Dinner at Patrick's
Patrick’s opened last week with it’s “soft opening”, meaning that the menu is, at this point, limited to half a dozen appetizers, soups and salads, entrees and sandwiches. They still don’t have a wine list or cocktail menu. They do have lots of different beers on tap though including Guiness, Yuengling, Flying Dog, Harp, Smithwicks, Sierra Nevada and more. The “hard opening” is going to be the second week of November, although I don’t have an exact date.
We decided to go tonight, mostly because I was curious about the work that had been done to the restaurant. There are a lot of changes from the old Venuti’s. I mentioned in a comment earlier that Patrick’s has flip-flopped the bar and dining areas. There are two separate dining rooms, one where the bar used to be and one in the back of the restaurant. The bar is now where Venuti’s had their dining room and it’s quite an impressive bar, a massive wooden bar that runs the length of the room. There are also bar tables against the wall and a stage at the back end of the bar area. The most improved has to be the bathrooms though. If you ever went to the bar at Venuti’s, you’ll remember that the bathrooms consisted of a men’s and women’s rooms that were each one-holers and usually rather shabby. The women’s restroom at Patrick’s has three stalls and 2 sinks. A vast improvement.
We sat at the bar and checked out the menu while chatting with Chas, the bartender. We asked her questions about drink options (she called herself the martini queen or something to that effect) and what she has tasted and liked off the menu. She said that while she hadn’t tried it, her husband had been impressed with the fish and chips so that’s what I ordered. After all, I’ve been looking for a good fish fry for quite a while. Jim ordered the ahi tuna appetizer and the stew. When Chas was ringing in our order, she realized that they were out of fish and chips. It figures. So I had to take another look at the menu and nothing jumped out at me. I really wanted that fish! I decided on a couple appetizers to go with Jim’s tuna and chose the baked brie with carmelized apples and almonds and the samosas (not exactly an Irish dish but tasty nonetheless). I also ordered the baby spinach salad. The tuna was simply prepared and lightly seared and came with wasabi and soy sauce. The samosas were small, about 20 in the order and came with two dipping sauces. The brie was very tasty albeit a bit sweet with the caramel sauce. The apples were Granny Smiths and still had a slight crunch to them. My complaint with this dish is that the brie was served with club-type crackers. It would have been much better with a sliced baguette or something similar.
Jim liked the stew but would have preferred it to have a bit more broth. It was very thick and looked a bit more like a casserole than a stew. The spinach salad was very good, with lots of spinach leaves, walnuts, crumbled bleu cheese and dried cranberrries (craisins?) and sliced fresh granny smith apples. I have to say that after the caramel on the brie and the cranberries and apples, and the two pomegranate martinis I had, when I left, my salivary glands in my jaw were on high alert.
It didn’t help that, as we were ready to leave, I heard it mentioned by someone from the kitchen staff that they now had fish and chips available again. I guess I have an excuse to go back.
I’m hopping for some good fish and chips!
We also checked out Patrick’s last Saturday.
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I ordered the samosas, too – (pretty good) and the Tuscan Soup which was good, too.
I went with a group of 6 and we were placed in one of the rooms that at this time does not have any speakers yet. It was very quiet in there
I wish they would have placed us in a busier area.
The beer selection was great.
I will give the place a couple of weeks to adjust and then return!
I commend Patrick’s for its “international” menu. Samosas may scream India, Pakistan and Nepal, but most Irish/Irish-American fare is predictable and predictably boring.
Sprinkling the menu (or dishes) with regional favorites and ingredients (ahi tuna, baked brie, wasabi, etc.)–while still offering an Irish atmosphere–is a winner in my book.
Actually, the beer selection was very good.
On tap they have: Harp, Guinness, Murphy’s Irish Stout, Smithwick, Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, Majic Hat 9, Pilsner Urquel, Newcastle Brown, Magners Irish Cider, Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale, Yuengling, Blue Moon, Dogfish Head 60 min IPA and I think I missed one or two.
Oh, and they have Miller Lite for people who were dragged into an Irish Pub by their friends against their will.
All, thanks for the reviews. I actually do enjoy Irish food. I appreciate the diversity of their menu but do they actually serve any traditional Irish food and is it good? ie Shepherds Pie, Corned Beef , etc.
Interesting to read your blog and comments, as I work there. I wondered what people thought. Yes, we are new and still getting ready for our real opening. I hope you all come back.
