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. 

Ambience 

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. 

Food 

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. 

Dessert

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. 

Drinks 

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.  

Service 

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. 

Conclusion

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.