Garcia Brogan’s – Waltham

I think this place is a great local place to hang out, have a good meal and a good drink. My mango margarita was great! Of course it was a Friday night of a holiday weekend, beautiful out so sitting in the window was perfect. The Irish music was good and I loved the mixed Mexican-​Irish décor and menu. It is just fun. This is not fine dining but not everything has to be. This is a great bar for a low-​key night.

The inside décor is beautiful and has great seating available. Unfortunately, that is about as good as it gets.
My group sat at a «community table» and ordered various drinks to begin: sangria, margaritas, and beers. The red sangria and the margaritas were all extremely watered-​down (4 drinks total). :/​We notified the staff and the drinks were replaced, however with the same watered-​down concoction. We realized that beer is the safest choice here.
Sadly, the food was not any better. The jicama salad was a HUGE disappointment and mixed with flavors that on the menu look interesting, put the presentation and the flavor was bad. The nachos we ordered were also sent back as they had a bug in them when they first came out. By the time we received replacement nachos, we were ready to leave and also unimpressed by the flavor.
During our visit the service was very slow and delayed. I am not sure what is going on here. Overall, I would not go back.

Affordable great food, drinks and service. I work in the industry and Steve is my absolute favorite he makes a killer margarita. I love this place and can’t say enough great things.

Love this new place. It is huge and the design is warm, open and rustic.
The bar is huge and the menu is great. I love the windows open too.
We went for a party on the weekend for dinner, drinks and can’t wait to go back and check out the bands!

The food is OK, but the service was incredibly slow. We came on a Sunday and it made me seriously wonder how the place can even function when busy. They brought the side dish we ordered when we finished our food, and forgot a drink order entirely. The OK food was not worth the lack or service.

Visiting the Waltham location a couple of times. The location is great and in the summer, the windows are open and it provides for great atmosphere. The food has been tasty, enjoyable, when they get it right. Having been there a couple times with several friends, it is surprising the number of times the meal was served missing items that was described in the menu.
I would go back but more closely «inspect» our meals for the right preparation.

Food is ok, I went on a Sunday afternoon, I think they just had one cook and it took forever, tostones were greasy, tacos were not so great, location and décor saves them.

I’ve been here a few time for different reasons from getting dinner to grabbing a drink. The food is okay not great but not awful. I feel it is more of a marriage than fusion; there are Mexican options and Irish. But nothing ties them together.
But if it was just the food this place would be a middle of the road 3 stars. What really brings them down is the service as has been said in other reviews. The waitstaff seems fine but the other times I have gone just to the bar I’ve had awful service. It was the awful type of service where you wonder why you would be in this industry if you hate it so much. They have 3 to 4 guys behind the bar and none of them is interested in helping you. When I asked questions about drinks I was given a short answer that was not helpful. I was also given attitude when I asked for a glass of water with my drink.
1 star for service 3 for food which gives them a 2 which is too high in my book. I would go 1.5 if Unilocal allowed. Don’t waste your time on this place unless they make some changes!

When I came here last summer I gave this place a 4 of 5. The food is still good; I do enjoy the guac and burger and my wife likes the burrito. The drop in rating is from the service not the food.
My wife and I sat at the bar for dinner and basically had to listen to a half dozen bartenders argue and swear at each other about the glasses not being stocked. Doing this in front of customers while they are eating is not the right time for this. After we ate it took around 8 – 10 minutes to flag down one of the 5 bartenders standing right in front of me.

This is a great unique restaurant. The food is always consistent & the staff are very thorough and friendly.
They provide live music on weekends and is a great time! As far as these Unilocalers saying they have an identity crisis? I beg to differ. They have an identity and it is IRISH MEXICAN! I guess that is too much for people to swallow.
They also have a Lowell location which is AMAZING! One of the nicest spots in Lowell to grab some grub and drinks with live music!

There are a couple Mexican-​Irish bars in the area where I grew up, so I was familiar with the idea. It seems like a lot of the worse reviews don’t understand the Mexican-​Irish fusion as a concept, so just felt it worth noting that this is, indeed, an established Thing.
Pros: great tequila selection leading to delicious drinks. Food is pretty good and my partner has literally dreamed about their burgers before. Staff is generally friendly.
Cons: Often cold — they left the windows open long after it was seasonally appropriate. In addition, I’d like to see some Mexican-​Irish fusion beyond just the «Irish Nachos». Right now, it seems there is just a Mexican menu and an Irish menu; I’d like to see them embrace the spirit of a fusion bar.

