Brinkleys Restaurant & Pub

Wow, I’m very impressed by the meal we had tonight.
I would say this place is underrated given the quality of the food we had.
The clam chowder was nice and thick with a great quantity of clams and potatoes just as it should be.
Too many places add bacon as filler and it detracts from the great clam flavor.
We also had the haddock fish and chips.
Again a great dish as the haddock wasn’t fishy and the batter was light and stays on the fish nicely.
The chips were nicely crisp and had the skin still on for a great texture feel.
Cole slaw was just right with a nice amount of pepper and not salty.
Overall A+ for the food we had.

Probably more of a 4.5 overall. Saturday night and they have a pretty good crowd.
Burger and fries were solid.
Only complaint was that the burger was well done and I ordered medium.
My wife got the fish and chips, which she said was delicious.

Okay, here’s the thing.
I was getting on a plane for the first time since February 2020 and flying out of Boston Logan at 7:54am (air travel is actually hypothetical, that plane didn’t actually get airborne until 9:45am…).
I live in Vermont.
Driving the 2.5 hrs to Logan isn’t bad.
Parking at Logan IS bad.
But! We have The Dartmouth Coach.
Which, for $39, will deliver me, and my luggage, directly to my departure terminal.
My problem was I’d have to get on the 3:25am Dartmouth Coach to make my flight and THAT seemed really terrible.
So I decided to check out my Marriott app to see about staying at a hotel near the airport the night before. Which is how I wound up using a Free Night Award to stay at The Courtyard by Marriott near Logan Airport.
I cannot imagine why anyone would willingly stay at this hotel without a free night.
I also got an upgrade to a suite.
I’ll say again, I have NO IDEA why anyone would pay for that suite… The hotel is OLD.
And TIRED.
But it’s carrying on! Like the rest of us. The staff at the hotel was pretty great though.
And I do enjoy periodically dipping my toe into the parallel universe of The World of Air Travel.
It’s weird. Before making my reservation at The Courtyard By Marriott I made sure there was a restaurant on site that was open late.
Because I would be working my usual day (wake up 5:30am, take care of dogs/animals, cook/prep/schedule/stock/troubleshot at The Hartland Diner 6:30am-4pm, then get on the 5:05pm bus to Boston) and after my 2hrs 45min bus ride to Terminal A and 15 min ride in the hotel shuttle bus (the shocks for which went, entirely, about 10 years ago…WOW) and checking in (when I discovered that I’d made my reservation for the wrong night and the LOVELY front desk guy switched it for me), dropping my bags in the hotel room and stripping off the outer layer of fleecy jammy pants I wanted to get directly to the bar. Which I did. And, as I said, it’s weird in there.
In kind of a fun way though.
This is NOT a young person’s spot.
When the bartender (a GROWN woman, like myself) told me I didn’t have to wait to be seated and tapped the bar top like “sit right here honey” I practically hopped up onto that bar stool.
I was LOVING the Grown Diner Waitress serving drinks vibes!! And I LOVE seeing we “seasoned” women on the service frontlines. I ordered a gin and tonic.
It was terrible! Because the tonic was entirely flat.
Which is the problem with 99.999% of gin and tonics.
So I’m gonna chalk that one up to operator error. I ordered two apps: fried pickles - meh - someone left them in the fryer too long, but not terrible; Buffalo Cauliflower - a little weird, it had been steamed and then kind of “seared”?? And then covered in hot sauce and blue cheese dressing.
If I hadn’t been so stubborn and actually cut the cauliflower smaller it would have been easier to eat.
I was expecting fried cauliflower.
But I got actual cauliflower and just as well.
Because! I then ordered the Beer Battered Fish Sandwich.
Which comes with either regular fries or sweet potato.
I got regular. I think this might be the best fried fish sandwich I’ve ever had.
Fish was fried AMAZINGLY crispy and the batter was delicious! The bun had also been grilled to perfection.
The sandwich is served with lettuce and tomato and I didn’t add anything to it.
No sauce.
Nothing.
So when I tell you this was a DELICIOUS, EXCEPTIONAL fish sandwich I’m talking about the actual, unadorned ingredients. And.
The Fries.
Some of the best fries I’ve ever had.
SO GOOD.
Thick cut, with skin, but also crispy.
(I don’t like soggy fries).
And plenty of them.
The only reason I didn’t finish every little scrap of French Fry on my plate was because I was officially feeling uncomfortably full. Which, honestly, is usually my goal when I’m eating out.
I want food so good I stuff myself. If you find yourself in the vicinity of Logan Airport, or at this Courtyard by Marriott, GET THE FISH SANDWICH.
It is a whole, delicious meal!