Friday 4th of June 2010 10:28:52 PM

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Pros and cons here, depends if you are looking for a good beer selection or not. Beer selection is pretty much the bare minimum to be considered a "beer bar". The Scotch and Irish Whiskey selection was more interesting, in my humble opinion. Twelve taps, and the most interesting thing was the Bells seasonal, which was Christmas Ale. Otherwise, the taps were typical and under utilized... The ubiquitous Guinness (strangely no O'Haras, Beamish, or halfway decent Irish beers, save for bottled Smithwicks), Stella, 312, and Oktoberfest, Rogue Dead Guy. Bottles were listed on the first page of the menu, divided by categories of stout, ale, lager, and "others". The only stout was Guinness (of course), nine ales, maybe 12 lagers. Maybe 9-10 "others", dominated by macros.

Service took a bit at the bar initially, as the bartender was entering a string of orders, and tending to those already at the bar. The food came out quickly though, which was redeeming. The spinach & artichoke dip was tasty and well presented. There were a few typical Irish/American hybrid things on the menu like shepherd's pie and pot roast.

The atmosphere on a Sunday night was alright, there seemed to be a number of senior patrons on this particular night. There was a separate dining area, and plenty of table seating in the bar area (no tv's there). A second bar was through a doorway, where they had a couple flatscreen tv's and real dart boards. Dark wood floors and tin ceiling panels, with little rough hewn wooden tables in the main bar area, as well as high tables and backed chairs. There was quite a bit of holiday decor, and it was cozy with dim light from the hanging lanterns overhead.

Overall the place was ok with an average beer selection. Decent gastropub fare without being trendy. There was a live music venue next door, which seemed to possibly be closed for construction.