This place has a bit of an identity crisis going on. Other Unilocalers have made the same observation, and gone into much greater detail and I’m willing to… you can read their comments. I don’t think it is a major problem, but it is a missed opportunity to do something unique/​clever. Again… not a big deal, but you wonder what the thinking was.
Wife and I sat at the bar for dinner and drinks. Would have rather had a table, but only seating available was two seats a big group style high top table. Some people like that, but we’re not among them. Just a personal preference. We split the shepherds pie bites, then I had a pulled pork sandwich and she had a veggie burrito. All were good — not outstanding, but more than adequate and right in line with what we were expecting/​hoping. One note… pulled pork is messy (as it should be). As such, it would be better served on a larger plate to accommodate the slop… they served it some small cutting board type thing. It looked nice, I guess, but was totally impractical. Form over function…
We heard music coming from the back room, which we didn’t know existed, and popped our heads in after dinner. Pop cover band was playing to a pretty empty bar (notes: it was early, so no crowd was to be expected and most covers band are basically the same, so don’t complain that they were «bad»…they played fun songs as well as they could, and people were enjoying it.) It was a good time! A pleasant surprise and a nice way to have a couple beers before we went home. It got much more crowded before we left… seemed like a college/​early 20s crowd, which at 32 and 33 we’re not always in the mood for these days. People were dancing and singing and there was no cover charge… I can’t imagine why someone would complain about this!
All that said, I have to also say the service at the main bar during dinner was pretty poor. They did not mess anything up, and were perfectly polite, but there was a LOT of staff on duty and none of them seemed invested in providing timely service or generally paying attention. We had to flag people down anytime we needed anything, from silverware rollups, to ketchup, to refill on drinks. We’ve both been in service before and would not make a stink about this, but it is something that management clearly needs to tighten up, based on other reviews.
In total, we had a fine time and would come back. The music was a free value-​add to our night and will bring us back in the future. As will the great beer selection. We’ll gladly deal with so-​so service to enjoy those other things.

We went here on a Saturday night. It was strange it wasn’t packed, since it was 8:30pm. I should have read the reviews on Unilocal.
The restaurant confuses me, since it has a look of a trendy Mexican restaurant, but had Irish bar food mixed in the menu. If there were more authentic Irish selections, and an explanation I would have been satisfied. But I don’t view burgers as an Irish menu item.
The service was good, but not very quick considering it was not that busy. The atmosphere is interesting, but seems like a lot of wasted space. The food was good, the guac was fresh and the salsa tasted great. I had the fajitas — they were very simple, but good. My wife was not impressed with the fish tacos.
I would like to see this restaurant find its identity, get rid of the burger selection, and focus on a menu that makes sense.

It’s an odd mix! mexican irish bar? I really don’t get it. it’s not like they did either very well.
I gave them an extra star because their combined efforts in their TEQUILLA/​WHISKEY collection are actually pretty good. Everything else about the place is TWO STARS at best.
There was a real mediocre cover band in the back room on this Saturday night. They gave me the third degree to electronically scan our ID’s for going in the room, which turned out to be completely bereft of people.
If you want mexican food, there is an awesome place down the street
that is muy muy autentico!
I got a couple forgettable bites of some apps last time I dropped in there. Nothing was great. I can’t even remember what it was that I ate.
Overall BROGRANS didn’t seem remarkable in any way really, aside from that tequilla and whiskey selection.
A bunch of very very MEH like crazy palces have opened on moody in the last couple years, and This is one that I hope will just close down quietley after everyone realizes there are better places to get your Irish and mexican in, on moody.

All the other reviews about this place, complaining about service, food quality, and food taste, they’re all correct.
I came in here for a beer just after they opened and it is really nice inside. It’s come a long way since the Skellig, which was a general shit-​hole run by scumbags, but the nice new interiors and warmer/​cleaner atmosphere can’t compensate for everything else that’s wrong.
The staff, who were there on this most recent visit, are kind and well meaning kids. Very nice and friendly, just not very motivated or disciplined. Slow service, not very knowledgeable about the menu, and kind of more concerned with chatting and watching the football games. Again, really lovely people, just not very focused on their jobs.
The food is the major concern. I got a wedge salad, which came absolutely flooded (literally) in blue-​cheese dressing. It was really pretty gross. I basically had pick the whole thing up with a fork and rescue it from a lake of dressing and scrape even more dressing (gobs of it) off the top. Then I got the Mexicana Torta. What people are saying about bland food is 100% accurate. This thing had no discernible flavor — in a Mexican restaurant that’s not ok. The ‘chorizo’ is clearly just polish sausage, and there’s no sauce or seasoning of any kind, so the only flavor you get is onions and avocado. I had to remind myself there was meat and cheese in this thing. Even the cheddar was flavorless. How is that possible?
My final critique is the tortilla chips. Man this is like a ‘must get correct’ thing for running a Mexican restaurant. These chips are uncooked, bland and are clearly a mix of two different brands of chips. It almost looks like they’re generic store-​bought chips from a bag. Not good, man. When I ran out of salsa (which was super fast, because they only give you 2 ounces) I was left with a giant basket of dry chips from a bag and no one offered me anymore salsa. They eventually took them and threw the chips away. Lots of food waste in this place.
I hate to say this, because I don’t want to be deliberately mean, but hopefully the next restaurant that takes over this space will be able to add good food and service to the already fantastic interiors. Garcia Brogan’s is certainly not long for this world.

