The Banner

I’m ANNOYED and TORN on my review for this place.
The food is mostly TOPS – except for rather poor bar pizza – but the service (if you can call it that) is the most consistently BAD service that I’ve had IN MY LIFE!
The brunette barmaid has to be the RUDEST service person that I’ve run into in the «Hospitality» industry – bar none!!! The owner Ed has NEVER smiled at me or opened up a conversation.
Too bad – as they have BOMB Karaōke with Mark Shom on Thursdays. The blackboard menu is VERY good and prices/​portions are MORE than fair.
Why can’t you just have some manners and treat people nicely???

Great atmosphere and food is surprisingly very good!
portions are also super generous!
love this place!

I have not had consistent service at the Banner. Where as the food has been good, the staff has been not as consistent. One time it was amazing when the owner had come outside and «ball busted» and had a good time, other times we were there right before Karaōke and I had charged my card for food and told the bartender, I will leave a tip in cash before I leave. She then proceeded to speak to a regular how «I stiffed her» right in ear shot of my wife. We handed her more than she deserved and told her we heard her. She got defensive and we left. I live in Rockland and I would rather drive to Braintree or into town than come here again. Such a shame.

When looking to stay local & listen to some live music while grabbing a bite to eat and a couple cocktails I love to pop into The Banner. Prices are great and portions are huge. Favorite is the chicken fingers.

Again, great food. Got takeout. Recommend upping the staffing on Friday night. Too busy. Chicken fingers, onion rings, salad with tips. All great.

This was my first time here. It won’t be my last. Its a damn good local bar. Nice atmosphere and the prices are great. I had the fried clams and they were exellent. Much cheaper price than most other places. Plus they had a good band playing tonight.

This in an interesting bar. There are actually 2 service bars — the 2^nd one is in the back on the left. They have 2 pool tables, very close together, and a dart board — which is on the wall near the back pool table. They have a good digital jukebox. Domestic beers are $ 3. Yuengling, however is $ 3.75. Nice bartenders. The food, is a little scary. The chicken tenders were big and good, albeit with a LOT of breading. The pizza was soooooooo greasy.

I lived next to this bar a few years ago for a couple years and it was totally like the tv shows are when it comes to townie bars. The people are the typical loud and obnoxious drunken messes that you see on TV. Guys that sit out front on the porch hit on under age girls. Everyone acts childish. If you’re not a regular their than you don’t matter and they treat you like shit. You definitely get an unwelcome feeling as soon as you walk in the door. I definitely wouldn’t recommend coming here unless you’re into the shady type of bar scene. I’ve noticed the cops always watch people coming in and out of here and pull tons of people over coming out of this bar so that tells you what the cops think of this place. Very sleezy and dirty place.

Great place, great employees like Stewey! Bands every night and a full menu! Great local bar with a rich history !

Don’t know what happened, the pizza used to be so good but now twice its been barely edible. Thats hard to say about pizza… ordered to pick up. Was told 30min, I came in 25 and it was already cold and congealed. No flavor, dough had no bite. Just awful. Never going back at this point.

My mother and I were looking to try something new in the area, and we settled on The Banner. We went on a Monday night at around 6pm, and there were 10 other people there.
We were greeted right away and I ordered a drink. It was VERY strong!
It’s primarily a bar, so the menu is a small selection of bar food. I ordered fish and chips for $ 9.95 and my mom got a ham dinner for $ 7.95. When we got our food we were both amazed at the portion sizes! They were HUGE! Everything was delicious and we both happily left with doggie bags.
When we left at around 7:30 there was a guy setting up for live music. Both my mother and I wished we had come a little later so we could have had the full experience.
Overall The Banner is a clean, welcoming place, the food is great, the atmosphere is nice, and (judging by mine) the drinks are well-​poured.
I took away 1 star because the food took a while to get to us after we ordered. No one else got dinner while we were there, so I was a little surprised at how long it took. Also, when we first got there, a man who was either a regular customer or an employee (everyone inside seemed to know him) was smoking right in front of the entrance which was a little off-​putting.
I would definitely recommend The Banner if you’re ever in the area!

This was a hard one to rate. A couple of thoughts though:
1) We went on Friday night, so I think that I’d like to try this on a weeknight to see if things weren’t so «energetic» I would recommend that if you are trying to grab a nice, quiet meal, do not go on Friday night.
2) If the review say that this is a local joint, then you should believe them. Lots of locals and everyone knows everyone else (except us!!) If this makes you feel uncomfortable, then you should definitely go somewhere else.
3) It’s a bar and that extends to the food. It’s not the greatest but it is pretty good bar food. I had the ribs and they were pretty good and my wife had the prime rib and for 12.95, it was a pretty big slab!
4) It’s roots are Irish, so you are going to get the basics for tap beers — Guinness, Smithwicks with a smattering of Bud and Shocktop — don’t come expecting a brewhouse!
Just as a reference for the bar employees, we were the couple that came in on Friday night and sat at the front table, but when the band started setting up, we decided to move to the other table that turned out to be reserved by the band and thus ended up getting seated at the bar. It was real nice that we were given a free drink for being so willing to move (although, I like to think we were actually moving so that we wouldn’t be in the band’s way). I thought that the employees were a little overwhelmed by the crowd, but I felt that all-​in-​all we had a pretty good time. We will most likely go back again (on a weeknight) and we would recommend that you do the same!

Ed and Brenda run a fabulous joint! This place used to be a coke den with rooms for rent by the hour upstairs… Now it has outstanding pub food with huge portions, perfect bar pizza, and well poured drinks ;)
Great mix of people, great craic, great times!

