Blackfinn American Saloon

Waited almost an hour for our food with people after us getting theirs so we walked out…

CLOSED, as is the Arlington location.

Met some out of town friends here on a Monday night… didn’t expect them to have much of a crowd and they didn’t…but that was some of the slowest service that I’ve seen.
It’s a pretty nice set-​up, spacious, plenty of bar and outdoor seating, a lot to leave to the imagination though.
It seemed like employees and/​or their friends were getting all of the attention this particular night… may have been regulars, but I haven’t been to a place where they allow customers behind the bar.
The drink specials were alright and the drinks were not very good. I may have to give this place another shot at a different time… but wouldn’t you expect good things on a slower night?

I did NOT eat here but came at 11pm on a Saturday for a bday party. Tiny dance floor, but it does get packed after midnight. Good music selection and lots of TVs. Drinks were okay — a little weak.

I went to Blackfinn on a Monday night to celebrate my friend’s birthday. There were not many people here on a cold Monday, but there were a couple groups of people watching football throughout the bar.
I did not have to wait too long for my beers, and they were on happy hour/​day of the week special for pretty cheap. The bartenders were fairly nice and the young lady waiting on me toward the end of the night was excellent and remembered my tab/​drinks/​etc.
After we watched as much football as we could stand, we went outside to check out the big open-​air fire pits. I expected the gas-​logs that most patio bars seem to have around Dallas, but they actually had a big wood rack across the patio so that we could add wood and keep the fire burning! We met some unruly office building sales people on a conference and they kept us entertained for a few hours.
I wouldn’t really consider Blackfinn to be special, but it sure beat my expectations for a place to just grab a few drinks.

They have cut out smoking inside… but it still stinks a great deal in here. Service is eh. Food is Fried. Freezing cold inside. I am just overall not or have ever been impressed with anything in Addison. So I will just stop going and trying bc lets face it… it just puts me in a bad mood to have to deal with any establishment as they have ALL been a let down.

Well, went back to this place this week with all my friends and our dogs to chill on the patio. I have to say this must have been «clueless» night with staff and cooks. The calamari (which is my favorite appetizer ever), was not edible. It was literally a big stuck together clump, with little to no flavor. We sent it back and got the Teriyaki wings, which were better. Not much though. No one could figure out how to change the TV’s on the patio. It’s Monday Night Football, and you can hear the game, but not see it. Kind of frustrating actually. The service was OK, but our waitress disappeared for stretches. I had the crème brûlée for dessert, which was actually good.
I’ll continue to go here, if nothing for the chance to get out with my dog and relax in a really nice environment.

I got dragged here by people who live nearby bc of their outdoor area. Not worth it just for a place to drink outside so don’t be fooled by that.
Horrible scene of girls in spandex who shouldn’t be and greasy guys with presumably big wallets.
The bouncer was rude, inappropriate and politically incorrect to the Nth degree. I’ll leave it at that. The bartender couldn’t be bothered to tell me what kind of wine they have (do you have list? yes, but we don’t have most of it. can you tell me what you have? no, do you want white or red? AMAZING. I did not tip her.)
I will never be back.

Really 3.5
The event coordinator (Brandy) reached out to my alumni group, and offered to host a happy hour event for us. I was in charge of the invites, and getting people there. Coordinating the event was quite easy. Communication was great, pre-​planned happy hour menu, and area/​table were all set up for us when we arrived. They even had balloons for us!
Overall, the alumni had a great time catching up and everything. Food was satisfying, and the service was good. I just had a tuna tataki appetizer, and a cheeseburger for dinner. It filled me up, but nothing worth noting or write about.
It was about 9pm (I think), and the place was starting to get crowded. They have a club/​lounge type of set up on the weekends after a certain time. They rolled out the red carpet and velvet rope, which I find kind of odd. At this time, the hostesses acted more snob-​like.
Would I come back? Only if we were to host another alumni event. Other than that, I probably wouldn’t come out here for the food nor atmosphere.

Always came here for drinks on the weekend. The patio is nice. We just come here for the crowd. Also, they do charge cover just get there earlier.
Food, which i’ve had before is so so. They change it up often.
We come here for Michigan State football games sometimes since Black Finn hosts every single alumni club in the DFW area: Texas, Indiana, Michigan State, Texas Tech, etc.
They try to have a dance area by the DJ booth. It’s always crowded.
Fun fact: The bar is actually themed after a ship; thus the reason for a bell on both sides.

