Molly Malone's = the New Club Grotto??!!

I can't believe I would ever say such a thing but it's true. Chef Driskell, formerly of Club Grotto, has been the head chef of Molly Malone's in St. Matthews since its opening. My husband and I have dropped in a few times for pints and began to notice that the specials were nothing like the typical Irish fare. We noticed that they sounded quite familiar to some Club Grotto mainstays. We gandered a try and boy are we happy we did. Turns out that the specials are truly Club Grotto quality dishes. If you get there early enough (before the college kids come in), ignore the surroundings, you will find a wonderful meal at very reasonable prices. Plus, Chef Driskell says that if you give him some heads up, he will be more than happy to prepare a dish upon request. We have had the Chicken Piccata and Barbeque Shrimp already. We think its a bargain as the specials are nowhere near what we paid at Club Grotto. Also, FYI, we have zero association with Molly Malone's other than it is a kid friendly place to get a pint (during daylight hours) within walking distance of our house.

[Robin Garr]

I can't believe I would ever say such a thing but it's true. Chef Driskell, formerly of Club Grotto, has been the head chef of Molly Malone's in St. Matthews since its opening.

I am intrigued to know this, but also a little disappointed. I really loved Chef Driskell's work at Club Grotto, but we've been to Molly Malone's in St. Matthews three times recently, and each time I've been sadly disappointed by the food (and, in the case of a burger and fries, by three human hairs on the plate). Different management, different budget, different direction? I don't know. I did notice that the specials sounded more interesting than the basic menu items. I wish I had tried one now, but when I'm considering a review, I generally don't like to review dishes that won't be available to the reader.

Contrary to Robin's experience, I have dined at "Mollys" St Matts two times and really enjoyed the food. It was just between dinner time and the time that the college kids start coming in...so I stuck with standard pub fare each time. Once I ordered fish and chips and the next time I ordered a burger. IMO, they exceeded my expectations of "normal pub fare." I found the burger perfectly cooked and quite juicy...it was an exceptional hamburger!

I was sitting outside and it was dusk, so I might have missed any hairs that were included with the dish...let's hope they were left of my plate.

Thanks. DD

[Robin Garr]

Contrary to Robin's experience, I have dined at "Mollys" St Matts two times and really enjoyed the food.

Honestly, I want to believe. As I said before, I've admired Chef Mike everyplace he's been. Wasn't he at Diamante for a while also?

In addition to the hairy burger, though, I was also disappointed to get a lamb stew that was really deficient. And Mike, the creator of Grotto's Veggie Orgy, providing a stew with those industrial baby carrots out of the bag in it? I dunno. Every meal we've had there has been okay - Mary even ate around the hairs, and yes, the Angus burger and fries were both good. But a number of the dishes have been edible but unexciting - to draw a blunt comparison, a poor second place to the Irish Rover's fare - and I'd have expected more than that from Mike.

We decided to try Molly Malone's for the first time today, and it was pretty good.

I had their special, which consisted of two mini chicken burgers topped with bacon cheese and a zippy barbecue sauce, three fried shrimp with cocktail sauce, the hash brown casserole side of the day.and a pickle. Barbara had the reuben sandwich with fries. Paired with a couple of beers (Guinness for m'lady, and a Spaten doppelsomething for me) it was very satisfying and a notch above your average pub grub.

The best part is we can walk there. That, and there were no hairs on our plates.