The Irish Times

I just remembered that I’ve an unused Groupoun voucher for The Irish Times, from 2011. Whaaaat?!
Well, raise your hand if you ever bought a restaurant deal, and it expired before you got the chance to use it, perhaps because you forgot (simply and mistakenly!)
OK. Hands down. You know I can’t see you. And If it’s any consolation, I’m the same way.
It was another rainy spring day, and I was in need of some good comfort food. The answer to my rainy blues was that forgotten gift card from 2011. So, I stopped by The Irish Times, for an early dinner, and it was empty. Empty on a random Sunday? Really? I started taking quick bites from my Mediocre Swiss Beef Burger. A good burger has its place, and it’s not here.
Even though the bartender was actually very nice, I don’t think I’ll be back any time soon, and only on New Year’s Day Mummers Parade and/​or St. Patrick’s Day.
Two and Half Unilocal

I’ve never complained or written a Unilocal before now. But this is worth mentioning. It might have been because I ordered through grub hub, but the $ 14 chicken pot pie was the worst excuse for food that I’ve ever seen. It came with a piece of pita bread laying on top as «the crust». It didn’t come in a pie pan or anything so it was just mush. The top «crust pita» was so hard it cracked in half, and the pot pie lining was so rubbery that I couldn’t break through it. Never again. This should be half the price.

The food, drinks and service have always been consistently good here! Try the chicken pot pie! Clean, cozy environment. We will definitely be back to this local Irish bar with yummy food!

Garbage. The food is mostly inedible. Drinks are way over priced. It smells like piss. Unwelcoming staff, the owner especially. I’m all for dive bars, but this place is in desperate need of some upgrades.

Saturday day afternoon. Come in and sit down. Had to tell the bartender we were even there. Eventually order some drinks (as in a Beer and some waters) take a good while, also put in a order for some calamari. It was decent but they used pizza sauce instead of marinara for the dipping, not great. There were 2 people at the bar upstairs and no one downstairs (except for us). Took a good 15 mins for the app. Also got a chef salad, a Ruben, and ribs with shrimp. Took almost an hour to get our food if not more (I know since I put and hour and 45 mins on the meter and had about 10 mins left when I walked back to the car). the salad was ‘OK’. The Ruben was on stale bread, hard, bland, terrible. The ribs were ok and the shimp were fried, nothing special. We also got buffalo chicken fries for the table (the only saving grace.) After waiting long and complaining the only thing they helped us on was taking one beer off the tab (yay… –_​-​).
Lets just say, if I am in the area again on South and looking for a bite, it wont be at Irish Times.

Bartender wouldnt let me inside. Didnt have a sip of alcohol. I had to get my friend to buy me a beer because she has a problem with me. (I dont know what) Made me stay outside. I didnt understand my money is green like everyone else’s. They play favorites, have awful service and food sucks. Be aware of the bartender down stairs, shes lazy. Bad business and the owner didnt seem to care.

This was my first visit to this particular bar. I wanted some fish and chips. Also it was just a new place. We ordered an iced tea. When it was served you couldn’t even taste the liquor, the whole drink was kind of flat. But because I really wanted some fish and chips we decide to stay… let me back up for one minute… When we first walked in the door no one seated us as matter of fact the girl that was working downstairs just walk by didn’t say anything went downstairs to the bar and start cleaning the bar. Well I went there and ask her could we be seated she said sure sit anyway you like again we waited., it was not a good experience… But I think I would like to go back then give it another shot.

My boyfriend and I love this bar for its great location and reasonable prices. It’s close to south street but far enough that it seems to deflect most of the craziness and for this reason it’s a hidden gem. We’ve spent many afternoons watching games here and even had a great new years eve there this year.

Great food, great atmosphere and great service quite accurately explains what you should expect to receive when dining at The Irish Times. I first their food one night when I was home craving some Irish cuisine so I ordered via a third party service that does delivery for them. The food was so good I just had to take my family there in person, and again I was delighted with fine food and great service.
My favorite dish has to be the Homemade Shepards Pie with the Guinness Beff Stew and the Banger & Mash coming in second and third.
Stop by have great dinner, a filling lunch or just grab a pint, you will not be disappointed in this reviewer’s opinion.

I would take this place over any of the crappy bars on south street any day. Good beer specials on Sunday and the wings are delicious. The guy who runs the place is really nice too. I would definitely come back again.

