BlackFinn American Grille

Nice staffs: host, busser and server
This is not our first time eating at this place, but this time
WE GOT FOOD POISON, NOT ONE, ‘WE’.
I wasted my time gently emailed them to warn about their possible contaminated foods. No one kindly enough to email me back; neither sorry nor thank you.
So, take your risk.
Enjoy your food

I came here for happy hour & for a networking event. Note, this place isn’t connected to the Galleria. At least, I don’t believe so. I didn’t get any food, but just a drink. A virgin Arnold Palmer. Most of the time, they are super sour (way tooo much on the lemonade side). But, BlackFinn rocks! My Arnold Palmer was perfect. Not tooo sweet & not toooo sour! It’s nice to find a place that makes perfects Arnold Palmer’s. Service was awesome. Loved the rich dark wood in the bar area.

This location is in the Galleria Mall. I walked in and the location itself is HUGE! I wasn’t even sure which way to head… There were multiple bars and I found myself at one, with a very nice/​friendly bartender!
I had the 312 Goose Island Wheat beer– recommend! Light and refreshing, not too wheat-​y. I ordered the buffalo chicken flatbread, and the small house salad. The flatbread was good, but nothing I would have to come back and get. On the spicy side, and I would’ve liked some more chicken. The salad was pretty blah. Just lettuce tossed with some dressing, all the extras that it included in the menu were scarce.
I would come back, but only if there weren’t other options in the area. Which in this case, there were.

Let me start out by saying that Kelly is an awesome bartender. The happy hour prices were pretty good, but overall, Black Finn reminded me of a classy Houlihan’s.
I had the house white wine, which was $ 5 as part of happy hour. It was a decent Chardonnay, not too oakey. We also ordered three appetizers which were $ 6 a piece. We had the chicken wings, which were a really large portion but there was not enough dipping sauce. The calamari was nice and cooked perfectly (not chewy at all!). Again, not enough marinara. We wished that there was an alternative to marinara, as it seems like everyone’s got a different sauce for calamari these days. Finally, we had the shrimp and pesto flat bread which left something to be desired. Not enough pesto or cheese, kinda bland overall.
I think we will be back although there was a snafu where we left our cash under the check on the bar and someone stole/​lost the money. We were asked if we had paid, and as a bartender, I was taken aback. I would never skip out on a check!!! That was super weird.

We keep going here because I have a family member who LOVES it. Not because of the food, but because they are child friendly, so I guess there’s that.
The food is overpriced bar food. There are a few things that aren’t bar food and they are WAYYYYY overpriced. Everything is under seasoned, and it takes forever to get your food. Seriously, give this place a pass. You’re better off going to Applebee’s.

Went here for happy hour and had some appetizers. Seems like quite the hot spot for after-​work happy hours. Can get pretty crowded (for a bar thats connected to a mall).

The last time I came to Black Finn, it took about 20 minutes for my husband and I to get a waitress. Today was the last straw.
I went with two girlfriends to get an afternoon drink after shopping around the Galleria all day. Our express purpose was to sit on the outdoor patio since the weather was gorgeous. As we walked up, we saw that there were two couples sitting on the patio eating lunch. When we asked the hostess to seat us outside, she told us in an exasperated voice that she would have to look to see if the patio was even open. When she came back in, she told us there would be about a five to ten minute wait. My girlfriends and I were incredibly confused, so we ducked back outside to verify that there were over 20 open tables and only two couples eating their food. We walked back in to ask why in the world there was going to be a five to ten minute wait, and she told us that the only server for the area «needed some time.» She acted as though we were incredibly out of line to ask to be seated outside.
Never going back. The food is not worth the rude treatment by a long shot.

#solid 3 star, but my friend would say 5 with exclamations. Sooo you decide? Solid 3.5 it is, I was happy with the service my food was tasty enough and the fries were well seasoned, kudos

This place is a blast! We went to BlackFinn on Monday evening for the Alabama v. Notre Dame game. This place transforms into the ultimate sports bar during big games. It is huge on the inside and they have the ability to dedicate one huge room/​side of the restaurant for the fans of one team and the opposite side for supporters of the opposite team.
We walked in and they had red balloons hanging in bags on the ceiling ready to be dropped for the winning team, the table was decorated with red and white decorations, and they had «Beat the Irish» stickers for the guests.
The food was really, really good. We ordered gameday type food– nachos, wings, and soft pretzels. It was all delicious. My favorite item was the wings– we ordered 10 hot wings and 10 teriyaki wings, both of them were really, really good.
Our server, Mo (spelling?) was absolutely fabulous. It was packed to the gills but we never felt like she was too busy for us. She was polite and our food was delivered really quickly. I can’t wait to go back for the next big game!

