Finnegan's Marin Restaurant & Bar

I and my husband live in Novato, and we like patronizing local restaurants/wine bars.  We have been coming regularly to Finnegan's for several years now.  We usually order 1-2 glasses of wine apiece, and sometimes also an appetizer, or burger/pizza/shepherd's pie.  

Through the time we  have patronized Finnegans we have always had some reservations about the quality of the food -- mysteriously rubbery calamari with overly heavy batter clinging to it for dear life, shepherd's pie that is runny, with very few vegetables, and greasy as all get out.  Please don't get me started on the Dublin pot roast!!  And, is it so frigging hard to TOAST the hamburger bun?  

However, we're in the suburbs--the bar is set lower for what constitutes "good" food, and the service of the hostess, waitstaff and the bartenders was good.  We could get a decent glass of wine for a decent price, and possibly an appetizer (if feeling especially adventerous).  

Alas those days are gone!  Our last three visits to Finnegan (the last one being last night) have been extremely disappointing because of the poor service that we've received.  On Visit No. One about 3 weeks ago we noticed that the hostess, a young woman, had a love affair with her smart phone and was waaayyy too busy texting to even seat us.  We were not the only people waiting to be seated.  On a side note, I have noticed that Finnegans has had a real shift in its staff recently, and it's not a change for the better.  We soldered on and finally (!) got seated, and placed our orders.  When we walked out the front door, the hostess was....guess what?? busy texting on her phone again.  

On Visit No. Two-approximately two (or so) weeks ago, we actually sat at a little side table by the bar with not a huge wait, and ordered glasses of wine with appetizers.  Over 10 minutes later, we ordered from the bar ourselves, because no wait person came to take our order.  The really hinky thing is that after paying for our two glasses of wine and appetizers (and, yes, we always tip 20%) we decided that we wanted one more glass of wine each.  Of course, there was no waitress to be had!  They appear with miraculous speed when you are finishing your meal, and to give you the check but..... Okay, well I walked to the bar, and asked the bartender (a new man wearing a bow tie - I'd never seen him before) for a glass of house red and a glass of house white wine.  He got me a glass of white wine and a bill for just that glass of wine.  Then he adroitly stepped away and immersed himself in conversation with other patrons at the other end of the bar.  I patiently waited until he came back up to my end of the bar, and then I told him that I had ordered TWO glasses of wine, and still needed the glass of red.  Then the bartender says "well, you'll have to get another glass of wine".  Then he scampered off, serving other patrons at the other end of the bar.  Flummoxed I continued to wait for about 5 minutes...for him to return and POUR A GLASS OF RED WINE!! Frankly, I didn't see that my jumping across the bar and engaging in self service was an option.  Throughout my wait I never had so much as a sip of the house white wine I had been poured.  After another 5 minute wait, I just left.

Visit No. 3 (last night) The same hostess was there--not texting this time -- but just barely civil--not friendly.  Our waitress was very curt and kind of surly.  We had one glass of wine each and a mediocre appetizer each and when we left, we took the bad taste of Finnegan's out of our mouths by going to a restaurant up the street on Grant Avenue called Muscio's.  What a difference.

Came here for HH and sat at the bar.  This place has a family vibe going on.  The bartender knew almost everyone that came in.  You can tell they were regulars there.

$3 beer and $3 fish tacos on Monday night.  Watch the game if you're into sports.

Family friendly and fun place to go for a dinner date. Their burger is one of the best I've had in Marin. They have a cool Irish pub vibe/decor and great place to watch sports games. The service was prompt and friendly too!