I really consider Blackfinn to be the Unwashed Taint of Beltline in Addison. I’ve not once had a really good time here. But I had a friend that really liked to go, and went more often than I did, so I’d like to give you a list of some things that happened to her at this bar:
1) She got punched by an OU fan during the TX/​OU weekend.
2) Someone stole her Coach sunglasses
3) Bar lost her debit card, and the next day it had a ginormous tab on it from Blackfinn
4) After all that, she wanted to come here for her bachelorette party, and then, since everyone that actually comes here seems to be a miserable, pretentious asshat with no concepts of the words «friendly» or «fun», we couldn’t get anyone to play any bachelorette games with us. Also compounding that fact that damn near 99.9% of the guys that come here seem to do so JUST to try to get laid, so if a chick is obviously «off limits», then they will skulk off looking for easier prey.
After she moved away, I came back here ONCE for a VIP party, and then I haven’t stepped foot in here again, and plan to never do so again.

This place used to be my favorite spot. You could find me there every Monday and Saturday. The management and bouncers were amazing and I always had a great time. Something changed about 2+ years ago and no matter how much I wanted it to be better and gave it another go it was always horrible. The thing is the bouncers are racist for the most part. I have witnessed them deny people who clearly were being profiled by color and not dress code. This is your first impression and that’s what needs to be fixed first. My most recent visit was about four months ago so if something has improved since then great but there were too many negatives in the past years to warrant ever going again.
I never ate here for lunch or dinner but did have appetizers and they were ok. I think drinks are priced like most bars. Eat here if you must just avoid after 9pm.

Hate this place!
Walked in to meet a client for lunch and the smell of SMOKE wafts through-​out! Was so serious about leaving, but I needed to get this appointment off my to-​do list for the week. Unfortunately, being new to Dallas, I let the client pick where we met… he’s not even a smoker I think «Black Finn» is just the cool thing to say when doing lunch in Addison– #FAIL
Looked at the menu but the price for the menu items simply did NOT add up! The appetizers and lunch items were dinner priced-​really? Didn’t even have the stomach to order, just had water and rushed the meeting to get out of there. Service was ok at best; but watching the waiter smoke her cigarette behind the bar made me sick to my stomach!
Atmosphere: dark and dank oh and SMOKY!
Will NEVER return or recommend!

Came for a late lunch and the place missed on just about everything. Had the fried chicken which was good but overpriced. It all started when I was seated in an empty restaurant at 1pm and had to track down my waiter. After ordering, I also had to find him for refills and my meal. I should have sat at the bar or done something different.
I should have taken the empty parking lot as a clue.

I completely forgot to write my review of this place when I went here… the one and only time I’ve ever been here. So here’s how it went down, the only reason I knew about this place was because I got invited to the vip part of the night so there were free drinks up until a certain hour of the evening, sounds great right? Well it was nice atmosphere and nice free drinks up until everything changed.
At around 11 i think it was was when the music got insanely loud and it turned into a full club, which was not something I was expecting at all. I began ordering more complex drinks since i figured I was paying for them I might as well get something interesting, and their more pricey drinks were not mixed well what so ever. I had a shot of something that sounded really good but tasted more like cleaning solution… gross right?
ONLY reason why this night was positive and that I’m giving it the stars that its got up there is because I got free drinks for a few hours… that’s it. I don’t want to waste my gas money coming out here again.

Ok, so my first impression of this place was pulling up in the parking lot and seeing a girl with her skirt hiked around her waist peeing in the parking lot. In broad daylight. Gross. My appetite may have been ruined by seeing her vagina and her un-​tanned butt crack. PS– honey, next time you go in the tanning booth, spread ‘em.
Anyway, I came here with a large group of coworkers for a team dinner. I was put off by how freezing cold the dining area was, and we were seated in front of a projection screen that was in everyone’s eyes. The shut it off when we asked, but it was annoying… why have that on when you’re seating people there? There wasn’t a sports game or anything interesting on.
The waitress was nice enough, but forgetful. Plus, for a group our size they either needed a dynamo superstar server or an extra one to help out. We ended up waiting over 30 minutes for drinks and nearly an hour before they even took our orders.
Our dinner was just a notch above bar food and the service definitely didn’t make up for it. I sat and waited for my food for like 15 minutes after everyone else’s food arrived.
I was going to give it two stars but I just realized I’d never ever go back and I surely wouldn’t recommend anyone to go there either. One star it is.