We have been there twice, for the soft opening with the smaller menu, and this last Sunday. I described the place as Irish/​Mexican Fusion and people work looked interested with the idea, but it works!
The Service was excellent (though they ran out of Hyciama (sp)). I suggest the Brogan’s Bites which are basically Shepards Pie in a Fried Tortilla. The Pepper Gravy they have is great for the dipping.
I will warn you though, The El Luchador Burrito. Freakin Huge. Bring your appetite. Good Burrito. I did take a picture of the size of the burrito but I can’t figure out how to add it here. EDIT UPDATE: I just added it to the Garcia Brogan’s pictures
So far this is the only place in Waltham I actually enjoy eating at.

If you’re a drunk college student, this place is definitely for you.
Was told the produce is local and fresh. Definitely canned mushrooms and not-​so-​fresh produce. First time we went, we ordered nachos, they were soggy. Second time we went we ordered a veggie burrito bowl and avocado quesadilla. Both were very bland. The veggie bowl was supposed to come on a bed of lettuce, it did not. The veggies were overcooked and under seasoned. The avocado quesadilla was bland all around — it needs some pepper, onion and garlic in it. Seasoning is your friend — don’t be shy with it.
Beer was the best part of the meal next to the service. I don’t see this place lasting long without a major menu overhaul.

Overall a great place. Good service, great atmosphere and tasty food. The jalapeño Caesar salad with streak was fantastic!
Large assortment of draft beers on tap!
Kudos for taking all the old stand bys out and going with a current and popular selection.
Yes, they are still working out a few kinks, but definitely worth a try now! Wait much longer and you might be waiting in line.

I’ve been back two times since they first opened and it just isn’t getting any better.
The thing that puzzles me is that they have another location in Lowell that is doing well, so what is going on here in Waltham?!
They are STILL on a limited menu even after a few months I am not sure how this is possible? Food is OK but you really don’t have many options when it comes to Irish cuisine. The guacamole was good, but the seafood special I ordered over rice left nothing to be desired. Our deep fried Shepard pies (AKA Brogan Bites) were large ½ burrito shaped and greasy, nothing bite sized about them.
Service is hot and cold; I am finding that the table servers are a little better than the people behind the bar. When we sat at the bar every time we were ignored for 5 – 10 minutes before even getting a menu and had empty drink glasses for another 10 minutes before flagging down a bartender. I honestly felt like I was annoying them by asking for a drink! Our table waitress last time was very good, quick and very attentive… but the food was just not good.
Trivia is fun and again the space is well updated but that is not what is going to keep me coming back.

The restaurant only opened a few days ago, but it is already hopping. The bar scene looks active with lots of happy people standing around and having drinks. The new décor is really great and lively. They’re are lots of long tables and plenty of open spaces. For a Thursday night, it is impressive in here. And, perhaps if I was looking for that scene, I would have given it more stars. But, I wanted dinner, and it they clearly are not ready for that.
My wife and I were greeted by a very friendly hostess, who told us that they had run out of menus. We are advised that they were not expecting the crowds. That should have told us to leave. But, we wanted to try out the new spot in town. It took 10 minutes to get cheap paper copies of the menu. (They couldn’t run to Staples to get more?) And, it was a very limited menu of items. The chips seemed stale, but the salsa was good and chunky.
Since it is supposed to be half Irish and half Mexican, we decided to order Shepherd’s Pie and tacos. These took 20 minutes. The Pie was so hot that it burned our mouths. It was mostly mashed potatoes and a little beef. The too hot was probably good, because we are not happy with the flavor when we could taste it. The tacos were a bit better, but seemed sparse. Most of the flavor came from the very spicy sauce. That is ok, but I would have liked it better with clear flavors.
Since this restaurant is new, I will probably come back in a few months, if the reviews get better. But for now, you may want to come for the bar scene. But, skip the dinner.