Modest beer selection, subpar food. Waitress brought our Smithwicks but one of our party wasn’t ready to order — took about 15 minutes for her to come back. She seemed like a brat with an attitude as well, though the bartender was nice. Anyway, I got the ribeye, *medium*, supposedly for $ 13. Screaming deal, thought I!
When I got it, it was half well done and half, let’s say EXTREMELY well done, not a medium square inch hidden in the char anywhere on it. Quite a fatty cut also, I doubt the Angus claim. My corn on the cob had clearly been sitting out for quite some time — chewy and starchy. Potatoes were ok, heavy on the butter. Well, at least it’s cheap, I thought. Then my bill came, and the price was suddenly $ 15. Not bad, if the food was at all decent, but it wasn’t. Upon questioning, our waitress said, «Oh, that menu is old, they just never update them.»
Of the thousands of restaurants I’ve eaten in, I have yet to see one where they couldn’t be bothered to put a sticker on the menu correcting the price, out at least write on it with Sharpie. The bratty waitress could have fixed every menu while she pretended to ignore us waiting to order! Bad food, bad service. Sure, it might pass muster with the townies, but for the outsiders, it is most definitely not recommended.

Like other Unilocalers have said, this place takes the prize for top townie bar in the Rockland and Abington area. But, if you haven’t been here before, it’s certainly worth checking out. The food is good and the service is great. Whether you visit the pub/​restaurant, bakery, or deli, you are sure to be pleased!
This is definitely a no-​frills type of bar, but the bartenders here are so incredibly nice. You are greeted on a first-​name basis with a handshake! Even your neighboring patrons will introduce themselves. Extremely friendly and harmless crowd!
Although it is your standard pub-​style food, the food is quite good. On a Sunday morning while walking around Rockland, Hubs and I stopped in for brunch (which was served until 4 p.m.!) since we had never been to the Banner. We felt a little out of place for the first few minutes, but the bartender (Brenda) came ove and introduced herself and we immediately felt welcomed. I ordered a bloody mary and Hubs ordered a Miller Lite. Even though the bartender brought two Miller Lites back, it was okay since I like it anyway. Who cares what you’re drinking on a Sunday morning?
I ordered the burger which was ½ pound and served on a huge buttered and toasted roll with french fries (beach-​style fries) and coleslaw. It was a meal and a half! Hubs had the beef brisket which was falling off the plate. The burger was one of the best ones I have had in awhile and the fries were hot and crispy!
Our grand total for two entrees and two beers with 20% gratuity was $ 26! Try and beat that at any other Sunday brunch!

The Banner is a quintessential Irish Pub. Great daily specials, very reasonable pricing, Oh… and HUGE portions. If you like comfort food, The Banner is for you. shepherds pie, fish cakes and beans, boiled dinner, corn chowder, some of my personal favorites. During the NFL season on Monday nights the Banner puts out a large buffet of great football food… FREE of charge! Cold beer and free food. doesn’t get better than that.

This place takes the cake as far as townie bars go.
The atmosphere is relaxed and more home to an older crowd during the week (although I have never been on the weekends). The food is good and I am a huge fans of their pizza (very good price and extremely tasty). I haven’t tried their deli but I would like to make it a point to try it.
Service is great, they are one of the few places that know how to treat people right, my friends have been going here longer and established themselves as regulars and we look forward to every Wednesday meeting up at The Banner

Ran into a surprise on a Tuesday afternoon. I had never had the clam roll before, and they were wicked chewy and not very tasty. The coleslaw was elderly I think, not crisp. I didn’t even finish it, and I always finish my coleswlaw. The Fire and Ice was still great, but I like to keep my reviews accurate so I have to report this stumble.

The Banner is one of your all in one kind of places. Pub/​Restaurant, Bakery, and Deli in one building — ALL IRISH. Bakery and Deli to the left entrance, Pub and Restaurant to the right. Felt like I was in the Matrix choosing which way to go, I ended up choosing the right door and entered the pub/​restaurant portion of this establishment.
Bar area seemed to be filled with regulars. Sat at a tall table to the side. Ordered a Pulled Pork Sandwich with fries, and unfortunately I couldn’t eat much of it. The pork itself was sliced in thick slices which would have been fine if there wasn’t large pieces of fat just hanging off it. The roll was quickly moistened and fell apart. Impossible to pick up. Ended up mostly just filling my belly with the french fries.
Staff was friendly enough. Had a Budweiser draft (1 of 3 beers on tap) with my meal. Place was pretty deserted other than the bar itself and the few tables set up. Not on the top of my list to return to. Fun to check out, though I doubt I’d return at any time.

The Banner is a dive bar/​pub that my parents go to on a monthly basis. I decided to check it out for myself. There are two entrances, to the left is access to the deli/​bakery and kitchen where the food is made. There is a small area here with tables and chairs but I am told it get’s extremely hot in there. If you walk in the right entrance you will find a dimly lit typical bar. They have the tv’s, the modern day ‘juke box’ and the long bar with an additional dining section of tables and chairs. There is also a pool table or two in the back. I hear that live entertainment plays at this place every so often.
The food here was great, I had the ‘Rocky Special’ which was shredded roast beef with bbq sauce on it and it tasted amazing. Came with fries and coleslaw which was also an easy A.
The beers were chilled and good, only things on tap though were bud-​heavy, smithwicks, and one other. That is kind of the downside since the selection was limited. That is one reason I had to give this place only a 4. Also because my friend I went withs food had onions in it which… weren’t advertised. She takes things like this to heart and had a cry fest at the table. I ended up giving her half my sandwich. This kind of put a damper on the experience. Prices were pretty great, and it’s a great local spot in the middle of Rockland.
Crybaby friend issue asside, I could see myself going back here in 10 – 20 years, or when I buy a motorcycle.