I must Boo the Blackfinn.
I went for happy hour aka sad and ignore customers hour. It took forever for the lady to ask what we would like to drink and eat.
Finally, after a good ½ hour, I got a glass of wine… with stuff floatin in it. I gave it right back. Glass number two had lipstick on it. Im not catchin a break tonite.
For dinner, I ordered the bacon wrapped meatloaf. It came with sweet potaters and veggies. The veggies could use another minute or two in the steamer, and the meat loaf was the driest crumbliest brick log I have ever seen. It made me so sad. It was not yummy in the least.
Time to pay… excuse me, I’d like to pay… Check please… Yooo Hooooo. She admitted she forgot my check. I admitted I forgot to give her a tip over 15%. I was never good at math.
Lesson learned.

Don’t really remember much about this place.
Maybe because it was the last stop of an alcohol-​filled night. Or because there was nothing really special about it.
I think we had to pay a cover and that was dumb. I do have flashes of music videos, some trashy-​looking people and drinks. Lots of drinks.

Looking for a patio? You’ve landed brother.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I was in need of sun, fun and adult beverages. In the neighborhood I drove by On The Boarder (new location) but was not impressed by the patio seating. Blackfinn was suggested and I was sold.
The patio was packed with fun, good looking people and some dogs too. There was some even going on for our four legged friends so let the fur
fly. The service went from bad to good when the waitress changed to the waiter (no names please) and after a few rounds of weak frozen margaritas, I shifted to beer and snacks. The nachos were not cho good with more chips than anything else but the sampler was much better. Great portion for 2, good for 3 but small for 4. My suggestion is to order it for ideas and go back for your top contenders.
The sun was beating down with little breeze so we asked for fans, we got fans. When a sofa area opened, we asked to move, we were moved. Nice to see the customer can get what they want around here. We sat all afternoon with no pressure but polite check ins.
The inside was vast with wall to wall TVs, tables and a large bar area. Outside bar was also available to belly up to.
While the appetizers were hit and miss along with eh service, we enjoyed our afternoon in the sun. I can’t say Blackfinn will be my first choice next go-​round but I would not turn it down.

What does ESPN sports writer Bill Simmons have to do with Blackfinn? Read on…
I love eating out about as much as I like sports. Going to Blackfinn becomes almost as frustrating as watching your team lose the important game that you’ve been waiting for all year – every time I’ve gone to Blackfinn, I was looking forward to it, but it seems like every time my experience is inevitably and absolutely ruined.
Again, I’m an avid sports fan. Bill Simmons (unfortunately, a Boston sports fan) is well known for writing a very well known article called the «13 Levels of Losing.» Every time I’ve been there, my poor experience at Blackfinn can be equated to one of Simmons’ 13 levels of losing.
That level would be what Simmons’ calls «The Guillotine». Specifically, Simmons’ wrote: «…your team’s hanging tough (hell, they might even be winning), but you can feel the inevitable breakdown coming, and you keep waiting for the guillotine to drop, and you just know it’s coming — you know it – and when it finally comes, you’re angry that it happened and you’re angry at yourself for contributing to the debilitating karma…»
That describes every experience that I’ve ever had at Blackfinn… You’re hopeful walking in. The concept (Irish pub meets local sports bar) is awesome. The menu looks great. The restaurant looks cool. They have a good amount of beers on tap. Seems like a great place to take a customer. However, you know that your bad experience is about to begin…
…then it drops. It takes you far longer to get seated than you expected to. While you were waiting, you were in the bar, and now your damn clothes smell like smoke. When you do get seated, it’s in this little corner of the restaurant, and usually there’s some big damn party that’s been going on in the same room that you have to listen to during your meal. (Their seating is very limited for non-​bar /​restaurant area). If you’re there on a busy night, it’s incredibly loud… you have to shout to the person sitting across the table from you. Then, it takes you half an hour to see your server for the first time. After you order (if you manage to get that far), then it takes you half an hour to get your appetizers, and 45 minutes to get your food. The restrooms are as ghetto and dirty as hell. You get the picture… just damn frustrating!
I don’t usually give out one star reviews unless a restaurant consistently delivers a combination of consistently poor food /​service or I have just a incredibly isolated terrible incident. In these two veins, Blackfinn actually has both – consistently poor service, food (which isn’t bad, yet isn’t stellar compared to it’s Belt Line Road competition) that takes forever to get, and every time I go there, I end up with a terrible experience.
This is harsh to say, but I probably wouldn’t go back if it was free… There are far too many great restaurants in the Addison /​Belt Line Road area to waste a meal on Blackfinn.