Not a bad place to watch the game with your friends! The food here ain’t bad either. The service was a bit slow but the place was pretty slammed and we had something like 7 – 8 people at our table so I guess I have to take that into account. Everyone arrived at random times too, so it must have been difficult for the waitress.
Someone at the table had previously won free beer towers and appetizers so that was great because I got to try some of their food for free before buying anything. The cheesy dip with tomatoes was my favorite though. Mmmm.
I ordered a seasonal wheat beer and the goat cheese spinach salad. OMG that salad was amazing. For a few extra bucks I got grilled chicken on top. Somewhat healthy and actually quite tasty. I would so order this again a heartbeat but I reallllly wanna try their ahi tuna dish too! yum!
Lots of TVs which makes watching the game easy even with a large group. I’d like to sit at the bar next time, though, if I am alone or with 1 other person.
Sean H. had a bacon cheeseburger and he said it was pretty good.
Also funny – I had NO idea where this place was. We actually had to stop and read the directory thing and even then we somehow almost got lost. I had NO idea this part of the mall even existed. It was like the Twilight Zone, man, I was like «holy crap wtf is this!» lol. Go figure.

Food
It was mediocre, nothing to be excited about. Had the lemon chicken– which was served with rice pilaf and plain brocolli. Strangely, my rice pilaf had bits of chow mein in it which I am unsure was an accidental insertion or one of their creative enterprise,
The lemon chicken was pretty soft, but too capery and lemony for my taste.
Portions for my friend’s fried pork chop was HUGE– it is something that definitely is splittable between two hungry people. I found it too salty, but it was nice and crunchy and very filling.
The hong kong bass was served with the most unusual rice, patty cake mash. It tasted like turnip cake in dimsum but had risotto like rice and the texture of pudding. Not a fan of it to say the least.
Service
Our entrees came in 10 minutes– it was miraculous. And our two alternating servers were very attentive.
Ambiance
Dim-​litted, wooden booths around. Rustic cabin like theme with upside down canoes laying on the wooden beams that extended across the ceiling.
While it was fun to try out, I think next time I’d be sticking to good olé CPK or Cheesecake factory.

Went here with hubby on a Thurs. night. We were sat in booth right away and our hostesses were really nice. Our waiter was MJ (I think) and he was training an assistant that night. MJ was very helpful and friendly.
We started off with the calamari with was ok… I did like that it was small rings so easy to eat. It’s served w/​a marinara sauce for dipping.
We then got the Lemon Chicken and that was also just okay… it was chicken w/​rice and broccoli… just kinda bland. It wasn’t bad, just not a lot of flavor.
The restaurant is decorated alright and I do like the lanterns that were on the tables. I noticed a lot of corporate parties going on that night, so it seemed pretty busy.
To me, this place would be best for happy hour w/​your co-workers…then it might have been better… esp for the price of most entrees.

BlackFinn seems to have some mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed just about everything when some girlfriends and I went for happy hour.
Their happy hour is pretty amazing. They have a huge list of $ 6 apps and flat breads, $ 3 domestic drafts, $ 4 mixed drinks, and $ 5 glasses of house wine. Not a bad deal! The southern nachos were AWESOME! So messy but oh so good! The roasted veggie flat bread was really salty so I do not recommend that.
The highlight of our visit was the gooey butter cake martini. Holy hell I could have drank these until I was sick. It is literally gooey butter cake with alcohol in a glass. You MUST try it. I ordered one then everyone at the table tried it and ordered their own. It’s that good and totally worth the price and the calories!
The atmosphere in the bar area reminds me of a classy sports bar. It is also huge with plenty of seating options and a large center bar. This would be a great place to catch a game and enjoy great drinks and food as they have TONS of TVs and at least one, maybe two gigantic projection screens.
The only complaint I have was the service. It was slow and she was kinda rude, but nothing to stop me from coming back.
I’ll see ya soon BlackFinn. Be sure to have my gooey butter cake martini waiting! ;)

