New owners of renowned Kildare restaurant aiming high

WHEN someone takes over a restaurant business in premises which have a four-decade heritage of food excellence, it could be a bit daunting. Not so for brothers Sean and Patrick Kelly, who recently took over Fallon’s Restaurant in Kilcullen.

Respecting the reputation built by three successive owners since the 1980s, they’re looking forward instead of back.

“We’d love to be the best restaurant in Kildare, and maybe in Leinster,” Sean says without batting an eyelid.

“Also to be the first restaurant in Ireland to get a Great Place to Work award,” adds Patrick. They have a timeline too — by this time next year. These are a pair who don’t hang around.

Between the two, there’s a lot of hospitality expertise. Sean started working in the bar at Meath’s Bellinter House country manor wedding venue when he was just 17. He went on to study hospitality at Technical University Dublin, and the next move was to the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis.

“I was assistant manager there in a very busy hotel, with two different restaurants and two function rooms. Very different to what I had been doing before.”

Following a stint in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel, he went to The Heritage at Killenard in County Laois, where he was responsible for weddings and other large events.

In May of last year, he and Paul Behan, who had been general manager at The Heritage, reopened The Lobster Pot in Carne in Waterford.

A former manager at Fallons, Mary O’Neill, was involved, and last autumn she gave Sean a heads-up about a possible opportunity in Kilcullen. In November, he came to Kilcullen and managed the business for Brian Fallon to see if it was something he really wanted to take over.

“It was a good way of doing it, seeing Christmas as well and the madness that brings. It also gave me a chance to get to know Kilcullen, a lovely town, a good community.”

The handover agreed, Sean brought in Patrick as manager. With a career in food operations at conferences, meetings, and events, he’s well placed to take on the restaurant and is committed to the idea that a good customer experience begins at the front door.

“First impressions are everything, and then you need to turn that into a good lasting impression. Create a bond that brings people back. We’ll do that by consistency, in terms of food quality and what our menu offerings are.”

Since the Kelly brothers moved in, elements have been quietly upgraded, care taken not to drop the ‘bistro’ style which Brian Fallon had created in 2006 when he bought the premises to replace the Fallon family’s fire-destroyed Red House in Newbridge.

The main bar-cafe is a little brighter, and the Snug has been given a makeover.

The frontage is repainted, and the restaurant and function areas have been freshened up.

“There’s great versatility here,” Patrick says. “There’s the bar area, the restaurant, the function rooms. We can have several different things going on at once, without them interfering with each other. For instance, this weekend we had three family events happening, and we were still able to do our normal lunch and dinner service.”

Sean believes the existing wedding business in Fallons can be expanded.

“Big weddings are gone,” he says. “People are looking for smaller venues, something a bit different, retro and intimate.”

Fallons has spaces for family gatherings and small weddings ranging from 20 to a hundred people.

The new Fallons operators are promising a seasonal menu, in what Sean describes as a ‘continental, fine dining, gastro pub’ experience. With occasional surprises.

“I came back from Carne last week with some lobsters supplied by Nick White there, advertised them on social media as a special, and they sold out that night. We’ll do other things like that. But the key point is that there will be something for everyone on the menu, without compromising on quality.”

As important as the food offering is the relationship between staff and the restaurant’s customers. In a sector where it can be difficult to get and retain staff, the Kellys say they are fortunate in having a great team. “

Everyone works together, everyone enjoys it,” Sean says, while Patrick adds that in a place the size of Fallons, the team almost becomes a family.

“Everyone needs to be able to cover each other’s backs in floor service and relationship with guests, and we’re lucky that the team here is fantastic.”

Originally Berney’s Bar, the venue was transformed into a quality restaurant in the 1980s by Pat Keane and Gabrielle Berney, later the owners of the Hanged Man’s in Milltown. Paul and Freda Mullen ran their highly considered restaurant there through the 1990s, and after some two decades under the stewardship of Brian Fallon, the enterprise has just begun a new chapter.

Does all that make the Kelly brothers nervous? “No,” is Sean’s firm answer. “We’ll build on that.”

They don’t do nervous.