If I could give a zero I would. The food was good, but the bartender on the bottom floor (May 3^rd 2014 @10:00) was by far the rudest, most ignorant bartender I ever encountered in my life. She kept inserting herself into my conversation with my friend to argue with me or him about what we were talking about. She constantly kept cursing at us when talking as well. When she wasn’t trying to draw away customers, she was on her phone texting away. When our food came out, she ignored the staff bringing out the food, making the staff ask us. In the end, she told me to «get the fuck out of here» because I asked her why she kept cursing at me and giving me attitude. I will never go there again unless the owner him/​her self personally lets me know she no longer works there.

First time here I believe… I’ve lived in the area for 10 years so it’s hard to remember which places I’ve been to and which have changed names etc.
The building reminds me of the standard trinity houses common with the area, bars on each floor. The atmosphere was fine, not too crowded, loud etc.
The food was decent, but the restrooms were kind of strange… behind a small, unrecognizeable door and I believe they were also unisex because when you walk in there are separate ‘water closets’…one of them was in use and when I knocked on it I thought I heard a woman.
All in all it was ok.

I live pretty close to the Irish Times and sometimes I come here for a quick nightcap if I’m on my way back home or have been lounging around the house all day. It’s a local dive bar — no real reason to come seek the place out otherwise. Prices are cheap, and overall everyone is pretty friendly. Its never particularly crowded inside. The food is actually surprisingly a lot better than you would anticipate. Their hummus platter is delish and a pretty good deal — only about $ 7. Good local spot in Queen Village!

Since the first time I walked into this fine establishment in my neighborhood about a year ago, I have since become one of the «regulars». Eamonn, the owner, can be found knocking around here often, and is just the sweetest! Food is really good (love their wings!) and their $ 3 Guinness specials can’t be beat! Quizzo on Wednesday’s nights (beginning around 8:30) are always really fun. Whenever I’m feeling in the mood for a beer and to go «where everyone knows your name» I head here. All the bartenders are really great too – Such an awesome neighborhood bar! Love me some IT :)

This is just my experience with Irish Times as a bar — I’ve never had a full meal here. Really, it’s just a neighborhood watering hole. We go here sometimes for beers on the weekend. The beer selection is decent — several good South American beers I like were available in bottles. It’s really dark inside and they don’t usually have drink specials, at least the times I’ve been there. There are always the same regulars (aka chronic alcoholics) at the bar. The fries and wings are just OK. I will say that they have these «fried fluffernutters» on the menu that I can’t get out of my head. They taste like nutter butter cookies topped with marshmallow fluff and deep fried. They are obviously really bad for you but they are seriously so good! Otherwise, the place is mostly meh.

I went here through a LivingSocial voucher and was pleasantly surprised — my expectations were definitely exceeded.
The building itself is super cool and interesting once you’re inside (appears kind of blah on the outside.) Stone walls, open cavernous space, 3 levels — it’s hard to explain, but still very cool.
It was a pretty quiet Thursday night, so the service was very friendly and attentive. The food was pretty decent pub food. I ordered the Fish and Chips (nothing earth-​shattering) — which were surprisingly light, despite being fried. Whereas most fish & chips that i’ve had is a lot of breading and not too much fish, this was a lot of fish with a perfect coating of crispy fried batter.
The portions were huge and all-​around the food/​atmosphere was above expectations.
Only slight criticism: I guess the menu is in the process of changing, so our waitress spent a good 5 minutes going through amendments to the printed menu — easily 10 – 15 things that were no longer offered, with about 10 new additions/​specials. It was a little bit confusing, but didn’t take away too much from the overall experience.

Stopped in for lunch because of a «Groupon now» deal and was so pleased I did.
I think I may have stumbled on my new favorite spot for fish and chips. The fish was battered and fried just right, so it was crisp but not dry or oily. The «chips» were AMAZING. So crispy on the outside and just soft in middle, with just the right amount of salt and pepper on them. If you love the occasional golden fry that comes in a bunch of generic fries, you will love these. This was a much better version of fish and chips than other I’ve tried, like the Dandelion, and I will definitely come back here just for that.
We also had a corn beef special that didn’t disappoint. The food did take a little while, but was prepared carefully and spot on, so it was well worth the wait. The atmosphere also helped to make the wait bearable, it was bright and comfortable even while being underground, a very fun location.

I came here with a few friends during the week and wasn’t at all impressed. The place was dead and we quickly discovered why. The fries were bland and desperately needed salt or seasoning of some sort. The chicken fingers were fried too hard making them pretty much inedible. The drink specials weren’t as good as I was expecting for a Queen Village hang out and they didn’t offer PBR (suprising, I know).
On the plus side the service was good and our drinks were kept full the whole night. Although the atmosphere was OK, we’ll probably try somewhere else next time.

