As my fiancée so rightly put it, The Irish Mist is a place you want to like. The owners are clearly trying to bring some life back to one of the more run-down areas of the city by fixing up a dilapidated building and opening a cozy restaurant and bar. It’s exactly the sort of neighborhood business that Troy needs to help combat urban flight by making the city more livable. Unfortunately, that only takes you so far.

The décor of the place leaves something to be desired. While there’s nothing wrong per se with the paint, the wallpaper, or the decorations, the overall feel of the building is still industrial—almost as if someone tried to turn a large chunk of Warren Hall into a restaurant.

The service, at least, was excellent. Our waiter was new, I suspect—he had to run into the kitchen twice to answer questions about menu items. This was the only negative, though. He was friend-ly, prompt, and around when we needed him—on the whole, we were quite pleased.

The menu, as it turns out, is not particularly Irish in nature. There are some traditionally Irish dishes—including the ever-present corned beef and cabbage—but there is also a good mix of other items, especially off the grill. Prices start at around $8 for some of the smaller menu items and range up to roughly $20 for a few of the house specials. There is also a full bar and a decent wine list.

My fiancée ordered a grilled swordfish steak, and I opted for a chicken dish with a white wine and cream sauce. In the meantime, we were brought some crackers with a curious purple spread that turned out to be based on cream cheese and merlot—it was quite good. [The bread, on the other hand, was just sad: a few slices of stale rye that bore a suspicious resemblance to Freihofer’s.]

Our meals, when they came, were unfortunately more like the bread than the crackers. The swordfish steak, we agreed, was very plain—I’m not sure it actually encountered any spices before hitting the grill. My chicken dish wasn’t much better; either a poor wine was used or the proportions were way off, because the sauce was fairly bitter.

Dessert improved the situation some. We ordered the the Obligatory Incredibly Chocolate Dessert which every restaurant seems to have. In this case, it was chocolate pound cake with a raspberry sauce. As expected, it was very rich, very chocolate, and very good.

Overall, though, I wouldn’t really recommend the place, much as I would like to. The poor food and lack of atmosphere leave it with relatively few redeeming qualities. Unless you go out to eat all the time and are really looking for someplace new, give The Irish Mist a miss.

The Irish Mist is located at the corner of Second and Ida in Troy. To get there, go south from campus to Congress St. Go down the hill into downtown and turn left onto Third St. Continue until you get to the bridge over the Poestenkill canal—the street just before that is Ida St. Turn right onto Ida and go one block. The Irish Mist will be ahead on the left.

The Irish Mist

IRISH cuisine

2nd St. & Ida St.

Troy