I’ve been to BlackFinn a few times now and I really like it! For some reason I always forget it’s there (I’m not big on restaurants that are attached to malls) but when a friend recently suggested it for dinner I happily obliged. We went on a Friday around 7pm and had no trouble getting a high-​top table in the bar area.
Our waitress was really nice and attentive, and kept the glasses of chardonnay coming (probably should have stuck with one, but oh well!) I couldn’t decide what to order and was trying to choose between the fish tacos and the lemon chicken. When the waitress told me how good the lemon chicken was, I was so excited to try it… and boy was she right! For $ 13.99, a plate comes loaded with sautéed chicken cutlets, capers, lemon sauce, rice pilaf, and some of the most flavorful broccoli I’ve ever had. The sauce was incredible, the chicken done just right, and I absolutely loved the entire thing. The waitress warned me that it’s VERY lemon-​y, and it was, but it was pretty much perfect.
They actually get a pretty decent crowd in the evening so we stuck around for a bit before making our next stop. I really like this place! Stop by for happy hour, lunch, or dinner, and I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Friday with the office cohorts, like 100 of them. We were in a separate dining room that had two-​person booths, four-​person booths and tables of six. This wasn’t set up for the group. .. it was just a separate room they reserved for us.
It was a buffet.
First up – salad. Greens of all sorts (I think some of these things are growing in my front yard.) with three dressings that weren’t labeled
Second up – grilled vegetables. .. broccoli, red peppers, zucchini and yellow squash
Third up – garlic mashed potatoes
Fourth up – chicken in white sauce with capers (sparingly IMO)
Fifth up – penne pasta with sundried tomatoes and little-​bitty shrimp
Water glasses at the table. Rolls and butter (margarine, really) at the table.
Beverages offered. I got iced tea. It was colored water — no taste. Neither water nor iced tea were ever refilled.
Everything came with a straw in it. .. what’s with that? I don’t like straws. Usually they’re optional.
The food:
salad was fine (I still don’t know what dressing I put on the greens.)
grilled vegetables were fine
garlic mashed potatoes were good
chicken was tasteless and kinda mushy, some edges were dry and hard; sauce was tasteless; capers were AWOL — I didn’t actually see them until I sat down and INVESTIGATED my food; yeah, they were there, but very sparingly
didn’t eat the penne pasta
After so much non-​refilling of beverages. .. water or iced tea. .. it was time to leave. I was so parched, I needed something to drink.
Oh what. .. on the way out — there are desserts??? Who said that? On the buffet table, there were now chocolate chip cookies and half-​brownies.
These should have been served around or something. Nobody knew they were there. I did not partake, as I was on my way out.

I finally made it back for a «regular» visit. The last time I was here was for the Elite dinner and I gave it a 5 star review. Today I was not as satisfied with the service or the food.
I arrived around 2pm to meet a friend for some lunch. I believe the hostess saw us, but we actually had to ask her for a table. We were not greeted at all. We did have the option to sit on the patio and so we decided to do that; we both love patios! The hostess brought us to a table, placed the menus down, told us about brunch (which runs until 3pm on Sundays), and walked away. I didn’t get the sense that she wanted to be there. A few minutes passed by and no one came to our table… then a few more minutes passed and finally a guy showed up to take our drink order; he was not going to be our server though. Our drinks came out and our server showed up. He was friendly once he arrived so things got better.
We placed our orders ordered some beer and waited for our food. The food arrived in a good amount of time. I was a little disappointed in my meal and I know my friend was as well. I’ll start with my order; goat cheese and strawberry salad with grilled chicken. The salad looked like it was drenched in salad dressing. I completely forgot to ask for my dressing on the side and didn’t want to send it back. I like dressing so it was ok, but not everyone is like me and that amount of dressing may have been discouraged another customer. The chicken was really tough and dry! For a grilled chicken I was expecting it to me juicy and flavorful; it wasn’t. I was disappointed in the overall salad. My friend ordered the steak salad; medium well. When the salad was brought out she too complained about the amount of dressing; maybe we both should have ordered the dressing on the side? Oh, and her steak she said was tough and more like well done. The kitchen missed the ball on this one. I don’t think we will recommend the salads in the future. For the prices of the salads I know we were both expecting something better! Each salad was about $ 15! Whoa!
Our server did offer bread and was attentive throughout the meal, so he gets some major Kudos! Good job Mike! I just think the kitchen has some work to do. The food has potential if it is done correctly.

Huge sports bar! Outside of the bar areas, they have lots of seating. Menu has a huge variety, and there are several lunch specials.
On a Friday, I had the Crab Cake sliders. You get 2 with apple slaw and fries. Since I already ordered the Finn Fries (yummy) for an appetizer, I asked if I could get a different side. I chose a salad, and they gave me a full size salad. It was huge, I couldn’t eat more than a couple bites and was able to take it home for later.
I’m looking forward to trying them again, especially when their new patio opens up. I hope that once I try some more menu items, I’ll be able to increase the current rating of 3.

If I was judging the food and menu, I’d say 4 stars — overall experience though was 3 stars — which is still good but they have some things to improve.
This place is huge. It might even be too big. I entered from the mall side, got my pager, walked a distance to the restroom and my pager went off, I went back to where I had received the pager only to be told they seat from the front. They led me through the very huge restaurant to the front — which was nice because I never would have found it on my own — and we were seated. The menu was nice — good options, the waitress was helpful and recommended a beer. One person brought the beer, someone else brought the other drink, then a third person brought our entrees. We didn’t see our server again for quite some time — I imagine she was busy taking the long trek from her tables to the kitchen. When we did see her she dropped off our bill — before we’d even finished eating.
People kept coming by asking if we were «still picking» at our fries. I got the feeling we were supposed to eat and run even though there were other empty tables so we weren’t camping during a busy hour.
So my final feeling is that it was good and I’ll probably be back but I feel like they need better systems in place to deal with the size/​number of tables. For a two-​top I felt like things were a little disorganized and rushed so I can only imagine how larger parties could feel.

