No. 168, Maya Avenue, Colombo 5.
Open until 11:00 PM
An Irish inspired restaurant in Kirulapone.
Colombo has got a couple of places that claim themselves as Irish restaurants/pubs. The Four Leafed Clover is one of the most obvious ones. They've been around for a while now, and we've been there before - almost a year ago for our First Look. Back then, it was a soft opening, which is why decided to drop by again for another review.
If there's something absolutely stellar about The Four Leafed Clover, it's the ambience. Leprechauns on the cushion covers, murals of clovers on every visible space and alcohol remnants hanging from the ceiling, they had nailed the Irish aspect of things in terms of the ambience. Furthermore, the place was impeccably clean, the seating plentiful and comfortable with a stream of jazzy, chilled out music playing in the background.
The food menu at The Four Leafed Clover is pretty big, with options ranging from soups to salads to burgers, pizzas, meat, meat and of course, bites. Considering the fact that it was broad daylight and the fact that we were starving, we decided to go with a Signature Chicken (Rs. 1500) and a St Paddy's Corned Beef Burger (Rs. 1550).
Thick cut fries, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, chicken and some creamy sauce seemed to comprise the Signature Chicken.
Those beautifully golden fries were crispy on the outside and beautifully soft on the in. Dusted with a sheen layer of salt, they were utterly gorgeous. The steamed veggies, too, were soft and slightly crunchy but cooked well nonetheless.
The chicken turned out to be an oven baked portion of meat packed with salty, savoury mashed potatoes. While it was a tad stringy and a bit tough, the crispy outside and the mashed potato helped to get over it. Plus, there were a bunch of lovely burnt ends which gave a deliciously smokey flavour to it.
Next up, we have the St Paddy's Corned Beef Burger, served with a side of paper-thin potato crisps. The potato crisps were slightly cold, were crunchy and adequately salty, which all in all adds up to a pretty ideal potato crisp.
The Burger, on the other hand, was a paragraph all to itself. With super dense buns, thick slices of fresh tomatoes, large cross-sections of onions and salad leaves taking up the fill on the vegetable aspects, a slice of cheese and two thick well-cooked patties of corned beef, we managed to stick ourselves in a puddle on this one.
While the dense bits leaned towards things unfavourable, the fall-apart-soft bits seemed to make things okay. Messy as hell, we enjoyed the meaty aspects of it. Other aspects, such as the bun, may have slightly killed it for us. But, all in all, if I'm being honest, given the price, I wouldn't go for it again.
The dessert menu at The Four Leafed Clover isn't big. But, they do have a few interesting options. We got ourselves a Warm Fruit Strudel with a Brandy Custard (Rs. 700).
Essentially the love child of a pastry and an apple pie, the Warm Fruit Strudel was crunchy, buttery and sweet. There was enough fruit jammed into the pastry to keep it from being bland and there were slight cinnamon hints every once in a while to keep things interesting. But, combined with the brandy custard, it might turn out to be a tad too sweet.
Here's where things go downhill to the point of us questioning everything. The drink menu at the Four-Leafed Clover is okay in terms of variety. Thus, we got ourselves a Caramel Macchiato (Rs. 750) and a Lime Juice (Rs. 500).
Stray your eyes away from the cute dog's people! We've got bigger fish to fry right now. The Lime Juice was served icy cold in a thin, adequately tall glass. Sweet and tasting like a mix between artificial lime cordial and a pinch of lime, we weren't quite impressed by this one. Not only because of the price but because it was essentially just watered down, artificial tasting lime juice we wouldn't go back for. And Rs. 500 for a lime juice? Really?
Then came the Caramel Macchiato. Not only was the drink horrendously overpriced, but, the drink was served almost at room temperature. With a heap of foam, loads of milk to the point of tasting pure like milk and slight hints of coffee, and caramel that had somehow managed to escape before reaching us, we didn't like this one. This was probably the only drink I haven't finished in all the places I've been to during my time at YAMU. And if you know me, you'd know how much of a deal that actually is.
The staff was super friendly throughout our experience and they managed to bring our food within 20-30 minutes of ordering. We have no complaints here.
In conclusion, The Four Leafed Clover is a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. While the ambience is spectacular, the food was sort of overpriced. Particularly the drinks.
Open until 11:00 PM
Price Range
Dish Types
Cuisine
Ratings Breakdown
5/5
One of the best restaurants in town.
Food was good and the presentation is good ,
Quality of food can be improved.
Ambiance is really good .
You don’t feel that u are in Colombo
The staff was very attentive
And they were very professional the way they handle the customers .
Thank you for the great service
5/5
Best steak in town and on the another note very kid friendly and love the ambiance and the Irish themed murals oh and the food was great too… this place will be the next big thing😊
2/5
The interior was done pretty perfectly. But they think they are missing the point - Food. We got a cappuccino and an ammericano. Both was tasteless and over priced. They seriously need to wprk on their menu and quality of food items. It was a huge disappointment.
1/5
If there was a THIS PLACE MAKES ME ANGRY emoji i would use it!
WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN THIS PLACE!
The food took an hour to arrive after being told that it was only 20 minutes. It was cold and insipid. Ear splitting music blasting from below, a match commentary blaring from speakers in every other room, waiters refusing to reduce the volume and by far the worst customer care I have EVER had the misfortune of experiencing.
I am still shaken after the hostile call I had with their screaming manager who was on full defense mode from the get-go, interrupted me every few sentences to dispute everything I said with a rude comment, refused to accept the sound was too loud because Chaminda Vaas was there and didn’t have a problem with it, accused me of lying and then proceeded to shout me down saying if I ate the food I shouldn’t be complaining (After I had told her that I left 90% of the dish behind) and to top it off she rather shadily refused to tell me who owned the place.
I cannot imagine the calibre of the people that own this place if this is how they allow their staff to talk to customers. For your own good, don’t give this place the time of day.
1/5
Kudos to the person who wrote the Menu. The explanations make you want to try out everything. But the food did not meet the expectations. It was disappointing.
The messed our bill three times ( The process of getting our food took forever, the process of paying for it perhaps took longer)
"some really interesting menu items Dublin Coddle"
"it didn't taste as well as it could have been."
"was again, did not have the best presentation"
"They did, however, served fruit juices and mocktails"
"the food took about good 40 minutes to arrive."
"If they could get improve their food and presentation"
- Does an editor even check these articles anymore?
5/5
ravishkam20
One of the best restaurants in town.
Food was good and the presentation is good ,
Quality of food can be improved.
Ambiance is really good .
You don’t feel that u are in Colombo
The staff was very attentive
And they were very professional the way they handle the customers .
Thank you for the great service
5/5
Hasanthi dil
Best steak in town and on the another note very kid friendly and love the ambiance and the Irish themed murals oh and the food was great too… this place will be the next big thing😊
5/5
AshainD
The best place to be in Colombo. Ambience is on point. The friendly staff. Super service. Valet parking… what more can you ask for. Seriously the best place to be especially on. A Friday night. The entertainment is on point and the food is to die for.