My wife and I have been there three times already and are anxious for the Grand Opening. I must say we like we have seen, drank and tasted so far. They have alot planned:
Wed-Sun entertainment
Daily Specials
Happy Hours
Owners 2hr pint specials as well…
Very impressed by the selection of taps!
Try the chicken tenders “for the kid in you” to qoute their menu.
We will be heading back soon!
@Sean, yes they do have Shepherd’s Pie and Corned Beef and Cabbage etc…Right now, the menu is very limited, just a flyer with a half dozen or so choices in each category. I’m looking forward to seeing the full menu when they fully open in a couple weeks.
From Wikipedia:
Irish cuisine can be divided into two main categories – traditional, mainly simple dishes, and more modern dishes, as served in restaurants and hotels.
Colcannon is a good dish made of potato and one of wild garlic (the earliest form), cabbage or curly kale, (compare bubble and squeak). Champ consists of mashed potato into which chopped scallions (spring onions) are mixed.
Other examples of simple Irish meals are Irish stew, and also bacon and cabbage (boiled together in water). Boxty, a type of potato pancake, is another traditional dish. A dish mostly particular to Dublin is coddle, which involves boiled pork sausages. Ireland is famous for the Irish breakfast[citation needed], a fried (or grilled) meal generally comprising bacon, egg, sausage, black and white pudding, fried tomato and which may also include fried potato farls or fried potato slices.
While seafood has always been consumed by Irish people, shellfish dishes have increased in popularity in recent times, especially due to the high quality of shellfish available from Ireland’s coastline, e.g. Dublin Bay Prawns, Oysters (many oyster festivals are held annually around the coast where oysters are often served with Guinness, the most notable being held in Galway every September ) as well as other crustaceans. A good example of an Irish dish for shellfish is Dublin Lawyer – Lobster cooked in whiskey and cream. Salmon and cod are perhaps the two most common types of fish used.
Traditional Irish breads include soda bread, wheaten bread, soda farls, and blaa, a doughy white bread roll particular to Waterford.
Uh oh, is Bushwaller’s in jeopardy?
Wow, Dude, I’m hungry for authentic Irish soda farls, boxty, champ, coddle–and especially fresh blaa!
Chicken tenders? You can get chicken tenders everywhere.
Wow! didn’t expect to see so many comments about Patricks already! Well, thats exciting.
I am the bartender that made the pomegrante martinis (although Liz forgot to mention her great enjoyment of them
).
We are in the preliminary stages figuring out all the nooks and crannies that need to be fixed, altered, or perfected. I have been told that there will be a band for the Grand Opening the first week of Nov (date still unclosed but, I will share as soon as I know).
And bangers and mash are on their way!
check us out
(for the yummy ‘tinis come, Wed, Sat, or Sun nights)
Thanks for the update Chasz (and I’m sorry I spelled your name wrong!) And yes, you made the best pomegranate martini I’ve had in this town!
We are looking forward to coming back!
Thank goodness, this town has been lacking a true Irish Pub. Bushwallers claims to be an Irish pub but that is just false, the food is terrible and the service is worse. This town could use a real pub and hopefully the owner of bushwallers will stop in and see how a true Irish pub should be run (clean, friendly service, and good food). As anyone who has been to bushwallers knows that the bar servers ignore people they don’t know and act like they are above the rest of us, obviously they could use the compitition but I don’t think it will be a fair fight, Goodluck Patricks (I’ve been going to there pub on Pratt st for years and the boys know what there doing), sorry Bushwallers but your no longer the only Irish pub in town!!
We usually went to Bushwallers because it was the only “pub” where we could get Guinness on tap, but we truly hated the smokey atmosphere and the loud “meat market” crowd that stood at the bar. Patrick’s is a wonderfully clean place with good food and excellent beers on tap
I would never go to a “true Irish Pub” that serves chicken fingers as an entree on the adult menu.
On Saturday night I went over to Patricks to have a drink. I sat down at the bar and got a Guinness ,and got a call from a couple friends about doing dinner, so I told ‘em to come over.
Somewhere in the middle of my Guinness i was introduced to Patrick himself. We got to talking about Irish whiskeys and which to try and which are not worth the money. He was very amiable and fun to talk to. He told me the story about where the bar back had originally come from, and how the bar itself came about too.
My friends showed up a short time later, and we were seated in the back. My friend commented on how amazed he was at the transformation from Venutis. He’d worked there at one point in the kitchen, so I think he was itchin’ to get in the back to see what else changed, but that didn’t happen.