As promised, I came back with friends for Happy Hour and we had a good time. Let’s talk cocktails, we ordered; Stan The Man Manhattan (like the hometown twist), Cucumber Infused «Water» (and it went down as refreshing as water) and Pinot Grigio. Wine is wine, but let me tell you the Manhattan and Cucumber water were damn good. I’ll have to be careful not to have too many Cucumber drinks before shopping. I may need to keep them as a reward for a job well done after a power shopping experience.
As we enjoyed multiple rounds of «adult» beverages, we snacked on chicken wings, Seared Ahi Tuna and Flatbread with Shrimp & Pesto. The Chicken Wings, were not your typical bar wing. I liked that there was just enough sauce to coat the wing and give you the flavor. I hate wings that are overly coated and your napkin looks like you’re eating BBQ ribs. Also, being a little anal retentive, I liked how the wings were neatly stacked on the plate and not just piled on.
Having had the Seared Ahi Tuna at a private party I was anxious to have it again. To persuade my friends to order it, I pulled out my trusty iPhone and showed pictures of how fantastic it looked. When it arrived at the table my heart sank, it looked nothing like what I had experienced. At the party, it was presented on thinly sliced cucumber and today it was just sliced and presented on a plate. How boring, the cucumber completed the presentation and flavor. However, this way the Tuna was still very flavorful and I am not a sushi fan.
When we ordered the Flatbread, we requested that the Shrimp be grilled. Our server checked with the kitchen and they said «no problem». When ours arrived, the shrimp was not grilled. Oh well, I guess we were pushing our luck with a special request. Serving it their way was still light and refreshing. You really can not go wrong with pesto and shrimp.
Our server was great, as was the hostess, bartender and one of the managers who stopped by our table to chat. I will be honest in saying, my biggest complaint and it is something that they can not really do anything about was a six and eight year old sitting at the bar. I have no problem with children, I just wish they were in a booth so we could have adult conversation without worrying about what we are saying.

I came here for an event and here is my review:
First, I have to say that I love the ambiance of this place. It’s a classier place that would be good for a date night. It’s not overwhelming where you need dress attire, but not a sundress and flip flops type of place. As we waited for the event I was greeted by a manager who walked me over to the bar when I said that I needed a drink. I asked one that was a house favorite and I had cucumber water which was cucumber gin with white cranberry juice. The manager stayed there until my drink was delivered at the bar.
The service was top notch. We had two of the best waiters waiting on us. They knew the ins and outs of when to be there and when to not. It was perfect. Very rare do I find a good dinner that it’s perfect and only interrupted in the perfect time. These waiters knew the skill in being there when needed.
The Appetizers
Ying yang shrimp– My favorite appetizer. It’s sauce it was seasoned with was a little sweet and a little tangy. I was impressed how it was more decedent and not fishy. Nothing is worse to me than fishy shrimp. So obviously this place had a great cook.
Flatbread, — I liked it. Would I order it again? Ah, no. But only because there was too much deliciousness in this restaurant. I’ll save my room in my stomach for something else.
Blackened Brie, — This was my second favorite. It had a hint of smokyness with a side of cranberry. Very interesting!
The Tuna– I’m a two bites aka two strikes you out. After two bites, if I’m not feeling it, I’m not eating it. It was very bland. It has much room for improvement.
Black Finn Salad, I like olives but not in this salad. I’m not a fan. Now their homemade Creamy parmasan dressing, I could probably drink. It’s just that good.
Entrees and sides:
Bacon wrapped meatloaf I couldn’t get over how delicious this was. Some of the people that I was with said that they thought it was dry. I did not think it was very dry at all. I mean meatloaf typically is a little more on the dry side.
Brussel Sprouts with bacon: If my mom would of made brussel sprouts like this when I was little, I wouldn’t of fed my Mom’s to the dog. They defintely had the bacon taste and a little buttery. I will come back for these.
Queen City Chicken– I loved the pairing with bacon, however I only seemed to have dry pieces. It may of just been the people I was with got the good pieces.
Blackened chicken alfredo was very filling and really good. I did like the flavor of it. I would have to give it another try. I was too in love with the Bacon wrapped meatloaf to give anything else much attention.
Dessert: I had a bite of Desiree’s Hot Chocolate dessert. Amazing. Best dessert I’ve had in a long time. It was a warm, moist cake with a hint of peanut butter an caramel with ice cream and whipped cream and caramel on top. Wow was it good. I’d only order this again if I had others to share it with. It’s pretty large for one person.