I do believe this was my first visit to Queens Village and I was very impressed with this section of the city, the streets were clean, wide enough, tree lined with beautiful brick homes, like row homes, but they all seemed to match, I’m sure this is an affluent area to live in. There was not one sign of trash, folks that were strolling, jogging, dog walking or just sitting outside at one of the many café’s were all dressed nicely and were clean cut, in other words, not a bum was to be found. For some reason it kept taking me back to Boston and that made me very happy.
The Irish Times blends in perfectly with this neighborhood, on the outside, walking inside was a queer situation, unique for sure, where you enter is just a landing and you are unsure as to whether you should take the flight of stairs up to what seemed like a very small bar area with no tables or down to the second or third level, which had another bar on an in between level.
The second level had maybe six two tops and one large booth tucked in the back corner, the bottom level had four larger tables. Now mind you the space is all wide open from ceiling to the bottom floor which is over fifty feet under ground. We stood on the landing for just a moment or two and then the bartender, who was manning the upper level bar, assisted in seating us on the second level.
The bartender at the second bar was also the only server on, so it was a good thing they were not busy. She was quick to greet us, bring us our drinks and then to answer our questions, however she was not friendly, she did not smile once or have one ounce of enthusiasm and she makes the worst margarita I have ever had in my life. I know, I’m in an Irish Pub and I should be drinking ale or whiskey, but I just don’t care for either.
The broccoli bites that we ordered appeared to be hand made, the portion was large and upon request we were served a cheddar sauce to dip them in, they were pretty good.
The cream of potato soup was just that, with large chucks of potato, it was good, but with celery, onion, cheddar cheese and bacon, it would have been much better. I’m in an Irish Pub, so I had to have an authentic Irish dish, which is always a hard decision for me, but when I ordered the fish and chips, our server said that I made a good choice and she was right, well half way right.
At least four large beer battered cod were fried to a crispy and crunchy golden brown and this was a beautiful thing! Really, very delicious, but the «chips» were steak cut previously frozen fries, so pale, no crunch, no golden brown and were a total fail. Another thing that bothers me, if you are going to be in the business of serving authentic fish and chips, why all the use of Heinz malt vinegar? I know, I of all people should not hate on Heinz, but they do not make a good malt.
Hubby ordered a cheeseburger, who knows why, but he enjoyed it and I was jealous of his shoestring fries, they had been previously frozen too and were not crisp and golden brown, but they were much better than the ones I had. The cole slaw that came with my fish was just cabbage, nothing else, but I did like their dressing.
The menu reads potato pancakes $ 5.00, which I think is very reasonable, what we got was one very large grated potato pancake that covered a dinner plate. I thought it was different to top it with a white cheese, banana and hot peppers, but I enjoyed it, it certainly lacked in onions and the egg was not well blended in and came out like fried egg on certain portions of it.
Here is our real problem with the Irish Times, the food took an eternity to come out and from what I could see, most of the patrons were drinking and not eating. The broccoli bites came first, probably a good twenty-​twenty five minutes after we ordered them. The soup took another ten minutes, which is ridiculous for a soup that is on the menu, when we inquired, the server said, «well it hasn’t been that long». Our entrees came out a few minutes later, but is still way too long for a burger and fried fish.
It was probably a total of forty five minutes from the time we ordered our food until we finally got everything and when we placed the order, we had asked her not to hold anything back as we had somewhere we had to be. After we finally got all of our food, a couple comes in, orders and is promptly served onion soup au gratin and before they could even get a few bites in their pulled pork sandwiches arrived!
I was not a happy camper and at that point Michael said pay the check, I’m going to the car. I left a lousy five dollars and for me to leave a lousy tip is unheard of, but when she came up with my coat, once we were in the car, I handed her another ten dollars.
Their prices are reasonable and I believe they are cash only, they do have an ATM inside. I would give the Irish Times another try, I did love their fish and would like to try another dish, for this time and our overall experience 2.5.

Hands down the best bar on South Street!
(or right off South St as the case may be)
The food is phenomenal… You have to try the hummus: world class. The cottage pie is great. I’m working my way through the rest of the menu, and so far nothing has disappointed.
Each time I bring my lady here for food and drinks, everything has been 100% on point. The bar is clearly loved by its owners and staff. A+