Jessie´s Blog

Flaherty´s Combo Platter

My most recent trip to a restaurant in Barcelona was Flaherty´s Irish Pub, located just off of Las Ramblas! I went to Flaherty´s this past Sunday night at 9 P.M. to watch the Superbowl. My reviews of Flaherty´s are mixed because of the crowded atmopshere and the lack of preparation by the staff. When we first walked in to Flaherty´s it was pretty crowded, mainly with locals watching a soccer game. We found a small table near one of the many televisions and took a seat. We arrived really early to get food and to be sure we got a seat, since we all love football. Immediately upon arrival I ordered a pitcher of Sangria for 12 euros from the waiterss who spoke English. It´s always refreshing to have a waitress who speaks English because I do not speak any Spanish so it makes my life a lot easier. The sangria was not as sweet as I like sangria but it was good and lasted me for a long time. After looking over the menu I was torn on what to get because everything sounded so amazing. One of the things I have missed the most from America is the food. Since I had no idea what to order, my friend I decided to split the Flaherty´s Combo Platter so that we could have a taste of everything. The platter cost 19.30 euro and was supposed to include: chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, potato wedges, onion rings, sausage, breaded mushrooms, and cheesy garlic bread served with barbeque sauce, garlic mayonnaise, and honey mustard to dip in. To my EXTREME disappointment, the pub was out of buffalo wings, the cheesy garlic bread, and the breaded mushrooms. The breaded mushrooms was not a big deal but the buffalo wings and cheesy garlic bread were part of the reason I ordered the dish in the first place! We asked instead for extra mozzarella sticks, but I think we definitely got ripped off since that does not make up for the loss of the wings and the bread. How can a pub be out of those two things!? The one thing I can not complain about was the food that I did receive. The mozzarella sticks were small but amazing. The first bite I had I felt like I was back in America. The chicken tenders, potato wedges, and onion rings did not disappoint either. I enjoyed every single bite I had of that food. It was one of the best meals I have had here solely because I felt like I was back at home enjoying some of my favorite foods. The sausage was not great but I don´t like sausage anyways so that didn´t bother me. Another issue with the pub is that they ran out of many of their different selections of beer. By the end of the night selection was extremely limited. Other than the bar being completely unprepared in terms of food and alcohol, the staff was really attentive and I never had to wait long to get an order. The only problem with watching the superbowl in that atmosphere was that I could not hear any of the commentating, the half time show, or anything and I really missed my Super Bowl commercials too! One other issue was that the kitchen closed at midnight so they only served horrible hotdogs after that for the rest of the night and they stopped serving beer before the game was over. I know that the bars here on Sundays can not be open past a certain time, but they would also not let anyone make noise and with a game as intense in the final moments as this one was, that was definitely tough to do. Overall, I definitely recommend Flaherty´s to go watch a soccer game or to go grab a bite to eat of American food, even though it´s techinically an Irish Pub. The staff was great, the food was amazing, and it was a fun place to be.

In the end it was a really great super bowl considering I was watching it from a country that doesn´t generally follow too much football! I was really excited for the Green Bay Packers since they have not won a superbowl since 1996!

Here is a link to some reviews of the best and worst commercials played during the Super Bowl!

The last thing I am going to leave you with is the half time show from the Super Bowl! Although the Black Eyed Pea´s vocals weren´t amazing, they really put on a great, entertaining show! It was a nice change from the past few half time shows (nothing against Tom Petty or the Rolling Stones). The special effects were awesome!