, the most difficult part of reviewing Finn McCool’s is separating the successes and failures of the staff from those of the production company.

Our meal started with a visit to the bar. I ordered Jaegermeister on the rocks, and my friend Kelly ordered a glass of wine. David Rattiner ordered a Sam Adams, but received a Guinness instead. He quickly told the bartender that he had the wrong beer, but had accidentally taken a sip of the Guinness. The bartender then served the almost-full Guinness to another customer. Victoria Cooper ordered a Ketel One Vodka and soda with lemon and received a well vodka and soda, even though the Ketel One bottle was in plain sight, and it was served without without a lemon.

At 9 p.m., the producer showed us to our table. True to the Irish spirit, the beers came out before the waters and we were asked if we wanted more drinks while we perused the menu. We all shared the appetizers – medium-spicy chicken wings, a fried cod cake and mulligatawny soup. The cod cake was light and fresh with crisp breading. The chicken wings tasted just as they should and the mulligatawny was creamy and warm. For the main course, we were told to order the new “signature dish,” the shepherd’s pie, so Victoria ordered a large one that we all could share. David ordered the beef and Guinness stew, Kelly ordered the cheeseburger with Guinness-basted onions and I ordered the traditional Irish Breakfast, consisting of steak and eggs. The shepherd’s pie was served still sizzling, in a white croc pot, in the center of the table. Although this was a family-style dish, we were not given serving utensils, so we had to use our stumpy soup spoons to serve ourselves, which resulted in the loss of a spoon. The pie itself was salty but flavorful, with the unexpected addition of a sharp cheese crust on top. Kelly’s burger disappeared before anyone else could taste it and she thought that the Guinness-basted onions were a delicious touch. The fries, while perfectly browned, were not crisp, but the in-house-recipe ketchup perked up their bland flavor. My Irish Breakfast was sprinkled with fresh, roasted wild mushrooms and Kelly offered some of her Guinness-basted onions for my steak, which I gladly accepted. The scrambled eggs were fluffy and soft and the roasted tomato complemented them perfectly. Although my steak was cooked exactly to my liking (black on the outside, almost raw within) I was only able to find a few bites of edible meat in the fatty cut. When we had finished our main courses, our waitress brought out a mixing bowl on a rolling cart and asked if we wanted Caesar salad. She then proceeded to toss thick dressing, salty homemade croutons and lettuce, using a small dinner fork and soup spoon, with limited success. For dessert, our waitress recommended the bread pudding. We ordered one for the table, and although it was a bit dense compared to a classic bread pudding, the flavor was sweet and heavy and the pool of bitter chocolate syrup in which it sat ensured that not a single crumb was left on the plate.

Other tables took advantage of the “roast of the day, carved tableside,” but as Thursday’s roast was a small chicken, the tableside carving seemed superfluous and the carving cart hampered the movement of both the wait staff and camera crew. The tables were not quite large enough to fit the family-style entrées and the bus-girls seemed overwhelmed as they frantically removed empty plates to make enough room for the serving tureens.

Overall, the night was a study in contrasts. As we were there during the taping of a reality TV show, our experiences at Finn McCool’s might not reflect the experience an average diner would have on an average Thursday night. Although the food itself would have been fitting for a quick bite, it did not warrant the pomp and circumstance that surrounded it last Thursday.