Our waitress was great, we were joking with her most of the time. In between our appetizer (samosas, which were excellent) and our meal (fish n chips and corned beef and cabbage, also very good) Patrick came back over to talk with us for a bit.
Overall, we had a great experience there. The meal wasn’t too expensive, the staff was superb, and Patrick kept things lively by popping in and out of the dining and bar area, talking with various customers.
Also, I mentioned to him that FMO already had a post up about dinner, so maybe he’ll make an appearance?
My husband and I went to lunch with friends at Patrick’s, and although we weren’t “wow’d”, we did enjoy ourselves and the food.
I, too, had the brie, and I enjoyed the sweet glaze, although I agree with a previous comment that the cracker selection was a little odd (it should have water crackers, or toasts or something). My husband enjoyed the crab soup, although (or maybe because) it was very, very rich. My rustic tuscan soup was fairly suprising, as it had sausage in it, and although it was fine, it didn’t seem to have that “tuscan” flavor to me.
Everyone was very impressed by the selection of beer on tap. My husband was quite happy to get Magic Hat on tap, and the black and tan they served was quite good as well.
We will be back, and I am looking forward to seeing the full menu. I agree with previous posters that I really appreciate that there were other items on an Irish menu. I love fish’n'chips as much as the next person, but sometimes you like things a little lighter (to offset the calories in all that good tap beer).
Mick’s New American Bistro had a soft opening this weekend. As Jennifer’s this had been my place for the past 20 years.
I went in on Friday evening and my initial impressions are good. It is very different. Gone are the flags, the dark green paint, and all the political diatribes. I had an oyster po’ boy that was very good. They have Stella on tap (yum). Give it a try.
My fiance and I had dinner at Patrick’s last night. There was a small crowd, but I didn’t expect it to be packed on a Wednesday night.
We tried the samosas as an appetizer and they were yummy! They are not traditional Indian samosas, as they are bite size and have a filo dough shell, but they are delicious nonetheless.
I had the open-faced Rueben as my entree and my fiance had the shepherd’s pie. My fries were piping hot, but my sandwich had been sitting for a while before it was served. It was still good, but not great. The shepherd’s pie was very hot and was a large portion (more than I would be able to eat!), but my fiance wished for some bread with his meal.
The menu is still limited since this is the restaurant’s “soft” opening, but the entrees seemed a little pricey for pub food. The sandwiches are priced in line with other local establishments.
As others have stated, the beer selection is impressive (Magner’s cider – yum!) and will help attract customers for that reason alone.
One other minor detail: customers need to enter through the bar. There is a separate door into the dining room, but it was locked last night. A little signage might be helpful.
I think we’ll try Patrick’s again when the full menu is available, but I’m not sure that it will be a regular dining place for us.
My husband and I popped in for lunch on Friday. The place looks great, service was great. We both got fish and chips. It wasn’t bad, but I thought 13 bucks for 3 small pieces of fish on a lunch menu was high. For 10 dollars, I wouldn’t have even thought about it–yay, ten dollar fish! But as it was, I found myself (and husband felt the same) a bit underwhelmed. But we’ll certainly be back for that beer menu!
My wife and I ate at Patrick’s last weekend. I had the stew and she had the fish and chips. The fish and chips were not very good – they seemed like something you would get in a value meal at a fast food restaurant. Perhaps we’re judging unfairly, but we had high expectations that an Irish restaurant would have good fish and chips. My stew was excellent, though I had ordered the shepherd’s pie but they were out of it. The service wasn’t very good, but I’m sure they will work that out in time for the actual opening.
Truly outstanding fish and chips are hard to find here in the States, especially if you’re not on the coast. You have to start with the right fish, but most restaurants serve up a cheaper, blander alternative, and it only goes downhill from there.
But let’s face it: Irish food rarely wows people. It’s stick-to-your-ribs cooking that’s welcome on a cold, blustery evening. At Irish restaurants and pubs, the traditional focus has always been on outstanding beer, good friends and fun times. In other words, it’s largely atmospherics. If Patrick’s manages to serve above-average fare, they should do very well.
At 5 wings per plate and what amounts to a children’s portion of Shepherd’s Pie for $16.95 plan on leaving hungry with an empty wallet! Pub food isn’t meant to hit your pocket that hard.
I had to remove some comments from this thread. I remove any comments that claim alleged crimes, misdemeanors, or egregious mis-deeds by a person or place. Bloggers are starting to get sued over comments left by others on their blogs (examples). Sorry for the downer and I hate to interfere with any conversation here at FMO, but I hope you all can understand